OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF HEAVY WHEEL LOADS ON RAIL LIFE

The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad has operated 90-ton open-top cars since 1931 and has some statistics on rail wear and rail life under the stresses imposed by such equipment. Rail life on tangent track has been around 440 million gross tons for jointed rail and beyond 650 million gross tons for continuous welded rail. Statistics are also available for Curvemaster and controlled cooled rail on curves. On newer ore carrying railways, rail life appears to be appreciably shorter. Among possible reasons are the bidirectional operation of loaded trains on B&LE, the mixing of various capacities of cars, and the predominance of traffic on solid, rather than roller-type, journal bearings.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Proceedings of the 12th Annual Railroad Engineering Conference held at Pueblo, Colorado, October 23-24, 1975. The complete volume is RRIS 02 132958, Pricing is for the complete volume: Repr. PC $6.75, Microfiche$2.25, NTIS PB-252968/AS.
• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Railroad Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Rougas, M
• Conference:
  • Proceedings of the 12th Annual Railroad Engineering Conference held at Pueblo, Colorado, October 23-24, 1975. The complete volume is RRIS 02 132958, Pricing is for the complete volume: Repr. PC $6.75, Microfiche$2.25, NTIS PB-252968/AS.
• Publication Date: 1975-10

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 41-44

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axle load force; Curved rail; High capacity cars; Railroad rails; Roller bearings; Service life; Train track dynamics; Unit trains; Welded rail
• Identifier Terms: Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
• Old TRIS Terms: Axle loadings; Rail life
• Subject Areas: Design; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00132962
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Railroad Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: FRA OR&D 76-243
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 5 1976 12:00AM