Reviewing vintage 1949 issues of Trains magazine recently, I came upon an advertisement (promotion really) by Erie railroad patting themselves on the back for innovation, for developing the threaded rail spike. Copy of ad below.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything similar, yet on the surface bthis seems like a great idea. Why did this not catch on?
They are used. They are going bythe name lag screw. There was a thread about a UP oil train derailment in Oregon. It seemed to be caused by broken lag screws:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/256871.aspx?page=1
Ordinary spikes can come loose but is easily detectable. Lag screws seem to break instead of coming loose which didn’t get detected in Oregon.
In 1949 the German Railway had more than 20 years exprience with this kind of rail fastener. It was first used in Oberbau K in 1926: http://www.geralds-bahnseiten.de/k-obau.gif
Regards, Volker
Lag screws have been around forever. The struggle has been and still is standardization. (some of the other replacements for cut spikes did not fare so well - there still is plenty of bizarre stuff out there)
If you don’t have the proper tools distributed around the railroad, you can’t remove the thing and you can’t set new ones (counterproductive). Power hand tools have really only taken off in the past 30 years, especially the portable non-pneumatic stuff. keeping things simple is easier said than accomplished.
…and then there is the issue of unit cost. Track departments might like to use something a little more advanced with a long term advantage, which costs $$$ that the shiny toys and wasteful operating bubbas think ought to be spent on them. Those lag screws don’t work with many tie plates, so the associated costs just cascade on down the line.
Seen them only on Switches
MC,
Is metalurgy in play here? Could those lag screws have been manufatrured of materials subject to corrosion or of lesser strength than necessary?
Just a dumb question on my part but would have barbed square spikes prevented them from coming loose? I would think the ties wold prevent them from doing so.
We covered the Pandrol fixation disaster at some length in previous threads. You will note that the Erie system differs in a couple of key respects: (1) the screw fixes the rail base directly, rather than holding down a plate that easily slides when clamping tension is lost; and (2) there is a LONG-TRAVEL clamping washer holding effective tension on the system in a way that compensated for considerable loosening of the threaded fit.
I saw this system in use at Glen Rock and Radburn on the ex-Erie main lines in the mid-70s, by which time the screw fixation was often paired with spiking in the same tie plate. I did not see whether it was easier for maintenance gangs to use the appropriate pneumatic wrenches to tighten things up … but suspected even then that automated equipment could more easily deal with spike pulling and tie plugging than with automated location and screw extraction, washer application and checking, etc. in those pre-pervasive-computing days. You would not have wanted to tighten any number of those things with a glorified street wrench manually vs. using a spike maul or speeder-mounted hammers…
A variation on a theme - have elastic spikes (image below) ever been tried in the US?
Pandrol rail clips?
Those look like a carpenter’s bench hold-down clamps.
Again, there is all kinds of stuff out there in test sections (ATSF had several sections going on the northern transcon between La Junta and Trinidad.) Most failed and the local track forces dealt with the odball stuff as best they could. weierdest thing I remember were the “W” staples north of Earl, CO that wound up having to be cut out with a torch (The application and removal tools were worse than the product itself)
Norm: metallurgy has everything to do with anything with a screw thread (brittle vs elastic for openers)…Screw lugs found themselves in plenty of open deck bridges and vanished from curve installations quickly (usually torched in the name of time that the DS was never willing to give up.)
Thanks to all who replied. I guess if one calls them “lag bolts” they do suddenly start to look a whole lot less alien. [:$]
MC, please do NOT print your thoughts on those things; I would miss your posts.[:)]
Many of the ‘great ideas’ for tack laying tend to overlook one aspect of track maintenance - what goes into the track structure, at some point in time must be removed from the track structure - quickly and economically. Track and everything that is used to hold it in place all have to be replaced - either at the end of the life cycle or when damaged. Not all track work is reapired with ‘production level’ gangs - most repairs are made with local track forces, which now a days is nominally a Track Supervisor (aka Roadmaster) and the 8 to 10 trackmen that report to him for the maintenance of his 50 to 100 mile segment of the railroad. Local track force are equipped with a basic level of tools and equipment, if special equipment is necessary to handle track appliances then it must be secured at whatever the additional equipment costs.
Johnny (Deggesty) wrote the following post [in part]:
MC[mudchicken], please do NOT print your thoughts on those things; I would miss your posts.
Johnny, one thing [most appreciated !] by MC’s posts…
You know exactly how the “…hog ate the turnip…” there is no mistaking his practical experience or advice.[bow]. One of the very things that makes thie Forum so readable; is the number of practically experienced posters here, who have the hands on experience, in the topics discussed here; and are willing to answer the questions post here by those whose knowledge is more observational, and bound by curiosity. [2c]
Sometimes called “screw spikes” around here (mid-Atlantic states).
Yet the interesting thing to me is that when the full mechanical track equipment is in use, the cut spike is the easiest to deal with going in and coming out, or so it would seem. Looking at some tie replacement videos sure leads to that conclusion.
Sam,
Having known a now retired track foreman for several years he did give me a bit of an education/insight regarding MOW problems they encounter. He was very knowledgable and could spot something wrong long before others could. Based on my experience working on small airplanes and being able to see problems prior to them causing problems I had to admire the man for his abilities.
I also have to admire MC for the factual information he provides. His experience in railroading and surveying far surpass anything I learned in my short lived career as a land title examiner.
MC’s ducks are well lined up.
Quack quack, waddle waddle. LOL.
Of course, one very important factor in how the spike holds is not the design of the spike but the condition of the tie.
Dux in aro!
Overmod,
Cool video. On a route I regularlly drive the owner of a pond in front of his house runs a pump 24/7/365 to keep it’s waters clear in months that algae could be a problem and to keep it from freezing over in winter. I’m not sure if the guy just loves ducks or if one of them occasionally finds itself in the oven.[;)]
I sure would hate to be paying his electric bill.
