Quick question. Last week the BNSF couldn't get their switch to our spur open due to ice in the switch. How is that normally remedied? Is it just a matter using an industrial strength propane torch (flame thrower?) to thaw things out? Bonus: BNSF sent a big snowplow through last week. I haven’t seen one of those on the line in years. Is it summer yet?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Yes, they have many things in their arsenal. Switch brooms often have a metal end on the handle that can be used to chip ice from between the stock and closure rails if the bristles aren't up to the task. Next is the propane torch to melt the ice. Some railroads have fire rope or snake that they lay next to the rail and light it up. (the use of this caused some sphincter puckering in Chicago a while ago)
In yards subject to heavy snow, they might have a snow fighter that is essentially a jet engine mounted on rail wheels. It directs the warm, fast moving air down between the rails to melt/blow ice/snow out of track switches. I doubt they have something like that in your neck of the woods.
The normal means of freeing a snowed in switch is a 'industrial strength trackman' with a switch broom and the muscle power to operate it. The time honored means opening up frozen switches.
When it comes to combating winter weather on the railroad the answer reamins manpower in mass quantities.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The Pennsylvania Railroad used "snow melting oil" (something like kerosene). I never saw it done, but I believe it involved dripping burning oil on the affected parts. Here's a link to a standard plan for the cans (note the 3" long asbestos wick!):
http://prr.railfan.net/standards/standards.cgi?plan=70931-B&sortby=1
- PDN.
The "rope" is used for track work, not for keeping switches open. Those are gas heaters, and that's what caused the accusation of "setting fire to the tracks" this year. Now Chicago knows all about that...until next year.Norris, in the earlier days we had kerosene-filled torches that would be placed under the points (construction crews used a more spherical version of these at one time). They'd usually stay lit until intentionally extinguished with the cover that was attached. But for a severe snowfall, be ready with that stiff, spiked broom. Dig out the area between the ties that contain the throw rod, and chip any ice off the points, then sweep snow away from all movable areas of the points. Disclaimer: I never had to do this in my job--we had lights in the tower that would tell us (by their failure to illiminate) that the switch points were fouled and not closing properly. This was magically cured by pushing a button that summoned a signal maintainer.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Quoting Carl--" This was magically cured by pushing a button that summoned a signal maintainer."
It's well that I had finished my breakfast before reading this.
Johnny
I've seen switches so iced up that the switch broom was useless. MOW had to get out the pickaxe and start chipping away. Usually that bad of icing is caused by melting and refreezing and usually at rural switches that don't get regular MOW attention when it snows.
Jeff
Deggesty Quoting Carl--" This was magically cured by pushing a button that summoned a signal maintainer." It's well that I had finsihed my breakfast before reading this.
It's well that I had finsihed my breakfast before reading this.
CShaveRR Deggesty Quoting Carl--" This was magically cured by pushing a button that summoned a signal maintainer." It's well that I had finsihed my breakfast before reading this. As long as you weren't in danger of losing it!On the really bad days, they had extra help, and we'd have to prioritize the switches that needed attention.And, addressing Jeff's comment, before a rebuilding of the yard in the late 1970s (financed with the same "4R" money that started the rehabilitation of the east-west main line), nearly all of the switches had pools of water in the vicinity of the throw rods. The solution? Anti-freeze! I kid you not!
As long as you weren't in danger of losing it!On the really bad days, they had extra help, and we'd have to prioritize the switches that needed attention.And, addressing Jeff's comment, before a rebuilding of the yard in the late 1970s (financed with the same "4R" money that started the rehabilitation of the east-west main line), nearly all of the switches had pools of water in the vicinity of the throw rods. The solution? Anti-freeze! I kid you not!
jeffhergertI've seen switches so iced up that the switch broom was useless. MOW had to get out the pickaxe and start chipping away. Usually that bad of icing is caused by melting and refreezing and usually at rural switches that don't get regular MOW attention when it snows.
Or when there is considerable snow in the points, you get guys that just try to throw the switch instead of sweeping it out first (when the snow is still fresh and fluffy-like). So when the switch won't latch, they have to now chisel out the white concrete they just created.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Jet engines work too. Saw one in summer storage on a UP MOW track in St Paul MN a few years ago. Found a video of one of CN's out working. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AgfPXH0I2I
zugmannSo when the switch won't latch, they have to now chisel out the white concrete they just created.
Yep. Who knew snow could pack that hard?
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/fires-lit-chicago-commuter-rail-tracks-keep-trains-running
REcall: It was just a few weks back, when the 'news' was full of photos like this short clip from Chicago METRA's tracks! Looked like the devil had gone up North, instead of 'down to Georgia'.
BaltACDWhen it comes to combating winter weather on the railroad the answer reamins manpower in mass quantities.
CShaveRRThe solution? Anti-freeze! I kid you not!
jeffhergertUsually that bad of icing is caused by melting and refreezing
A few posts above, Carl mentinoed kerosene-filled torches. The ones I'm familiar with were about the size of a shoebox, but maybe only half as wide and a little shallower. At one end was an opening and a wick, something like 1" size. They would be tucked betwen the switch timbers under the rails. But they would need someone to monitor and refill them fairly often - at least daily, maybe more frequently. Here's a link to one still being sold today for a mere $266 - says it'll go 96 hrs. between fillings:
https://www.aldonco.com/store/p/326-Kerosene-Switch-Heater.aspx
Do a Google Image search for "railroad track kerosene heater" will yield many photos of the "tracks on fire" and similar methods.
Check out this machine from Switzerland in 1968:
https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/8iirr5/using_flamethrowers_to_defrost_railroad_switches/
Aside from flames, other kinds of switch heaters in common use today are electric resistance elements under the rails, and hot air blowers from a trackside heater (burner/ furnace). There are several supply companies that sell these routinely. Not as dramatic, though.
If the slide plates under the switch rails are 'properly' - i.e., heavily - lubricated with grease or oil, the ice won't stick to them too much, and it can be broken off relatively easily. The same is true about the web and base of the stock rail where the point sits, but that area is less commonly lubricated as heavily.
A standard tool for the MOW people is a square-nose shovel that's been cut down to about 6" wide - long and narrow. It's good for getting into the 'cribs' - the space between the switch timbers - and the narrow area behind and between the points and the stock rail. However, it's only good for snow and moderate ice - when frozen solid, either a pick or lining bar - 5' to 6' long, about 20 lbs. with a pointed chisel end - is the tool to use. Also, the lining bar or a pick is the only tool that will work in the cribs where the throw and other switch rods between the points are - too narrow there for the shovel I described.
zardoz jeffhergert Usually that bad of icing is caused by melting and refreezing Like when they use the trackcart-mounted jet to (temporarily) melt the snow?
jeffhergert Usually that bad of icing is caused by melting and refreezing
Like when they use the trackcart-mounted jet to (temporarily) melt the snow?
No, when used properly, the jet doesn't just melt the snow (which as you say would lead to ice). It evaporates it. Very effective, but consumes a ridiculous amount of fuel.
Permanently-installed hot-air blowers are equally effective in the long term. Sometimes they can't keep up in a really bad blizzard but they will generally catch up. They take up enough space that they're not practical in a crowded yard (or in some of Metra's more complicated interlocking), but they're standard on critical mainline switches in the upper Midwest. At $50 -$100k installed, you won't see them on every switch into every customer and back track.
In a yard, where you can't have little drainage channels running all over the place (tripping hazard for people walking around in the dark), the worst situation isn't a blizzard. It's maple syrup weather in the springtime, when daytime temps are in the 30's or 40's and overnight lows are in the 10's and 20's. Snow melts in the day, gets caught in the low spots where the rods are, and freezes overnight. With the level of manpower available (and affordable) these days it's just not practical to re-clean every switch every day. So you prioritize based on which are the most critical switches for the movements that have to happen right now, work long hours, leave some calcium chloride sprinkled behind you (even though it corrodes the moving parts and shortens asset life), and hope that the temperatures move out of that range before the whole railroad falls apart. Typically this might last for 1-2 weeks at a time, sometimes once per spring, sometimes twice. That's when you really get into chipping away at ice, as opposed to shoveling or leaf-blowering away at snow.
And then from there, some years you go right into flood season.
After that comes mud season, when the frost in the ground thaws and saturates the roadbed.
And then suddenly it's summer and you've got 6 months to get all your capital work done before you have to start preparing for the next winter.
Dan
zardoz CShaveRR The solution? Anti-freeze! I kid you not! Carl, was that the same pink stuff they used to put in the brakepipe lines to reduce inline freezing?
CShaveRR The solution? Anti-freeze! I kid you not!
Carl, was that the same pink stuff they used to put in the brakepipe lines to reduce inline freezing?
No...it was the same kind you'd put into your car's radiator, and probably bought at the same place(s).
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