k^^* : -5-?y;-*Mv. H ■■ 
 
 m 
 
 .<'* 
 
 H 
 
 ■ 
 
 fc : -H- I 
 
 '•'■[ft** 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 'm& 
 
 WMk 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 mm ^H 
 
 
*JU ~4 
 
 3^i 
 
 
 ^ ^-s. 
 
 V * 
 
 ^ "^ 
 
 ^ "" • » * v^ 
 
 
 » "P> 4 
 
 
 
 
 "° "%. A v ' 
 vv 
 
 V ..i^L'.. <5, 
 
 '«■ -p. « 
 
 „-iq. • 
 
 
 "*<? 
 
 * a^ - i 
 
 ^ 
 
 0* ..^^*q, A*\<^%^ 
 
 VV 
 
 £■» <{V ^ ." sf%> u « .^ 
 
 » A* ^ .< 
 
 C u ♦' 
 
 ^ ••"• ^ 
 
 J>* 
 
 '^r^" :£M&:~ *6<p °<^m ''«W 
 
 
 <> **7V«* <G V "o -o\ 
 
 >* 
 
 jPv\ 
 
 '-*-.. 
 
 ** A* 
 
 VV "^ 
 
 V V ..i^Lf*. <£ 
 
 * ~°* '' 
 
 
 V *> 
 
 
 v v ..i^'. «a 
 
 5 V »I # »* ^ 
 
 e. " , ' *r 
 
 c.y ^ 
 
 ? • A V "^ - 
 
 <. *'T.s 4 ,0 
 
 5? ^. .^%\H- 4 * ^ -^ \sj&s & u wi^s _ & •% 
 
 5? ^ 
 
 ; \/^&&V\^'^ 
 
 r » aV «Jv . 
 
 
 
 
 . » " A 
 
 
 * c » "" 1 *$+ 
 
 <» */7VT« .0 
 
 
 G°\0^*°o 
 
 O^ »o . 4 * .<V 
 
 
 
 * V "**. »* 
 
 r . 
 
 *^» 4 
 
 /,^.\ 
 
 -..,- / %-t^-^ \^^\^ v^V \*=^V %' T ^%°° 
 
 
 
 
 *%><? 
 
 
 
 
 
 *bV" 
 
 
 -^ cV^^'- ^. rt 4 
 
 3k°-?tj 
 
 ■•-^o 5 
 
 
 
 %../ .•»!*. ^^ .-afo\ V^ .-^fiik %.a* :X*f: V^ •• 
 
 A V *^ 
 
 s 
 
 "b «/* 
 
 r * aV *. . ' 
 
 
 >y 
 
 * aV "$u . 
 
 "^ 5,* »V 
 
 
 o - a „ ^ 
 
 ■^ G 
 
 »* ..*••. **< 
 
 aV o"" - *<^. 
 
 ..' 4 .^G 
 
 V t^Jx!" o 
 4 o 
 
 ^dZ&B^Z* *a a-* 
 
 * ^ 
 
 V 
 
 3 * 
 
 
 0* t .^f. ^C 
 
 ;* ^ 
 
 > . S • • » *>\ f\~ •< O n <'%. ^ > 9 • ° , 
 
 4,^V v3 
 . » » A <» **TTT 4 .G v ^3, ' 
 
 iPv, 
 
 .' AV V -V. J .< 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 / . ^ "^ •-'®K?,» ^ V. .y^\)r * aV ^ -,^^,* „4? V. •: 
 
 ^9 
 
 * AV ♦. .< 
 
 
 "*U A> « ■ o «^ _<ft . i - *£*_ A> 
 
 
 
 G°*.*^fc-*°o 
 
 i3, "o . , * A 
 
 
 ^tu • 
 
 p* ..i^, *< 
 
 
 •^o* 
 
 * o . . • 
 
 
 '<3, *o". » * A 
 
 '^k A* 
 
 
 /,.-.•.■ ^ 
 
 
 
 N « 
 
 
 •^ *•"* ^ 
 
 % ^9^ 
 
 ^ A v ' 
 VV ° 
 
 
 U A* • j 
 VV f J 
 
 -L? kO 
 
 
 
 •,• » ^. v 
 
 
 
 ^o^ 
 ^ 
 
 V^'°o /.^-l'^ G°*.-i^ °o /.^I'\ £*%&k°» ^SSMk-% 
 
 3k "7j 
 
 a ^ •: 
 
 «*•> 4 
 
 
 >. *y* u rs .<y 
 
 "rt t /^\. » f\ 
 
 "bV 
 ^t, »?%2«fi* ^ 
 
 IK **T^T' A * r 
 
i"- ^ -111' *«** #& %./ •«• v #»• \/ A'-- v 
 
 V 
 
 % ■% A* .^ 
 
 V^» 
 
 o° -^;> °o /\^*\ g°*.^ °- z;^/^ g°* 
 
 * s A 
 
 ^ • 
 
 
 ;• .«> 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^cr 
 
 **■ ^ 
 
 *bV 
 
 
 <, »o.»» ,G V "o. */?.T 4 A < 
 
 ,'< *W •« 
 
 </■. o 
 
 
 
 "«►, ••«•" ^ 
 
 v ..:••• ^ a a? .*r^ 
 
 ,}"*• *C^5%C» "^ G° 
 
 /\ 
 
 
 *bV 
 
 
 
 
 G° •^55^1' °o j* .CW* -$_ G° 
 
 
 c*«?, 
 
 v^ v 
 
 
 
 
 ■» **, 
 
 
 y ^ 
 
 V**^»' ^' 
 
 
 
 
 jP-nK 
 
 V. 
 
 
 o • » - «G 
 G° 
 
 
 •^^°- /,ja.\ o o ^.^%% /\c^c/\ 
 
 
 ^ v * 
 
 *bV" 
 
 
 ^'* ^ 
 
 ■0? Y*. * 
 
 V » * * °* c 
 
 
 
 '1^'* ^ 
 
 ^' ; .^'\^ 
 
 -, ^ a^ »Wa\ >. .<r smm- ** ^ »^v^. >. ^ » v ^»^ ^ ^ .: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 w • 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ ♦?XT 4 A <, 'f/I* A G* ^ *^7f» A 
 
 
 
 
 
 <<^ v 
 
 
 V^ T V 
 
 »p^ 
 
 :- ^o« f 
 
 
 4* t -u 
 
 P v ..iiLv *> 
 
 
 • ^ A^ *>Wa>_ "^ ^ **^ ^ ^- A* ' •* 
 
 
 
 /%. 
 
 
 - •-"' ^ A' 
 
 
 r .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 G° 
 
IC 9041 
 
 Bureau of Mines Information Circular/1985 
 
 Improved Underground Rerailing 
 Apparatus 
 
 By John R. Bartels 
 
 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
 
 75! 
 
 ^INES 75TH AV^ 
 
Information Circular/9041 
 
 A 
 
 Improved Underground Rerailing 
 Apparatus 
 
 By John R. Bartels 
 
 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
 Donald Paul Hodel, Secretary 
 
 BUREAU OF MINES 
 Robert C. Horton, Director 
 
^ 
 
 ■? 
 
 afi 
 
 P ,tfl\ 
 
 p0' 
 
 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: 
 
 B artels, John R 
 
 Improved underground rerailing apparatus. 
 
 (Information circular ; 9041) 
 
 Supt. of Docs, no.: I 28.27: 9041. 
 
 1. Mine railroads— Accidents. 2. Mine railroads— Equipment and 
 supplies. I. Title. II. Series: Information circular (United States. 
 Bureau of Mines) ; 9041. 
 
 TN295.U4 [TN336] 622s [622'. 66] 85-600072 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Abstract 1 
 
 Introduction 2 
 
 System requirements 2 
 
 System description 3 
 
 Rerailing procedure 5 
 
 \/f Time trials 7 
 
 Dq Conclusions 8 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 I 1 . Sy s tern components 3 
 
 2 . Placement of air-lift bags 4 
 
 3. Raising car above track 5 
 
 4. Placement of bridge and roller carriage 6 
 
 5 . Setting crib blocks 6 
 
 6 . Centering car on track 7 
 
 V) 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 

 UNIT OF MEASURE 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS USED 
 
 IN THIS REPORT 
 
 cu ft 
 
 cubic foot 
 
 min 
 
 minute 
 
 ft 
 
 foot 
 
 psi 
 
 pound per square inch 
 
 gal 
 
 gallon 
 
 s 
 
 second 
 
 in 
 
 inch 
 
 yr 
 
 year 
 
 lb 
 
 pound 
 
 
 
IMPROVED UNDERGROUND RERAILING APPARATUS 
 
 By John R. Bartels ' 
 
 ABSTRACT 
 
 This report discusses an improved method for rerailing underground 
 railcars devised in a joint effort by the Bureau of Mines and Hoesch 
 MFD. This improved method utilizes a lightweight hydraulic ram with 
 hand-pump activation to move a bridge-mounted roller carriage in con- 
 junction with steel-reinforced air-lift bags. This method provides a 
 lightweight portable system in which only two workers are required to 
 perform the mine car rerailing operation. Because of the very narrow 
 confines in underground mines, use of overhead cranes and other surface 
 rail techniques is not possible. This new system is designed for very 
 low profile work, and provides the necessary lifting force from light- 
 weight compressed-air bottles. 
 
 ^Civil engineer, Pittsburgh Research Center, Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A serious mine operational problem has 
 been the dangerous task of rerailing mine 
 cars after accidents and frequent track 
 "hopping." The current practice for re- 
 railing mine cars is extremely hazardous 
 and inefficient. Rerailing devices in 
 use include commercial roll-on plates and 
 hand jacks. In some cases, methods in- 
 volving wooden props and pry bars are em- 
 ployed. The disadvantages of these meth- 
 ods can be listed as follows: 
 
 1. Most current methods require pull- 
 ing the derailed car with a locomotive 
 back onto the track, with resultant dam- 
 age to the road bed. This method is not 
 effective on curves and situations where 
 the wheels are too far from each rail. 
 
 2. Jacks require extensive raising and 
 lowering of cars, block supporting, and 
 leveling to manipulate the cars back on- 
 to the track. The method requires very 
 strenuous manual effort. The close con- 
 fines in a mine makes this an extremely 
 hazardous procedure to the workers doing 
 the rerailing. 
 
 3. The use of wooden props involves 
 wedging and jamming of wood ties between 
 the mine rib and car, and then pulling 
 the car with the locomotive. The purpose 
 is to generate a thrust component in a 
 direction that will lift the car back on- 
 to the track. This method is extremely 
 dangerous in that actual thrust compo- 
 nents generated are unpredictable and 
 unstable. 
 
 The surface rail industry, which con- 
 stitutes the majority of rail equipment 
 and equipment development, does not have 
 
 the peculiar rerailing problems of under- 
 ground rail systems. This is due to the 
 accessibility by rail-mounted or tire- 
 mounted lifting cranes for correcting de- 
 railments. There is not sufficient head- 
 room in mine entries to permit crane 
 rerailment. When surface derailment oc- 
 curs in tunnels , roll-up plates and 
 jacks, similar to those used in under- 
 ground situations are utilized, but these 
 occurrences are not frequent enough to 
 cause much concern. 
 
 The extent of the problem can be seen 
 by the number of injuries sustained by 
 mine personnel while engaged in rerailing 
 operations during the past 5 yr: 
 
 1978 129 1981 136 
 
 1979 189 1982 138 
 
 1980 227 
 
 The frequency of derailments and the 
 large number of injuries associated with 
 them indicate that improving the current 
 rerailing methods would not only reduce 
 accidents but also improve overall mine 
 efficiency. 
 
 It is believed that this project has 
 resulted in a device that can be easily 
 carried by workers into the mine in parts 
 and assembled at the site of the derail- 
 ment. Furthermore, it can be hydrauli- 
 cally and pneumatically powered, rather 
 than manually operated, to provide the 
 lifting and sliding forces necessary to 
 quickly perform the rerailing operation. 
 
 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 
 
 Recognizing the hazards of underground 
 rerailing, the Bureau set out to identify 
 the requirements for a safe system to be 
 used in underground mines. These re- 
 quirements are listed' as follows: 
 
 1. Each piece of equipment must be 
 capable of being carried by no more than 
 two people with a load limit of 60 lb for 
 any one person. 
 
 2. The equipment must be capable of 
 providing the lifting and positioning 
 forces without requiring strenuous effort 
 from the worker. 
 
 3. The equipment must be capable of 
 utilizing local power sources or provid- 
 ing its own power source. 
 
 4. It must be very low profile to en- 
 able working in the narrow confines be- 
 tween mine floor and car bottom. 
 
 5. It must be rugged enough to handle 
 the harsh underground environment. 
 
 6. It must be simple and safe to 
 operate. 
 
 7. It must be low cost. 
 
 8. It must be easily field serviced. 
 
With these requirements in mind, a 
 search was made of commercial suppliers 
 of rerailing equipment. No domestic sup- 
 plier could be found, but the West German 
 company Hoesch MFD had available some 
 promising equipment that had been in use 
 
 with the European light rail industry. 
 Contact with the company officials indi- 
 cated that they would be interested in 
 helping tailor this apparatus for use in 
 underground mines. 
 
 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION 
 
 By combining two previously unrelated 
 technologies currently in use by the sur- 
 face mining and rail industries, a system 
 was developed to rerail underground track 
 vehicles using a safe, simple, and reli- 
 able method. The technologies used are 
 steel reinforced rubber air-lift bags, 
 manufactured by Vetter Engineering, 2 and 
 a hydraulically activated roller system, 
 manufactured by Hoesch MFD, that has been 
 scaled down to accommodate the confined 
 mining environment. This combination 
 
 ^Reference to specific manufacturers 
 and equipment does not imply endorsement 
 by the Bureau of Mines . 
 
 raises the derailed car onto a roller 
 mechanism and centers the car back, on the 
 track without the strenuous physical ef- 
 fort or hazardous uncertainty of conven- 
 tional methods. 
 
 The rerailing system (fig. 1) consists 
 of the following: 
 
 1 roller carriage, 16.5-ton carrying 
 capacity (78 lb). 
 
 1 oil hydraulic displacing jack with 
 screw-type couplers, 11-in displacement, 
 and 6.6-ton capacity (17 lb). 
 
 1 steel countersupport , light construc- 
 tion (17 lb). 
 
 1 auxiliary hand pump, 29- by 9.6-in 
 base, 11 in high, with 2.1-gal oil 
 
 FIGURE 1. - System components. 
 
container, integral 4-way valve, and 
 4,000-psi pressure (55 lb). 
 
 1 pair hydraulic hoses, 16 ft long, 
 with screw-type couplers (26 lb). 
 
 1 rerailing bridge, low profile, 7 ft 
 long, 3-3/4 in high (81 lb). 
 
 2 airbags, 30.3 in by 26.8 in each, 
 1-in collapsed height, 30 cu ft at 90-psi 
 maximum (40.5 lb each). 
 
 1 dual-control safety unit. (6.3 lb). 
 
 1 pressure regular, manually adjustable 
 to 90 psi (3.7 lb). 
 
 2 safety pressure hoses, 16 ft 4 in 
 each, 1 clear and 1 green (2 lb each). 
 
 2 safety pressure hoses, 32 ft 8 in 
 each, 1 clear and 1 green (3.2 lb each). 
 
 1 railway connector (2 lb). 
 
 2 portable compressed-air bottles, 80 
 cu ft each (31.4 lb each). 
 
 The rerailing system is compact and 
 weighs 440.2 lb. Rerailing is safely ac- 
 complished by a crew of two in less than 
 15 min. The system is low profile and 
 should be effective in the lowest coal 
 seams. The air-lift-bag system allows 
 the lifting mechanism to be placed to 
 balance any off-center loadings. The op- 
 eration of the equipment is simple and 
 should require little operator training. 
 Rerailing can be accomplished effectively 
 on all mine track vehicles up to 30 tons 
 gross weight under typical rerailing con- 
 ditions, including derailments on curves 
 and derailments up to 5 ft away from the 
 track, that are too far off the track for 
 conventional rerailing techniques to han- 
 dle effectively. 
 
 FIGURE 2. - Placement of air-lift bags. 
 
RERAILING PROCEDURE 
 
 The first step in rerailing a vehicle 
 is to place a pair of steel-reinforced 
 rubber air-lift bags under the vehicle 
 (fig. 2). Because these air-bags are 
 collapsible to 1 in, they can be slid un- 
 der rail equipment. The airbags are in- 
 flated using lightweight (aluminum) por- 
 table compressed-air bottles or any other 
 convenient compressed-air source. The 
 airbags easily lift a 30-ton car above 
 the tracks so that rerailing can commence 
 (fig. 3). 
 
 Next, a low-profile lightweight (alumi- 
 num) bridge is placed across the tracks. 
 A roller carriage and bidirectional hy- 
 draulic ram connected by the hydraulic 
 lines to the auxiliary hand pump are 
 attached to the bridge using a steel 
 
 countersupport (fig. 4). Crib blocks are 
 set on the roller carriage to support the 
 vehicle at the desired height above the 
 rails (fig. 5). 
 
 The airbags now can be deflated lower- 
 ing the vehicle onto the roller carriage. 
 The vehicle is then centered on the track 
 by the use of an auxiliary hydraulic hand 
 pump (fig. 6), which activates the bidi- 
 rectional ram. 
 
 When the vehicle has been centered on 
 the track, the airbags are inflated to 
 raise the vehicle off the roller, and the 
 rerailing equipment removed. Finally, 
 the airbags are deflated and removed. 
 The entire rerailing operation is safe 
 and simple. 
 
 
 FIGURE 3. - Raising car above track. 
 
FIGURE 4. - Placement of bridge and roller carriage. 
 
 FIGURE 5. - Setting crib blocks. 
 
FIGURE 6. - Centering car on track. 
 
 TIME TRIALS 
 
 Underground time trials utilizing the 
 improved rerailing apparatus were con- 
 ducted at the Bureau's Safety Research 
 Coal Mine (Bruceton, PA). A diesel loco- 
 motive was derailed on a straightaway 
 and on a curve. Two separate crews that 
 had received a 5-min training session 
 on the equipment were asked to rerail 
 the locomotive under both sets of de- 
 railed conditions. The average time to 
 unload the equipment from a transport 
 vehicle, unpack the equipment, rerail 
 the vehicle, and then repack and load 
 was about 15 min for each crew. The 
 fact that one of the test conditions was 
 on a curve, a situation that would pre- 
 sent serious problems using conven- 
 tional underground rerailing techniques , 
 made little difference in either time 
 required to complete the rerailing or the 
 
 difficulty of the task. The average 
 times for the rerailing operation were 
 as follows: 
 
 Unload 3 min 35 s 
 
 Rerail locomotive 7 min 
 
 Repack equipment 4 min 17 s 
 
 The tests were repeated with a new crew 
 using the Bureau's surface rail facility 
 and a 16-ton electric locomotive. Tests 
 results were similar to those for the 
 first series: 
 
 Unload equipment 4 min 
 
 Rerail locomotive 7 min 15 s 
 
 Repack equipment 3 min 50 s 
 
All tests ran smoothly with no spe- 
 cial problems or equipment failure. The 
 equipment seems to be universally adapt- 
 able to most types of underground rail 
 
 vehicles. The rerailing equipment opera- 
 tion is simple enough that mine personnel 
 should have no operational problems in 
 implementing this system. 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 Implementation of the improved rerail- 
 ing system will dramatically improve the 
 efficiency and safety of underground re- 
 railing operations. Current methods of 
 rerailing using roll-on plates and crib 
 blocks are so manually intensive and haz- 
 ardous that the industry should be quite 
 receptive to this improved method. It 
 is safe, simple, and reliable, and the 
 equipment is easily transported and used 
 
 by two people with only minimal training. 
 Under test conditions, the entire rerail- 
 ing operation was accomplished in approx- 
 imately 15 min. The system is current- 
 ly available as a package from Railquip 
 Inc. This system, with minor modifica- 
 tions, or a similar system based on the 
 data specified in the section "System Re- 
 quirements" should be adaptable to most 
 underground mining environments. 
 
 5VU.S. CPO: 1985-505-019/20,092 
 
 IN T.-BU.O F MIN ES,PGH.,P A. 28090 
 
 
° 4$ 
 
 
 
 "oV 
 
 ^ «. 
 
 
 
 
 d"* .** 
 
 "b V" . 
 
 I » « • • 
 
 <*«. a*' .^vaV*^ .A*v&ife^ "<**. a * v /Ava\ v ^ c,** •ysKf. ^ ^ 
 
 aV .t'», *<*. 
 
 
 b *^T> A 
 
 
 ■«. A v ♦ 
 
 
 <S> * „ 
 
 w 
 
 ^ *♦ 
 
 
 <> »c » ' 
 
 
 
 «J> "o«o J ,<>, 
 
 •• ^ 
 
 o * 
 
 ° A* 
 
 "«. *o 
 
 b, **TT«\A 
 
 /\. 
 
 ^0* 
 
 <a> ..*»>, ^ c o* y 
 
 J A 
 
 /^V v*^'V 'V^-v ^' 
 
 
 
 
 *v^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 <?. r»> a n a - *Ss 
 
 
 * 0° 
 
 jp-nK 
 
 . 4 ^ v 
 
 -ov* :jflf^' ^d» -i^flla: *o>* :,^&^ ^ ^ ° 
 
 ^,0° 
 
 ip^*. 
 
 • » " J. & ^5, ^ « * A < 
 
 
 •bV 
 * ^0 4* 
 
 
 
 5 A 
 
 
 
 
 v>o T 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /% 
 
 .* * 
 
 AV ..' 
 
 '+**' .v^aiar- ^ oV ^ :^'. '^ «" .v^^Mar- ^^ 
 
 x°^. 
 
 ^^ v 
 
 9 ^^L'* > 
 
 :-\ 
 
 *bV" 
 
 :- ^o* •■ 
 
 
 •*•_ 
 
 
 V* '.•«••-. '<i> a*> .•Liif*. >. . V y .»iV*. '<?*, a' 
 
 J ^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * O A" 
 
 
 *c> */^7»' A 
 
 G v ^ *?^;t s .a 
 
 
 '* -o"°. ^o / ..<■•>. ^ .<$■ ,0-.. "*b A v ..»i 
 
 "oV 
 
 
 
 K O A. V 
 
 i0 v .,' 
 
 
 P'o A V <*. 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 W 
 
 . i ' • , <^ o* t • " " . "*b a* > . l ' • - <** 6^ t » " ° . 
 
 ^0« 
 
 *bv^ 
 
 
 ^%.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •P. 4 «* 
 
 »' /°-. 
 
 ^ v ,'VL'* ^ 
 
 
 «^ *♦' *>w,*> ^ <^ v ^^^;-. ^ y s^k^x J* y^&- *^ a* v 4Va'-\ .^ 
 
 
 
 ♦ A * 
 
 
 
 
 
 » aV ^C* 
 
 X 
 
 
 vX A 
 
 A* 
 
 ;. '^o< • 
 
 h.° ^ t* * ' 
 4 A 
 
 o £ ©ft V 
 
 
 A O -o.»* A v 'o % 
 
 7vT s A 
 
 
 
 ^°o 
 
 A^ <?, -O.O ^, 
 
 
 °o **Trr-' a?" 
 
 ^ a0 
 
 
 r .- i ". 
 
 
 V * v V 
 
 
 
 > 'HkkX ^.^i^o ,/\>^\ ^.^J,:^ ,/\>^\ oo*,.; 
 
 
 *bV 
 
 ^°ft 
 
 *bV 
 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 1 
 
 002 955 966 1 
 
 ^V