Rail Oiler

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

A retired track boss (not sure of his title but he was  #1 between Bluefield 
and Williamson in the early 80s) once told me that the  N&W installed rail 
greasers every 360 degrees of curvature. Of course, the  Pokie along that stretch 
is much more curvy than, say, N&W rails in eastern  Virginia, and I don't 
know if straighter track requires fewer or more rail  greasers per degree of 
curve. I'd guess more.
 
Bob Loehne
 

Dave,
Actually, rail oilers are very common, and are still in use today.   There is 
one about a mile west of my house to lubricate a very curved section  of the 
Bristol line.  (And I think it isn't working, because the cars  squeal 
terribly lately!)  Point being, these are used to lubricate the  flanges on the car 
wheels which lubricate the inside of the rail  head to prevent friction on the 
inside of the rail surface in curves.  If  you hear a loud squeal, then you 
are wearing out rails and wheels.  Its  not done so much to keep them quiet, but 
to make the rail last longer.
 
Hope this helps,
Ben Blevins



As  I was perusing my recently purchased copy of the NWHS "N&W  Signal
Diagrams" book I found something I had never seen or even been  aware of. 
It is found on pages 59 and following in the a fore mentioned  book. It
is a "rail oiler". Can any one on the list fill me in on why  they were
used and where. It's obvious that it was to put oil on the  railhead. 
I've always thought that oil and rails don't mix and make for  a very
slippery time. 

Thanks ahead of time for any and all  info.

Dave Moorehead
Milford,  OH



 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/private/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20040826/e2547768/attachment-0001.html