Loram Rail Grinder.

[Gary H]

After seeing Michael Delamar's post of the aforementioned machine in the "Dawlish through the rectangular window" thread, the opportunity arose today to grab a few pictures of it.

This machine always seems to allude me and one of which Ive never had the good fortune to spend a shift on, unlike the usual tampers, stone blowers etc so hence I know very little about it. All I know is that it manages RCF (rolling contact fatigue) and keeps the wheel / rail interface at it optimum condition. It also by virtue of this extends the life of the rails. Rails are extremely expensive assets!

 

It has a powered traction unit at each end and is of diesel electric transmission. 8 Brush traction motors move it.

Its powered by no less than 4 Cummins V12 diesels of 1200HP each! Apparently unless its climbing a grade, the power usage meter (pictured further down) seldom rises above 8 or 9%!

The whole 7 car consist weighs in at around 500 tonnes.

It caries 3 water tanks for damping down purposes and extinguishing any fires that can start. Two small tanks and one large one for a total of 33'000 litres of water (just over 7000 gallons).

 

These look like Y27 bogies.

Water, air, hydraulic and electrical connections between the cars.

There are bags and bags full of this to break off after every use!

Brush traction motor.

Power bogie (1 of 4).

Notice the American "E bell" below the left hand buffer. Its an American built machine.

The red thing between the big head lights is a water cannon!!

One of the 2 smaller water tanks.

Lots of worn out grinding wheels have to be changed every shift!

21'000 Litre water tank.

Operators and drivers position.

I was surprised to learn that the whole consist can be worked by just 2 operator's and 1 driver.

This is ofcourse duplicated at the other end.

Brake cylinder, brake pipe and main res' gauges.

The power usage meter I mentioned earlier is top left.

Im interested to know what those symbols mean at the top of the picture?

The machine has its own canteen facilities, toilets, locker room probably much more besides.

 

 

 

[yorkie_pudd]

Probably like many have come across the rail grinding term but never seen any of the actual machines themselves. Your pics & info above show a great piece of engineering by design and use on the network and very informative of the daily behind the scenes stuff that goes on.

 

Thanks for taking your time & trouble to record and post here for use.

 

 

 

side note: be a great small running set for any layout.

[PhilJ W]

What makes those 'Rhino Horns'?

[stadman]

Certainly a smart piece of kit, I saw one go through Exeter St Davids one night. Fascinating as the grinding heads lifted and lowered back onto the rails as the machine passed over the level crossing.

[Michael Delamar]

Would love to see a model of this

[Titan]

Its the noisiest rail mounted machine I have ever come across. The power meter might only get to 9% for traction purposes, but the grinding will eat up the rest! Must also have been cleaned just prior to the pictures being taken, because the clouds of steel dust soon stain it dark brown. 

[Michael Delamar]

Network Rail Loram DR79247 - Stafford by dwb transport photos, on Flickr

[Michael Delamar]

DR79247. by curly42, on Flickr

[Michael Delamar]

[Gary H]

What makes those 'Rhino Horns'?

That's a good likeness Phil!

Various parts of the grinding units will collect sparks which are in essence tiny particles of steel. As the sparks are so hot, it'll all stick together as it fly's off the stones and form what you see in the picture! Its basically formed into one piece of metal.

[surfsup]

Its the noisiest rail mounted machine I have ever come across. The power meter might only get to 9% for traction purposes, but the grinding will eat up the rest! Must also have been cleaned just prior to the pictures being taken, because the clouds of steel dust soon stain it dark brown.

Must admit I've not heard the Loram Grinder on grinding mode but having a quick learning session with the Harsco RGH20C (Swit and crossings) was impressive enough! Although the ride quality offered by Y25 type bogies was never the most comfortable on jointed track.

 

Am I right in thinking those Brush Traction Motors were ex Class 47 (Or is that something that's completely incorrect?) and was brought for working the mainlines such as WCML & ECML?

 

Thanks for those photos Gary H, For some reason I've always been interested in the on track plant and track machines that keep out railways running day to day. Possibly thanks to seeing those Harsco units close up, but they're fascinating pieces of kit none the less!

[pointstaken]

Fascinating descriptions and illustrations, thanks a lot , Gary. Now who is going to build a fully working replica in 'O' gauge ?

I can remember going home on Saturday night late from Victoria in the '60s, seeing the "glow worm gang" at Clapham Junction with their hurricane lamps doing a possession in that area.

 

Dennis

[D1059]

Caught that from the lineside a couple of years ago

 

Thames Valley Early Morning 3 by D1059, on Flickr

[LNERGE]

There are bags and bags full of this to break off after every use!

IMG_0292.JPG

I keep finding these thing's lineside. I've been collecting them.

[jamie92208]

A very impressive piece of kit.  I presume that it's very rarely used in the daytime.

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

I keep finding these thing's lineside. I've been collecting them.

For scrap? or are you a candidate for the Turner prize?

[uax6]

For scrap? or are you a candidate for the Turner prize?

 

I think he's secretly sticking them onto cows to fool the locals!

 

Andy G

[PhilJ W]

I think he's secretly sticking them onto cows to fool the locals!

 

Andy G

Or selling them to the Chinese as Rhino horn.

[LNERGE]

For scrap? or are you a candidate for the Turner prize?

 

 

I think he's secretly sticking them onto cows to fool the locals!

 

Andy G

 

 

Or selling them to the Chinese as Rhino horn.

Or wondering if they fall off at speed and i'm about to gain one round the side of the head.

[Rugd1022]

An impressive piece of kit to be sure but not much fun to be on for hours at a sretch - I'll be conducting it tonight as 6Z02 from Northampton to Stafford and back. Noisy, uncomfortable and extremely cold in the Winter months! Thought I'd seen the last of this infernal machine!

[jeff mcghie]

Surely the temperature depends on how close to the operating section you are

[Gary H]

 Noisy, uncomfortable and extremely cold in the Winter months! Thought I'd seen the last of this infernal machine!

Sounds just like a 37 Nidge!

[Rugd1022]

Surely the temperature depends on how close to the operating section you are

 The cabs have a habit of being either too cold or too hot Jeff, even with the air con working, whatever else is happening on the machine! I stay well away from the hot / sweaty / noisy dusty / oily bits in the middle!

[uax6]

Had the joy of the C21 passing the box last night. I grabbed the camera and tried to get some photos. The results aren't great, but here they are:

 

An arty shot of the train approaching(!)

 

The grinding:

 

The rail after grinding. Note the marks on the outside of the rail.

 

 

A picture showing the grinding marks left on the head.

 

The good news is that it didn't set fire to anything, although I'm glad that the man in the rear cab was using the fire hose to douse any timber work as he past.

 

The first train after the grinder was the Middleton Towers empty sand, that didn't half make a weird noise as it past over the ground rails!

 

Andy g

[Rugd1022]

I conducted 6Z02 up and down the Trent Valley again last week and down to Milton Keynes, on the TV run we set fire to some sand bags in the four foot near Lichfield, we had to ask the signalman's permission to set back so we could douse them with the water cannon. The locations where they need to stable are coming 'under attack' from nearby residents who complain about the noise whe the crews run the engines up at night - Northampton Castle Yard in particular gets a lot of complaints.