Rail Skate

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I was hoping one of the Forum members could explain what a Rail Skate was and how one was used in a yard.

Found this when looking for what the heck a rail skate was.

*A wheel skate is best described as a 50-pound piece of steel that had flanges to fit on the rail with a pointed “nose” and “wheel-stop” a railcar wheel would roll upon. It was approximately 24-inches in length and once the wheel was on the skate it could not roll. It could only slide this 24-inches of metal on the rail as well as the other wheel sliding on its rail thus applying a “braking” measure."

This explanation was also included:

“…Another item of interest–there were “skate men” for both the North and South Humps. These jobs went to work and were located in the middle of both of the classification yards (the North Hump in an old grounded caboose, as was the South Hump before they build a pretty neat building to keep out of the elements). There were generally two skate men per shift, and their job was, first, to protect tracks that had been cleared of railcars with the first car coming in; then to see that it “caught” a wheel skate* and then tie a handbrake on it. They also worked with the hump engine crews to “shove” tracks for additional classifying room when cars “backed up” (filled the track) on the hump end. One of the hazards of this job was it involved moving over and through “live” tracks (tracks being humped into) to get to the track referred to as a “clear alley”…”

The two preceeding quote are in a lengthy article about the Indiana Harbor Belt’s Gibson Yard and comprise the recollections of Leonard Keen. Here is the link to the article:

2

Yeah…that sounds like a rail skate.

All seriousness aside, it is basically a forged steel triangular device that is square on the outside but has a hypotenuse which is curved. The flat base sits on a rail and when nudged by a wheel acts like a blocking device. I’ve seen them as small as 8 to 12 inches high to almost 24 inches.

3

You’ve basically got the definition and job description in your post there. Proviso used to employ three skate men per shift to cover a 69-track classification yard. For the reasons cited, these jobs were not very pleasant to work. All new-hire brakemen in the yard went to a three-day “skate school” about three months after they hired out, after which they were supposed to be able to work these jobs. I did my time on the job one day. Before that I took a call for one off the extra board and gave myself the most serious injury of my career, by almost falling off the brake platform of a box car I was riding. Pull-down crews had to be on the lookout for skates under the wheels of cars on the east end of the tracks–pull one of those over a frog and there would be a disaster!

When I first worked skate jobs, the skate men could only communicate with the hump through a page system. You patrolled your yard and tied additional brakes, and cut cars off for a “post” from the departing tracks. You had to know what type of cars were expected (e.g., if the track normally received a lot of heavy loads, you cut off more cars to tie brakes on them), which cars were “hot” and couldn’t be held back, and other things. Later they put telephones in the three skate shanties (they had a roof and a caboose mat on a bench–that was about it). Still later, the skate men were given radios to communicate on the hump channel (but not with the pulldown crews). The radios made communication a little more timely, anyway.

The skate jobs were eliminated when crews were required to stop and cut off the post cars on the tracks they were pulling, tying hand brakes so the cars would not be driven out when they were humped into. The number of brakes required per track has risen over the years from two to four.

If you have any more specific questions about the jobs, I can try to answer them.

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(Darn duplicate!)

5

Carl:

The references to “Post Cars”, is that the first car or cars on a track to be made up into a train?

The skates were they used instead of tying a car down by hand brake while rolling?

Were they used under a rolling car to stop it where the skate man wanted it to be held?

Were the skates paced to hold a standing car?

If they were put down infront of a rolling car, how far could a loaded car be expected to go with the skate under a wheel?

Was the skate man expected to use a hand brake to slow the car down, and then jump off and run ahead of the car and put the skate under the front of the car?

The whole operation sounds really scary, not to mention very dangerous.

Thanks, for your responses!

6

[quote user=“samfp1943”]

Carl:

The references to “Post Cars”, is that the first car or cars on a track to be made up into a train?

Yes–probably came from “bumping post”. The cars cut off as a post would be the ones that held the rest of the track in the bowl.

The skates were they used instead of tying a car down by hand brake while rolling?

The tracks were supposed to be tied down with hand brakes. The skate was merely used to slow the cars down, either to permit the skate man to get on or to aid him in stopping the cars once he was on them.

Were they used under a rolling car to stop it where the skate man wanted it to be held?

There was nothing precise about stopping a car where you wanted it to stop. They were merely a tool to help keep the cars in the yard.

Were the skates paced to hold a standing car?

No, not usually. If the car was standing at the end of the track, it was supposed to have brakes capable of holding it and the subsequent cars. If the car was stopped short of the skate, the skate was usually removed, unless there were some obvious possibilities that the track would roll further.

If they were put down infront of a rolling car, how far could a loaded car be expected to go with the skate under a wheel?

I don’t think the car would roll more than a couple of carlengths, under normal conditions. Of course, things like wet rail, speed, and weight would influence this. The other influence is that the skate man was probably tying brakes as the car was skating along. Also, keep in mind that as often as not, it would be more than one car coming at you. There were no limitations on the numbers, because longer cuts of cars could be slowed down more by the retarders and still keep rolling.

Was the skate man expected to use a hand brake to slow the car down, and then jump off and run ahead of the car and put the skate und

7

Carl:

Thanks for your responses, you’ve answered a lot of questions for me. Nice to be able to understand how something that simple was used so effectively.

Hellofava way to run a railroad![banghead]

8

I saw where a pair of skates, one each on opposite rails, were used to “shorten” a siding. In other words, the track department or somebody figure it was unsafe to put cars to the end of track so placed the skates to signify the point where cars could not go beyond. Also saw on a factory siding between car being used as a semipermanent “shed” and the rest of the siding.

9

Those sound more like wheel stops than skates, Henry, especially if they were permanently mounted to the track structure.