Lubrication of Tracks, Switches and Signals - 1947

Univis 40 for all the Mechanical Switchmen on your railway!

This interesting book was put together after World War 2 to bridge the gap between railroaders and sellers of petroleum-based lubricants. 

For the railroader: Read this book and understand that we understand YOU and your business - may we suggest these products ...

For the Imperial Oil detailer: You know our products ... here is the vocabulary and knowledge you need for railway customers ...

Today, just in the field of track-to-wheel-flange lubrication, there are many specialty lubricants ... and a selection of computerized internet-monitored devices which can be used to effectively apply them to decrease wear, improve safety and save money. Light rail operations, with their tight city curves naturally constitute an important segment of today's greased-rail market. An interesting featured specialty is glorified cross-tie carpeting near lubrication machines to prevent the lubricants from straying from the roadbed ... if that matters for a particular operation and the 'civilians' who may notice fugitive lubricants on nearby waterways.

However, when I looked for specialty lubricants for locomotives today, I encountered lubricants formulated and sold primarily for diesel-powered highway trucks, construction equipment and oil drilling rigs. 

Of course, those non-rail machines existed in the late 1940s. However, the focus of a Canadian lubricants producer to primarily serve two massive Montreal-based customers must have made a specialized railway marketing document like this desirable. In 1947, the CPR and CNR had massive rosters of steam locomotives which constantly consumed and shed lubricants all over the countryside ... and some new diesels. Their cars generally had eight journals which all contained oil. They also had thousands of miles of bolted track, the joints and switches of which also required the application of lubricants.

April 1963, recently lubricated joints photographed by LC Gagnon.

As always, interesting diagrams are enlarged so you can see the details.

Here is the entire product line of railway lubricants mentioned in this book:

The locomotive lubrication section of this book can be found in Index 04, Railway Technology & Systems (press the 'radio button' at the top of this page) and scroll down to Lubrication. It showed switchers and quaint non-Budd rail diesel cars - but nothing larger.

1985 CNR - Mile 183, Kingston Subdivision

Mid-winter is kind of a grim time. Some cheerful people suggest that if you have something you like to do in the snow - you'll enjoy winter! 

These grim low-light shots were taken with grainy, fast film. Without fast film they'd probably be blurred and unusable. Trains don't tarry long in and around Kingston.

Someone from Britain at a railway show commented that there hadn't been 'much done over the years' with the ancient CNR line between Montreal and Toronto. To identify a date, I suppose the double-tracking by the Grand Trunk circa 1900 was the last time that any effort was made to straighten curves and flatten small dips and hills.

In the 'older days', engineers would often use 'power braking' - a positive throttle position with a light service application to avoid a slack run-in ... while running in and out of a valley. Those days are gone. After the oil embargo of the 1970s, saving fuel eventually became the goal.

Near Collins Bay is a section of track affectionately named 'drawbar hollow'. Near Mile 183, beside some apartments, is a spot where almost every single eastbound's tailend runs out - sleep well, friends, neighbours.

With technological progress it is now possible to fully automate the breaking of knuckles through the use of Trip Optimizer™. A corporate video suggests that before the train leaves, the train FIRST does a simulated computer run to maximize efficiency for the analog run to come. 

I don't know if they ever break knuckles in 'The Cloud'. (If you don't already know, The Future = 'The Cloud'.) Chances are, you can probably mouse-click your way out of a broken knuckle in 'The Cloud'.

"GE’s Trip Optimizer™ System is an intelligent, fuel-saving cruise control for locomotives that optimizes fuel consumption based on a specific train’s make up and route traveled. The system calculates the optimum speed profile by considering factors such as train length, weight, and track profile, and then automatically controls throttle and dynamic brake accordingly.   

"The result: Sustainable fuel savings of 3-17% (depending on train weight, configuration, terrain, etc.), reduced emissions, and efficient train handling." 

... but intuitively ... you know that no two trains are identical in their ... marshaling of loads, empties, position of DU (if used), speed at a given point, speed when on the block of other traffic, routing through crossovers, slow orders, rail conditions, locomotive effective horsepower, draft gear wear, which track (e.g. north or south) is used, etc.

*  *  *

Although it is terribly old fashioned ...

Here are some trains being operated over undulations and curves
through the skill and experience of a single human.

A westbound VIA train photographed from the north side.
On at least one occasion I saw an LRC locomotive slam into that curve
with sparks resulting from the metal on metal impact.

The GP40-2 's were the ubiquitous greyhounds of the Kingston Sub.
Here, one represents the class.
This series shows westbounds photographed from the south side.

The once famous, and now largely forgotten, 'Draper taper'.

Dynamic brake equipped!

*  *  *

I think my photo is breaking up a little - that is probably not snow.
A VIA eastbound from the north side of the track.

*  *  *

Finally, two eastbounds seen from the south.

Soon to be a skill as extinct as the trade of wooden stave barrel-making
is trackside line maintenance.

You can see how the line just touches the insulator
and it is kept in place by a tie wire which actually goes around the insulator.

Near the lower right corner, you can see a splice.

The electrical current (230 V) kept the batteries in the various instrument cases charged.
The batteries power the track circuits, signals and crossing gates.

In the event of an ice storm which causes a local power failure,
everything should continue to operate normally for a while.

The superior safety and efficiency provided by the track circuits and block signals
of Centralized Traffic Control can be easy to take for granted when the power seldom fails.

Finally, like old wooden whistle posts, the pole is peaked to shed the rain.

Sharp-eyed observers will have noticed the old slope-topped concrete mile board at 183
(eg. in the photo of the 6542) .

Engineering Streetcar Tracks in 1914

This week we look at track structures which are usually hidden within city streets.

In the 1960s, through the cracking pavement of Broadway in Lachine, Quebec, I could trace the rails of the Montreal Transportation Commission's west island streetcars. I'm quite certain there was a similar phenomenon visible along King Street in Kingston in the 1970s - just east of our famous prison.

This was an MTC show of retired streetcars at their Youville Shops on a hot September 23, 1961.
I wasn't taking notes.

I once heard a key member of a national railway historical organization politely dismissed as follows: "Well, he knows everything there is to know about trolleys, but ... "

Knowing nothing about trolleys, I am fortunately immune to such criticism. As one pokes around the history of vehicles on rails and their worldwide distribution today, one can begin to appreciate the 'railwayness' of a much broader spectrum of railed vehicles and the systems which support them.

When possible, there are advantages in letting a voice from a particular period of history speak. What did 'they' think about then; what experiences did they have; did they make any predictions about the future?

Urban passenger railways (city streetcars) had the same requirement for good track as Class 1 common carriers. If 'all politics is local' ... streetcars worked in a much more demanding environment than the Class 1 railroads.

Not only did they operate beneath, above and among other crucial - often fragile - infrastructure systems which could not be disrupted ... 

Every day, the streetcars performed before thousands of pairs of eyeballs - workers, employers, local elected officials ...

Repeatedly delaying the arrival of part of a large plant's workforce due to regular derailments or frozen switches had more real time urgency and greater political consequences than ... putting a few boxcars in the bush several times each winter - like a Class 1 common carrier.

The engineering textbook forming the main part of this post gives us a comprehensive view of the construction of urban railways, when the technology was still early in its evolution.

The Time of the Trolley; William D Middleton; 1967; Kalmbach.

Lexington, Kentucky, 1890s (above)

If you have studied aspects of railway track structure, you will note that this situation is the worst - particularly in a climate (like Canada's) which includes temperatures below freezing for a significant part of the year. Generally, water needs to drain away from your track ... and frozen water causes heaving and derailments.

In their defence, this may be the inaugural run of this line. The local officials may not yet realize that operating through mud and horse manure will be an unpleasant experience.

*  *  *

Here are three diagrams representing about 50 years 
of technological advances on the Toronto system.

Many readers recall that William Mackenzie (of Canadian Northern Railway fame)
was an early investor and developer of the Toronto horsecar/streetcar system.

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

Above: I think you can see a thermite weld represented here - on the second rail to the left of the tie bar.

*  *  *

Track Infrastructure in Toronto and Montreal

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

In the undated photo above, the very large pixels could not be smoothed more without harming detail resolution.

July 2018, Google.

The same intersection recently.
The two buildings on the corner - to the left of the centre streetcar - can help you get oriented.

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

Here is the same intersection, in 1923 - perhaps during the same job which is pictured above.
From a social history perspective, cobblestones and granite blocks made excellent projectiles during riots.

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

Enlarged detail of what the workers are doing ...

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

Enlarged detail of what may be a traction engine which was used for the transportation of materials.
There seem to be granite blocks piled on the wagon.

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

When the rails provided an essential service, the priority was to keep them operational.

After rubber-tired vehicles became more common (buses and personal autos) perhaps there was not the same sense of overnight urgency.

• Buses could detour passengers around the area being rebuilt.
• Instead of using 'modular' granite blocks, it was necessary to carefully pave over the track structure.
• In addition, local businesses, dependant on rubber-tired restocking and shopping, needed the whole street back in its original condition.

*  *  *

Two Views of Track Structure in Montreal

Montreal's Electric Streetcars; Richard M Binns; 1973; Railfare.

'Roller Skating at The Forum' (from 1912)

This streetcar is turning from St James (St Jacques) to Windsor (Peel). This book's author notes that the rickety wooden steps at the Grand Trunk Bonaventure Station (right) were a longstanding feature of the facility. Notice that a sewer hatch may be be located within the trackwork - just one more complication. I think those may be bonding cables for the switch rails which you see lying over the ties.

Montreal's Electric Streetcars; Richard M Binns; 1973; Railfare.

In the middle of the Great Depression (1935) you can see a disadvantage of paving over the track with concrete instead of granite blocks or asphalt. You need jackhammers to get at the track. The residents along The Boulevard in Westmount will simply have to make do as best they can with all the noise and inconvenience.

*  *  *

After posting, Jim Christie sent me some really interesting links.
Here are two of them:

Montreal's Street Railway System 1893

Rules for Drivers and Conductors, Toronto Street Railway, 1880