I was out walking around downtown Denver today at lunch (could it be any nicer out??). As I walked over the south end of the tracks at Union Station, I noticed a weld line down the tops of all the rails. This is well past where I've seen the tracks used and past derails set on each of the spurs. What is this for? Thanks, Brian
I wonder it they were previously used to let the crew know they were getting to the end of the track, before the derails were installed. They'd definitely feel it. Kinda like the rumble strips used before stop signs in some part of the country. Just a guess.
If the tracks are not used a lot and the rail is somewhat rusty the welds might be used to get a good shunt(what activates signals). Were the the welds on the top of the rail running straight down the middle or from side to side? Was the weld steel or could have been more of a bronze color?
I will have to take a look next time I'm down at the station... :tb-biggrin: :tb-biggrin: :tb-biggrin: :tb-biggrin:
Straight down the middle of the rail, couldn't tell what material the weld was. I should say 'straight-ish,' obviously just a free handed bead down the top side of the rails. I'll get a pic next time I'm down that way, tomorrow if it's nicer than it's supposed to be Thanks, Brian
And The Pics Made the walk down to Union Station today and grabbed a couple pics. Sorry for the quality...
Possibly to identify the rail as scrap for salvaging? Laying a weld bead effectively destroys the rail for normal use without extensive grinding. Painting the railhead would be less expensive, but the paint would fade or be obscured by dirt if the rail were not removed for a long time after the marking.
Seems labor/material intensive (and expensive) to do the entire rail. If welding were indeed to mark as salvage, they would probably do some horizontal welds at the start point with the word salvage and maybe an arrow. Not a weld the full length. I don't think salvage marking is it.
Looks like three of the five tracks at Union Station have been torn up to make way for RTD FasTracks expansion.
Over the last two weeks they've pulled out all tracks at Union Station but one, maybe those welds went further along the tracks than I'd thought... I'll try to get down that way this week to see if the tracks were also pulled up across 16th Street.
This is commonly done at the ends of tracks in stations where the rail may get rusty/greasy/etc and not give a good shunt for the track circuits. Apparently the weld bead is a better conductor than the rusty rail... If a piece of equipment doesn't shunt the track circuit, a tower operator/dispatcher/etc may not get an indication that the track is occupied and potentially route another train into the track. At least this is how it was explained to me when I asked the same question back when I worked scoots on the CNW in Chicago. George Widener CN Fond du Lac, WI
