Reguaging a Railroad

[The Count]

Hopefully not a repost
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFE8nmKp ... r_embedded[/youtube]

[Razi]

That's pretty awesome.

[Encryptshun]

WOW.

John Henry is not amused.

[Otto.]

Very cool. It's so interesting to watch.

[Jesda]

That first machine had a scary face. I expected narration from the Modern Marvels guy

[sbird1]

Very impressive machinery. I forwarded it to my Transportation Economics teacher from last semester.

[RCA]

the Modern Marvels guy

How awesome is he...

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I understand they are replacing the railroad ties, beyond that I don't understand what they are doing. What are the railroad ties made out of? Why don't have a machine like that here in the states... Oh wait, that would mean that the unions would actually get some work done on time. We need something like that for roads, then construction wouldn't take half as long as it does now.

[Dattebayo]

I understand they are replacing the railroad ties, beyond that I don't understand what they are doing. What are the railroad ties made out of? Why don't have a machine like that here in the states... Oh wait, that would mean that the unions would actually get some work done on time. We need something like that for roads, then construction wouldn't take half as long as it does now.

We do have machines like that. And Amtrak is no slouch when it comes to rail maintenance, just a little more spread out than most European companies would be.

Maybe check your facts out first before laying that opinion out there.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I understand they are replacing the railroad ties, beyond that I don't understand what they are doing. What are the railroad ties made out of? Why don't have a machine like that here in the states... Oh wait, that would mean that the unions would actually get some work done on time. We need something like that for roads, then construction wouldn't take half as long as it does now.

We do have machines like that. And Amtrak is no slouch when it comes to rail maintenance, just a little more spread out than most European companies would be.

Maybe check your facts out first before laying that opinion out there.

I never said Amtrack was a slouch with rail maintenance, I've seen their maintenamce trucks a lot since 30th Street Station in Philadelphia is a major Amtrack hub, I've just never seen any machines like that around, just guys out doing manual labor.

[Dattebayo]

You can only bring those machines in for the high-speed rails. The low speed ones have entirely different equipment.

[Bubba1]

I understand they are replacing the railroad ties, beyond that I don't understand what they are doing. What are the railroad ties made out of? Why don't have a machine like that here in the states... Oh wait, that would mean that the unions would actually get some work done on time. We need something like that for roads, then construction wouldn't take half as long as it does now.

You ask a lotta questions.

1. There's more to replacing the ties than switching them. For example, they have to be aligned precisely, attched to the tie plates, the ballast underneath be levelled and tamped to be able to support the weight evenly and not move, there also has to be tamped gravel between ties to help prevent shifting. A train track needs to support far more weight at a given moment than a truck.
2. Ties are usually made of either wood or concrete. Concrete tends to be used on commuter lines (like Amtrak northeast corridor). more expensive, but they last longer, and more uniform (smoother platform for tracks allows higher speeds).
3. Of course there are machines n this country that do the same thing here. And the union crews do the work very quickly for minimal disruptions of train service.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

3. Of course there are machines n this country that do the same thing here. And the union crews do the work very quickly for minimal disruptions of train service.

Again I've been all over this country and have never seen one personally so I didn't know, as far as the union workers, if the railroad guys could pass there work ethic over to roads and highway guys the traffic around here wouldn't be near as bad. (examples being the I=95 rejuvenation and whatever the hell they are doing on I476)

[Dattebayo]

3. Of course there are machines n this country that do the same thing here. And the union crews do the work very quickly for minimal disruptions of train service.

Again I've been all over this country and have never seen one personally so I didn't know, as far as the union workers, if the railroad guys could pass there work ethic over to roads and highway guys the traffic around here wouldn't be near as bad. (examples being the I=95 rejuvenation and whatever the hell they are doing on I476)

That's all well and good from a guy who doesn't have to work in the burning heat every day with no shade in sight. Lets' face it, unless you work a particular job or have extensive knowledge about it, you really shouldn't make any judgments.

[Jesda]

Around here, Amtrak doesnt do any track maintenance. Federal law requires cargo carriers to give free access to Amtrak, but Amtrak trains have to wait and allow cargo trains to pass. In bad circumstances, this can make an Amtrak train several hours late. Track quality is also inconsistent so speed and smoothness varies greatly from state to state.

[Dattebayo]

Vermont's rails are all privately owned or something, and they have the slowest rated rails in the country. I think it's something like 5 mph though parts of the south end...

[Bubba1]

Around here, Amtrak doesnt do any track maintenance. Federal law requires cargo carriers to give free access to Amtrak, but Amtrak trains have to wait and allow cargo trains to pass. In bad circumstances, this can make an Amtrak train several hours late. Track quality is also inconsistent so speed and smoothness varies greatly from state to state.

Correct and incorrect. Out in the midwest, AMTRAK runs on freight railroad owned tracks, who have to maintain those tracks to a certain standard, especially highly travelled main lines. The track quality might vary a bit depending on the freight railroad that owns the track,not the state the track is located in. It's a highly complex network operated on a tight schedule. If an AMTRAK train misses a scheduled window, they could have problems getting the time back. But you'll find many delays are not due to just slow freight trains finding a siding to get clear.
Common delays include weather, squished trespassers (more common than you think), scheduled track maintenance, grade crossing accidents (also very common), engine problems, (many trains have more than one engine depending on the payload and schedule), individual freightcar/flatcar problems that require cutting out of the train, and expiring crews (like truck drivers, train crews can legally work only so many consecutive hours per day).

St.Louis is more prone to delays than Chicago because several railroads run more single track in/out of there than double (2 sets)as compared to Chicago. Plus the Mississippi River has an annoying habit of flooding out bridges.

<old railroad employee

[TOMMY VERCETTI]

That is amazing!!! Looks like it would be so much safer for the workers. You have to wonder if American UNIONS would allow such productivity here?

[Dattebayo]

You have to wonder if American UNIONS would allow such productivity here?

That's OK. You don't have to read the thread or anything, lol.

[4cefed]

Vermont's rails are all privately owned or something, and they have the slowest rated rails in the country. I think it's something like 5 mph though parts of the south end...

Ever see the HILLS they have to go up and down around here? They move a little faster than 5, but not much. You'll see like 5 engines pulling about 30 cars. Probably not very fuel efficient around here.

[Dattebayo]

It's not the grade, it's the track quality tho. That was my point. This was told to me by the engineer at Brattleboro station...

[Bubba1]

It's not the grade, it's the track quality tho. That was my point. This was told to me by the engineer at Brattleboro station...

Correct, it's not the grade. It's also not likely on their main line. If it was, the speed restriction would probably be temporary. Slow orders are a common during track work/repairs or bad weather.

As info, privately owned Vermont Railway is considered a "short line". It has only a couple hundred miles of track, many of which are spurs to/from companies. They do run passenger service on some of their tracks.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

That's all well and good from a guy who doesn't have to work in the burning heat every day with no shade in sight. Lets' face it, unless you work a particular job or have extensive knowledge about it, you really shouldn't make any judgments.

Actually I work in the constructions trade, while I'm not outdoors on every job, I am outdoors a solid 80% of the time, and I have to leave for work an hour early to get to the shop on time because of the congestion caused by the road work on the Gerard Point Bridge, and the work on I 476 has made us late to a couple of job sites, not to mention the roads around here will literally eat your cars tires and suspension.

[SHIFT_COUPE]

And imagine, all this used to be done by hand.