Loram LR 311 rail grinding train on the CP Bellville sub at Cobourg. More photos at - http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/useralbums.php
I saw one of these (or maybe this one? how many are there?) near Bellevue, Ohio last year and was wondering what the heck it was. Those are some pretty cool pics of it in action.
I saw one of these a few weeks ago. in milford ind. well Long story short it looked like a train on fire I called 911 and felt so stupid when they arrived and told me it was a rail grinder.! oops
CSX did this on the line near my house about 10 years ago. The trains "sang" for about 6 weeks afterward when they passed by. The grinding wheels grind across the rails which leaves crosswise grooves about an 1/8" deep. The steel car wheels are actually bouncing across the grooves as they pass which makes a humming sound. The hum frequency would be higher the faster the train was going. It was very high when the train was at the 50 mph track speed, but almost a growl if it was going slowly.
I have seen this railgrinder on both the CN and CP. Several years ago on the CN, there were two employees on the last car with a fire hose watering down the track and roadbed. The railgrinder in this thread had two vehicles following it - The last vehicle is a CP hi rail, and the other vehicle is a Midland Fire protection vehicle - Don't worry about the 911 call Thomas. When I worked afternoon shift at the Cobourg station and the railgrinder was working at night the phones would ring off the wall with people calling to report roadbed fires.
