Railroaders' Nostalgia > The tool you never want to use on the Railroad

Ninety pound of air pressure from a train line of a locomotive is very easy to use by just coupling to the glad hand, any pipe or nozzle to clean snow from switch points and flange ways.  Years ago this was done until one day someone wanted to horse-play and goose someone in the butt with the air pressure.  It blew up his rectum and killed him quickly, and that lesson was learn so you should never see that tool on a railroad to shoot air like a squirt hose in a steam locomotive cab.  I learned this when I was a rookery and questioned why we did not use that air pressure to clean switch points.  I was told about the horrible death that could happen and I have never forgotten it.  Anyone using high air pressure need not be told how a dangerous a weapon it could be.  And now we know about the pressure in fluid can be so great it is used to cut steel plates.  



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/20 05:45 by PlyWoody.

We used air wands in the winter in Alaska, and they still do. Fortuntely nobody there is stupid enough to play moronic games with one.

        Safe to use as long as the personnel do NOT dumb ass out.

I remember when I was a boy, no more than 8 years old ariound 1959, my dad warned me never to fool around with an air hose.  Told that story of someone getting killed by that very event.  I never forgot it, obviously, since I'm repeating it to you now.

Lee Hower - Sacramento

PlyWoody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ninety pound of air pressure from a train line of
> a locomotive is very easy to use by just coupling
> to the glad hand, any pipe or nozzle to clean snow
> from switch points and flange ways.  Years ago
> this was done until one day someone wanted to
> horse-play and goose someone in the butt with the
> air pressure.  It blew up his rectum and killed
> him quickly, ........

Do you believe all the stories your mother told you about other tools too?   <G>

-LD

LarryDoyle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PlyWoody Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Ninety pound of air pressure from a train line
> of
> > a locomotive is very easy to use by just
> coupling
> > to the glad hand, any pipe or nozzle to clean
> snow
> > from switch points and flange ways. 
> Years ago
> > this was done until one day someone wanted to
> > horse-play and goose someone in the butt with
> the
> > air pressure.  It blew up his rectum and
> killed
> > him quickly, ........
>
> Do you believe all the stories your mother told
> you about other tools too?  
>
> -LD
Must be something to it. I remember us being told the same thing in shop class.

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

I was warned about air hoses too. But it was to not stick it in your mouth and push the button.
Overinflated lungs don't feel good, if you survive, and probably doesn't look to nice either.

OSHA regulations restrict air hose pressure to below 30psi when using an air nozzle or "air gun" to spray air for cleaning. I imagine the FRA has a similar rule as well as any other self regulating industry.  

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO

rnb3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OSHA regulations restrict air hose pressure to
> below 30psi when using an air nozzle or "air gun"
> to spray air for cleaning. I imagine the FRA has a
> similar rule as well as any other self regulating
> industry.  

But the ones you use to inflate tires have higher pressure.

And it works even better if you use the MR hose. You have 130-140 psi, and you dont big hole the engine as soon as you open the valve/angle cock.

Posted from Android

I remember as an engineer working a road switcher that went to work at 0300 hrs. IF you got your train built and got to the "complex" early enough, you could get a few hours of sleep since the first and hottest switch of the day was 0800 hrs. The job had a caboose so I had the engine to myself. I brought an air mattress with me but after hand pumping for a long time with heart beating and sweat beads it took forever to get to sleep. I had a great idea so taking an air hose gasket home that afternoon I tinkered around the garage finding all the ingredients I needed. The next morning I screwed my device into the glad hand of the train air hose, "carefully" opened the angle cock, inflating the air mattress in seconds and getting that much needed nap without breaking a sweat.
JB

Today, many dental hygienists use water jets to blast plaque off of their patient's teeth.   Prior to that, my former employer (the Electric Power Research Institute) sponsored research in the 1970s to perfect the use of water jets to cut concrete at power stations and electrical substations.

chakk Wrote:
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> Today, many dental hygienists use water jets to
> blast plaque off of their patient's teeth. 
>  Prior to that, my former employer (the Electric
> Power Research Institute) sponsored research in
> the 1970s to perfect the use of water jets to cut
> concrete at power stations and electrical
> substations.

Just a difference in pressure and the size of the orifice you're pushing the water through.