NYC_George
Well-Known Member
I played golf today with a friend of mine who just retired from a supervisor position on the railroad. I asked him about the swirl clips used on the rails just north Brewster, NY where the ice breakers are located. He said their called pandrol rail fasteners. He went on to say, the Hudson, Harlem and NH lines don’t use spikes anymore. They use only these fasteners. The railroad buys three different types, one for concrete ties, one for wooden ties, and one for bridge ties. They are stronger than spikes and they do away with the creepers that use to stop the rail from creeping forward.
I also asked him about the ice breakers. He said, the railroad calls them rake blocks. They rake off any thing from the train that may damage the third rail. He also said, one fourth mile down from the rake blocks there’s a tell tale. If the rake block doesn’t do the job what ever is still there will hit the tell tale which in turn sends a message to the train dispatcher’s office. The dispatcher will then stop the train.
One other thing he said is that when they install ribbon rail they heat it until it reaches its maximum expanding point. This is so the rail cannot expand later on and bow out. It may contract and crack, in which case the signal will stop the train, but if it bows the signal will not detect this.
The link to the company who makes these fasteners and some photos of the different types is at
http://pandrolusa.com/
NYC_George
I also asked him about the ice breakers. He said, the railroad calls them rake blocks. They rake off any thing from the train that may damage the third rail. He also said, one fourth mile down from the rake blocks there’s a tell tale. If the rake block doesn’t do the job what ever is still there will hit the tell tale which in turn sends a message to the train dispatcher’s office. The dispatcher will then stop the train.
One other thing he said is that when they install ribbon rail they heat it until it reaches its maximum expanding point. This is so the rail cannot expand later on and bow out. It may contract and crack, in which case the signal will stop the train, but if it bows the signal will not detect this.
The link to the company who makes these fasteners and some photos of the different types is at
http://pandrolusa.com/
NYC_George