Rail grinding removes corrugating and restores the rail to the correct profile after many ton miles of wear. It doesn’t roughen up the rail for better adhesion.
@@timkis64 no the increased rolling resistance can significantly eat up at fuel costs. Many modern train wheels have a surface area smaller than a dime. It’s cheaper to have a sand blaster on the train and to dump sand as needed when traction is limited.
@@timkis64 also making the rail head rough, would be counterintuitive, it would also increase repair costs, and the wheel sets would need to be replaced due to damage. In this case, it's not the same as when we try to pick up a box and our hands slip, then we lightly wet them or put on gloves for better grip.
I've worked for 2 different manufacturing companies that build equipment for Loram (and many others). It's always satisfying to see the stuff you've help create in action all around the world. The company I work for now just built 4 legacy rail grinders for Loram this past year. Keep on filming this kind of stuff, there are people who enjoy it
That thing just passed my house two days ago in California. They have to follow it with firetrucks and firemen on foot here that put fires out as it moves. (and it moves a lot slower here)
Yes!!!!! It was out here on the bnsf line in Yorba linda/placentia on orangethorpe rd.... I was like wtf is that. Got to walk up close to see it when they stopped.
Yes that was RG408. I work on the sister train the RG410. It would’ve been us coming through there but we switched up routes this year although both machines met up and shutdown and started up in Yermo. I have no idea where 408 is but we’ve made it across Nevada, went to Denver and now headed to Salt Lake City. I will give this warning though. If you do happen to see one of these machines grinding, please stay back. The stones that are touching the rail are 25lbs each and are spinning at close to 3700rpm. If one flies off and hits you, well you know the rest.
Well over time and a lot of trains, the rails get worn down to where they become smooth. The rail grinder grinds the rails and makes them rough for better traction for the locomotives.
The smoother the rail the more traction there is. The reason the rails are ground is because the top surface becomes hardened due to the weight rolling over it constantly. This hardened layer needs to be removed or it will start cracking
Complete newbie to rail here, what is harder the track or the train wheels? I have this vision of hard steel wheels forming an indentation in the track at the contact point and this indentation travelling all along the track at the contact point when the train is moving-would that be correct?
@@evanleebodiestrains weigh a lot. Locomotives can weigh in over 300,000 lbs. Freight cars can get up around 280,000. All that rolling over and over hardens the rail head that a hacksaw can’t scratch it. On two-track mainlines, most of the traffic is one direction one particular track. Simply walking across one of these tracks at a crossing, and there is a definite pattern to the way the rail hardens and wears. Also, you have a powerful locomotive pulling, and the wheels are dragging the track backward, while the rest of the train is steamrolling it forward. You can’t see it, but the action to the track on the molecular level becomes evident. That hardness can also cause the rail to crack. Along with the rail grinding, Sperry has defect detectors that will do inspections of track. Magnetic and electrical resistance can see inside a rail where a track inspector can only see defects that are detectable from a visual perspective.
I work next to Humboldt switch yard in Minneapolis they're there quite often sometimes for days on end it's crazy how much you need to maintain the tracks
They run on predictors. This area looks like it has double gates, probably a “no horn” zone. The gates predict when the train is coming and are to be down WITHIN 30 seconds of the train arriving to the island (the road). In this case, you’re seeing the second set of gates (that block the “other side of the road”) come down as the train arrived. Plus because it’s moving slower, it doesn’t need to be down as far in advance.
I don’t know if anyone can answer this dumb question , why don’t we have anything like this reconditioning our train tracks here in Windsor Ontario Canada? I have lived by many train tracks and never seen anything like this,
Yes we have machines that grind on CP. Not sure if exact locations since I’m in the states but a few of the guys I was in training went lived up there and went to the CP side to grind
Hey! I'm a worder on rail grinder 406. We grind down any imperfection that's on the rails like wheel burns and stuff like that. Makes the rails smooth and last longer
It must be one of the only areas of Springfield where they still have horn zone?? I thought Springfield Ohio is pretty much no horns on with those goofy electronic nonsense
@@Undar8ed03 what's that? You're speaking Aramaic, ginger, or something, cuz I can't understand the soulless when they speak. Yes. Yes You sold your soul lol. To be willing to jump through that many hoops just to do a job your great great grandpa did with a elementary level education. That's selling your soul 🤣 Railroads don't want good workers anymore, they want obedient workers. Congratulations, you're a yes man 😆
Oof. When someone who's never worked in the industry sounds like someone who worked in the industry.... oof No I never worked for Loram because I am not in the market for selling my soul. Between moving to BFE flyover country just to "train" some pun intended. To have to have availability 365 and be willing to travel 365 lol. So applicants must not have family or must have family they hate, to apply. Sorry if you want to see your kids grow up, sorry if you wanted to make sure your wife isn't banging the neighbor that's actually around all the time. Loram is a joke. Their business culture is toxic. Only lifeless, soulless worker drones need apply 🤣