welding the railway line

[unioniw111]

you guys should try welding them with an arc welder union iron workers do on overhead crane rail

[AlvinAZ]

Cool nice shot of the pre-heating of the molds and rail-ends also the pour. Heck to the eye in full sun is looks 2 inches in diameter, with goggles it's a measly 1/4" at best. :)

Retired SP signal-ape in AZ

[gt102simon]

This vid is now dated and the thermit SUC is the only way to weld..LOL

[laylafromswansea]

How much can you expect to get paid for this type of work?

[aidyh1]

for our firm around £25000a year

[sammythesnake1986]

what qualifications do you need?

[walluvsrum22]

I am a welder 4 the railway & there is 2 types of welding (SKVF)thermit and Butaye(one shot),The one shotis easier but the thermit has less defects

[maskedman1218]

i work on the railway and there are 2 way to weld rails

[1961sd]

Thermite is the ONLY way on the main line!

[granudisimo]

You´ll probably need something like a kamehame welding machine if you want to weld a railway line with just an arc, today there´s only one way to weld that fat bastard piece of steel and it´s in that video.

[deltaalpha21074]

Goddam CSX or subconractor what size Torch are you guys using????Damn switch head on tha txy/acetleyne got some 1" and 2" scrap that needs to be cut....Whoa

seen torches like that only down at Bethlehem STeel and scrap...Oxy/Propane two ft long damn.

[dylwills75]

Very impressive where was this done?

[84dixienormus84]

Joeey stop commenting and go play with ur 3rd grade sized dick....how the fuk can u turn welding with thermite into a 9/11 bashing thread....fuking n00b people like u should have been in that building when it collapsed

[carlocardillo]

lovely stuff,mig welding is really only for high speed welding as in production,low cost etc.tig is for stainless steel steel or alloy etc.arc is well almost outdated but still used.

[vf4000]

First, if arc welding was stronger, they wouldn't take the chance of a broken rail and potentially fatal derailment (duh!). Second, I can't believe the morons in this video aren't wearing safety glasses, face shields, or gloves. By the web clips, I can see this is not an American railroad.

[sekhui]

all you people saying they should arc weld this stuff are complete n00bs. ^^

[tonyppe]

is that the fat controller in the vid there?

[Joeey]

this is how you do 9/11

[kkbose]

why this type of welding why not arc,mig some say this is old what is newer technique

[aidyh1]

this is thermit cast welding very strong

[imsabbel]

Thermite welding can be done at place, with very little equipment (can be transported in a small car).

And its hot enough to completely remeld both endpieces, getting a really strong weld (in fact it shouldnt be distinguishable from a single piece).

[tonyppe]

arc wouldnt be strong enough to hold the train, it would just fracture and snap. tig is the next compared to arc, so wouldnt be any good. mig is like solder compared to this stuff in the vid!

[Hjefv]

tig is an "arc process" and many wire feeds have a higher tensile strength than the more common rods.

[blazerblast]

most amazing

[vmelkon]

Why weld the tracks? I though they are suppose to leave some space between the metal sections for expansion and contraction to occur, as weather changes.

[aidyh1]

we weld the tracks for a smoother ride for the passengers as there are no joints and less maintainance for us as the joinbts get a lot of hammering off the trains and need constant attention. were you get welded sections we fit breathers 2 miles apart thats were the contraction and expansion occurs

[gmiles0]

Do you not stress track rather than having breathers every two miles? I thought that the max distance between breathers was 270 meters, hence the 135m anchor when stressing?

[therealdjflip]

yes they do still use it, they are using it atm where i am from to weld tram track togeather for the extension from the current terminus to the new one

[1cooley]

This appears to be a thermite weld. Fascinating, what is the date of this video? I didn't realize this technique was still in use.

[aidyh1]

i made the video earlier this year (2007) yes its thermite welding preparing the job takes most of the time getting the rails level they then prepare the cast fill any holes with a special sand heat up the cast to harden the sand heat up the pot which the thermite is pord into then poor the mix in light the sparkler it then pours into the cast it is left for ten min to cool a bit exess is knocked off and then ground with a rail mounted grinder i will do some more when i can