Steam & Excursion > How do you rerail a steam locomotive?

Very carefully.

Unfortunately, the video is too long to post here  but we recently shared a video of our re-railing the 765/767 for those curious.

It's currently live on our website: http://fortwaynerailroad.org/videos/

The entire story is covered in our most recent newsletter which is sent out to all current and new members: http://fortwaynerailroad.org/become-a-member/

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Kelly, that video is really good, showing what hard work produces.  It's tough to rerail a 200 ton steam locomotive.  For all FWRHS members, don't miss this on their website.   I would encourage those who are not members to sign up.   765 is a worthy cause for us steam fans.

Outstanding video. Love the patience and perseverance of everyone involved, not to mention the team-work. It's not all glory working on this kind of equipment, and this video demonstrates the blood, sweat and inventiveness required.

Broke it up into two pieces...

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WOW!       And that doesn't do justice.  Helluva job guys.  I has to be a little nerve racking getting down and dirty placing rerailers  up close under multi tons of steel. Great job on the video with camera work and editing. 

Question:   Near the end of video 1 as the drivers rerail, they spin.   Was the engine still with steam and a little throttle applied? 

We had the 765 charged up on compressed air to help manuver itself.

That's the smart way to rerail a derailed steam locomotive. Never rerailed anything that large myself but you guys made it look easy with the knowledge and skill shown. Thanks for sharing the video. 
 

GREAT VIDEO!!!!
 

After all that work, it makes me laugh that the one guy casually munches on lunch facing away from the locomotive at it rolls into the enginehouse. I'd consider it a reflex action to watch the thing roll in!

Holy Moly! Real men doing real work! Well done, men.

Everything OK with the running gear ?

"Very carefully!"

Jim
Hatboro, PA

Arm yourselves with plenty of pieces of Oak, rerail frogs and a plentiful supply of Industrial strength profanity.  Some oil.  Common sense, An understanding of leverage and watch the videos posted above.  That's for a derailment, not a catastrophe.
1522 rolled a rail and got way off the track in a twist with the tender and drawbars on a mainline wye.  The RR didn't want the interchange tied up so they called in Hulcher.  They're good, work hard but have no knowledge of where to pick up or yank on a steam engine.  Their job is to open the line, and they do it well.  A couple of us "advised" them, such as not to drag the engine sideways using the valve gear hanger.  It was a lot nastier than 765 or the ATSF 3415 and there was damage to the engine.   Sad thing is it only had 30 miles on an overhaul.

Ross Rolland does not know me but you might remember how quickly I rerailed the Steamtown #127 in New York Ship, Camden, NJ when you moved back on the rail without first ringing your bell and saved a great trip to Cape May.  The Fort Wayne crew did a great job getting the drivers back on with wood, and nice to see they had a lot of wood but they should have used wood on rerailing the trailing truck as they learned the hard way.  The re-tracker wings are too steep an angle to rerail that weight.  I supervised with wreck foremen the rerailing of hundreds of derailment, maybe over a thousand and we never used any metal.  Only use oak blocks and use slight taper wedges to lift the wheels! 

We would have been fired using a broken gage bar as a cause because a gage bar was permitted to only be in track for a very temporary use, such as fixing a damaged track.  A gage bar in track admits that the ties were not sufficient per someone’s inspection and those ties should have been replaced.  Your track looked too good to be a cause for the derailment but I hope all of those gage bars have now been replaced with solid wood and that problem cannot happen again.  You might want to increase your spiking pattern.  You have now passed the final test of a well rounded and experienced crew.  Keep rolling.
 

Wolfman Wrote:
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> Everything OK with the running gear ?

Yes. Only bent a sander. A turnout at 40MPH is a little rougher than what was experienced here.

PlyWoody Wrote:
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>The Fort Wayne crew did a great job getting
> the drivers back on with wood, and nice to see
> they had a lot of wood but they should have used
> wood on rerailing the trailing truck as they
> learned the hard way. 
>

You can actually see in the video the crew attempting exactly this, but the engine truck just shoved the wood out of the way.

There may never be a need to use the following offer of data but steam locomotives are easier to rerail than old diesels.  With large drivers you can get around the wheels and place a planking of oak boards.  It is most important to shovel out all the loose ballast above top of ties and make room to lay a level boardwalk. The tighter you place the wood, the less chance of the derailed wheels pushing them up. This is why I suggested a lot of oak wood to begin the project of rerailing the #765/7. Be careful to lock the oak in by the ties with very low taper wedges to force the derailed wheels up onto the wood on the first move.
When the drivers are derailed, place level solid planking down for every wheel to get up on wood but only wedge the lead driver for the movement that is best to get it up and above the rail head first.  Work on one axle to lift at a time using slight taper oak wedges.  Take note that because of the spring linking between all the drivers and to lead and trailing wheels trucks, that when you lift one driver, the spring linkage will put more weight on the adjacent driver-this is good.  This is why steam locomotives and PRR Electric GG-1 engines are flexible in their distribution of weight and are easier to rerail than a diesel truck.  You can also investigate where to hammer wood wedges under those springs and force the weight of the engine onto the frame and away from the driver you are lifting back on the rail.  You can actually force nearly all the engine weight off of one axle set of drivers at a time, the one you want to rerail.
Now when the lead truck or the trailing truck is derailed, you can climb under and investigate where you can hammer wedges between the frame and the rocker arms of the spring system and isolate all the engine weight away from those other derailed wheels.  They will be very easy to work back on the rails when all the engine weight is locked to just on the drivers that are on the rails.

I did just that in 1970 on engine #483 at Cumbres Pass, Los Pinos when the existing jacks could not lift the fireman’s side trailing journal box to switch the brass.  We wedged a wood block on the front end of the rocker bar and locked the engine weight distribution into the frame, and then the box was very easy to lift and we fixed the brass and left there after a 6 hour delay. 

You will be better to never use the rerailing frogs again, and your blocking came loose because the old ballast had not been shoveled out to make room for the wood.  Your wood was not level and locked in place.
Also, you need double shoulder tie plates and 6-8 spikes per plate, not 4 spikes per worn out #1 plate to fix up your track.
And when you need to run around a sharp wye, have three people walk it days in advance with a 62’ chord and measure the center offset every 31’ where each inch will equal each degree of curvature to make sure the curve is not too sharp.  Oil only the head of the inner rail so you have traction on the other rail. Proper gage should be ¼”greater for each 10 degree of curvature.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/16 12:20 by PlyWoody.

PlyWoody Wrote:
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"...We would have been fired using a broken gage bar as a cause because a gage bar was permitted to only be in track for a very temporary use, such as fixing a damaged track.  A gage bar in track admits that the ties were not sufficient per someone’s inspection and those ties should have been replaced.  Your track looked too good to be a cause for the derailment but I hope all of those gage bars have now been replaced with solid wood and that problem cannot happen again.  You might want to increase your spiking pattern..."


Ah...the blissful rose-colored glasses of a Monday morning quarterback with 20-20 hindsight in an Ivory tower. Good grief.

This is not main line trackage. This is a shop lead used a few times a year. It has light, 90-pound rail sitting on a mix of new ties and 20-year old relay ties. By now, all the old relay ties are dead. The track is owned by an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that is not exactly rolling in dough.

There were probably 15-20 gauge rods in that curve. They are cheap and easy to install. And they held everything together for several years.

Ties cost money. Replacing them takes a lot of time, effort and money. I'm sorry the track doesn't meet your main line standards, but we'll muddle along as best we can.

Come to think of it...the heck with putting in new ties. We just need to order 500 more gauge rods! They're only about $20 each.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/16 13:31 by Rich_Melvin.

If a gauge bar is installed, has it become a sin to leave the bar in place after tie replacement has occurred?  I'm not aware that the redundancy would be a problem.

-Larry doyle

Nearby tourist railroad get good relay ties for $7 each and just was dumped upon with several hundred very solid switch timber for free and trucking cost, account of plates and spikes still attached. I can not believe such a position as you just derailed on that track that needs a upgrade. Sorry to be so blunt when I only want to help you and what you run, but if you spend money smarter you may have more.  Three good ties for each gage rod. You only have to dig out one crib to aid the installation of two new ties by just prying the old ones into the crib hole and pulling them out with tie tong. Two volunteers can do 4 ties a day. PS:Remove gage rod for relocated use after tie installation. [Why would you want to leave $20 just lay in your track when you don't need it there as you said you just put new ties in? That real smart]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/16 16:19 by PlyWoody.