Loram Rail Grinder

[kartwood]

Are they carrying extra fuel or water to put out fires or both? Great video! Thanks!

[fiddler04967]

@kartwood Yes

[johnnycan1990]

i work for loram back in 1990, and at that time they got $1200.00 USD a mile to grind, that was for conrail a the time,  it was RG19 too i think its RG319 now been soo long. the horn blow from approching train is just to macke sure u were clear of the live side of the machine from the passing train.

[fiddler04967]

@johnnycan1990 Thanks for the reply. Always good to get the info from a professional in the field!

[upfan2000]

Whats the Rail-Grinder for What does it do?... By that i mean Why do they grind it and how does it help?....

[Ryanhothersall]

Here in Australia, that would be the bushfire express.

[WorldOfNothin]

I've had the pleasure of seeing this twice once sitting in the small yard at Ludlow, Ky and once going across a bridge working in Covington, KY!!!

Oh Ludlow is NS and in Covington CSX if you were wondering about which railroad it was on!!! I hear its awesome to see one working at night and I can imagine it would be

[fcentaur]

It's better to do in winter or damp autumn in order to prevent grass fire

[kinito1]

Ugh reminds me of the calls we used to get. "Hi, yes, your train is on fire... yes im sure it's on fire.... what? yes it's a yellow train.... *click*.....hello?.... hello?"

[cochranexyz]

How very strange and equally cool.

[Midnight1XCoffee]

Whats the horn on the ns train at the absolute beginning

[fiddler04967]

@Midnight1XCoffee I don't know. I'm not a horn officianado so couldn't tell ya.

[fiddler04967]

@Midnight1XCoffee I don't know. I'm not a horn officianado so couldn't tell ya.

[mintz515]

@fiddler04967 nathan P5

[metroliner89]

@Midnight1XCoffee I think a leslie rs3l out of tune

[SantaFeSam2010]

@Midnight1XCoffee It sounds like a K3LA but i'm now sure

[CSX8663]

@Midnight1XCoffee NATHAN AIRCHIME P5:)

[Trainman11185]

@Midnight1XCoffee its a nathan P5

[TheCSXfan12]

@Midnight1XCoffee Sounds like a K5LA.

[chris40539]

i got scared of these railgrinders when i was 5

[rockhound694u]

IT IS HARD FOR ME TO IMAGINE THE COST OF THAT MACHINE WOULD BE WORTH THE FUEL SAVINGS.

[fiddler04967]

@rockhound694u Must be. They are also used overseas. I've seen versions in Germany and England.

[johnboy11182]

@fiddler04967 I work for Loram MOW. To reply to you and to rockhound, it's more than fuel savings; Ideally the weight of rolling stock and a locomotive should be placed on the head of the rail on a area no larger than a DIME. When the rails wear flat it creates more friction and wear on rolling stock. We can extend the life of the rail up to 12 years depeneding on traffic. That's a huge savings for any railroad. This machine is older. I work on a new one for CP RG404. The largest we have.

[JR6355]

cool, trains are awesome!

[appleintosh]

what the hey?

[fiddler04967]

That's what the 3 tanks on the end are for. They contain fire suppression apparatus and they foremen on the rear plaform of the caboose are there to watch for fires.

[ImRatherTall]

have the sparks ever caused a fire within the grass at the track sides at all?

[RJM159]

What does this do?

[fiddler04967]

@RJM159 It sands the rails to make them smoother resulting in fuel economy savings.

[woodscritter]

@fiddler04967 Not really- it grinds them to restore top profile and remove a few thousandths of rail surface. That's the region that's heavily "worked" by train wheels, and where cracks originate. Extends useful life of rails & reduces likelihood of rail failure. I suppose that has an effect on fuel economy, though.

[firefightjason]

i used to work on RG311

[PSHEEHAN78]

It looks like RG316. We worked on it a while ago and added a next generation grind car like the ones on the 400 series grinders.

[fytinfukinndrinkin]

@PSHEEHAN78 Definitely not RG316. That machine works in Canada only and has camp cars in the rear. Probably RG306

[racerboy23432]

So what is the reson for rail grinding

[SaltineCrackaAss]

@racerboy23432 They're just basically rail cleaners. Removing and grinding away all the excess wear and tear and debris from the rails.

[metraF40PH163]

it looks like only one ditch light flashes? nice video!

[fiddler04967]

@metraF40PH163

Many thanks. Maybe the one light's flashing mechasnism was out.

[metraF40PH163]

@MajorPrik LOL that would be funny!

[jjjme84]

Railgrinding ... in the daytime WITH other trains passing? Crikey in the UK we do it either at night with no other trains running or during weekend line closures. This is very cool to see!

[fiddler04967]

@MajorPrik It set one off back down the line a bit a few minutes before. I didn't know of course that it was coming so I am hearing all these alarm messages and not a whole lot of response chatter.

[MegaPartypete]

what number is it...rg what?

[fiddler04967]

@MegaPartypete Not sure...can't tell from the video

[tonyny77]

Great, great photography, Charles. Actually, I never knew there was such a rail maintenance device. Yours is the first video like it I've ever seen. Thanks very much for sharing it with the community.

[DaringDramis]

Nice catch!

[fiddler04967]

Thanks.

[trainz675]

we have a grinder sitting in La Crosse

[DenisFreeman2]

what do these trains do?

[fiddler04967]

They polish the rail head to allow smoother running, which in turn, as you can imagine, leads to lower fuel costs, less wear on the rolling stock, etc. You can always tell a rail that been recently polished in that the trains hum as they go by.

[mygirl22ward]

I was alittle to close to a Pandrol- Jackson here in Michigan in the early 90's while filming it. I got warned with hand signals from the cab to move away as it approached, I got back about 15 feet from the rail and still got little burns from the sparks on my legs as I was in shorts due to summertime, boy, don't mess with these grinders! I managed to get the shot complete with a tripod but I was feeling the burn! Thanks for the memories! HAMBONE

[dutchtrainmanserie22]

Awesome video 5*****

[Landaux]

There sure seems alot to it, alot of phases.

[WARD5KUSTOMZ]

thoes loram uses caterpillar engine. ive seen one up close. they are awesome

[mz97f150]

@WARD5KUSTOMZ they also use cummins motors and i agree they are awesome

[WARD5KUSTOMZ]

i never knew they used cummins thats cool. they are really interesting to watch

[Froggo2103]

I live in Ohio and NS trains go through my town all the time.. Could you tell me what freq they use or how i could find them

[LearnWithGern]

nice catch!

[jimtrain18]

great vid.

[Railfan108]

how did that smell?

[juvmol]

this machine came klast wekend i be uploadin g a vido of it

[nssd70m2]

Nice P5 on the SD70

[fiddler04967]

Thanks. Just in the right place at the right time.

[hardinerx]

whats it like to work for these guys doing rail grinding?

[fiddler04967]

Don't know but probably pretty boring. Just look at the guys on the back platform.

[Learnin2Fly08]

Hes lookin for fire anywhere in tha middle or sides

[chrismillerzero]

very dusty and long hours i work on RG314

[spiritomb]

I live near Pittsburgh, and I see these in Conway yards every once in a while. Although I've never seen one in action. Usually they just sit there. They are also not as long as this one.

[yevgeni2905]

what it used for?

[fiddler04967]

Smoothing out imperfections in the rail surface.

[WindyJAMiller]

They do it to remove the top layer of the steel that has been work hardened by the action of the train. This top layer of work hardened steel is to brittle and cracks can form and propagate into the rest of the rail, causing failure.

[darkyoda]

The tracks have a strange whining sound for a few days after one of these grinders pass.

[fiddler04967]

I noticed that too. If you look closely (which I would not recommend for long) you'll notice the grinding grooves in the rails. I believe that has something to do with it. Sort of like running a comb real fast along a sharp edge. It hums.

[flyakiteGDI]

I'd love to catch one at night

[ubuibiok]

Have they ever tried using Magnets to Catch the dust?

[Derailedtrain666]

do they only wet the rails over roads?

[fiddler04967]

I don't know. I would think so if they are running continuously.

[oWASTINGTIMEo]

they wet anything that may catch fire.. dry ditches especially :-)

[joshdillon2003]

i saw the rail grinder go through cresson pa last summer pretty late at night, what a show, it stopped for awhile right where we were standing so i was able to get a good look, what a piece of equipment

[thetrainman407]

LORAMS' one of the few railroad units that still use cabooses! awesome video, great catch!!

[Sandwichfart]

Hey, what are are they exactly doing to the rails and how does it help the rails?

[railroadlover]

They are grinding them down. and it helps keep the rails maintained, and flatened. just like roads need patch jobs, railroads need something like that to, but they do the oposite of patching.

[tjhendrickx]

Well we dont exactly want to flaten the rail we want to bring it back to a certain radius where the wheels are just touching about an inch and quarter width on top of the rail

[railroadlover]

Yep, thanks for clarifying. What i meant by flattened is not all bumpy or unsmooth.

[tjhendrickx]

yeah thats makes more sense (flat spots bad)

[trainlova12]

y is there sparks and stuff?

[fiddler04967]

When you grind metal with metal it always sparks up something fierce like that. Ever use a grinding wheel? Notice that you have a water spray going on it. That's the reason that there are those tank cars behind the grinder engines. I'd love to see it at night sometime!

Thanks for the comment.

[trainlova12]

O Thanks i did not know that.

[tjhendrickx]

actually they are round doughnut looking grinding stones that we use

[pennsyr1]

I could almost smell the smoke and fumes in the air!

[tjhendrickx]

Thats not smoke its dust from grinding. It is as fine as baby powder but way more irratable

[TECHKLEC]

WOW! I never saw one of those before!! Super heavy duty!!!

[ammoguy5]

Pretty cool video..What are the tank cars used for?

[miniwyo]

I think one is for Fuel, the other 2 have water in them. If oyu look there is water turrets mounted on a couple of the tanks and the caboose. This is to put out any wild fires they may start.

[NSHorseheadSD70]

He's moving pretty fast for a rail grinder isn't he? Good video too. I saw one griding on the Pittsburgh Line. That was cool.

[miniwyo]

That was my very first thought. He is moving way too fast! Maybe the speed dictates how much grinding is done on the rail, a faster speed may mean a lighter grind.

[NSHorseheadSD70]

Maybe a slower move is for a more detailed/worked grind.

[miniwyo]

I am not sure though... I have never seen a LORAM in real life, Out here they use Harsco about every 6 months, because the UP cant keep round wheels.

[o00o00ozy]

Well captured! Glad you caught this because I sure as heck was not around when this was passing through. I did catch it last year though grinding track 2.

[railroadlover]

i saw it go through temple... remember when i emailed you via youtube and asked about that wierd train?... well it was a loram. it was to quick or else i would of copied down the name

[railroadlover]

Never mind that i ended up typing this in the wrong video by mistake. I am sorry. I just now noticed it:->

[nanshant]

Nice shot of 11J passing the rail grinder Charles. Overall excellent video!