RAIL GRINDING

[Anonymous]

BNSF boarders our property on the North and is about 75 feet from the front of our house and this is the main reason we baught the place.
We get 40-60 trains a day, two main lines, they call it the funnel.
Anyway we were wondering how many times the rails can be ground befor they have to be replaced, We have been here almost three years and see the
Loram Grinder go by three to four times a year.

Thanks for any info.

railwayray

LOVE THAT BNSF

[mudchicken]

Rail will continue to be ground until it becomes failure prone or is condemnable due to rail head loss. It will fail much faster if you do not grind it. 3-4 grinding trains a year is normal for high tonnage track and very,very little is ground off during these maintenance passes. (you are talking thousanths of an inch)

To answer your question: 3-4 decades.

[UPTRAIN]

I know it takes a long time...they replaced rail in 1998 and in 2004 in Dexter, Missouri though where the former Cotton Belt and Mo-Pac used to come together, a mother load of trains pound that each day.

[BaltACD]

The object of grinding is to give the rail the optimum contour profile as well as remove surface cracks and imperfections that can grow into catastrophic breaks if left undisturbed. Properly ground rail extends the life of rail and reduces the causes for brakage. The number of grinding trips is dependent upon the amount of tonnage that gets handled over the track..

If a line is being ground for the first time, the effort can take numerous passes of the grinding train to get the rail to the optimum contour. If the rail is being ground as a normal maintenance function then a single light pass usually is all that is needed.

Rail grinding is also a great fire starter as the sparks can go everywhere. Part of the rail grinding equipment are water cannon to extinguish fires, however, local fire departments will get a work out in areas where it has been dry for a while.

[Anonymous]

Just want to thank all of you for your educating me on this subject.
Have another question I should have asked but didn't think of til now.
The tracks curve gentle to the North from the Algoma grade crossing
to the Sagle (south end) of the mile long bridge across Lake Pend Oreille
into Sandpoint.
My question. Is there a reson why they always grind Eastbound and never Westbound?

Thanks again and God Bless.

railwayray

LOVE THAT BNSF

[mudchicken]

Does not really matter to the rail grinder. Probably has more to do with the routing of the Loram or Jackson/Jordan/Speno grinder on its normal rounds. Tonnage and rail wear is directional, but the grinder keeps the rail profile the same due to how the stones and grinding motors are set.