Western Railroad Discussion > Coast Line crossing signal problems

The Coast Starlight continues to slow down and crawl through crossing through the Salinas Valley to ensure the circuits are sensing the approaching train. There is so little traffic on the coast that the tracks are rusting over between trains.  Over Labor Day weekend Mason and I surveyed rail condition over the Monterey Branch Line as part of our operations. Someday I will share the shenanigans going on.

We came across this interesting rail modification near reservation road in Marina.  The rail was ground in the center and bronze was brazed and filled the gap to improve connectivity.  The braze strips were short sections between the crossing and where the signals need to activate.   Seems like an interesting idea, but I did not see this duplicated in other areas so perhaps it was a failed experiment.   Perhaps this modification could be tried in the Salinas Valley on the Coast Line.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

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Have seen this application before, but cant remember where.  My guess is good at 30-40 mph.   79mph, not so much.



 

This was normal practice on lightly used industrial spurs on Santa Fe.
JB

The NWP has a welded (Bead?) for 100' or so, in either direcion, on all tracks in Willits at the crossing by the station. Looking for photos now...
Looks like they used this solution with the few trains at the end to trigger the crossing equipment.

Rob

EDIT: Photo found, Willits Sept 2018. I looked at other photos and it appears its only on the furthest three tracks from the depot. I guess the Skunk uses the first two enough they didnt need to do this there.
EDIT2: Clean up wording



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/24 07:30 by GoldenState.

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The weld should be stainless steel. We had them on the approach to the bascule bridge on the old SN/WP Holland Branch in West Sacramento.

   The Southern Pacific used this on the old Ojai Branch, out of Ventura.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

This is only really practical on lightly used track. The welded bead re-distributes the weight and drastically shortens the life of the rail. 

Conrail did this on lightly used branches, alternating strips on each rail. Apparently it works if done right.
Gonut

How many times a week does the Coast Starlight use that line? I've seen rusty rail conditions but wow. That looks like rail that hasn't seen service in weeks.

Posted from Android

SNY1337 Wrote:
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> How many times a week does the Coast Starlight use
> that line? I've seen rusty rail conditions but
> wow. That looks like rail that hasn't seen service
> in weeks.

The picture is NOT the main line. 

SNY1337 Wrote:
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> How many times a week does the Coast Starlight use
> that line? I've seen rusty rail conditions but
> wow. That looks like rail that hasn't seen service
> in weeks.
>
> Posted from Android

Daily one north and one train south if there aren't any service interuptions.