Flange-Bearing Frogs - Seminar Presentation by BNSF on Fri., 14 May 2010 at 12:00 Central at Univ. of Ill. and by 'Dial-In'

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

 This came to my e-mail box from Diana Marek, Asst. Director at the Northwestern University Transportation Center, which I posted about last week as the "Hagestad Sandhouse Gang" - note that the message specifically requests forwarding to others who may be interested, so I believe I'm on safe ground copying and posting it here. 

Apparently the cooperation and good-will among these institutions is good enough to share each other's publicity.  Although, NWU seems more economics and business-oriented, whereas UI seems more technical, so perhaps there's not much of an overlap or rivalry.  At any rate, this is another benefit of signing up for the NWU TC's e-mail list. 

I'll start another thread later today with a more general link to the U of I's railroad engineering program and the interesting materials that are available 'on-line' from it.

I don't know Mr. Armstrong, but his credentials are impressive enough.  I anticipate this will be very worthwhile for those few of us here who are interested in such things.  

- Paul North.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***The William W. Hay Railroad Engineering Seminar Series***

Sponsored by Norfolk Southern Corporation

at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Friday - 14 May 2010

Dial-in Option Available

Complete Information Below

Please forward this message to others who may be interested

Speaker: Michael N. Armstrong

        General Director - Maintenance Planning

        BNSF Railway

Title:  Flange-bearing Frog Technology: Experience and Future Plans on the BNSF Railway

Location: Grainger Engineering Library - 2nd Floor - Commons Room 233

        University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Date & Time: Friday,  14 May 2010  at 12:00 Noon (Central Time)

 

Note: lunch and refreshments will be available in the adjacent rooms, 229 & 231 before the seminar, beginning at 11:30.  Please be advised that food and drink are not permitted in the Commons Room itself.

DIAL-IN OPTION FOR OFF-CAMPUS PARTICIPANTS - If you cannot attend the seminar in person but would like to participate, you may download the PowerPoint presentation file and participate by telephone.  The dial-in Telecon Number is [phone] and will be active from 12:00 noon until 2:30 PM Central Time (seminar usually begins about 12:15 or so) and the ppt file will be available for download at: http://ict.illinois.edu/railroad/CEE/seminar.asp shortly before the seminar begins.  Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits are also available to seminar participants, please contact Kim Hagemann <[e-mail]> regarding these.

Dial-in participants: PLEASE NOT PUT YOUR PHONE ON HOLD WHILE CONNECTED TO TELECON.

Doing so disrupts the seminar for all the other phone-in participants and the UIUC audience.

Mute is OK and encouraged when not asking the speaker a question.

****************************************

As North American freight car wheel loads continue to increase, railway-engineering personnel have recognized numerous benefits stemming from the reduction of wheel impact loads on track appliances such as rail joints, turnout frogs, and railroad crossing frogs.  Never before has there been a greater need for managing these impact loads given the axle loads and accumulated tonnage that principal North American rail corridors carry today.  Many design and process improvements aimed at minimizing or eliminating these impacts have been developed.  While there are a number of success stories, there remain numerous opportunities for further improvements in the area of wheel / rail impact reduction, especially with railroad crossing frogs.

The use of flange-bearing technology as a solution for reducing wheel / rail impacts is not a new idea in rail transportation.  Flange-bearing trackwork has been used for over a century throughout the world, especially in conjunction with light rail infrastructure.  However, until the past few years there was limited application of flange bearing technology in the heavy-axle load operating environment characteristic of North American Class I freight railroads.  This presentation will provide an overview of some of the current research and testing of this technology on the Class I railroads, including BNSF's full flange bearing crossing in Moorhead, Minnesota.  The presentation will also include a discussion of where future flange-bearing technology is headed in the North American freight railroad industry.

Michael Armstrong completed his bachelors degree in civil engineering at Iowa State University.  He has worked for the BNSF Railway and its predecessor railroads for 31 years, starting as a Corporate Management Trainee in the Burlington Northern Engineering Department in 1979.  He was rapidly promoted to positions of increasing responsibility including Roadmaster, Director of Engineering Maintenance, Assistance Vice President and Chief Engineer System, before assuming his current position as General Director of Maintenance Planning - System Engineering.  In this position he has responsibility for development of track standards, track geometry testing, vegetation control, track material distribution, engineering safety & rules, engineering policies, and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) related engineering matters.  Mr. Armstrong served on the Board of Directors of the American Railway Engineering Association (AREA) and as Director of the Passenger & Transit functional group for AREA's successor, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA).  He became Senior Vice President of AREMA in 2000 and was AREMA President in 2001-2002.  He is currently Chairman of the Engineering Research Committee (ERC) of the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

****************************************

The University of Illinois, William W. Hay Railroad Engineering Seminar Series is sponsored by Norfolk Southern Corporation.  Seminars are held on an approximately bi-weekly basis, generally Fridays at noon.  They are open to all including students, faculty, staff, railroad industry and government professionals, and all interested  members of the community.  Students, both undergrad and grad, are especially welcome and encouraged to attend.

 

A complete listing of the current (and past) seminar schedule can be found at: http://ict.illinois.edu/railroad/CEE/seminar.asp

 

The Grainger Engineering Library is located between Wright and Mathews on Springfield Avenue in Urbana.  Visitors from off campus arriving by car may be able to find metered parking spaces along Springfield Avenue, or other nearby streets.  There are also some metered spaces in the University parking lot just east of the Grainger Library located on the south side of Springfield Ave, between Mathews & Goodwin Ave.

 

A map of the UIUC campus showing the location of Grainger Library can be found at: http://ict.illinois.edu/railroad/CEE/map.asp

 

Pizza and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 11:30 in Grainger Rooms 229 and 231, immediately adjacent to Room 233.

NOTE: food and drink are not permitted in the Commons Room itself, we request that you please honor the wishes of our hosts in Grainger Library.

 

We hope you can attend,  Chris Barkan, Riley Edwards, Kim Hagemann, Rapik Saat and Don Uzarski

 

If plan to attend, an RSVP to Kim Hagemann at <[e-mail]> by Thursday afternoon would be appreciated.

 

*** If you receive duplicate copies of this message, or wish to be removed from this distribution list please notify us at <[e-mail]>***

-- 

____________________________________________________________________
Christopher P.L. Barkan, PhD
Professor
Director - Railroad Engineering Program & AAR Affiliated Laboratory
George Krambles Faculty Fellow
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1203 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, MC-250
205 N. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL  61801

Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]

E-Mail:  [e-mail]

http://ict.illinois.edu/railroad/
____________________________________________________________________