Western Railroad Discussion > What does this box do?

This device was recently installed on BNSF's Avard sub about 8 miles west of Cherokee yard in Tulsa, OK. I don't remember seeing one anywhere else. What does it do? There appears to be some sort of sensor attached to the outside of the rail. Is it a listening device to detect wheel flaws?

Thanks for educating me.

Bill Gillfillan
Tulsa, OK

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lubricator.

Flange greaser; it applies grease to the wheels to reduce friction as the train goes around a curve.

Friction management consists of applying lubrication to the gauge corner on the outside rail of (or near) a curve and a Top of Rail (TOR) friction modifier to the tread of the inside rail. This is attached to the field side so it could be a TOR device.

However it is too clean and there is no mat to catch excess product to look like the other friction control equipment I have seen. Also, the red cable along the web of the rail is something new to me.

Other possibilities would include Wheel Impact Load Detector to identify flat spots and out-of-round wheels or some other safety detector.

An employee timetable or bulletin may identify it if it is a safety detector.

If it's a flange greaser, (???), and on a grade which most times it is, it can stall out a max tonnage train quicker than the head-brakeman can get off the engine. I've rocked the rail more than a few times to save a long walk. I've doubled to many damn hills account these things than I care to remember. I really good hog-head knows just exactly how to manage these things without spinning the wheels to a dead stop. We knew who they were and were damn sure appreciative of their train handling abilities. And especially in nasty weather. Most flange greasers that I've encountered are much smaller, kind of like a bread box, very low to the ground, maybe about 14-16" both ways. nearly always coal black with a push rod to force the grease out and onto the rail. I have major reservations about it being a "greaser".



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/14 10:50 by donsrich.

http://www.lbfoster-railtechnologies.com/Friction_Management.asp

Mess maker. Ballast, ties and surrounding area usually covered in the lube. Watch pin lifters on cars, some will be covered with that sh*t and will ruin whatever you are wearing.

You should hit one sometime running a steam engine and nobody told you it was there. It's embarrassing.

I'm sure it sounds impressive, but I bet it plays hell with your train handling and engine firing. :(

They place these greasers in spots most of us can not believe. Just like the above post says that usually in places that can and will stall out a train. Even better yet they have placed one at Afton, IA at the top of a hill where they have been staging trains lately because of track windows and I'm here to say that one night I damn near did not get my coal load started because of the greaser.

Weasel blind
...Lorenzo