>how do you show your slow order locations???
I'm not sure how BNSF freights are advised aside by radio from the subdivision dispatcher, but the commuter conductors get printed train orders at the start of their shift. The track gangs put up roughly 1-foot square solid color signs next to the track for a visual indication. Also, the line I'm talking about is CTC, so the dispatcher could, I suppose, set the signals to slow for any particular block.
nucat78 wrote: Like the man said, "if you have a prototype"... I've seen ballast on top of ties even on a highspeed, high traffic mainline (BNSF). But it's confined to small areas and usually after work has been done on the track. Usually it is the low usage yard tracks that have ballast on the ties although there are a couple of places in Clyde yard where they use gravel for a vehicle crossing. There is (or was, I haven't looked for a few days) a place on the south track at Naperville, IL on the Raceway where the heavy traffic is pumping mud from the roadbed. Not sure if there was a lack of ballast or something else happened there.
Like the man said, "if you have a prototype"...
I've seen ballast on top of ties even on a highspeed, high traffic mainline (BNSF). But it's confined to small areas and usually after work has been done on the track. Usually it is the low usage yard tracks that have ballast on the ties although there are a couple of places in Clyde yard where they use gravel for a vehicle crossing.
There is (or was, I haven't looked for a few days) a place on the south track at Naperville, IL on the Raceway where the heavy traffic is pumping mud from the roadbed. Not sure if there was a lack of ballast or something else happened there.
In the last paragraph you are describing a "wet bed" in UK terms.
A big part of the work of the ballast is to allow groundwater to drain away. When this doesn't happen properly any small material that washes in with the water builds up and forms a mud or slurry.
Very occassionally this will set like concrete - the place I knew that this happened the wash-out was from chalk and 1/2 mile of track became one solid lump... so solid it had to be jack-hammered out in lumps by men not machines (none of the hammers on mini diggers in those days). This is about the worst thing that can happen to track. The "Slow order" was for 2mph for everything with flagmen out to enforce it.
More often what develops is a soggy goo that will not support the track so that it pumps up and down in realtion to the weight of the train and the flex of the rail. A combination of this pumping action and speed can derail a train. For some reason the goo/ballast often forms a sausage or pillow shape between the ties. The first cure for it is usually to clear out the beds that are effected and any related channel for drainage that may have become blocked. This may be left to dry for some days with a slow order in force... how do you show your slow order locations???
Something else that can happen is that material can get washed into the track by a flood, rising groundwater, a landslip or washout of material from the bank of a cut. they all need cleaning out to return the ballast to good working order.
Sometimes it seems that there is absolutley no cause for a patch of track to have this problem.
A cause in yards and where trains stand frequently is spillage of any clogging material... this is why yards with freight loads of fine sand and similar and loco yards can have problems if the spillage isn't controlled/cleaned up regularly.
hope this helps
I was in La Grange TX this weekend and took these of the mainline and siding. This was the MKT line at one time ... now UP of course.
Tom
--David
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
reeveshd wrote: Not to change the subject too much. but what are the best brushes to use when laying ballest. I have tried hard, soft, and seemingly everything in between, I still get ballast on top of the ties Reeves
Not to change the subject too much.
but what are the best brushes to use when laying ballest.
I have tried hard, soft, and seemingly everything in between, I still get ballast on top of the ties
Reeves
I found the Daffy Duck works very well!!
I found a childs battery operated toothbrush "Daffy Duck" for $2.00. It is the best ballast brush I have ever found for cleaning turnouts and tie tops. After the DUCK is done CLEANING THE FROGS, I get out the mini vac.
Pardon me for being GOOFY but I just bought Tortise Machines for $9.00 each!! Got 50 of them!!! Now I can finish this phase!!!
Yeah, so do I. Do your best with the brush, but after the ballast has set (I give it 2-3 days) then I knock off the stray pieces with a small screwdriver. The last step is a vacuum cleaner.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
The important thing is simply to keep the flangeways clear and make sure that once glued in place the ballast will stay in place.
HI RobandFred
Track ballast is broomed on the real railways so its level with the sleeper tops
However in some places you cannot see the sleepers because of the ballast type age class of line ect ect
The reason the sleeper tops are kept clear is it makes it easier to determin there condition and also helps prevent them rotting.
If your model requires buried sleepers you need to have enough clearance for trains to run and keep
points ballast at sleeper level.
regards john
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.