Railroad On Track Equipment Explained
Vložit
- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Well..SOME of the on track equipment! If you've ever seen the huge clouds of dust kicked up by equipment working on the tracks, one of these machines were probably working.
Like automobiles, these have been around a long time but have advanced quite a bit over the years.
I'd never seen the Shoulder Ballast Cleaner work before (I'd never even seen one at all!) and it was pretty impressive. The Ballast Distribution System never left Tehachapi.
I hope this clears up some of the questions some of you may have about these behemoths you see out there.
The term C.A.T.S. Is the acronym for Continuous Action Tamping System. It’s a unique system of Plasser. The difference is the tamper is moving on the track continuously. When the tamping tools plunge into the ballast and squeeze/vibrate the ballast under a given tie, the tamping head then hydraulically slides or shuttles along rails inside the machine to keep up with the speed the tamper is traveling.
The Harsco tamper seen last of three in your walk by, is not a CAT tamper. So when the tamping tools plunge into the ballast to do their work, the machine stops, until the tamping cycle is complete. Then the tampers are retracted and the operator drives forward to the next tie. Start - stop - start - stop…
The CAT system is a higher production rate.
On the Plasser machines, the track level and alignment is controlled by a mechanical wire system. One wire at the top of the machine for each rail is pulled taught from the front to the back of the machine. The machine grabs both rails and physically lifts the rails and ties together, until a feeler, senses the level reference of those two wires. Then the ballast is packed in under the tie, to support the rail and ties once’s released. Basically smoothing the track, but still allowing the whole thing to follow vertical curves (hills & valleys) as the track goes cross the countryside.
In the same lifting and tamping motion, the alignment of the track is performed by the same clamps that lifts the track. The hydraulics shift the rail/tie assembly side to side to align with a third wire down low on the machine. The operator calibrates the machine to align one of the rails to the wire reference and the other rail comes along for the ride, as it is attached mechanically to the same tie at the predetermined gauge or width of the track.
The Harso machine has a very similar leveling and alignment process, except instead of a mechanical wire reference system, Harsco user incandescent lights. Three lights on the front of the machine, shine back to sensors on the back - like the wire system, 2 for lift and 1 for line. The tamping head has shadow boards for all three lights, that block the light when the tamping head is in line with the light/sensor system.
Basically the wires and the lights give the machine a straight line, the length of the machine, to smooth the track elevation and alignment.
All three of those machines were also equipped with a laser lining system. The laser extends the lining chord (reference) from the length of the machine (roughly 100 to 200 feet), way out to 1,000 feet or more. This allows for much longer mis-alignments to be corrected. Or you can guide the track into a fixed object, like a road, bridge or a switch from a much longer distance. This provides a much smoother transition to that fixed object.
The idea is to get the track as straight as possible. If there is any error in the alignment, the trucks or wheels of the train cars and their mass, at speed, will hunt back and fourth in the track, forcing the track even further out of alignment and causing the need for more frequent maintenance!
I’m retired now, but I was part of the team that invented that laser system and introduced it back in 1979. 43 years later and it’s still state of the art!!
CAT = Continuous Action Tamper. A 2:50 is track alignment mechanism and stabilizers. They vibrate the track and blast equivalent to 10 trains. This does away with the older practice of having to put slow orders on serviced track for a week and then have the surfacing machines come back and re tamp and align the track again. After this machine passes and blast is replaced, a second tamper makes the corrections in the track that is equivalent to the second visit.
Cat stands for continuous action tamper , the machine moves at continuous speed but only the center section starts and stops to tamp the ties . I was a foreman of a surfacing gang for many years. Designed in Austria they had a plant in Virginia state of the art equipment.
I absolutely love this stuff. Since i was a kid i wanted to work with trains, thinking driving them would be the most fun. But having grown up, i like the mechanical side better than the driving idea, and these are amazing. I see these various things off the side of the roads all the time, but never know what they are or how they work. Thanks for this!
My pleasure! Glad to offer some insight! Here is a link to a video that has the shoulder ballast cleaner in it. Pretty impressive! czcams.com/video/Fm7wspAJLXA/video.html Thanks for checking it out!
This Equipment Saves so many workers from going out on disability.
And it's MUCH faster!
Thank you for sharing! That is some impressive equipment!
I like watching these tampers work. Very cool! I can't imagine that this was ever done manually, but I am sure it was in the past. That would be backbreaking work :) The ballast cleaner is amazing! It is so cool that you took the time to do these educational videos! Thank you very much :)
Hey Mark! 40+ years ago, I travelled to Grand Island to deliver a truck load of laser systems! Somewhere there are videos shot by UPRR, of a much younger me, showing how to install and operate the laser systems! Ah… I miss the good old days! 😀
Excellent video Mark ! Thanks so much !
My pleasure! Thanks for checking it out!
That Bar on the top of the buggy on the dyna cat is actually just an indicator light for laser lining tangent track. It only indicates wether your laser receiver has caught up to the laser (adjusted your front light) and what direction it’s throwing it. No gauge or cross level can be seen from outside the cab.
Same for the Jackson , laser cart goes out 1k ft ahead and the light bar is only for sighting in laser and making sure it’s caught up.
Good video though , it’s nice getting an outside perspective , coming from the guy who operates tampers and is always getting pictures taken lol
Thanks for the heads up. I was trying to locate an operator at the time I did this but they were on their days off.
Thanks for checking it out!
Several years ago here in Colfax, CA I had opportunity to watch the machines you just videoed realigning track after a derailment in the middle of town. We had a ringside seat watching them picking up the pieces and repairing the track.
It's a pretty interesting procedure isn't it?
When I was small, not too many years had passed since the end of steam locomotives. A lot of the track ballasts in use at the time were cinder ballasts. Real dirty stuff apparently.
and it crumbled easily
Very informative
Wow, Mark this stuff is fascinating, totally love your vlogs and get an education in the interim.... Hope your doing well or better Cheers.
I'm doing very well! Thanks for asking and for checking it out!
Want you Mark to know.... truly enjoy these hikes, like following a Greek Sophist as he lectures in the natural environment.... these are highly effective tours. I'm motivated and I'm in my seventies... done with my career and ready to start a new one.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoy them. Since the channel has gotten so many subscribers, I've had a lot of requests for more "how it works" videos. Guess I'd better get to work!
Thanks for checking it out!
Very interesting! One thing I haven't seen in years is the "put-put". It was a one cylinder rail car that seated one or two men. They would go by after a couple of trains had passed and I think the guy would inspect the tracks for damage, wear, Etc. I can hear it now, put-put-put-put, down the tracks, oh, and the sound of the steel wheels on the steel tracks, which was actually louder than the single cylinder engine. We lived along the Seattle-Chicago tracks way out in the country and you could hear the train coming out of the mountains 8-10 miles away. Late 50's and 60's, before Amtrack. Anyway, do those put-put rail cars still operate?
The Hi-rail vehicles replaced the motorcars in the late 1980's. I actually got to ride on them a few times. It was actually pretty sketchy! Those things banged and bounced a lot!
Alot of interesting equipment
I have a cool video of the concrete tie gang loading up their train going up tomorrow!
That shoulder ballast cleaner is mighty slick. Very informative video. I didn't know the rails were lifted when they tamped...interesting
There is so much more to the RR than most folks realize and I love sharing it!
Thanks for checking it out!
The machine operator can either lift the track structure or not, as diected by the job specfications or the Maintenance Manager (nee Roadmaster). Lifting helps tamper tools to penetrate to a depth just beneath the tie rather than waste time and effort to press the ballast into a tie.
It is great how they recycle the tons of stones the side buckets were amazing to see in action.
are the stones screened to a size in those units as they separate fines from prime stones size ?
amazing equipment, just think they did it all by hand!
Many roads originally used cinders but they were easily pulverized. Gravel was used for a time until the larger, rough edged stuff we see today started being used. I don't know if you saw this video. It has a shoulder cleaner at work.
czcams.com/video/Fm7wspAJLXA/video.html
what i was wondering was does that unit size the rocks to maintain a size range? screened?
I see on the rails on site the stones are gray granite, i think No. 2 (2-in in size )
the maintained sides keeps the track from shifting , especially at turns.
keep the great job up doing the videos. The site has the tie locks in the curves,
for long straight sections like a class 1 RR are they used there too?
Awhile back someone asked if I could do a piece on ballast and I plan on it. I'm not conversant with the criteria for it so will have to do some research. I'll get that up after the first of the year.
The tamping tools vibrate and compact the ballasr around and under the tie. The primary purpose of ballast is for DRAINAGE. The three most important track components are drainage, Drainage and, finally, MORE DRAINAGE!
The Tamper machine lifts the rail (using the rollers shown or hydraulic clamps), alignes the rail (tangent or straight track), or (with an onboard computer) introduces a preset offset from tangent to the degree of curve for each increment from one tie to the next. It is fascinating to watch the machine lift, shift the track left (or right) to align it and then compact the ballast. Working in the curve, the tamper alao introduces the correct elevation.
One hopes the tamper NEVER does anything to the gauge!
Drainage is important but the primary purpose of ballast is to secure the track structure. Without it the ties and rail would have no lateral or longitudinal stability.
Thanks for checking it out!
How do the railroads account for rail expansion, especially in the the wide use of ribbon rail?
The only control is by having the rail located in the correct position for the amount of rail. I’ve seen it where the track was not on the correct corridor alignment and after alignment, the temps rose, heated up and “boing!” The whole section sprung out of alignment! Trains were slowed until a crew came out to fix the mess!
Do you have a video on rail grinders and how they work?
I do not. I have my connections watching out for them though and if ones is in the area I will do a piece on it!
Noticed some Ties were Wooden, others were Concrete. What’s Percentage moving to Concrete ?
many turnouts up there are still wood, especially the small spurs like this. Up the valley it's all still wood, at least between Bakersfield and Stockton
What's the difference between a 'ballast regulator", and a 'production regulator'?
I've never heard the term "production regulator". The big gangs are referred to as production gangs so maybe it's just a ballast regulator on a production gang?
Thanks for checking it out!
@@MarkClayMcGowan Thank you very much for your answer. Your concept seems logical to me. Greetings and thanks for sharing your knowledge!
You should know where the tampers are. They destroy your wiring. You should stick to what you know. Mostly not.
Tampers destroy nothing, their operators do. Our stuff is clearly marked. You should start your own channel and share your knowledge rather than dogging what others are trying to do.