Prototype Railroading: Fall Weather

First of all, we do apologize for the interruptions in our regular posts.  You will also notice that we have not updated the website since last week.  This is due in part to a major power outage on the east coast, caused by an early fall blizzard, which has effected and continues to effect Steven.  As he keeps the website up to date, that has been unable to happen so far.  We hope to return to our regular schedule as soon as possible, however it is hard to say exactly when power will be back.  Power has been out for five days so far for Steven, and it looks like it may be a few more days still.  As soon as power is back, the website will be updated and we will return to our normal blog schedule.

While Steven has had quite an adventure this week, without any electricity, my week has been just the opposite.  As usual, I made several trips to Forsyth, and actually now I am off for a couple of days.  Snow has been predicted several times for eastern Montana, however we have not yet seen any.  It does get below freezing at night pretty regularly now, although it warms up during the day.  The cold has brought about a problem with operations on the railroad.  As the temperature changes from below freezing, at night, to a balmy 60 degrees during the day, the rails expand.  When it cools off again at night, they contract.  This expansion and contraction has led to a few broken rails in the last few weeks.  No major problems have resulted from them, but it has been keeping the track maintainers busy.  A broken rail does cause the signals to give a stop indication, and trains that pass the stop indication must do so at restricted speed.  Passing over a broken rail at restricted speed usually does not result in a derailment.  The rails do not move out of position when they break, so a train can pass over easily enough.  Usually a welder or track maintainer is out there pretty quickly when a broken rail is reported, and it gets fixed before anything major does go wrong.

Recently the railroad decided to put grease boxes near some of the curves.  They help to reduce wheel and rail wear, and reduce the noise made by a train in a curve.  This actually is a fairly common practice.  As a train passes over the grease point, the wheels activate a lubricator, which applies oil or grease to the inside of the rail, lubricating both the wheel flange and the rail.  In the long run, this cuts down wear on both the rail and the wheel, meaning they can be in service longer before they need to be replaced, thereby saving the railroad money.  As long as someone keeps the grease bins full, the system should work pretty well.

Other preparations have been made for winter.  The last of the track work is going on now.  Once the ground freezes, a surfacing crew will go through and tamp and surface the tracks once more, and then remove all the speed restrictions.  Ice melt is starting to reappear in the locomotive noses and near the entrances to buildings, and all the winter safety gear, such as insulated gloves and cleats are starting to appear in our personal protective equipment vending machines.  Pretty soon we will be having our winter safety meetings, and before too much longer, we will start to see snow.

One fall problem we do not have to deal with is leaves.  There are a few trees here, and they are losing their leaves, but they do not create the same problem as in more wooded areas.  In the eastern cities, where trees grow everywhere, leaves are now falling on everything, and commuters in those cities are hearing about trains being delayed because of slippery rails.  When the leaves fall on the tracks, they get crushed by passing trains.  When they are crushed, they leave a thin film of an oily liquid on the rails.  This basically greases the rail, and reduces the traction trains have.  Ultimately it all translates to the trains needing more time and space to start and stop.  It also leads to wheels sliding when brakes are applied, which causes flat spots to appear.  Those flat spots can be identified by a rhythmic clunking, which speeds up as the train speeds up.  It can also lead to an uncomfortable ride.  Eventually, all the flat spots will be fixed, but for the next few months, many commuters might start to wonder if the trains have acquired square wheels.