North America mpk sasa jointed rail wanayo.
angalia wakiondoa outdated jointed rails! 👇👇
Rail Trains
May 12, 2020
Today’s railways use continuous welded rail (CWR) a lot instead of the traditional jointed rail. CWR or “ribbon rail” is a very, very long rail, often a quarter mile in length. CWR is preferred because it is strong and has no joints to sag or fail. Most wheel and track wear occurs at the rail joints, so with super long rails, there are very few joints. The traditional “clickety clack” of wheels over jointed rail is gone with CWR.
Most main lines in North America (and Europe) have a lot of CWR in them and in order to carry these super long rails, specialized rail trains have been developed. These rail trains have a number of cars with racks on them to hold the rails, with bulkheads at each end to prevent the rails from sliding out, and equipment to load or unload the rails.
Ribbon rail beside the tracks
CWR is often made by taking traditional 39′ rails and welding them end to end to form the quarter mile lengths. This is done at a factory and the rails are then transported to where they will be installed by rail trains, and dropped beside the tracks for later installation. Track gangs come in to swap rails out, and the used rails are then picked up by work trains (often rail trains).
May 9, 2020
Used rail train at mile 19, CN Rivers subdivision
I recently spotted this rail train stopped on the north track of the CN Rivers subdivision, just west of the mile 19 marker. I’m told this was a used rail train, picking up old CWR that was left on the side of the track. There were crew on the train itself, probably securing the load before the train could head out.
I thought about flying my drone to record the train, but I decided that it wasn’t a good idea because A) it was windy, and B) I didn’t want to bother the people working on the train. A drone buzzing around would be a distraction and I didn’t want to distract the workers more than my quick picture taking was doing already.
CN 45117 on the end of the rail train
The end of the last car, CN 45117, had a big steel bulkhead to prevent any of those rails sticking out from sliding past the end of the car. I don’t know how the rails are secured in the train – if at all – but it would not do to have a quarter mile rail go sliding out of the end.
That train made me think of other rail trains I’ve seen…
August 21, 2002
Overhead view of empty rail train, CP Winnipeg yard
I was up on the Arlington Street bridge in Winnipeg in August 2002, during a family visit, and captured a few views of an empty rail train in the CP yard.
Empty rail train, Winnipeg
February 21, 2010
Parked rail train in Winnipeg yard
In February 2010 I was up on the Arlington Street bridge again in Winnipeg, taking some photos of the yard. I took a few photos of a parked rail train. Note how the rail superstructure is built on old hoppers.
Note the line of parked locomotives behind the rail train. There were about fifty locomotives there, mostly 9100 series SD90s that were later moved to behind the Weston shop buildings.
Keep those rails rolling
17, 2012
CN 6014 West – a rail train
On April 17, 2012 I caught CN 6014 leading a rail train west out of Winnipeg. I gave chase, because it was a rail train, and because it had two cabeese on the end!
Rail train with two cabooses
Rail caboose, er, “crew transporter” BCOL 1873 and Operation Lifesaver caboose CN 77014 were bringing up the rear.
You can read more in a
previous blog post about this train.
January 15, 2013
Rail train, January 15
On what looks like a brisk January afternoon, I photographed a west facing rail train just west of mile 10 of the Rivers subdivision. You can see an orange-clad worker atop the train in the photo above, so clearly they were stopped. Note the two empty bulkhead flats separating the rails from the locomotive.
I did my best to photograph some of the machinery at the other end. There’s a rail threaded through it. There must be some kind of motor there – note the muffler on top of the orange box – that drives some rollers to propel the rail through the mechanism as the train slowly pulls forward.
Closeup of rail train mechanism
Zoom out for a view of the rails being discharged from the train. There’s one on each side of the train.
Rails being discharged
April 4, 2015
Rail train passing the Rosser grain elevator
I came across a CP rail train heading west past the Viterra grain elevator near Rosser, Manitoba on a lovely April afternoon. CP 3085 was pulling the train solo. It seems like most rail trains only have one locomotive on them.
Canadian Pacific rail train
This train had rails on old gondolas – different than CN’s flatcars!
CP 420869 and the end of the rail train
“DANGER – KEEP AREA CLEAR WHILE RAIL IS IN MOTION”
September 20, 2015
CN 5429 heading up a train with rails…
was out with Tom Sajnovic on the morning of September 20, 2015, doing a little railfanning. We noticed that a train was getting ready to leave Winnipeg on the Sprague subdivision. This train had a load of rails on the head end, along with some general freight.
The photo above shows them leaving Symington Yard. This location is called “Navin” and is beside the
Tinkertown amusement park.
We ended up chasing it to Ste. Anne and photographing it again there. There are more photos
in my blog post.
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