Been a signal maintainer for 10 years. Obviously I knew they had to do with shooting grease. Never knew it was meant for a curve. And now after watching I pictured where I’ve seen them, at the beginning of a curve!
@@ddegn there is only 1there are a lot of variations the how much traffic degree of curves and how many curves most generally there is one tank and 4 bars that have 48 ports on each bar the lubricators that are in the video are solar powered which means they 12 volt system and on the inside of rail is a wheel sensor it picks up how ever many wheels it is set for which in turn will activate the pump I hope this helps understand the system
@@ddegn I want to add that on average the grease will carry three to four miles but there again depends on how much traffic I had some that would carry grease 6 to 8 miles
Just yesterday I hiked down some old abandoned tracks and walked past a “Rail & Flange Lubricator”. Going by the name and how it was situated on the tracks I figured out what it was for. Your video confirmed what I thought. And sure enough, it was right before a big curve! Something I learned here. Thanks!
I'd wondered about curves and have certainly heard the wheel-rail squeel. I didn't know curve oilers existed. Thanks for the information and up-close video of one of these.
Cannot speak for the UP but decades ago CN Rail switched to a vegetable based oil, which has a additive to deter animals eating it. For a while locomotives were built with a tank for some sort of lubcation to reduce friction on rolling railcars in an attempt to reduce fuel costs. Those have since been removed and now spring loaded solid bars of some form of antifriction material press against one of the rear set of wheels on most of our locomotives. That one sound that happened was with a coupling, the two knuckles under tention (called draft) binding as one slid up and the other down. They would of been both been dry due to rust, or new and not yet polished up from use.
It would seem more efficient to have grease dispensed from the locomotive. It could be designed so the greater the angle the truck twists in the bolster, the more grease is dispensed. I know of a RR museum with a circular track that ran an extended hose from the crankcase breather to constantly drip oil on the outside rail.
My grandfather worked for Moore and Steele, he machined the mechanical greaser pumps, I remember they sold oilers, and greasers. Interesting side note, each rr carrier had different sized rolling stock, each greaser casting was custom sized, they had about thirty samples, each from a different railroad.
A small percentage of commenters here DO understand about the effect and use of conical tyres on solid axles, so I won't labour that point. I just want to say two things: Firstly, the reason that wheel flanges do sometimes rub against the inside of the rail on tight bends despite this self-centring effect, is that the conic angle cannot be very large or the effect would be too violent and unstable at high speeds on [even well-laid] straight track. Secondly, contrary to what most folk intuitively think, the squeaking and squealing sounds that one hears on curves comes almost entirely from the differential movement between the tread of the tyre and the flat top of the rail - the outer treads have to jerk forwards, or the inner ones backwards, every few yards. It can be one or the other or both, depending on several other variables of track and train. When this is heard, the flanges could well be pushing hard against one rail or the other - again, which rail it is, depends on other things - but the sound comes from those forward and/or backward jerks.
Thank you for the explanation -- I saw one of these while walking alongside the commuter line near me. I could see what it was doing (pumping out grease), but I didn't know why -- mystery solved! And the one I saw was strictly mechanical -- the grease was pumped by the wheels hitting a pawl on the inside of the track.
The ones near where I live are like that. Makes a lot more sense to me, but I suppose that the electric ones must make very exact doses of oil or something to justify the cost.
The company I work for has its own siding with three spurs. We get tank cars of oil almost daily that have to be switched out. My job is weekly to go out and clean and oil the sliding surfaces of five manual switches and maintain a flange greaser just like those. I even have to manually grease the inside of the rail on the high side on a couple of hard curves and I just use a paint roller to grease the side of that to keep from wearing the side of the rail so much. The automatic greaser is triggered by a proximity switch that detects the wheels and every 18 wheels it runs a 15 to 20 second cycle of grease pumping.
I'm going to add them to my LEGO train. I didn't know I was doing it wrong all these years. By the way, I'm joking and I'm sure the original poster was joking as well.
You're right - I've never thought about it. But now you've mentioned it, I'm glad i found out how come some trains/locations make a LOT of squeaking noise and others dont. If i'd have asked myself how come, I'd have worried about it and it would have kept me awake at night trying to figure out the reason. My curiosity can do that to me sometimes. So thank you. You answered a question I didnt know i wanted the answer to!
I also read somewhere, that Chicago's El train tracks have "oilers" that, not only help lubricate the wheels on tight turns, but also prevent the wheels from climbing up and over the rails. Chicago El trains make very sharp turns in the Loop, which makes this oiling process necessary.
The EL track has inner guard rails which contact the back side of the car wheels to hold the flanges off the rails on the other side of the track. Not only do their flange oilers (or greasers) apply grease to the flanges for the sides of rails but the backsides of the wheels for the guard rails, and they still squeal like a stuck pig.
Fun seeing that long train. Thank you. Wish that you had shown close ups of the oiler. Really did not see anything. You could have zoomed in while the train passing.
@@ddegn the grease is distributed along the inside of the rail so you can't see it working. Even then, only a small amount is dispensed. One of the reasons I get no grief for being in many of the places I shoot is because I stay out of the way and don't foul the tracks unless I know it is safe and it was not safe at that location as no signals are visible.
Summer and winter break job was milling the hydraulic applicator blocks and assembling the head units at Moore and Steele in Owego, NY during the mid-80’s. Always interesting trying to explain to people what it was this small family-owned concern manufactured. Great video to show how they work and have been improved over the years.
My dad. Never had a greaser on his territory. On BNSF the MOW took care of it when needing maintenance. There is a greaser on main 2 on the BNSF on the south hill in Albia Iowa.
That depends on the railroad and service the locomotive was assigned. This also includes diesels and electrics depending on service and location. Switching on and in tight curves would often find flange oilers on locos sometimes with a method to start and stop the application. One of the switching railroads around Chicago has diesel locos using tires on the wheels like steam loco wheel practice because it is less expensive to re-tire wheels than replace the wheelset or wheels on an axle.
I often walk railroad tracks and I have seen these and similar but I figured it was to somehow oil the train axles. I had no idea it was necessary to lubricate curved track or wheels.. for less friction.? Thanks for this video, I'll check out your others, Brother!!!!
We had one going through the farm where i lived, over the decades & especially after heavy rain the field on the downward slope was contaminated with a film of oil in every puddle & the cows used to graze that paddock.
As a railroad conductor i absolutely hate these cause when we climb on the cars to tie brakes or break a train up the grease flings up on the equipment and we get greased but I know hey are a necessary.
Pity they don't have spare units that can be swapped out for a defective one, instead of of just not have grease to one track. I worked on a tunneling project for Canadian Rail boring a tunnel under the St Clair river near Sarnia, Ont. This was to replace the 100 year old one that was too small a diameter to take the double stacked containers shown in you video. They had been barged across the river previous to the tunnel opening. Thanks for explaining the track greaser, I bet local residents also lover not being woken at night by those horrible squeal's.
Thanks, didn't know I needed to know that. Tehachapi seems like a great place for trainspotting. Whenever I go on a road trip to the desert I like passing through that area and stopping to look
That was absolutely fascinating. Not many people give much consideration to the need for lubricants in our modern world. But they are necessary like on your automobile or you could soon be waiting for a wrecker. Can you get an up close video of the lubricator in action as a train is passing by?
My dog spot that went everywhere with me managed to walk in some of the grease one day and it's so hard to get it off of her let alone my truck seats. Fortunately they were vinyl. The one that I saw was a pump style that has now been replaced.
Since they use Dawn dish soap to clean animals in an oil spill I suppose that would probably work. But Grace is a whole different thing isn't it. that kind of makes me think of the fifth wheel grease on a semi truck
Yeah you're probably right, Dawn would at least be a start. I didn't think of that then. For heaven sake don't let it get on your carpet inside of your home. Then you'll have another battle with the wife.
Mark ... thanks for this, as an Oiler Mechanic in the 60"s ... talk abut dirty, I had black heads in my arm pits .... and did not know they have been revised to electric, the old shoe pump types would shoot graphite grease every where. ... the hoggers used to throw stuff (in fun, I hope) at me as quite often with so much grease making its way to the ball of the rail the sanders had to be used .... and grease with sand was a real messy substance .... went to the aircraft industry, no heavy grease.
I once saw some dragging equipment hit one of these lubricators. Demolished it. It was a cloud of grease flying through the air! It must have covered nearly a quarter mile. Amazing!
Thanks for the info. I never knew curve oilers existed but it makes sense that they do. I would think that by adding locomotives in the middle or ends of the train the wheel flanges and track wear less.
In the UK we call them grease pots and it was my job many years ago to carry cans of grease to refill these horrible things, and in the middle of summer walking for miles carrying cans of grease and tools to do it is no fun that stuff is extremely hard to remove from skin and clothes was the worst job i ever did on the railway i would have rather dug wet beds all day than greasing, no paycheck was worth it
Yes, flange lubricators in the UK are easy to see. Cylindrical pots mounted close to the rails, with thick deposits of heavy grease on the inside of the rails. I used to operate excavators, and I hated greasing the pins on the boom, dipper arms and bucket. I'd usually manage to get grease on me some how. Either off the grease gun, or by brushing against a freshly greased pin. I know how you feel. It's a necessary job, but grease is vile stuff to try and get off your skin or clothing.
Good info! Enjoyed seeing the different company names on the containers and piggyback trailers as the train passed. Might be interesting to learn a bit about the demise of the beloved caboose.
Have you experienced the flat cars which carry military's battle tanks where the wheel trucks have 3 axles? Saw a video from the early 2000's on Tehachapi and the squeal was something terrible, comments said it was brake squeal but it was going up hill. Needed more allowable axial shift on the middle axle to stop the wheel flanges loading against each other (the 2 outer axles v the center axle). One thing you should not have is the lubricant on top of the rail, loss of traction, wear due to cavitation, wheel skidding, environmental mess.
If you watch my video (2 parts) on the history of the tunnels on the Tehachapi, I explain the "notching" they did for that purpose. Thanks for asking and for checking it out!
@@WhiskeyGulf71 The fact that there are more important things to be concerned with does not mean that we should not concern ourselves with the less important ones. Or do you contend that we should only be concerned about one thing?
@@craigcorson3036 i’ve only so much capacity though ! If i were to raise all my woes in random RUclips videos, i’d never stop ! Every reply goes in my head & starts going around & around ! I’d have a break down in a month i think. As long as someone speaks or writes in a way that is understandable, i’m good.
I took a trip through the Copper Canyons back in 1993. They have a lot of curve tracks through the mountains and you'll hear the squeaks. It took me a short while this occurs, then I got the picture why.
On the Tehachapi they just use small pots with fuel oil when needed under the points. The winter of 2019 was the only one worked through and I saw none in use.
It took longer for this train to pass than it did for me to eat a serving of pop tarts. You guys have some pretty long! But I live where they can't be too long. Also, we have oilers everywhere here, but curiously, I've seen sprinkler systems too, that will spray water on to the tracks to cut down noise.
I saw one of the older ones out on the Santa Ana branch near Costa Mesa (in the out of service track area). There was only one at one end of the curve. The switcher would shove from the Alton St runaround track across Susan and around the TIGHT curve to go to the LATimes building. The greaser would only operate when going toward LAT, it wouldn't operate coming back. I could see a lot of grease around there and on the inside of the rail going towards the LAT building. Yup...it was a mess.
Here’s one I got for you. When I take the train back east, why are there telephone poles and wires located along the train lines so low, compared to other telephone poles and wires. I used to watch the green glass insulators as we cruised by. In fact, my dad had some of those insulators at home. I thought they were cool and ran some light bulbs inside them for night lights.
Those were the signal lines used to hold the circuits that told the signal system what was going on. If you want to find my piece of Polelines, it's in the "How The Signal System Works" playlist.
To add on to Mark's comment, most of the wires were carrying only a few volts, for the signal, track, slide fence, hi-water, etc circuits. The exception is the float power pair, which was usually 440, 550 or more volts, just a hot and neutral. These no. 6 or larger copper or aluminum wires would be found on the outside pair of insulators on the lowest arm and typically larger sized, plus can be a distinct color/shape from the rest. This ultimately powered battery chargers in all the signal cases, which floated the large strings of primary batteries.
Interesting that this exists. The train wheels don't need the flange to turn. I know it rubs sometimes but the conical shape of the wheel keeps it centered in the tracks even on a turn.
Not really. Gravity will easily overcome the wheel shape in elevated curves. Also, the trucks that hold the axles are solid and will push the leading axle to the outside of a curve, especially on locomotives. They used to transpose rail to get more life out of it and I've seen rail head worn very thin before being scrapped. You can bet that if the railroad didn't need something they would not keep it installed! Thanks for checking out the channel!
Some curves I have seen squeal loud enough to harm your hearing if you are nearby. This is way cool - how to kill noise without losing tractive force! BTW - how cool is it to have a UP train roll by during the discussion :)
We have that situation on some parts of the London Underground. The squeal generated is almost deafening, especially as it has nowhere to go but bounce off of the tunnel walls. If it was that noisy in a factory you'd be made to wear ear protection.
Tagging generally happens at the destination while being loaded or unloaded and not while on the trains. Train cars are usually tagged in the storage tracks at their destinations as well and not in yards or live tracks. Thanks for checking out the channel!
On a 100 ton car, its hard to believe that one wheel has to slip because of 1 rail shorter going around a curve. Never knew that they oiled the rails till now. Thank you for the video. Which wheel slips? inside or outside of curve?
@@57fitter Thats interesting! Lot of thought and engineering went into building train cars and steam engines back in the late 1800's. More brains and common sense before computers!
With the forces and pressures involved they should use not oil but a soft (maybe even medium) grade of wax with admixed graphite. The mechanism should be triggered by acoustic switches set for approach of trains, not for the screech.
They're called 'Flange Lubricators' and they lubricate flanges, not wheel treads. Because train wheels are conical, not cylindrical (and rails are canted inward three degrees), trains can negotiate curves without flanges hitting the rail, but at higher speeds and tight curves, flanges do touch, causing wear. When the outer rail gets too worn, it's simply swapped out with the inner rail.
Forgive a signalman for not knowing the exact terminology of track apparatuses. I'm a story teller, not a rivet counter! You've obviously not spent much time in curved territory as Tehachapi. The flanges and rail are in almost constant contact. They stopped transposing rail on the mountain in the 1990s.
honestly I had no clue rails and wheels got lubed, I just figured trains were meant to squeal a bit. Given friction makes heat I now wonder how hot the wheels on something like an Acela must get when its in areas it can cruise at 150+, I took it to Boston once and GPS clocked it at 155 in Rhode Island.
Well I don't believe the flanges make that familiar noise. I reckon (and I may well be wrong) that the noise comes directly off the wheel face and railface interface (lot of faces lol) since the axles are rigid. What I think happens is the inner and out wheels are rotating at different speeds and it is this that causes the familiar groan as the windup between wheels is equalized. The groan radiates down the rail and through the mass of the wheels making te delightfully familiar deep tones. I propose track superelevation, wheel taper, rail cant all combine to ensure the flange rarely touches the rail on bends. I have seen instances where the flange does touch the rails where slow freights rest on the bottom rail of superelevated rail for high speed passenger track on hills where the slow freight crawls up resting on the inner rail and I suppose this trackside oiler is for that. Maybe some very small amount of it gets on the wheel face to stop the groaning from chattering the rail face like corrugations on a dirt road but not enough to inhibit braking.
What you are proposing only works for dedicated track used by very specific equipment at a specified speed. That, sir, is not practical to accomplish or maintain.
If I understand correctly (and I usually do), only the flanges of the wheels get oiled. The part of the wheel that rides on the top surface of the rail doesn't. The flanges don't contribute to traction, they just keep the train on the track.
I also heard that oiled rails save efficiency on fuel something to do with the train 'gliding' across the track or like an oiled bike chain is easier to ride on a bike, but i saw it on an old steam rail video so im not sure if its used anymore.
@@pashon4percushon Well once the oil gets dirty and quickly wears away and temporary "parasitic drag" reduction will return. They need Graphite coating.
First video I see with Swift trailers that are not in an accident.
Excellent!!
That's because they're an accident waiting to happen.
😋😋😋
i mean usually trains cannot make sudden unexpected turns.
if u look closely at the trailer going by you can see its already damaged lol
I never knew these things existed! Thanks for the lesson!
Been a signal maintainer for 10 years. Obviously I knew they had to do with shooting grease. Never knew it was meant for a curve. And now after watching I pictured where I’ve seen them, at the beginning of a curve!
That is very interesting!
I was a lubricator maintainer for BNSF you explained it pretty well good job I was in KS.
Do they have the oilers on both ends of the curve?
How far does the oil/grease travel down the track?
@@ddegn there is only 1there are a lot of variations the how much traffic degree of curves and how many curves most generally there is one tank and 4 bars that have 48 ports on each bar the lubricators that are in the video are solar powered which means they 12 volt system and on the inside of rail is a wheel sensor it picks up how ever many wheels it is set for which in turn will activate the pump I hope this helps understand the system
@@ddegn I want to add that on average the grease will carry three to four miles but there again depends on how much traffic I had some that would carry grease 6 to 8 miles
@@charlessmith8834 Thanks for the great answers! That helped me understand it a lot.
@@charlessmith8834 thank you so much for adding your experience to the conversation!
Just yesterday I hiked down some old abandoned tracks and walked past a “Rail & Flange Lubricator”. Going by the name and how it was situated on the tracks I figured out what it was for. Your video confirmed what I thought. And sure enough, it was right before a big curve! Something I learned here. Thanks!
That wheel slip and screech is what all Curvians call music at Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Great place to watch trains.
Amen on that music to the ears violins sound
The guys that work on a section sure are happy to have a rail lubricator so the rail last longer and isn't worn out before its time.
@@juangarcia-co5ve those were my words juan!
I had heard the loud wheels on rails sound, But had no idea they were oiled. Makes sense, TY!!
I have been into trains my entire life an never knew this, great thing to learn about. Thanks!
I was always under the impression you need to keep slippery stuff off the rails at all cost 🤷🏻♀️😂 I guess I never even considered this.
Wow, this is one of those things you would never know about. I guess that curved track would have a shorter lifespan than straight track.
Also more derailments due to flange climbing rail.
I'd wondered about curves and have certainly heard the wheel-rail squeel. I didn't know curve oilers existed. Thanks for the information and up-close video of one of these.
Cannot speak for the UP but decades ago CN Rail switched to a vegetable based oil, which has a additive to deter animals eating it. For a while locomotives were built with a tank for some sort of lubcation to reduce friction on rolling railcars in an attempt to reduce fuel costs. Those have since been removed and now spring loaded solid bars of some form of antifriction material press against one of the rear set of wheels on most of our locomotives. That one sound that happened was with a coupling, the two knuckles under tention (called draft) binding as one slid up and the other down. They would of been both been dry due to rust, or new and not yet polished up from use.
It would seem more efficient to have grease dispensed from the locomotive. It could be designed so the greater the angle the truck twists in the bolster, the more grease is dispensed. I know of a RR museum with a circular track that ran an extended hose from the crankcase breather to constantly drip oil on the outside rail.
My grandfather worked for Moore and Steele, he machined the mechanical greaser pumps, I remember they sold oilers, and greasers. Interesting side note, each rr carrier had different sized rolling stock, each greaser casting was custom sized, they had about thirty samples, each from a different railroad.
A small percentage of commenters here DO understand about the effect and use of conical tyres on solid axles, so I won't labour that point. I just want to say two things:
Firstly, the reason that wheel flanges do sometimes rub against the inside of the rail on tight bends despite this self-centring effect, is that the conic angle cannot be very large or the effect would be too violent and unstable at high speeds on [even well-laid] straight track.
Secondly, contrary to what most folk intuitively think, the squeaking and squealing sounds that one hears on curves comes almost entirely from the differential movement between the tread of the tyre and the flat top of the rail - the outer treads have to jerk forwards, or the inner ones backwards, every few yards. It can be one or the other or both, depending on several other variables of track and train. When this is heard, the flanges could well be pushing hard against one rail or the other - again, which rail it is, depends on other things - but the sound comes from those forward and/or backward jerks.
Thank you for the explanation -- I saw one of these while walking alongside the commuter line near me. I could see what it was doing (pumping out grease), but I didn't know why -- mystery solved! And the one I saw was strictly mechanical -- the grease was pumped by the wheels hitting a pawl on the inside of the track.
The ones near where I live are like that. Makes a lot more sense to me, but I suppose that the electric ones must make very exact doses of oil or something to justify the cost.
85YO used to work for B&O, never knew! I guess because never near any curves. Thanks!!
Good job I always thought it was a locomotive that was leaking oil or diesel but good job on that keep up the good work God bless you
Ive seen these before, and saw the greasy tracks, but never knew that thats what they were for lol. Thanks!
I remember seeing the old kind of oiler didn't know it was for curves. Thanks for video, hadn't seen this covered before
The company I work for has its own siding with three spurs. We get tank cars of oil almost daily that have to be switched out. My job is weekly to go out and clean and oil the sliding surfaces of five manual switches and maintain a flange greaser just like those. I even have to manually grease the inside of the rail on the high side on a couple of hard curves and I just use a paint roller to grease the side of that to keep from wearing the side of the rail so much. The automatic greaser is triggered by a proximity switch that detects the wheels and every 18 wheels it runs a 15 to 20 second cycle of grease pumping.
You'd be a great speaker for career days
Now you pushed other information out of my brain to make room for new.
HAHAHAHA.
What the freak does that mean?
It happens to me every time I open a book or watch a documentary!
AWESOME viedeo! I never knew these curve oilers were a thing, prior to this video.
Thanks for the info.
I went and manually oiled all the tracks at my local train station.
Great video Mark. A lot of people don’t know about these 👍👍👍❤️
Don't know how I ran across this video but it was very interesting. I never knew they existed either. Beautiful scenery out there.
Thank you! I hope you subscribed so you can check out much more of the scenery around here!
Thanks for posting.now I gotta HO scale build these now lol.
I wouldn't expect the plastic wheels on HO-scale cars to squeal much, if at all.
I'm going to add them to my LEGO train. I didn't know I was doing it wrong all these years.
By the way, I'm joking and I'm sure the original poster was joking as well.
@@ddegn The tank and wiping bars would be fairly easy to add to model track to indicate a lubricator.
I have always seen then. Never knew what they we're, till NOW!
Thanks man!
You're right - I've never thought about it. But now you've mentioned it, I'm glad i found out how come some trains/locations make a LOT of squeaking noise and others dont. If i'd have asked myself how come, I'd have worried about it and it would have kept me awake at night trying to figure out the reason. My curiosity can do that to me sometimes. So thank you. You answered a question I didnt know i wanted the answer to!
I also read somewhere, that Chicago's El train tracks have "oilers" that, not only help lubricate the wheels on tight turns, but also prevent the wheels from climbing up and over the rails. Chicago El trains make very sharp turns in the Loop, which makes this oiling process necessary.
The EL track has inner guard rails which contact the back side of the car wheels to hold the flanges off the rails on the other side of the track. Not only do their flange oilers (or greasers) apply grease to the flanges for the sides of rails but the backsides of the wheels for the guard rails, and they still squeal like a stuck pig.
Also, the surface of the wheel is tapered from the flange to the outboard side to accommodate turns. Learned that from a SPRR machinist.
Fun seeing that long train. Thank you.
Wish that you had shown close ups of the oiler. Really did not see anything. You could have zoomed in while the train passing.
Did you watch to 5:30? He showed it pretty well
@@nickopedia5669 Close up as the train is passing over them.
I would have liked to see where the grease comes out of the device. I was a bit disappointed not to get a better view of the oiler.
@@ddegn the grease is distributed along the inside of the rail so you can't see it working. Even then, only a small amount is dispensed. One of the reasons I get no grief for being in many of the places I shoot is because I stay out of the way and don't foul the tracks unless I know it is safe and it was not safe at that location as no signals are visible.
Summer and winter break job was milling the hydraulic applicator blocks and assembling the head units at Moore and Steele in Owego, NY during the mid-80’s. Always interesting trying to explain to people what it was this small family-owned concern manufactured. Great video to show how they work and have been improved over the years.
My dad. Never had a greaser on his territory. On BNSF the MOW took care of it when needing maintenance. There is a greaser on main 2 on the BNSF on the south hill in Albia Iowa.
The extreme curvatures on the Tehachapi require them and there are many. Definitely MoW equipment.
Thanks for checking it out!
I seem to recall reading somewhere a long time ago that the steam locos had oilers on them. The engineer activated them as needed.
That depends on the railroad and service the locomotive was assigned. This also includes diesels and electrics depending on service and location. Switching on and in tight curves would often find flange oilers on locos sometimes with a method to start and stop the application.
One of the switching railroads around Chicago has diesel locos using tires on the wheels like steam loco wheel practice because it is less expensive to re-tire wheels than replace the wheelset or wheels on an axle.
I often walk railroad tracks and I have seen these and similar but I figured it was to somehow oil the train axles. I had no idea it was necessary to lubricate curved track or wheels.. for less friction.?
Thanks for this video, I'll check out your others, Brother!!!!
I've seen them before and now I know what they are. Thanks.
We had one going through the farm where i lived, over the decades & especially after heavy rain the field on the downward slope was contaminated with a film of oil in every puddle & the cows used to graze that paddock.
As a railroad conductor i absolutely hate these cause when we climb on the cars to tie brakes or break a train up the grease flings up on the equipment and we get greased but I know hey are a necessary.
Pity they don't have spare units that can be swapped out for a defective one, instead of of just not have grease to one track.
I worked on a tunneling project for Canadian Rail boring a tunnel under the St Clair river near Sarnia, Ont. This was to replace the 100 year old one that was too small a diameter to take the double stacked containers shown in you video. They had been barged across the river previous to the tunnel opening.
Thanks for explaining the track greaser, I bet local residents also lover not being woken at night by those horrible squeal's.
Huh? It looks to me like the one out of service was replaced by the one he talks about.
Most railroads that use these lubricators have someone or several people assigned to maintain them depending on how many there are.
114 cars... That was a long one...
I always forget to count.
Like your videos Mark! Like 👍 the information provided from a retired railway employee. Be safe!
I remember seeing the rails ground on the sides on a curve up the hill from Caliente.
They wear out pretty quickly. Alloys have come a long way since the 1980s so rail and wheels last longer but it's still a struggle up there.
Thanks for the informative videos. Love them.
I grew up on some tracks, have seen those many times but didn't know what they were. Thanks for the info.
Thanks, didn't know I needed to know that. Tehachapi seems like a great place for trainspotting. Whenever I go on a road trip to the desert I like passing through that area and stopping to look
That was absolutely fascinating. Not many people give much consideration to the need for lubricants in our modern world. But they are necessary like on your automobile or you could soon be waiting for a wrecker.
Can you get an up close video of the lubricator in action as a train is passing by?
I cannot. The lubricant is dispersed along the inside of the rail so it is not visible when a train is passing.
Cool i remember the flange oilers of the 80's
Yeah, those were much more messy. I ruined a couple pair of boots working near them!
That is pretty neat,I never knew they had that. Makes sense though!
And they are everywhere up there. Look closely. They're in many of my videos.
Thanks for checking it out!
My dog spot that went everywhere with me managed to walk in some of the grease one day and it's so hard to get it off of her let alone my truck seats. Fortunately they were vinyl. The one that I saw was a pump style that has now been replaced.
Since they use Dawn dish soap to clean animals in an oil spill I suppose that would probably work. But Grace is a whole different thing isn't it. that kind of makes me think of the fifth wheel grease on a semi truck
Yeah you're probably right, Dawn would at least be a start. I didn't think of that then. For heaven sake don't let it get on your carpet inside of your home. Then you'll have another battle with the wife.
That was really cool! Thanks. 😁
A close up of the rail & system would have been nice
I'm not wasting a good pair of shoes! That stuff does not come out!
Great information, Mark!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Mark ... thanks for this, as an Oiler Mechanic in the 60"s ... talk abut dirty, I had black heads in my arm pits .... and did not know they have been revised to electric, the old shoe pump types would shoot graphite grease every where. ... the hoggers used to throw stuff (in fun, I hope) at me as quite often with so much grease making its way to the ball of the rail the sanders had to be used .... and grease with sand was a real messy substance .... went to the aircraft industry, no heavy grease.
I once saw some dragging equipment hit one of these lubricators. Demolished it. It was a cloud of grease flying through the air! It must have covered nearly a quarter mile. Amazing!
It is next to impossible to remove graphite and/or carbon black from your skin.
I've always wondered about this, thanks for making this video Mark!
For guys with PD a curve oiler is a must :)
Great videos.... A lot of good information. Thanks for sharing.
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks for the info. I never knew curve oilers existed but it makes sense that they do. I would think that by adding locomotives in the middle or ends of the train the wheel flanges and track wear less.
In the UK we call them grease pots and it was my job many years ago to carry cans of grease to refill these horrible things, and in the middle of summer walking for miles carrying cans of grease and tools to do it is no fun that stuff is extremely hard to remove from skin and clothes was the worst job i ever did on the railway i would have rather dug wet beds all day than greasing, no paycheck was worth it
Yes, flange lubricators in the UK are easy to see. Cylindrical pots mounted close to the rails, with thick deposits of heavy grease on the inside of the rails.
I used to operate excavators, and I hated greasing the pins on the boom, dipper arms and bucket. I'd usually manage to get grease on me some how. Either off the grease gun, or by brushing against a freshly greased pin. I know how you feel. It's a necessary job, but grease is vile stuff to try and get off your skin or clothing.
Do you have a guess on how long ago this was? Do they still do it the same way?
Thanks for the story.
Yeah, I've ruined pants and boots having to work in proximity to these! It does not come out!
Good info! Enjoyed seeing the different company names on the containers and piggyback trailers as the train passed. Might be interesting to learn a bit about the demise of the beloved caboose.
Search for FREDS or EOT devices, they replaced the caboose.
@@coloradostrong Thanks, yep, I remember, my company used to be a customer of NSRR.
I was surprised to see no mat of some sort over the ballast around it. All the ones down here seem to have them.
To honest I didn't notice there wasn't one. Unless they've changed things they always used them.
Thanks for checking it out
Thanks for this information Mark! I hope you are enjoying retirement!
Down Under they are called Flange Lubricators and we also use AdSorb matting around them to limit the amount of MDS being washed into the environment
Have you experienced the flat cars which carry military's battle tanks where the wheel trucks have 3 axles? Saw a video from the early 2000's on Tehachapi and the squeal was something terrible, comments said it was brake squeal but it was going up hill. Needed more allowable axial shift on the middle axle to stop the wheel flanges loading against each other (the 2 outer axles v the center axle). One thing you should not have is the lubricant on top of the rail, loss of traction, wear due to cavitation, wheel skidding, environmental mess.
thanks for sharing mark.how about doing a video on making the tunnels higher for the double decker trains.thanks
If you watch my video (2 parts) on the history of the tunnels on the Tehachapi, I explain the "notching" they did for that purpose.
Thanks for asking and for checking it out!
I appreciate a person who pronounces both Rs in February. We are a rare breed these days.
My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Davies, pointed that out to my class. So, I also pronounce both Rs in February. Cool!
@@ericwarnock12 It beats me why it seems to be so difficult for so many people. Feb. Roo. Airy. Nothing to it!
Way more important things going on in the world to worry or focus on than pronunciation, enunciation & grammar.
@@WhiskeyGulf71 The fact that there are more important things to be concerned with does not mean that we should not concern ourselves with the less important ones. Or do you contend that we should only be concerned about one thing?
@@craigcorson3036 i’ve only so much capacity though ! If i were to raise all my woes in random RUclips videos, i’d never stop ! Every reply goes in my head & starts going around & around ! I’d have a break down in a month i think.
As long as someone speaks or writes in a way that is understandable, i’m good.
That was really nice to see the train go by. That one is known as an Innermodal train.
Intermodal
I took a trip through the Copper Canyons back in 1993. They have a lot of curve tracks through the mountains and you'll hear the squeaks. It took me a short while this occurs, then I got the picture why.
Constructive tip: Mayhaps have edited out 90% of the dead time while train passed once you announced the curve oiler.
I like watching the trains go by. It makes it doubly interesting for me!
Edit out the train passing? I love to watch them go by.
Next time i make a “field” trip (as I call it), from the South Bay, I’m I’m gonna have to take the long way home via the 58 to Mojave and LA.
Ya got me as a subscriber.
Thank you Mark for putting out the contents.
Thank you for your information. Very much appreciated.
My pleasure!
Good information, makes sense to have them.
We now propose using super-slick super-hard ti/ni coatings on the flanges also. Actually a wide variety of plasma coatings would do.
the unasked question was answered - thanks
Have you ever recorded a heating switch in the winter time one's were there's fire coming out of the rails?
On the Tehachapi they just use small pots with fuel oil when needed under the points. The winter of 2019 was the only one worked through and I saw none in use.
It took longer for this train to pass than it did for me to eat a serving of pop tarts. You guys have some pretty long! But I live where they can't be too long. Also, we have oilers everywhere here, but curiously, I've seen sprinkler systems too, that will spray water on to the tracks to cut down noise.
I saw one of the older ones out on the Santa Ana branch near Costa Mesa (in the out of service track area). There was only one at one end of the curve. The switcher would shove from the Alton St runaround track across Susan and around the TIGHT curve to go to the LATimes building. The greaser would only operate when going toward LAT, it wouldn't operate coming back. I could see a lot of grease around there and on the inside of the rail going towards the LAT building. Yup...it was a mess.
Thank you!
Here’s one I got for you. When I take the train back east, why are there telephone poles and wires located along the train lines so low, compared to other telephone poles and wires. I used to watch the green glass insulators as we cruised by. In fact, my dad had some of those insulators at home. I thought they were cool and ran some light bulbs inside them for night lights.
Those were the signal lines used to hold the circuits that told the signal system what was going on. If you want to find my piece of Polelines, it's in the "How The Signal System Works" playlist.
To add on to Mark's comment, most of the wires were carrying only a few volts, for the signal, track, slide fence, hi-water, etc circuits. The exception is the float power pair, which was usually 440, 550 or more volts, just a hot and neutral.
These no. 6 or larger copper or aluminum wires would be found on the outside pair of insulators on the lowest arm and typically larger sized, plus can be a distinct color/shape from the rest.
This ultimately powered battery chargers in all the signal cases, which floated the large strings of primary batteries.
That's cool. Great information
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for checking it out!
Interesting that this exists. The train wheels don't need the flange to turn. I know it rubs sometimes but the conical shape of the wheel keeps it centered in the tracks even on a turn.
Not really. Gravity will easily overcome the wheel shape in elevated curves. Also, the trucks that hold the axles are solid and will push the leading axle to the outside of a curve, especially on locomotives. They used to transpose rail to get more life out of it and I've seen rail head worn very thin before being scrapped. You can bet that if the railroad didn't need something they would not keep it installed!
Thanks for checking out the channel!
Some curves I have seen squeal loud enough to harm your hearing if you are nearby. This is way cool - how to kill noise without losing tractive force! BTW - how cool is it to have a UP train roll by during the discussion :)
Wheel squeal is heard at most curves. It seems(wheel squeal) on ribbon rail because of higher speeds is louder.
We have that situation on some parts of the London Underground. The squeal generated is almost deafening, especially as it has nowhere to go but bounce off of the tunnel walls. If it was that noisy in a factory you'd be made to wear ear protection.
Welp....learned something new today.
LOVE YOUR AMAZING, AWESOME VIDEOS. SAY, WHERE DOES ALL THAT CRAZY GOOD, COLORFUL ART COME FROM ON THE SIDES OF THOSE CONTAINERS?
Tagging generally happens at the destination while being loaded or unloaded and not while on the trains. Train cars are usually tagged in the storage tracks at their destinations as well and not in yards or live tracks.
Thanks for checking out the channel!
On a 100 ton car, its hard to believe that one wheel has to slip because of 1 rail shorter going around a curve. Never knew that they oiled the rails till now. Thank you for the video. Which wheel slips? inside or outside of curve?
Train wheels are cone shaped, with the larger diameter on the flange side, to compensate for the radius of the curve. There still is contact though.
On a 100 ton car, it's imperative they slip, or else break the axle.
@@57fitter Thats interesting! Lot of thought and engineering went into building train cars and steam engines back in the late 1800's. More brains and common sense before computers!
With the forces and pressures involved they should use not oil but a soft (maybe even medium) grade of wax with admixed graphite. The mechanism should be triggered by acoustic switches set for approach of trains, not for the screech.
This was informative. 👍🏾
the wheels on the train go round and round, round and round, round and round. the wheels... (you get it)
They're called 'Flange Lubricators' and they lubricate flanges, not wheel treads. Because train wheels are conical, not cylindrical (and rails are canted inward three degrees), trains can negotiate curves without flanges hitting the rail, but at higher speeds and tight curves, flanges do touch, causing wear. When the outer rail gets too worn, it's simply swapped out with the inner rail.
Forgive a signalman for not knowing the exact terminology of track apparatuses. I'm a story teller, not a rivet counter! You've obviously not spent much time in curved territory as Tehachapi. The flanges and rail are in almost constant contact. They stopped transposing rail on the mountain in the 1990s.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing!
honestly I had no clue rails and wheels got lubed, I just figured trains were meant to squeal a bit. Given friction makes heat I now wonder how hot the wheels on something like an Acela must get when its in areas it can cruise at 150+, I took it to Boston once and GPS clocked it at 155 in Rhode Island.
Just found your channel. Awesome stuff
Loved it.
Thank you! More to come. Stay tuned!
Well I don't believe the flanges make that familiar noise. I reckon (and I may well be wrong) that the noise comes directly off the wheel face and railface interface (lot of faces lol) since the axles are rigid. What I think happens is the inner and out wheels are rotating at different speeds and it is this that causes the familiar groan as the windup between wheels is equalized. The groan radiates down the rail and through the mass of the wheels making te delightfully familiar deep tones.
I propose track superelevation, wheel taper, rail cant all combine to ensure the flange rarely touches the rail on bends. I have seen instances where the flange does touch the rails where slow freights rest on the bottom rail of superelevated rail for high speed passenger track on hills where the slow freight crawls up resting on the inner rail and I suppose this trackside oiler is for that. Maybe some very small amount of it gets on the wheel face to stop the groaning from chattering the rail face like corrugations on a dirt road but not enough to inhibit braking.
Well..you are mistaken. If you could see what worn rail up here looks like and see the broken flanges, you would understand the squeal.
What you are proposing only works for dedicated track used by very specific equipment at a specified speed. That, sir, is not practical to accomplish or maintain.
Thanks for sharing. Great bit of information.!
interesting.
UP has made a point in explaining that they use vegetable based grease that readily bio degrades.
Wonderful video,thank you.
Doesn’t that oil impede the traction of the next locomotives to pass over it?
If I understand correctly (and I usually do), only the flanges of the wheels get oiled. The part of the wheel that rides on the top surface of the rail doesn't. The flanges don't contribute to traction, they just keep the train on the track.
I also heard that oiled rails save efficiency on fuel something to do with the train 'gliding' across the track or like an oiled bike chain is easier to ride on a bike, but i saw it on an old steam rail video so im not sure if its used anymore.
@@craigcorson3036 and we don’t want friction on the things that keep the train on the track.
@@pashon4percushon Well once the oil gets dirty and quickly wears away and temporary "parasitic drag" reduction will return. They need Graphite coating.
The train is already moving when it hits the curve. Even if you stop in this spot you can use the sander to get traction.