This is the 7th Rail I've Broken with my Tamper
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Crushed Rail Head weakened the rail enough so the Rail Broke when
I was tamping. This is the 7th broken rail that has happened with the tamper
over my 18 years of tamping. It sounds like a shotgun going off
when the jack beam on the tamper clamps the rail and the rail breaks.
The jack beam picks the rail up and the rail then has a longitudinal bend to it, that
and along with the weight of the ties, if there is a weak spot inside the rail,
it can easily break.
Also going to show you these Rail Defects: crushed head, flowed rail
and spalling. All three are classified under the heading of Rail Head Surface
Defects. All are caused by Rolling Contact Fatigue from the loading of the
train's car and locomotive wheels.
Here is link to a follow up video where I show you what the inside
of the rail looks like at the break. Some new evidence has come
to light after we changed this rail out:
• New Evidence on the Br...
Here is the link to the video I told you about Crib Sweeping with the Tamper,
hope you will enjoy watching this one also:
• Crib Sweeping with a J...
Made August 28, 2022
Disclaimer: I am an employee of Iron Synergy at Cumberland
Mine. My job is railroad track maintenance. I am very fortunate to
have this job and everyone at the mine is very fortunate to have
Iron Synergy as it's current owner. Our past owners had every
intention of shutting this mine down, but Iron Synergy took
over and have kept this mine alive.
Please understand: I am NOT in any way an official or unofficial
spokes person for Iron Synergy or Cumberland Mine. Any viewpoints,
opinions or anything that I show in the videos, or write in the video
descriptions or any answer to any comment, should NEVER be
misconstrued or interpreted as being in any way shape or form,
any kind of official or unofficial statement from Iron Synergy,
Cumberland Mine, any of the mine's management, any of the
contractors that may be shown in any video, nor of any of
my fellow co-wokers.
Any viewpoints or opinions I may make in the videos, in the descriptions,
or in any answer to a comment is strictly that of my own and NOT an
official or unofficial statement or viewpoint that Iron Synergy or
any one at Iron Synergy or Cumberland Mine necessarily has or makes.
Again, we are very fortunate to have Iron Synergy as our current owners.
Please, when making a comment be respectful of Iron Synergy, Cumberland
Mine, my fellow coworkers and also any contractors that may be
shown. Thank You, Dave
#RailBroke#Tamper#TampingTrack#BrokenRail
Love your videos as always. I gotta say… I’m a Western PA native (Irwin), spent most of my time working random construction jobs in Braddock, and after a couple rough and hot summers on a roof watching airplanes fly overhead, I swore I’d go to college and become a pilot. I went through the USAF, got my bachelors and 2 masters degrees, served 20+ years in the USAF and now I’m an airline Captain. Why does that matter? Well, it doesn’t, other than the fact that you and I are probably polar opposites in so many ways. But I never forgot my roots. I spent just enough time working construction to realize that it’s not for me. I admire the hell out of you - you’re not only a superb real world problem solver, but you’re also a great educator. My 11 year old son hates school but loves working with his hands. The 2 of us spend a lot of time watching your videos and I think it’s great to show him a role model like you. Thanks for all that you do - not just for the railroad, but for a lot of kids out there who are smart enough to resist the urge to go to college for a worthless degree and instead not be afraid to follow your footsteps and work with your hands.
Well golly globetruck what a totally awesome comment. I thank
you so much for your very kind words. I went to college for 2
semesters and realized that was not for me. Saved my parents a lot
of money! LOL A young man that wants to work with his hands
in this day and age is a priceless commodity. I sincerely wish
for your son the most prosperous of a future and I'm not Dr. Phil,
but your son will never feel satisfied until he follows what his
heart is telling him in his career choice, whatever choice
that may be. it's a pleasure for me to go to work in the morning,
because I love what I do. Really appreciate your great support
of the channel my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Another relative of Western PA (Dad was from McKee's Rocks, my aunt still lives there) And the resemblance to my dad is uncanny.
@@rirwin 👍😊
Howdy neighbor, over in Trafford, and work in Braddock to boot!
@@ccrx6700 At time stamp 4:10 you can see a hair line crack in the rail head.
Sometimes it's a blessing when it breaks while doing a repair. Could have been alot worse if a train broke it.. Nice temp. repair Dave.
Your certainly right in that Brian. Thanks for the very
nice comment and for taking the time to visit with me tonight
my friend.
No rest even on a Sunday! Your railroad is lucky to have good men taking care of maintenance, it doesn't look like an easy fix when the rail is damaged! Thank you for sharing Dave!
Thanks so much Raymond for the nice comment. Do appreciate
your visiting with me today and taking in the presentation
my friend.
Hey Dave. Nice work on that temporary repair. Interesting how the head just separated and deformed like that. That was probably an imperfection from the foundry or forge or wherever that rail was made that probably allowed a little water in there once it was exposed. And then rust jacking took care of the rest. I look forward to seeing the rail replacement when you guys get time and materials/equipment ready. And always a good video when one of the big SD's comes in for a close up.
READ THIS: www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/RREquip/Sperry/Sperry%20Rail%20Defect%20Manual%204-1968.pdf
Thanks so much Shane for the very nice comment. That broke
last Sunday and today we got the rail changed, another
big relief. Management came thru on this one and got me
a grapple truck in here within 5 days, a major accomplishment
since Frontier RR Services is up to their neck in work right now
on other jobs. Do appreciate your visiting with me today my friend.
Rails are hot rolled from cast billets - entrapped mold release (for continious billets) or entrapped slag/reoxidation, non-metallic inclusions, poor billet pre-conditioning or damage in reheating or even in rolling (lap) defects are a few of the many casues of poor rail quality - each one should be investgated. In this case look like sub-surface rolling contact fatigue cracking (Spalling).
Thanks for your great and informative videos on Railroadin'! Dang phones and video equipment. Lol. 👍🚞
W O W! You really packed a lot of railroading into this video. I was amazed a flattened head compromised the rail structure that much. Keep up the great work. Really appreciate you taking the time to spread the knowledge. 👍
Glad you enjoyed the show T.J. There had to be an internal defect
in that head someplace also. Will take joint apart and look see
inside the rail when we get a new stick put in there. Very much
appreciate the nice comment my friend.
When you show things at different angles and sides, it allows everyone to see the damage so much better. Great video Dave, love learning all about the railroad. The beginning of your videos makes us smile when we see your smiling face and hear your music. Have a great weekend.
Thank you Valerie for your always sweet comments. Always
makes my day when I see you have written in. Appreciate
so much all your great support my friend.
As an old railman never cribout use ballastcleaner ffs
Wow, that rail was rolled in 1975, the year I graduated high school. It held up better than I have but I'm not being replaced either, LOL! Thanks for showing us everything.
I graduated in 72 John. And, I'm not being replaced either.....
So do appreciate your tuning in tonight to the channel and
taking in the presentation my friend. The 70's were some
great years!
There is rail the Milwaukee road laid in south Dakota that is dated 1870 and the railroad runs trains to this day over them. Crazy
Hey Dave. I’ve been kind of curious whether after China started recycling scrap steel if you started seeing any steel brought in from China? I guess it depends whether you have a source guide from product brought from there. With China trying to overtake American producers in other fields I have to wonder if they’ve done it in the railroad industry as well.
On a more personal level my dad worked for the railroad as a block operator until he retired in 1980. I can recall stories where he allowed time for maintenance crews to do repairs between trains. It always amazed me how you guys could accomplish so large a task in the small window between trains! I remember how my dad had a similar demeanor to yours while on the job. Hats off to you all for what could be a stressful job pace while maintaining a sense of humor in the time allotted. Stay safe!🙏👍❤️😉
Makes me wonder if the Big Fitz carried some of the ore that became this rail: she sank that November.
I saw a tie plate a while ago from the 40's
That thing was near perfect no dents no rust nothing considered taking it home but I have 3 other plates already I can't store it no where
Evening Dave! Great job staying on top of things, catching potential problems, and even though you had a little bad luck, you're keeping the rail safe. Thanks for another great video!
Thank you very much Jim for the very kind words. Your very
welcome for the video, it's my pleasure and an honor for me to
be able to share with you guys. Really appreciate all your great
comments and support you give the channel my friend.
I'm glad you share this as people (myself included somewhat) don't always realize whats involved in railroad maintenance and keeping things running safe and smoothly!
Always remember it's the little things that can kill you!.....good catch here Dave!
Thank you very much irongoatrocky for the very kind words.
We do appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in
my friend. Gonna be a follow up vid on this, we changed the rail
out friday and found some new evidence when we saw what
was inside the rail, it had been broken before I clamped it.
Hope I can get that video edited and out this week for you.
I will make sure to write more about all the wonderful, hardworking people who toil day and night, sometimes in rough weather, so our infrastructure is kept safe.
I am an engineer that works on analytical instrumentation measuring elemental composition. Some of our inorganic customers provide rail and they’re extremely careful to weed out impurities, but it’s impossible to get them all! Glad we have guys like you to keep a watchful eye on the tracks.
Now that's a mouthful saying all that Super Hero! I had to
read it twice to get it right! Sounds very technical to me. Impurities
in the rail have been a problem since steel rail was first made
back in the late 1800's. Even with today's high tech rail rolling
science, eliminating 100% of the impurities is not gonna
happen 100% of the time. Controlled Cooling was a big
advancement in eliminating hydrogen from the rail, but it
is not 100% effective. Appreciate your paying a visit today
and watching my good man.
@@ccrx6700 indeed, most of the mills I visit don’t even monitor for hydrogen anymore. They focus on Oxygen Nitrogen Carbon and Sulfur. It’s pretty cool to see how important elemental makeup is during the melt. The melt guys won’t move a muscle until the lab ok’s the numbers.
@@I_SuperHiro_I 👍😊
Dave, will this be a "slow order" area until you get the defective rail replaced, or is the addition of the joint bar a good enough repair to allow trains to run at normal track speed?
Good question Backshop Tinker. We have a 25 MPH track
speed here, with the joint bars on there will be no slow orders
on this section. Hopefully next weekend we can get a grapple
truck and some welders in here and change the rail out.
Can't thank you enough for visiting with us tonight and
taking in the presentation my friend.
re: 7:35 You explained to me about your railroad and not governed by FRA or 49CFR but to me it's so awkward to see the hoghead 'BACKING'(Long Hood Forward)and no headlight or 'Ditch Lights' or a 'Man on the Point'. But as you said, your railroad isn't governed by the Feds so you can 'Railroad Any Old Way You Want' despite 'Best Practices'. Thanks for the video. When I was in the track dept with Penn Central we would manually 'Tamp' most of the time acct no Mechanical Tamper or Ballast regulator. Doing it manually was just the way it was done in 1973 and we didn't think anything about it. We even ,manually carried 39 foot lengths of rail in the yard with rail tongs and as many able bodies we could find. Fond memories.
Keep this in mind Wes, at any one point in time, depending
on locos being down or in for inspections, any of the 3 locos
may be leading coming back with loads, so thus the short nose
is always in the lead with loads. If it was up to me we would
be patrolled by FRA, but it is their choice not to come here.
We are a coal mine with a RR, not a RR in and of itself. The
FRA considers us as "an in plant installation" and thus has
chosen not to come here. We are governed by CFR Title 30
which covers the mining industry. And we are patrolled
by Mine Safety Health Admin, fed mine inspectors and also
Pa. State mine inspectors, but sadly they know very little
about CFR Title 49 which governs the RR industry.
That is totally awesome to me you worked with Penn Central,
wow would I ever love to sit down and listen
about your days there!
Well Dave, they can't blame you for this one, rail from 1975 that had a flaw, you can see it was that way deep inside for a while. Very glad it didn't fail with a loaded train.. good job getting it taken care of. Are you the one that has to call in a crew or does some one in an office do that.. Great video, be safe out there.
Thanks Pappy for the very nice comment. Several have said, it
broke cause the rail was made in China. I said it was Illinois,
1975 US Steel and if it had been made in China it never would
have last half this long....LOL Really appreciate your visit
with me today my good friend.
@@ccrx6700 for sure Dave, would have rusted away on the slow boat getting here... 🤣🤣🤣
Your company is lucky to have you Dave! You can fix things temporarily or (semi) permanently - whatever it takes to get the job done! A lot of companies don't have anyone like that because nobody seem to stick with their jobs these days! It looks like your fix will do the job just fine until you can get that new section welded-in. Good job Dave😊
Thanks so much my good friend for the very kind words. You'll
be glad to know, that rail broke last Sunday and Friday we
got it changed out, a big relief for me as you can imagine, I
think it was time bomb waiting for part of the head to
separate and break out. Really appreciate your nice visit
with me today.
Good thing you caught that before a train broke it and maybe caused a serious problem. Keep smiling Dave and have a nice weekend!
Yes it is Wilbur. Thanks so much for tuning in and checking out
the presentation today my friend.
Well, you tried to show the ballast dump but your camera had other ideas. There will be other times. That defect in the rail was going to break sometime and I don't think it's your fault. I am glad you make these videos to teach us city folk the ins and outs of railroading.
Thank you very much Nancy for the very kind words.
We do appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in
my friend. Am going to have a follow up vid on the break, some
new info has come to surface, so watch for it to come out this
week I hope.
Good job Dave, don't want the train breaking it.
First time anyone ever told me I did a good job breaking a rail..... :-)
But your right, so much better me than a train Derrick. hey
maybe the more rails I break the more pay I will get???? LOL
Thanks so much for watching today my friend.
Thanks Dave Bad luck on the rail, but good luck that you found it, I bet that it wouldn't be good for a train to run over it and it being broken. Thanks again Dave.
Your welcome John. Great to have you on the show with us,
we do appreciate your stopping by my friend.
I can't imagen how much work it takes to keep a huge RR company rolling. You seem to be busy with just your 28 miles of track.
Always something to do here James, and with only 2 track
guys and having to work around trains, it's really hard to
try and keep up. But one thing all that work does, is it makes
for a lot of good videos.... LOL Really appreciate your tuning in
to the show today and watching my friend.
Nice work Dave. Always attending to the details that matter and potentially saving the company from a major outlay had they not been detected. Well done to repair crew on the temporary fix. Let's you sleep well at night! 🙂
Thank you Richard for the very nice comment, we do appreciate
your joining in with us and watching the presentation my friend.
Hi Dave really interesting video, thank you for making and sharing it. Have you thought of calling your channel
"CCRX 7 rails I've broken😇?
If you want to see some running track repairs look at Rohman channel!!
Take care, keep laughing!!
Thank you very much Annette for the very kind words.
We do appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in
my friend. Gonna be a follow up video out on this one, we
changed the rail out Friday and some new evidence has
come to light.
Going back to my Q.A. days, my problem solving flow chart on a defect like that would indicate a "It was like that when I got here." position.
I like that Rod! And that's my story from now on and I'm sticking
with it! :-) Really appreciate your visiting with me today my friend.
Amazing! I didn't know they took such meticulous care of the tracks! And they had such specialized equipment. (NYC)
Glad you had a good time with us today Oz. Very much appreciate
your paying us a visit and watching my good man.
Im not surprised using wooden sleepers and not alot of ballast. Not sure about the chairs they dont give alot of confidence. I honestly think that US railroads need alot more investment to improve safety standards
Thank you Michael for taking the time to watch and write in
today my good man.
I just discovered “That’s railroading” today and have been bing watching episodes. I’m on the Colorado Railroad Museum’s volunteer track crew. I really appreciate these videos and have already learned a lot.
Thank you Gus and welcome to our community, we are glad to have you with us and hope you will continue to enjoy.
Here is an introduction video to get you a feel for what all we do here at the Railroad and a bit about our mine:
ua-cam.com/video/oOug0z34118/v-deo.html
Lot's of cool RR videos on our home page if you would sometime care to check any of them out.
ua-cam.com/users/ccrx6700
Dave: Love the new intro, Many times we had to follow a tamper, sometimes there would be a section crew behind the tamper and then we would follow both of them, repairing bonds etc.... Thats Railroading RIGHT
Very glad you like it Wm. We do appreciate your taking the time
to watch today and write in my friend.
Repairing bonds is generally the signalman's job because that is what the bonds are for unless the line has catenary for electric propulsion then the bonds are very big.
You started out with one problem but wound up with another one but that always seems to be the way things go. If one didn't know it looks like you dropped the locomotive or some loaded c o a l hoppers right on the rail and turned it to mush it's like having a perpetual honey do list
That's railroadin Paul! Thanks for taking the time to tune in
and watch today my friend. And you're right, RR gives me
more of a honey do list than the wife does.... LOL
What I don't understand is why the railroad companies are not employing more maintenance personnel.
You ask a big question and a legitimate one, wish I had
the answers, rail maintenance is everything to keeping trains
running. Really appreciate your stopping by to visit with us and watch the video. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Dave , isn’t this a classic case of metal”schelling” which is as you identified a metal defect. Also note schelling is hard to detect because it will not allow sound wave penetration. Rail may have been old and worn and was not a good idea to use as a replacement particularly in an elevated curve and where there low ambient temperatures in the winter.
I do believe you are correct Tom, that shelling will not allow
ultra sonic testing to function correctly. All the rail on the low
side was original rail here rolled in 1975, the high side of that curve had been replaced bout 10 or so years ago. Thanks so much
for paying us a visit today and taking in the show my good man.
Do the trains need any restrictions to operate over that piece of track?
We have a 25 MPH speed limit here Joshua on all main, so
after this had the joint bars applied, no there will be no
speed restrictions. Appreciate your stopping by tonight and
taking in the video my good man.
Neat stuff! I am no expert, but the broken rail looked porous. At work we have a bad sun kink in the rail, about 15 feet long and moves well over 6" depending on temp. I'm waiting for that to break out.
Glad you enjoyed Matt. 6 inches no big deal, it won't break.
Wait till you see the Bridge 8 video where the rail wasn't spiked
down and kinked out about 7 or more inches. When it cooled
down the next morning it came right back into place. Thanks
so much for giving me a visit today my good friend.
Definitely a mill defect. The railroad dodged a bullet here. I'd like to see a photo of the fractured rail ends like you see in the old Sperry Rail Defect Manuals.
I have one of those old yellow Sperry books from way back John.
And my buddy Ezekiel who is a tester for Sperry just gave me
an updated copy that has color pics in it. Thanks so much
for popping in on us today and watching my friend.
Very interesting that lifting the rail to get one job done can also help find the weak rails when lifting them if they break.
Nothing like a new replaced rail to keep at ease. Great vid as always! :)
Glad you enjoyed Bassotronics. We do appreciate your popping
in on us today and checking out the presentation my friend.
We were relining track to approach a bridge with a better alinement. On the next day, we found a broken rail on the track we had moved.
@@royreynolds108
Found in time to avoid issues.
When you said to hold on as you were climbing up the steps I literally was looking for the handrails and chuckling along with you. Very interesting segment and thanks for taking us along!
Someday Peter I'm gonna figure out how to mount a camera
so you can watch me climb on a rail car and loco. Give
some safety tips on how to do it. Thanks so much for visiting
with me and checking out the show my friend.
Dave, another great video. Like you said, it is a good thing the the train didn't take that rail out. Looks like the temporary will do fine until you can get the rail replaced.
Thank you Tom! New evidence has come to light. We changed
this rail on Friday. Will have a follow up video, hope I can
get it edited to come out this week. Base had been broken
for some time, we are so fortunate that a train hadn't
broken it completely before. Appreciate so much for your
great support of the channel my friend.
My dad use to work on the rail road he use to be a welder sadly he passed in 2008
That's pretty cool to hear about your dad welding in RR Matthew.
That is not an easy job. Really appreciate your writing in
and watching today my good man.
11:30 surprised they don’t put some weld in there to fill it in more.
Thank You FishFind3000 for taking the time to stop by and take in the video today. We changed that rail a few days after this video
was made.
18 years of doing rail road work seen it all nice joint bar repair
Was very nice of you to take the time and visit with us today
to watch the presentation Robert.
Great video Dave, good camera angles to see the details. That broken part of the rail had a lot of rust in it as well, could have failed at any time. Great it happened during tampering. The term Spalling is also used in the electrical industry on concrete power poles, when the rebar has rusted and is cracking the concrete of the actual power pole.
Thank you so much Rodalco for the very nice comment.
We do appreciate your taking the time to check out the video. May you have a really good day my friend.
Good job Dave, don't want the train breaking it with a bunch of cars to work the devil out of it, now it's got a little help keeping it together until things can be worked out to fix it the right way. I could tell you were relieved about when it did break. Every spare moment doesn't seem to be enough to keep that line from mud jacking, that was a serious glop of mud at some point. ATB, you won one this time!
Thanks so much Lee for the very nice comment. That broke
last Sunday and today we got the rail changed, another
big relief. Management came thru on this one and got me
a grapple truck in here within 5 days, a major accomplishment
since Frontier RR Services is up to their neck in work right now
on other jobs. Do appreciate your visiting with me today my friend.
Great video Dave. I really enjoyed watching it with my morning coffee. I love how you used a straight edge to give us a better idea of the deformation. Have a great day my friend.
That's great to hear Lewis, start your day off with coffee and me.... LOL. Very much appreciate your visit with us this morning my friend.
What Ever happened to USA steel ??
it is now USX corporation Tony
VERY COOL DAVE..FIX UM UP!
Thank you Ralph, glad you enjoyed. We do appreciate your
stopping by and taking in the show today my friend.
Dave nice temporary repair on the rail. Nice catch on the spalding I guess there is no way of telling how long it will last just as we saw. Great job as always hope you have a great day. ❤🇨🇦
Thank you Ray. Rail broke last Sunday and this Friday we
got it changed out, a big relief to me, I will sleep better now.
Really appreciate all your nice comments and great support
you have given us my friend.
We had the tampers break a lot of yard rail on us especially when I first started when the rail was very old and brittle before they did major upgrades to our RR yards. They would also break joint bars if they had a hairline crack that was already apparent. Nice video once again Dave and have a great rest of your evening.(Steve)
Jackson sales reps used to use the pitch: More insertions,
deeper penetration, and we don't charge extra for finding
weak spots in the rail. I've broken joint bars also, that's railroadin. LOL
Thanks for watching the show my good friend. PS: we changed that
rail Friday, new evidence came to light, the base had already
been broken before I clamped it. Video out on that coming up.
@@ccrx6700 Sounds good Dave looking forward to more videos, Your very welcome also.
You are indeed blessed it didn't snap with a fully loaded train going over it! Glad you keep the rails safe as possible. Neat patch with the joint bar! Thank you for bringing us another fine video.
Thanks so much Trena for the nice comment. Do appreciate
your visiting with me today and taking in the presentation
my friend.
Great job Dave!!!-- you are a natural, who makes hard work seem so easy!!!-- thanks!!!-- keep up the great work!!!
We want to say Thank You for dropping in on us and watching
the presentation today Robert. We really appreciate
the very nice comment my friend.
Fix It NOW !! why wait till later ??
Good question Tony. My hi rail truck was in the shop, we had
no way to haul a stick of rail up there. had to wait for a contractor
to be available to come out with a grapple truck to haul the rail.
Thank you for stopping by and watching the video my friend.
That's interesting Dave. Quite something that defect in the rail. On the big company railroads that have those fancy inspection cars, would they pick up defects like that?
Spalding? We saw that in concrete where the rebar got exposed to moisture via a crack and started to corrode. The concrete institute says the rebar can expand through corrosion to 7 times its size thus causing the concrete to fracture spald. Worst I saw was on a concrete breakwater in Richards Bay. Can also happen when the concrete coverage of the rebar to little. Nice one again Dave.
Glad you like the presentation Bill. We do get the rail testers in
here, usually twice a year. We changed that rail out Friday and
found some new evidence, the rail base had been broken
for some time, I just finished it off. Certainly the testers
would have found a broken base. it's not easy to get testers in
here because we are such a small RR. They want big jobs
and as with everything else are hurting for employees, so
they come only when they happen to be passing through.
Great vids, Dave. I have always loved trains. But it is a lot more fun to know what is actually going on. Thank you so much. Peace
Thank you Randy for the very nice comment. We really appreciate
your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Another one of your awesome videos for us Dave. That's a good thing you found that bad spot on the rail. I can tell you know a lot about all of these fixes that can be done on the track.
Thank you so much William for the very nice comment. We
really appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and
watch my friend.
I am learning more about what it takes to properly maintain a railroad than I ever imagined. You present a side that few cover and your explanations are totally clear. This is very enlightening. Thanks, Dave!
Thank you very much Bill for the nice comment and for taking the time to check out the video today. So glad to hear you are
having a good time with us. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Interesting.
My best guess is either a Horizontal or Vertical Split Head...or Compound Fracture.
Either start as Internal Defects, and grow slowly until the Defect reaches the Exterior of the Rail. When the Defect breaks through to the Surface, it Rapidly Grows within the Rail as It now has an Unlimited Supply of Oxygen to Support degregation.
This type of Defect was the Cause of more Arguments between myself (as a Stooge) and Chief Operators when I worked for Sperry Rail Service in the early 80s than just about any other, because of their Unpredictability... they have been said to "Heal Themselves", which I have alway doubted...
One of the Last Defects I marked up was a Horizontal Split Head I had caught just Inches outside of the Joint Bar Area. It happened on the CNR while they were yet a Crown Corporation. The Chief Operator Refused to Acknowledge my Findings, but was Overruled by the Railway Superintendent that witnessed the Incident.
There wasn't a Happy Ending to the Story save one thing...
The Rail was Replaced on the Insistence of Those that Answered to the Authority Entrusted to Them by the Sovereign, HRH Elizabeth II.
Thanks for the really cool comment Bruno. I have never heard of
a split healing itself either, but I do agree on their unpredictability,
just as a track man we always replace the rail asap with splits.
Appreciate so much your taking the time to watch the video my friend.
DAVE !, ... 7 in 18 years? ... ... well if i "FINGER" it correctly that's about 1 every 2 and a half years !🤔 ... ... with all the wear and "tare" ... IDK ... but that sounds pretty darn good to me ! ... ... (it waz probably cracked in the 1st. place🙃!)
I think you're right Tom, it was cracked inside. Jackson
tamper salesmen used to have the pitch: more insertions,
deeper penetration, and we don't charge extra for finding
weak spots in the rail. They really did use that! Thanks so
much my friend for visiting with me today and watching.
The date on that rail is 1975 its amazing that it has lasted this long
Thanks for Railroading 101 buddy
You be safe
Yes Dan, it sure has lasted a long time for being in such
a sharp degree curve as this one is and amazing
that there are not more defects than there is on the rail.
The high side rail was all changed about 10 years ago.
I think you know, but not sure, all our original rail here
was rolled in 1975. Can't thank you enough my friend
for paying us a visit tonight and taking in the show.
Got a spot on a state park in pa that has a bunch good old rail that would old up better lol I’m sure who ever stashed it in the 1970’s or 80’s isn’t alive to recycle it for pocket money
Thank you Bearded Nomad for taking the time to watch the
video and write in. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Great video Dave, I seen the same thing when I worked on the Queensland Government Railways in Australia
Thank you and glad you enjoyed IS1943. Really appreciate your visiting with us and watching the video. May you have a very
good day my friend.
you are such a nice and down to earth person, I really love your videos and the way you present them. My grandfather used to work on rail years ago here in Australia.
Thank you Darryl, for the very nice comment. So glad to hear
you are enjoying all the home movies. We certainly do appreciate
your taking the time to watch them my friend. I would have
loved talking with your grandfather.
Oh WoW super Dave Using the Ta.mper to push out the muddy Rail breaking ballast......."*?....Here's a thought Since you can only use the tamper to only dig out the very outer edge of ties.Dave you did a nice job...Could you temporary bolt on a "L" SHAPE BRACKET TO BOTTOM SO YOU COULD PERHAPS ALSO REACH IN MORE TO CENTER OF TRACK AND PULL OUT ....AND. DO ON BOTH SIIDES OF TAMPER SO CAN " PULL OUT THE MUDDY BALLAST ON BOTH SIDES OF THE TIE.....??
Sounds like an interesting idea Bradford. Would take some
engineering skills to accomplish that. The workheads on the
inside also have less travel than the ones on the outside do. There is
a machine that uses a similar principal as you describe but is
made just for cribbing. Thanks so much for stopping by and
checking out the broken rail my friend.
The broken rail at 9:56 is absolutely astonishing. Thanks for the video! I legitimately love the sounds of all the machines idling when you were talking.
Thank you so much for the very nice comment Archetypal_NPC.
We do appreciate your visiting with us today and taking in
the presentation my friend.
Love your laugh Dave - it's clear you have a wonderful, joyful, perspective on life. I see and hear you and I think you are "Tom Bombadil of the Rails:" _Tom Bombadil ties & spikes a-bringing._ _Comes hopping home again. Can you hear him singing?_ _He's got just the song for Old Man Ribbon-Rail!_ _Hey! Come merry dol! derry dol! and merry-o: ring-a-ding-dillo!_ (With apologies & gratitude to JRR Tolkien.)
Thank you very much Brettany Renee for the nice comment. Glad you
enjoyed. Beautiful name you have. We really appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and watch the video. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
like anything else steel wears out, 200,000 lbs cars and 350,000 lbs locomotives, rail takes a beating !!!!
New evidence has come to light Gary, we changed that rail on
Friday and found that the base had already been broken, I just
finished it off with tamper. Will be a video out on it soon. Thanks
for visiting with me and checking out the show my friend.
wow, those rails are worn down to a degree that would be seen as unfit for any service in Germany. Those need to be replaced, seriously. Broken infrastructure indicates broken economy.
Thank you for taking the time to visit with us to check out the
video and share your opinion TDC Flyer.
That Rail Defect looks like it could have started from a Squat, and there might even be a Tache Ovale (Transverse Defect) propagating under it. I worked on Ultrasonic Rail Testing in Britain. Here we used to open up the Wet Beds (Cribs) using a Ballast Fork, square nose Shovel and digging Pick, then we would board the Track and use measured Shovel Packing with sluing Jacks to put the Track back to line and gauge, we didn’t have the luxury of Machines to do the Work, just our Muscles. Great Days loved every Minute of it, bet you do to.
Have no idea what a squat means, but no doubt this joint had mud
under it at one time and wouldn't hold track surface which
got the joint to pumping and started the defect to occur. Thank
you for visiting with us and sharing your thoughts my friend.
Throw some grab bars on it. Fix it when convenient. You're a step ahead of me.
Since my hi rail truck has a bad valve and cannot lift a rail, we
were lucky to get Frontier RR in here today with their grapple
truck to change it out. They are incredibly busy with jobs
on other places. Kudos to management here for making that
event happen.
AND A BIG THANK YOU SIR!!! That's a few Tens of Thousands of Dollars Saved For the Railways!!!
We were very fortunate I broke this TRJ, will have a follow up
video, new evidence has come to light. We changed this rail
out Friday and the base had been broken before I tamped it.
So lucky a train didn't break it. Hope to have that video out
in a few days, still have some editing to do on the new one.
Really appreciate your watching the show today my friend.
Joke...Next day, Dave at H.R
Dave, you really need to stop breaking train rails. We all need to know our personal limits David. You do exeplery work, but please stop Hulk punching the rails.
Thats all, great work otherwise. !!!
LOL, glad they haven't called me in yet! We certainly do appreciate your taking the time to check out the video and write in. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Hopefully you will video the welding repair!!😆😁
Enjoyed watching!!
Very glad you enjoyed Roy. We do appreciate your presence
with us today my good man.
Well Dave your jobs to do are piling up .
There always seems to be something cropping up
Good job you found that break in the rail when you did .
Or it may have caused a derailment.
Nice job 👍👍👍👍👍
Jobs piling up in the past 18 years I've been full time track man
haven't stopped or slowed down either John.... sigh..... Always
something needs done here. Heavy coal loads and jointed track
is a curse. Thank you for visiting with us to check out the video my friend.
Hey I'm just wondering where are you from? I used to work in Ohio at the No.6 mine and I worked over at Century mine acrossed the valley there. Just curious if this is my neck of the woods. Also worked at shoemaker in W.V. and Bailey mine in P.A..
Baily mine neighbors us to the north and west Austin. Our
mine is located at Kirby Pa. Cumberland Mine. Appreciate your visiting with us and watching. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
awww that's like everyday tamping in a old yard... The cheap roadmaster lets the tamper augment his inspectors........
Thank you very much Mike for sharing your thoughts.
Really appreciate your paying us a visit and taking in the video.
May you have a most blessed day my friend.
I knew rails can warp in extreme heat as I've witnessed multiple times during extreme heat waves here in Melbourne Australia, but for them to crack like that. Bloody heck!
Always a pleasure watching your videos. Cheers!
Thank you so much Ondrej for taking the time to tune in to
the channel and check out the video my friend. Hope you
have a really good day. Great to hear you are enjoying the home
movies.
the sleepers are made of wood, the foundation is much too low (not enough rocks), lacking sufficient drainage (what is all the mud doing there?). Wet foundation with mud + wooden sleepers = bad rails. Additionally the locomotives are probably too heavy for that kind if old school tracks.
Thank you Ekes for taking the time to watch and write in with
your thoughts. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Is that a 1975 date where the rail defect and tamper break happened? It seems like that defect goes deep into the rail head and would fail progressively faster with use, in other words, it might look compromised but serviceable today, but fail in 7-10 days/train cycles.
New evidence has come to light Charles, we changed that rail on
Friday and found that the base had already been broken, I just
finished it off with tamper. Will be a video out on it soon. Thanks
for visiting with me and checking out the show my friend.
Dave, here in the UK we use Hadfield Manganese steel. It has up to 13% Manganese in it. This gives it the property of ‘work hardening’ the surface due to the action of the wheels. Where you have a defect I expect this will get excessive pounding from the wheels and a extra hard skin forms on the rail. This eventually gives up and you get the spalling.
Thank you for the excellent info Peter, I will have to do some research on that. That stuff gets hard, wondering if you guys
have rail grinding program and how the stones hold up
grinding that stuff???. We appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Super Dave you are a amazing man at coming up with Making things work with what you have...for cribbing operations...Could your incredible. Team weld on Brackets to side of your tie inserter to temporary bolt on prices of flat medel plates so when running tie inserter along sides of ties it kinda "Shovels out the old track bed dirt and old ballast out between each tie and come along with a neat add on scoop bucket to move the old ballast away....We saw you doing kinda this already ..Enjoying your fun inspiration "SHOWS"
Thank you so much Bradford for your really nice comment.
We certainly do appreciate your taking the time to tune in
and watch my friend.
It doesn't look to me like the rails were made from the best quality steel to start with, possibly not made from virgin steel, meaning possibly recycled steel. Ron W4BIN
That rail had been rolled in 1975 in Illinois by US Steel Ron.
But sometimes rail during the controlled cooling process can
have what is called a shatter crack (hydrogen deposit) which
can at some point in the future develop into an internal defect
from the axial loading forces of the train. Steel is made by
mixing scrap with the charge, so there very well could have
been some poor scrap in that batch, something we will never know.
Thanks! I really learn an awful lot about railroad maintenance and operations watching your excellent videos.
Thank you for the nice comment and glad you are finding the
videos interesting Jim. Really appreciate your taking the time to watch and may you have a very good day my friend.
What are those rails made out of old Great Lake Steamers well-known to catastrophically fold-in-half as a result of metal fatigue or crack apart from freezing conditions. Ha.
Have you been able to keep track of suspect rails manufacturer or year Lot number to see if anything in common between each other?
Rail was rolled in 1975 by US Steel Illinois. It held up pretty well
for all those years of heavy coal loads over them. Rails break,
that's just the way it is on the RR.
Very much appreciate your visiting with us and watching the video. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
You would never see this in France or Japan. The US rail system is a disgrace and the worse part of it that it has become normalized. Aside from that, at his age, Dave should have retired unless he's working out of his own volition. It's just another tragedy that corporations will make us work as long as we allow them to regardless of our age and health conditions. In this day and age, with all this technology, we should be working less hours, not more.
Thank you for taking the time to write in and share your
thoughts GnosisMan. Appreciate your visiting with us and watching. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
I have news for you. Neither you nor the tamper broke that rail. I knew it was broke, or about to, when I saw the crushed area. There was a defect in the steel about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in the rail which finally grew to the point of not being able to hold together and finished breaking. You should be able to see it when you remove the rail during replacement. Everything that broke on that day will be bright and the rest will be rusty. I don't remember seeing a CC in the line of information on the side of the rail. CC stands for controlled cooling by leaving the rail in an insulated box just after the rail is finished being rolled and still very red until it cools down to about 550 or 500 F degrees. This lets hydrogen gas slowly dissipate from the steel and not cause shatter cracks. If the steel were produced with vacuum degassing and continuous bloom casting, hydrogen is not a problem. I am not sure of when most rail steel was switched over with this production, but I think it was sometime in the 70s or 80s. This process gives a much superior rail over the older method, in other words, a better steel.
Areas like that are called ballast pumping. The ballast can break down under the train traffic or by a "soft" spot in the ballast there is an extra bit of elevation and the grade under the ballast starts retaining water and "pumps" the dirt up into the ballast with each wheel that rolls over the spot. The only fix is to completely remove all of the fouled ballast, recompact the subrade, and replace the ballast and tamping it.
Thanks for you expert commentary Roy. it's been about 6 months
since Sperry was in here and at that time they found no internal
defect, but Sperry is not 100% accurate all the time every time
either and next year Nordco might come in and pass over a
Sperry found defect and not find anything, or vice versa. it's
happened a good many times here that occurrence. This was
original rail here rolled Illinois US Steel in 1975, all of it is stamped CC. Appreciate your stopping by today and watching the show
my good man.
Great video. Just subbed your channel.
Thank you Crime Alley Comics and welcome to our community, we are glad to have you with us and hope you will continue to enjoy.
Here is an introduction video to get you a feel for what all we do here at the Railroad and a bit about our mine:
ua-cam.com/video/oOug0z34118/v-deo.html
Lot's of cool RR videos on our home page if you would sometime care to check any of them out.
ua-cam.com/users/ccrx6700
Well with so much movement in the Rails with the constant heavy loading Dave its a wonder you dont have more failures on your rail sticks ... as one of the other contributors to the disscussion Metallurgy is a fineart Science ... a length of rail can only take so much punishment 😂😂😂😮
You are right about that Joseph. These rails take a beating with the
heavy coal loads and the soft spots in the track ballast. We do get
ultrasonic rail testers in twice a year so they catch stuff at an
early stage and we get those rail fixed or else they would soon
break. Appreciate very much your taking the time to visit with us
and check out the broken rail show my friend.
So I'm guessing that it broke as the tamper lifted. Did you hear it snap? Or you could easily spot it from the way the rail lifted, had an obvious break and 'kinked' when lifted?
That is correct Mike and yes when it snaps sounds like a shotgun
going off, at that moment your heart sinks cause you know
what you gotta do next. Thanks so much my friend for
your visit with us today.
2:00 There's a railway crossing near where I lived that looked like that for several years before they finally corrected the situation. By the time they got around to do it, the rail was bouncing up and down at least 2 inches when a train went through. It was pumping mud all over the place. The fix happened not long after the Lac Mégantic disaster. I actually live a little over an hour away from there. Some of our fire crews went there. As tragic as it sounds, I think that the only reason that it finally got fixed is because of that tragedy. Right after that crossing, there is a pair of curves before the train reaches the city center. They upgraded them to continuous welded rails and added a cant angle. As nice as it looks right now, my experience tells me that it likely won't get touched again for at least another decade. With our winters, things can move a lot and they can move fast. Over the last few years, the river has eaten up a very large portion of the land that used to separate it from the railway. As unprotected as that river bank is, I would not be surprised to hear that the curve has fallen into the river in a few years. They fixed the railway and did not bother to make sure that it was properly protected against the assaults of the river. It's just my impression, but I think that basically sums up how railway maintenance in Canada. It is patchwork that only partially addresses problems until the next problem rears up its ugly head.
Thank you very much Jonathan for taking the time to watch the video
and share with us your thoughts. All railroads have problems, some worse than others. I'm not making excuses for any other RR, but
here you do what we can with the amount of track time, money
and equipment available, plus there are only 2 of us who maintain
the track.
I believe you didn't break the track. There was already something wrong with it. You just put the fracture in it.
Yes David you are right, there was more of a internal defect
there than met the eye. We did get that rail changed out today,
a big relief for me. Really appreciate your tuning in and
checking out the show my friend.
I see the railway sleepers in very bad condition, the wood is rotten, they need new ones and fill with ballast, I think that the company in charge of providing a safe railway for railway traffic that is quite heavy, actually my friend you He makes a tremendous effort at work, my most sincere greetings. I like the character, happy with the satisfaction of his work.
Glad you enjoyed my character titan titan. We appreciate your stopping by to watch and write in. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
High Speed. Over Load. ! Driver Abuse. ! LMAO ☹️ 🤣 Stay Safe out There. 🇺🇸
New evidence has come to light Charles, we changed that rail on
Friday and found that the base had already been broken, I just
finished it off with tamper. Will be a video out on it soon. Thanks
for visiting with me and checking out the show my friend.
Seems to me that rail steel had poor heat treatment causing the failure - overly hard and brittle surface treatment and the grain structure beneath was coarse and irregular.
Was very nice of you to take the time and visit with us today
to watch the presentation chuckschilling.
You are the POST10 of railroadin’
Thanks Algorithm!
Very much appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and
watch the video today William.
The railhead de-laminated when it was being rolled. I'm surprised something like that isn't inspected for during the manufacturing process.
Very much appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and
watch the video today Bob.
Hey railroad Man, is it me or does it seem like the quality of the bearings and rails has gone way down hill lately from what it was just not too long ago?
From the looks of those bearing cages you've been showing lately it appears like the metal quality and hardening process has dropped way off possibly causing derails and damages unnecessarily?
I'm hearing on the RR rumor mill that some bearings made
by big name manufacturers are actually made in China. If
so, that answers that. That rail I broke was 1975 US Steel Illinois.
In a high degree curve so we got our wear out of it. I've also
heard on the RR rumor mill that some companies are buying
Chinese made rail and it is absolute junk. Really appreciate
your visiting with us and checking out the broken rail my friend.
Another very interesting vid Dave ... Appreciate all of em ... Thx ...
Thank you Eddy, glad you enjoyed. We do appreciate your
stopping by and taking in the show today my friend.
I’ve found your channel, and sir it’s every thing I’ve been curious about, I deliver specialty gas to the rail industry and was always fascinated on what causes failure and fixes.
Thank you Cheek ripper D for the very nice comment, glad to
hear you are enjoying the home movies. Really appreciate your checking out the channel. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Thx I worked as Tech for Wash metro Area Transit Authority. For 33 years. I really appreciate your videeos
Thank you for the nice comment Edward, glad to hear you are
enjoying the videos. A lot of railroaders watch them, I'm flattered
at that. Very much appreciate your taking the time to check out the Broken Rail video my friend.
If this isn't a hobby / restoration rail road i can't believe any biz would let you do this, saying everything isn't perfect all the time, what was I told last job, never use the word problem here.
Thank you for taking the time to write in and share your
thoughts Russell. Appreciate your visiting with us and watching. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Hey Dave, was wondering what part of PA your in? My father and grandfather both worked for Pullman standard until they closed the doors on them.
We are in SW Pa, bout an hour straight south of Pittsburgh Rodney.
Thanks for writing in and watching the video today my good man.
Thank God for people this man 🙌 obviously throughly enjoys his job and helps keep our country movin
Thank you cFluff for the very kind words. We really appreciate
your taking the time to watch and write in my good man.
The break seems to me as if a mistake had been made during the continuous casting process or the subsequent final shaping and small cavities formed in the track head. At some point, small hairline cracks developed due to the stress of driving over them and water could penetrate. The freezing water then expanded the cavity so that it gave way under the next load and a small hairline crack, which was not visible at first, formed and ran through the entire body. The next load then led to the final fracture. The break could also have led to a train derailing.
Thanks Robby for writing in with your hypothesis, I too thought the
original defect was from the mill. Yes we are very lucky the
train didn't break it, just amazes me it didn't. Appreciate your
visiting with us and watching my good man.
Cool.. that broken rail was made the same year I was born.. 1975.. like the broken rail, I'm broken too
Oh wow, 1972 I graduated from high school.... Appreciate
your taking the time to tune your dial in to the channel
tonight and take in the show R Knudson.