RE: 180 off track

Brent Efford
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 8:39 PM

This introduces another topic - what is the policy on track/flange greasing today? On all my visits to Melbourne I have observed the curving noise being quite high in many places. Is any greasing carried out at all? There is car-mounted flange greasing equipment available for light rail vehicles - it only has to be fitted to a few LRVs to suffice for the whole system. Does anyone know whether such equipment is fitted to either of the new Melbourne types?

I visited Sydney in Nov 97, only a few months after SLR started. The noise of the Variotrams turning from Hay St up to Central Station was very loud - enough, I feared, to discredit the whole concept. On a return visit in August 1999 I found the noise had largely disappeared - had something been done about it, or had the track simply worn in? I also noticed in 97 that water was enough to lubricate effectively - on wet days the squeal disappeared (suggesting a simple system to flood the groove with water would be sufficient). Can anyone comment?

On the Christchurch Tramway, which is a one-way circuit around a few inner-city blocks, manual track greasing is carried out diligently, and there is no squeal, even on the four sharp right-angle turns on the route. Controlling unpleasant noise is seen as vital for public support for the tramway.

Cheers,

Brent Efford
TechMedia Services
Co-ordinator, Transport 2000+ NZ
PO Box 2626, Wellington 6015
New Zealand
Ph (04) 801 9331, Fx (04) 801 9344
Mob 025 887 387
www.techmedia.co.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: IS Edit [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, 27 February 2002 12:09 a.m.
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] 180 off track

Yep. Looks interesting.

Was it a good truck, generally?

When I was at the Bendigo Tramways we used to grease our curves with a 50/50 mixture of Mobil Crater #5 and used motor oil and boil them up in a wood fired cauldron. That stuff stuck to the side of the rail very well.

I never understood why the M&MTB didn't grease at least the tight curves.

Bob Murphy

----- Original Message -----

From: Mal Rowe

To: [email protected]

Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 10:04 PM

Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] 180 off track

--- IS Edit <[email protected]> wrote: > So it was the longer wheelbase that caused the > derailment? > > Bob Murphy Well, the track was worn, the wheelbase was long (3.66m - 12 ft not 2.74m as the latest edition of Destination City says - that was the S class), the truck had probably not been greased for a long time ... take your pick! The idea of a "Radiax" truck was that the axles could move a little to follow the curve. If they were not well greased, then that movement would be that much less flexible. I attach a pic of 180's Brill Radiax truck - you can see how the axle boxes are floating in the middle of a yoke like casting - with springs to hold them roughly in position. mal http://movies.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Movies - Vote for your nominees in our online Oscars pool.

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