LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Squeeeeeeak. Squeeeeeeak. Wrummmmmmp. Wrummmp. Wrmpp. Pup. Pup. Pup.
"Not the squeak, it's the low frequency noise we're talking about," says one research engineer from a Class I railroad talking about the "wrummmmp." This engineer showed an audience at the 2014 Wheel-Rail Interaction conference a video from the point of view of a railroad spike. The video captured a loaded coal freight grinding uphill on a curve at about 10 mph. The wrummmmp, or low, rumbling, popping sound concerns the engineer who says it coincides with a spot on the rail in the video that looks like it was scuffed by railroad wheels.
Kevin Oldknow, an engineering Ph.D. who works for L.B. Foster and was presenting a course in wheel-rail fundamentals, whips out a laser-pointer and waves red light on a giant video screen where he thinks the source of the noise is and names a probable cause: "excessive creepage on the high rail." In layman's terms, the weight of the cars, the curve, the grade, and the condition of the track in the location of the video enabled freight car wheels to scrub against the rail, or creep, faster than the train is moving, but only slightly. This damaged the rail.
Welcome to the heart of wheel-rail interaction. The Sherlock Holmes-like deduction from noises that are typical of railroading and trains throughout North America is exactly the activity engineers must learn to make and understand to improve their railroads. In addition to a video review, attendees to the "fundamentals" course also got refresher lessons in geometry, trigonometry, metallurgy, and vocabulary that includes such colorful or clinical terms as "double-stack growl," "creepage," "plastic deformation," "super evelvation," and "rolling contact fatigue." And all that just in the first 90 minutes of Day 2 of a four-day conference.
Wheel-Rail Interaction organizers say today's courses are designed for younger engineers or those coming from other parts of the rail industry and who've had little training in wheel-rail forces. And if the fundamentals course wasn't clear about how important wheels and rails are, there are six more sessions today, just on the basics.
What's next on Day 3?: HEAVY HAUL RAILROADING
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