Re: (erielack) CWR on the EL

[Gordon Davids <g.davids_@_verizon.net>]

I never had any dealings with CWR on the Mahoning Division rail projects from the 1950's, but CWR was being used generally at that time.  It was most likely gas welded at a welding plant and moved on simple flat cars or drop end gons to the installation site.  That's how the D&H did it in the 1930's - they stopped the train and the track gang used bars to roll the rail over the side of the flat cars after pulling the side stakes out of the stake pockets in the cars.

EL had a welded rail train in the 1960's and 70's.  During my time on the D&H and EL, 1966-1972, both railroads, even before Dereco, shared a welding plant at Carbondale, PA run by a contractor.  Each railroad bought its own rail and ran it through the plant.  At the time, the new rail was in 39 foot lengths, with no holes drilled for joints.  That length was 
determined in the 1920's so that 40 foot gons could be used for transportation.  Later, 78 foot and even later longer random lengths became common.  Welding plants now are usually located at the rail mills instead of on a particular railroad.  The welding plants could also crop the joint area from relayer rail, and weld the 35+/- foot sticks into 1/4 mile lengths.

The schedule of the welding plant was largely determined by the availability of the rail 
trains and the supply of new or relayer rail.  By 1966, they were using electric flash butt welding, and the welded strings went directly from the welding line into a rail train.  They had to be really hard up before they would weld a string and stretch it out on the ground.

The D&H rail train was just a string of drop-end gons with rail racks (like pigeonholes) in each car, and a tie-down rack at the center of the train.  You could only clamp the rail at the center, because it had to be free to slide in the racks as the train moved around curves.  

The slack was blocked out at the draft gears, and the cut levers were wired down to prevent accidental uncoupling that could ruin your whole day.  The D&H unloaded the rail by pulling a string partly out of the end of the train with a Burro crane, chaining the end of the string to the track, and pulling the train out from the rail with the locomotive on the front end.  Then we threaded the rail string from the gauge of the track out to the shoulder with the Burro crane.

The EL train had a similar arrangement of rail racks and clamps, but it had a diesel-powered winch car on one end, with some threader cars.  We would pull a string of rail through the threaders with the winch until it could be chained to the track, then push the train out from the rail, leaving the rail on the shoulder.  In both cases, if we came to a road crossing it would already be ditched alongside the track so the rail could be set in the ditch and then 
backfilled with ballast.  At a turnout, we had to cut the rail string.  During Dereco control starting in 1968, the D&H also used the EL rail train.

When the rail was layed we tried as much as possible to join the strings with thermit welds in the field. If circumstances caught us, like a rain storm, we would drill the two back holes in each rail and join them with conventional joint bars bolted through the four holes, with no holes near the rail ends, so we could come back later and make the weld.  That's why you often see a field weld with two holes on each side of the weld.

The D&H laid CWR around any curve, including the infamous "Fourteen Degree Curve" at Minooka Junction, PA, but the EL, in the 1970 era, would not lay it on any curve sharper than two degrees.  I don't know how far back that policy went, but it might have been in effect on the Erie in the 1950's.  That would explain why the CWR was limited to tangents on the Mahoning 
Division.

My biggest rail project on the EL was in 1969 on the M&E between Morristown and Denville, where we laid new 105 lb DL section rail and released secondhand 105 DL rail to replace some very worn out 101 lb DL rail on the P&D Branch.

Incidentally, in the Division Engineer's Office in Hoboken hung a large photograph of a double track railroad with CWR and unique rail fasteners called M&L construction.  After scratching my head for a while, I finally identified the location as the D&H Schenectady Main near Kelly's, where the D&H had laid CWR in 1934.  So my "new" office in Hoboken had a DL&W photo of my "old" railroad.  It really looked good.

Enough for one day.

Gordon Davids


Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 07:15:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Richard Pennisi <eldispatcher72_@_yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (erielack) CWR on the EL

Charles and listers,
  
The EL did run rail trains in lengths of welded rail. 
  
Rich Pennisi

Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com wrote:
 Paul,

I'm curious if you know whether the EL was welding the rail in place, or bringing in the quarter-mile sections and welding (necessitating a welding
train). I don't recall EL ever having a welding train.

Chuck


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