Yards and industrial tracks often were surfaced with cinders. (byproduct of dumping the ash at the end of the day when we still had steam engines) ... There are still massive windrows of cinders on the NE side of Pueblo Yard over this.
Those cinders are massively abrasive and a major pain when they get fouled with mud.
mudchickenYards and industrial tracks often were surfaced with cinders. (byproduct of dumping the ash at the end of the day when we still had steam engines) ... There are still massive windrows of cinders on the NE side of Pueblo Yard over this. Those cinders are massively abrasive and a major pain when they get fouled with mud.
During my time in Pennsylvania - Winter snow treatments consited mostly of cinders and sand - one never got to see highways in 'pristine' white once the road crews made a pass - just ugly black. Totally in keeping with the dreariness of the Winter season.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Sure are a lot easier on the ol' body when walking/working there compared to the ballast that is the go-to answer anymore.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
We still have parts of the yard where cinder deposits are visible.
They haven't bought finer walking ballast in about 20 years.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
There are still a few sections of the Adirondack Division that have cinders. That will be somewhat alleviated when more ballast is dropped this spring, but I don't think they are going to dig the cinders out, so they'll still be a part of the roadbed.
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...
The use of fines (screenings/waste) pretty muck ended when the orders came down ending mounting/dismounting moving equipment. Ballast anymore is there for drainage purposes only, and the smallest out there is chips (3/4" crushed hard rocks), then yard ballast 1-1/2" and then main track ballast 3-1/2" or less. Compound that with the obsession with automatic/GPS unit ballast trains and the doing away with loose car ballast supply. Mechanical forces never maintained the ballast hoppers or airdumps anyhow. They were not revenue cars. Now the other shoe has dropped where there is an extreme shortage of air-dumps and ballast hoppers to a lesser degree. The next time you see a corporate financial bubba or those that defer to the Wall Street Trash(fast buck artists), slap them around a little. Their bad judgement is the source of your griping.
In the meantime, quit running around in flip flops and tennis shoes.
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Something I've been kinda curious about for some time: How long do the soles of shoes (or boots) of workers in yards last?
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Mine usually last a couple years, but I also buy cheap ones. CN makes us use spikies in winter, and the screw-in ones are favoured. I'm not going to buy expensive Red Wings and then have to drill holes in the bottom.
They've been on a kick lately pulling people out of service for wearing rubber boots with steel toes (rig boots, Dunlops, etc), because we have a policy somewhere that says work boots must have laces.
Not gonna lie, I would probably wear lighter shoes in summer if we were allowed to. Steel toes won't stop wheels or couplers.......
A trackman's boots last about 3-4 months and get re-soled with Goodyear Vibram welts and toe caps at least twice before they have to be replaced with new uppers. The sharp ballast eventually cuts up the leather, especially working in loose ballast. (We're not kind to the steel toes either...we be switch kickers)
The lace-up rule is all about ankle support. (lessons learned the hard way decades ago)
mudchicken The lace-up rule is all about ankle support. (lessons learned the hard way decades ago)
With the passing of steam locomotives and the use of natural gas in many electrical generating plants I think that the supply of cinders is rapidly drying up. We used to have a coal furnace and had a couple buckets of cinders for road/alley use when it snowed. Have not had cinders at home nice the early '50s. Now it is a bag of sand.
Having grown up near steel mills, I always associated cinders with 1/2 inch to 1 inch chunks of slag.
ccltrainsWith the passing of steam locomotives and the use of natural gas in many electrical generating plants I think that the supply of cinders is rapidly drying up. We used to have a coal furnace and had a couple buckets of cinders for road/alley use when it snowed. Have not had cinders at home nice the early '50s. Now it is a bag of sand.
Yep, my folks had a coal fired steam boiler in the basement until the late fifties when Dad put in an oil burner. When the coal was chuted into the basement, mom hated the coal dust. In the winter, we had to haul the ashes out for a separate pick up by the village. Remember one time when someone forgot to close dampers and the fire got too hot and the pressure relief did its job. Dad at work, Mom was afraid to go down into the baseent and called the fire dept. Water was running off the walls. The "good old days" were not always good.
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