Many short lines are receiving grants to upgrade their tracks to 115 LB rail.
It is my understanding that 115 LB rail and the associated ties are required to support 286,000 LB loaded weight rail cars. (286K)
Is that a correct understanding?
Then one more question - assuming the ballast, ties and bridges are in proper working order, for freight trains loaded to 286k per cr, is there a top speed for 115 LB track, such as Class 3?
Or does the weight of rail not necessarily impact the class of track, but just the weight of the cars that can be operated on the track?
Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can share.
It depends on what you mean by required.
Last time I looked there is no correlation between FRA track class and rail weight. Tranck class varries with number of good ties per 39 foot rail and at joints, and line and surface. You can have class III or IV track with 90 pound jointed rail, but the surfacing costs will eat you up, you will have lots of internal defects which if undetected will cause the rail to fracture, and replacement rail, joint bars and tie plates will be very expensive if you have to buy them.
The issue is both engineering and economic.
115# rail has much greater beam strength, because of the taller web, than does 85 or 90#, so it will spread the weight of wheels and/or trucks over more ties, reducing stress on ties and on ballast.
Economically there will be much less routine maintenance, especially if it is welded. In addition, modern controlled cooled rail has far fewer internal defects than older non cc rail. With 115# on a short line or low traffic branch you are making a capital investment to reduce maintenance cost, and wreck risk/cost that you would have with lighter rail.
If you have bad track with 85 or 90# rail odds are you need many new ties to support the new rail, then at least one surfacing pass, then you can put your new rail on. If you slap new 115# rail on track with many bad ties and poor ballast, you are just going to surface bend it in a few years. Track is a system. Rail is only part of it.
Mac
Thank you!
(1) 115# rail is the smallest commercially rolled steel out there any more. (an occassional run of 90# has been seen, but that is rare and usually reserved for the planing mill to keep turnouts alive (frogs and switch points))
(2) Plenty of places out there running 286 and 315 K with 90# or greater .... It's the number of cycles and deminishing (sp?) returns you get as the track modulus goes to mush. Your OTM and ties had better be good.
(3) Speed is a function of your geometry and your track surface under load.
I think when Amtrak used to be allowed 90 mph on AT&SF in Colorado some of that was on 115-lb rail. Probably still no rule against 115-lb rail being Class 5?
info I have shows 131# and 132# between KS State line and La Junta. La Junta to Trinidad shows 119# and 132#. Within La Junta station area there was some 136#.
Heck, we're running on 105 LB Dudley (undoubtedly relay, at that). But we aren't running capacity freight cars or 79 MPH, either.
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...
TimZ is probably confusing 115# with 119# (or its 122# Canadian cousin)....
There has not been anything less than 119# on the old ATSF northern transcon in over 50 years (passing sidings were a different issue w/ lighter rail and insufficient anchors) . The big headache on the line is the miles of the 131-132 jointed rail between Dodge City and Las Animas laid in the mid-1950's. (a bear to maintain and deal with joint memory / surface issues)
The Las Animas - Amarillo Boise City Sub main is almost all 49MPH dark territory on 119# welded rail that has performed reasonably well since it went in during the mid to late 1970's....for moving coal trains.
Does any of the old Pennsylvania RR 155# rail still exist?
The upgrade of the former Central Vermont and the ex-B&M Conn River line for the Vermonter done in 2013 was done with 115# rail. Where signals allow, 79 MPH is the MAS, and 286K cars are allowed.
mudchicken TimZ is probably confusing 115# with 119# (or its 122# Canadian cousin)....
When was that 122 lb stuff made, and where was it used? I've never seen any.
CN seems to have only used 85, 100, 115, 132 and 136 lb rail out here. Several branch lines still have 100 lb jointed rail dating from the late 1960s, which was installed when those lines were upgraded to handle SD40's and 263k cars.
In the early 1990s a couple shortlines out here got permission to run 286k cars on their existing 60 lb rail, at 10 mph of course. Those lines were also required to be inspected by track forces before and after each movement. None of them are left hauling freight today, they have all been abandoned (loose car grain traffic shifted to a few super elevators) or rebuilt with heavier rail. The sole surviving operating line is the Alberta Prairie Railway's 20 mile run between Stettler and Big Valley, AB, which sees summer tourist trains (including a Baldwin 2-8-0) running at 20 mph on the original 60 lb steel.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Electroliner 1935 Does any of the old Pennsylvania RR 155# rail still exist?
SD70: I believe that the 122 stuff was rolledstarting in the 60's and ending in the '90's....Bethlehem/ Lackawanna and DOFASCO/Dominion Steel rolled the stuff. Early on B&O/CSX tried it and was looking at it for important routes without that much tonnage (grafting a bigger ball of rail onto a lighter tee section for wear reasons that would sit in a six inch plate). Not sure where in Canada it caught on....would have to look at some old AREA bulletins to get an idea. Did not have buyers in the lower 48 when it came time to cascade used rail (different fishing than 115 or 119) ....one of my old bosses, a rail expert, always thought the stuff had a bum rap.
mudchickenThere has not been anything less than 119# on the old ATSF northern transcon in over 50 years
Last time I looked there was still some 155 PS in the Pennsylvania coal regions - Shamokin area. There was also some in the coal handling tracks of the former Phila. Elec. Co. Eddystone Generation Station, but since the thaw shed and car dumper appear to be gone - the track layout on the western and southern sides looks quite different, looks like an oil-only operation now - the 155 probably isn't there anymore either.
- PDN.
Lots of 155 on the old BLE in Pennsylvania, along with some on Amtrak NEC terminal double slip switches
Is most or all of the rail rolled in the United States or is some of it imported?
JPS1Is most or all of the rail rolled in the United States or is some of it imported?
In the 70's Chessie System was importing a lot of rail from Japan.
I think UP and a Japanese steel maker are having rail shipped and imported into the US in 480 foot rail lengths with a specially designed ship for transport across the Pacific Ocean.
Many of the US mills that produced rail have been closed.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Steel rail is still made in Pueblo, CO at the ex-CF&I mill. ArcelorMittal makes rail in Steelton, PA.
https://www.stld-cci.com/
From their web site, We also produce AREMA standard rail sections up to 320 feet in 115RE, 136RE and 141RE weights, while continuously-welded rail (CWR) strings can ship at lengths up to 1650 feet.
For Union Pacific, Nippon Steel of Japan and Sumitomo Metal Corp. are manufacturing and shipping high-strength, head-hardened continuous-cast rail in 480-foot-long sections in a special ship With access to long rail, only two welds are needed to create quarter-mile lengths, representing an 88 percent reduction in the number of welds. Sumitomo designed "Pacific Spike," the first ship in the world serving as a long rail shuttle for Union Pacific.
Ref: https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/long-rail-3-27-2015.htm
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.