Work train

{{Short description|Rail infrastructure maintenance unit}} thumb|300px|A maintenance of way train in Spain, in 2016.

A '''work train''' ('''departmental train''' or '''engineering train/vehicles''' in the UK<ref name="ellis" />) is one or more rail cars intended for internal non-revenue use by the railroad's operator. Work trains serve functions such as track maintenance, maintenance of way, revenue collection, system cleanup and waste removal, heavy duty hauling, and crew member transport.<ref name="solomon2"/><ref name="solomon3"/><ref name="solomon4"/><ref name="solomon5"/><ref name="middleton"/>

== Types of equipment == {{train topics}} ===Track inspection=== Several railroad vehicles are used to inspect tracks and infrastructure, identifying flaws and areas that need routine maintenance. * Rail inspection cars and Sperry rail cars - Inspects tracks for flaws and defects.<ref name="solomon2"/> * Rail bridge inspection - Rail vehicles that have specialized equipment, such as Aerial work platforms to enable access to the bridge. * Dynamometer cars - Rail car that measures locomotive performance, such as traction effort, speed, etc.<ref name="solomon2"/> * Track geometry cars - Rail car that collects information on track properties, such as banking of curves, grade, etc.<ref name="solomon2"/> * Scale test cars - Rail car that is built to be an exact weight, used to test railroad car scales for accuracy.<ref name="solomon2"/> * hi-rail trucks/SUVs - Road vehicles that can also be driven onto train tracks.<ref name="solomon6"/>

===Track maintenance and renewal=== Track maintenance and renewal trains often consist of many separate pieces of equipment, each capable of servicing specific track components.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Ballast regulators - Distributes ballast to a desired shape and position.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Ballast tampers - Tamps or levels and compacts ballast to make the trackbed more secure.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Ballast cleaners - Collects and cleans ballast to prolong its life and improve drainage by removing debris.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Cranes - Rail mounted cranes.<ref name="tatlow"/> * Ballast hopper - A specialized hopper car that is designed to spread ballast between rails and to the sides of rails, and to control ballast flow.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Rail grinders - Uses grinding wheels to restore rails to a ideal shape, extending the lifetime of the rail.<ref name="solomon4"/> * Spreaders - Rail-based plow that is used to move ballast and create ditches beside train tracks.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Side dump cars - Rail car that was built so that it can dump its load, often ballast, to the side, at any location.<ref name="solomon3"/> * Spike puller - Pulls out spikes from railroad ties.<ref name="solomon4"/> * Spike driver - Inserts new spikes into railroad ties.<ref name="solomon4"/> * Tie exchanger - Removes and inserts railroad ties from under rails that are already in place.<ref name="solomon4"/> * Continuous welded rail trains - Specially modified flatcars for carrying long sections of continuously welded rail for installation, often accompanied by flatcars with equipment for welding sections of rail together.<ref name="solomon4"/> * Track renewal train - A train capable of doing multiple tasks to replace multiple track components (ties, rails, spikes, etc).<ref name="solomon3"/><ref name="solomon4"/><ref name="solomon5"/>

===Snow removal=== Trains are susceptible to issues related to low rail traction as well as being immobilized by significant snowfalls. * Wedge plows - A simple V-shaped plow, pushed by one or more locomotives.<ref name="solomon7"/> * Flanger - A railcar that removes snow and ice from between rails.<ref name="solomon7"/> * Spreaders - Spreaders can also be used for snow removal, offering more control over where the snow can be directed.<ref name="solomon3"/><ref name="solomon7"/> * Snow blower - A machine that uses augers or impellers to throw the snow clear of tracks.<ref name="solomon7"/> * Rotary snowplows - A type of snow blower that uses massive rotating blades to cut through and throw snow clear of tracks.<ref name="solomon7"/> * De-icer cars - Rail cars that use chemicals or heat to melt snow and ice on tracks.<ref name="solomon7"/> * Rail adhesion cars - Rail cars that are used to address areas of low rail traction.

===Vegetation control=== The uncontrolled growth of weeds and other vegetation along railroad right-of-ways can cause significant drainage issues, obstruct worker access, and become a nuisance to adjacent property owners. * Weed spraying trains - Trains that deploy weed killer to control the growth of weeds on railroad tracks and ditches along tracks. * Bush cutters - Used to cut weeds and other vegetation from railroad tracks and ditches along tracks, using blades or saws.

===Other railroad cars=== [[File:East_Side_Access_Update-_March_30,_2015_(16391385093).jpg|thumb|300px|A front-end loader on a Metro-North Railroad (MNCW) flatcar for the East Side Access project.]] In addition to specialized equipment above, most railroads have allocated regular rail cars and locomotives to railroad maintenance duties. This is often older equipment that has either reached the age limit that prohibits it from interchange with other railroad, and is required to stay on the railroad that owns it, or equipment that has been rendered obsolete by newer, often higher capacity versions: tank cars, flatcars, hoppers, gondola, boxcars as well as locomotives.<ref name="ascher"/><ref name="solomon2"/><ref name="solomon3"/>

Railroads have historically kept rail-mounted cranes of various sizes to assist with maintenance work and major construction projects, and to respond to derailments and natural disasters. These have in large part been displaced by a mixture of road-biased mobile cranes and sideboom bulldozers.<ref name="tatlow2"/>

Beyond typical railroad cars, hi-rail technology has allowed railroads to put conventional heavy equipment such as excavators, mobile cranes, bucket trucks, concrete mixers, etc, right onto the tracks.<ref name="solomon6"/>

===Subways and metros=== In addition to the equipment listed above, subways often have specialized equipment designed to address unique issues within subway systems, such as the difficulty of removing trash from underground stations. * Trash collection trains - Trains that visit stations to remove trash.<ref name="ascher"/> * Revenue collection cars - Trains that visit stations to collect money collected from turnstiles and ticket sales.<ref name="ascher"/> * Vacuum cars - A rail car that vacuums up litter and dropped objects from the tracks, as they accumulate in the closed environment of a subway tunnel.<ref name="ascher"/> * Flood cleanup cars (reach cars, pump cars, hose cars) - Trains deployed to remove water following tunnel flooding.<ref name="ascher"/>

== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed" heights="160px"> WMATA PM35 at Eisenhower Avenue.jpg|A Washington Metro work car in Virginia providing support for a track maintenance operation Ballast Tamper.JPG|Ballast tamping machine as used in railroad track maintenance in Florida File:Work Equipment Snow Preparations (11716060543).jpg|Various New York Subway work trains at Brooklyn's 38th Street Yard Work_train_macarthur_station.jpg| Work train at the construction of a freight line in Sydney, Australia </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="solomon2">{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Brian |title=Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines that Keep the Railroads Running |date=2001 |publisher=MBI Publishing|pages=21–37|chapter=2 - Detecting Track Defects |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0760309752}}</ref> <ref name="solomon3">{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Brian |title=Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines that Keep the Railroads Running |date=2001 |publisher=MBI Publishing|pages=38–53|chapter=3 - Ballast and Roadbed Maintenance |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0760309752}}</ref> <ref name="solomon4">{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Brian |title=Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines that Keep the Railroads Running |date=2001 |publisher=MBI Publishing|pages=54–85|chapter=4 - Surfacing Equipment|location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0760309752}}</ref> <ref name="solomon5">{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Brian |title=Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines that Keep the Railroads Running |date=2001 |publisher=MBI Publishing|pages=86–99|chapter= 5- Rail Grinding |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0760309752}}</ref> <ref name="solomon6">{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Brian |title=Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines that Keep the Railroads Running |date=2001 |publisher=MBI Publishing|pages=110–112|chapter=6 - Speeders and Hyrails |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0760309752}}</ref> <ref name="solomon7">{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Brian |title=Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines that Keep the Railroads Running |date=2001 |publisher=MBI Publishing|pages=113–124|chapter=7 - Snowplows |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0760309752}}</ref> <ref name="ascher">{{cite book |last1=Ascher |first1=Kate |title=The Works: Anatomy of a City |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd |location=New York, New York |isbn=1-59420-071-8 |page=43 |chapter=Moving People}}</ref> <ref name="tatlow">{{cite book |last1=Tatlow |first1=Peter |title=Railway Breakdown Cranes - Volume 2 |date=2013 |publisher=Noodle Books |isbn=978-1-906419-97-4 |edition=First}}</ref> <ref name="tatlow2">{{cite book |last1=Tatlow |first1=Peter |title=Railway Breakdown Cranes - Volume 2 |date=2013 |publisher=Noodle Books |isbn=978-1-906419-97-4 |pages=505 |edition=First}}</ref> <ref name="ellis">{{cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=Ian |title=British Railway Engineering Encyclopedia |date=2010|pages=108, 140–141 |publisher=Lulu Enterprises Incorporated |isbn=978-1-4461-8190-4 |edition=Second}}</ref> <ref name="middleton">{{cite magazine |last1=Middleton |first1=William D. |title=The Assistant Division Engineer |magazine=Trains |date=April 1972 |issue=4 |pages=20–27 |publisher=A.C. Kalmbach}}</ref> }}

==External links== {{Commons-inline|Category:Maintenance of way equipment}}

Category:Maintenance of way equipment Category:Railcars