For those of you who don't live in the upper midwest, this is what has been going on to keep trains in service during the -60° wind chills. Pretty crazy stuff...
http://www.newswest9.com/2019/01/30/how-cold-is-it-chicago-is-setting-rail-tracks-fire-so-trains-can-run/
Your link didn't go through and I wish it did unless it's just on my end
I saw the tail end of the news when my wife was watching it how Amtrak had fire strips and the rails on fire in Chicago to get the trains to perform in the cold somehow.
Like I said I came in at the tail end I have no idea about this I hope someone elaborates on this one.
TF
Track fiddler I hope someone elaborates on this one.
Switch heaters.
Been going on for years. Some are gas fired open flame (You'll see a large propane tank sometimes). Some are gas fired and use ductwork to direct the heat toward the points and frog. Others are electric. Sometimes crews used to go out with kerosene sprayers and actually melt away the snow and ice.
They're almost all remote controlled (automatic) today.
New York Central and others had a flat car mounted jet engine to blow away snow and heat the points.
In other cases, and somewhat unrelated, when a rail is cold and a joint has to be made the rail would be heated to expand it then the bolts put in the joint bar. Rail lengths had to be normalized to prevent pull-aparts in cold weather or sun kinks in warm. Sometimes the track gang would soak a rope in kerosene and lay it along the base of the rail to be heated then set fire to it.
Somebody in the media saw the flames and made a big circus out of it. Then it hits Faceplant and Yootoob. Wowee!
Here they are last year on METRA:
Cheers, Ed
Thanks Ed It doesn't appear Alrich is stirring over the pond I think I'm going to try to hit the rack again
Thanks for clarifying things with the fire on the rails Sometimes those TV dopes don't do.a very good job
The video you posted came through while I was signing off I watched it Very cool
Thank you TF
Switch heaters are turned on any time the temperature is below freezing and there is a chance for precipitation. They can be turned on locally, they can be turned on remotely by the dispatcher or they can be turned on automatically by sensors that detect temperature and precipitation.
Much ado about something that has been going on pretty much every winter since the 1800's.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
No switches to be heated here, just a diamond
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Yeah, been seeing a bunch of non-train friends reposting it all over facebook. I tried to comment on some and mention what it really is and it's not really a big deal. And why it's important to keep snow and ice from packing in between the point and stock rails.
Once again journalists fail. A quick call to one of the railroads would have provided the details on what was going on, but the heck with that, FIRE!
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
BigDaddyNo switches to be heated here, just a diamond
Interesting. After watching them replace joint bars, or rail joiners, whatever they are called, I got to thinking (dangerous, indeed) that since things contract in the cold, that just maybe the extreme cold has caused something at that joint, with the diamond, to be displaced, or broke.
My guess is they heated a section of the rail to get it to expand in length so they could disasemble what ever was not right, and replace it. ??
Mike.
My You Tube
That report was on MSN news. The setting fire to rails must be a new thing.
I visited Chicago under very similar extreme weather conditions back in Dec 1983 and took Amtrak from Chicago Union Station to Osceola IA; I'll never forget.
On that trip the high temps were -10 and and the low was -25, and with the wind chill factor it was -75 to -83 degrees. The snot was freezing in your nose! The Amtrak California Zephyr which was normally able to do 79 mph was limited to 45 mph on the trip west because they were worried with the extreme cold, the rail might break.
Naturally we were very late getting into Oscela IA. My dad came in from Lorimar to pick us up from the station but he couldn't drive his newish car because it wouldn't start. He had just came into Iowa via Colorado and lots of snow there too. Since my dads car would not start, there was an old 1963 Ford (Galaxy I think) which they used to pick us up - they had to bring the car battery inslide to warm it up before they could start the car.
When I returned to Chicago and was ready to leave back to college in Bloomington IN, my VW Rabbit wouldn't start until we heated up the engine using a paint stripper hot air gun.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Such a shame that journalists didn't provde some more background on what's happening. Leave it to folks here to explain.
No question that putting parts of the rails on fire is not something to try at home.
gmpullman Been going on for years...
Been going on for years...
mbinsewi BigDaddy No switches to be heated here, just a diamond Interesting. After watching them replace joint bars, or rail joiners, whatever they are called, I got to thinking (dangerous, indeed) that since things contract in the cold, that just maybe the extreme cold has caused something at that joint, with the diamond, to be displaced, or broke. My guess is they heated a section of the rail to get it to expand in length so they could disasemble what ever was not right, and replace it. ?? Mike.
BigDaddy No switches to be heated here, just a diamond
For joint bars and rail joiners you could use the word Fishplate also.
I remember seeing the CNW heating the switch points in West Chicago near JB tower when I was maybe 5 years old, the fire was in containers that looked like cartoon bombs, for reference I am 65 so it been going on a long time.
CGW121the fire was in containers that looked like cartoon bombs,
Those almost sound like "Smudge Pots". Maybe they placed them along the stock rails against the points?
I remember switch tenders using galvanized cans with shoulder straps. These cans had maybe a three-foot tube coming out of the bottom with a nozzle at the end. They would use these like small flame-throwers. They used the same cans in the summer to burn off the weeds along sidings. Probably filled with kerosene, maybe they had hand pumps to pressurize the cans, too?
Lots of memories, Ed
Yea smudge pots is what they used. 3 track main going into a yard with fairly heavy traffic the whole line there was lit up like a christmas tree. Dad told me they bused then to keep the switches from freezing. They also used fire to keep weeds down.
mbinsewiMy guess is they heated a section of the rail to get it to expand in length so they could disasemble what ever was not right, and replace it. ??
The video didn't show them replacing any rail, but we all have seen videos recently that didn't show the whole story.
BigDaddyThe video didn't show them replacing any rail, but we all have seen videos recently that didn't show the whole story.
No. that I didn't see rail replacement, but they were replacing the joint bars, or joiners, or fishplates, whatever term you want use, where it all connected to the diamond.
I was reading that it was not uncommon for a rail to shrink enough during extreme cold, that things can come apart.
Just my guess as to what they were doing.
mbinsewithey were replacing the joint bars, or joiners, or fishplates, whatever term you want use, where it all connected to the diamond.
What you are most likely referring to is a pull apart, which is quite common when very cold temperatures contract a section of ribonrail. The bolts pop out of the splice bars (joint bars) and the rail contracts leaving a rail gap. Trackmen correct this by heating the offending rail with a length of rope soaked with kerosene, and guide the rail back into the proper location in the splice bar, then replace the bolts. This is more common with ribbon rail, versus stick rail which is only 39 ft or 78 ft per section.
BTW: Fish plates are the plates that the web (wide part) of the rail rests on the ties. This is where the spikes are inserted.
Smudge pots, like modern switch heaters are used to keep the switch points from freezing in cold or icy weather.
None of this is new, but has been going on for over a century. Just that some of this process has been updated and modernized.
Jet blowers are jet engines mounted on track cars and are used to blow out switches in yards. They are still in common use. They are not used in some areas, because in addition to snow, they will blow away ballast and anything else fastened.
Boris
wojosa31BTW: Fish plates are the plates that the web (wide part) of the rail rests on the ties. This is where the spikes are inserted.
Well thanks Boris. Someone in a previous post on this thread mentioned I could call them fish plates, so that's why I included it in the list of possibble terminology.
I watch the CN on what they call the Waukesha Sub, here in SE WI. and they have the gas fired switch heaters, with the duct work.
I'm not sure why this works when it gets cold after the fire goes out, but here is more fire.
What is happening in that picture is there is some sort of rail/track defect they are repairing. There is a welder's hi-rail truck on the tracks ahead of the fire.
Either a joint stripped out or a weld failed (pull apart). In most cases that's because there was a defect in the track component (bad weld, contamination in the weld, defects in the rail, cracks in the rail, weld, joint bars, bolts.). The cold weather shrank the rail and put the rail in tension. The rail anchors weren't enough to hold it against the tension and the rail/component failed at the defect.
When that happened the rail wasn't constrained and the tension caused the rails to "shorten". At the defect there was now a gap between the rails. For small gaps there is a hydraulic device that will pull the rails together. Since it is so cold, that would exceed the capacity of those machines.
They remove the anchors, allowing the rail to move more freely, heat up the rail, causing it to expand (actually what they are doing is more getting the rail closer to "normal" length). That closes up the gap. They will then shoot a new weld or replace the joint bars or bolts in the rail while its warm.
They replace the rail anchors in the correct pattern. After the rail cools the rail reverts to being in tension, but because they have removed the defective part of the rail, the defective weld or the defective bolts or bars, the rails withstand the tension fine and everything is back to normal.
Thanks Dave, any idea how big a piece they remove?
BigDaddy Thanks Dave, any idea how big a piece they remove?
I recall track people around here refering to a repair rail as a "plug rail". Could be a regional term used. I also recall reading about a wreck that occurred very close to me back in 2007 that was attributed to an improperly installed plug rail. Here's a summary of that investigation that is interesting reading about the use of repair sections, compromise joint bars and proper drilling of joints:
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAB0902.pdf
Regards, Ed