Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
37
The invention relates to a railway trac]c renewal
train comprising a -two-truck working car or frame car
having an empty Erame longer than a track span, the rear
truck lying on the new track and the front truck on the
old track and, ahead of the working car, a lift o-f cars
provided with means for loading the excavated material
and, at the rear of said working car, other cars for
transporting the track spans, the sand and the ballast,
guide races installed on the transport cars and the
].0 frame-car, a pair of gantries adap-ted to roll on said
guide races installed on the transpor-t cars and frame-
cart and equipped with hoisting means for lifting a span
and also with means for handling sand and ballast trans-
port buckets, and a rolling truck movable on said guide
races and disposed ahead of said pair of gantries, at
least one vertically-adjustable excavating device suspen-
ded from said roll.in~ truck and constructed either for
the full excavating width or for a reduced width, said
excavating device being movable laterally or pivotally
mounted for eYcavating the ballast.
A train of this type is already known through the
Swiss Patent No. 583,822 disclosing a method and a train
for relaying the track completely, which consists in
removing the old track, clearing and screening the ballast,
and laying the new trackl these three operations taking
place conti.nuously in this order during a single passage
of the track-relaying train provided for this purpose.
However, this device is not designed for draining or
renewing the track, i.e. replacing the roadwayO
Canadian Patent Application Mo. 360,580 filed
Septernber 19, 1980 in the name of the present applicants
discloses a method and a train for performing this drain-
age, the working procedure being as follows: with the
assistance of a working car, of two gantries and of
.35 transport cars equi.pped with guide races, the whole con-
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stituting a first lift of carriages, the old spans are
dismantled and replaced by working spans. On -these
working spans an excavator following transport cars
belonging to a second lift of carriages di.sposed ahead
S of the first lift of carriages in the direction of
progress of the works, is caused to move forward. The
excavator will thus dig the ballast and the roadway,
and then the excavated earth is replaced by a
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0~937
sand layer constituting the new roadway or substructure, the sand
being brought to the site by means of buckets supported by the
gantries of the first lift of carriages and discharged through
the frame of the working car. Then, the sand is levelled and
tamped, the ballast is brought likewise to the site, distributed
and tamped, and finally the new spans are laid, still with the
assistance of the first lift of carriages.
This solution, though satisfactory from the point of view
of efficiency, is objectionable in that i-t requires the use oE
two separate lifts of carriages, the initial operations, i.e.
the removal of the old spans, being necessarily accomplished by
the first lift and then the excavation is performed by the se-
cond lift after positioning the working spans, whereafter the
first lift of carriage is operated again for distributing and
compacting the new roadway and the ballast.
Hitherto known methods applied for this drainage consisted
simply in utilizing excavators completely independent of the
track, for example power excavators or scrapers mounted on
crawler~tracks, so that obtaining a regular di~ging was parti-
cularly dif~icult work involving more particularly various pro-
blems for carrying away and transporting the excavated material.
It is the primary object of the present invention to ra-
tionalize the drainage and renewal work while reducing the time
required therefor, and the cost of the means implemented as well
as the number of train and car shuttles.
To this end, the railway track drainage and renewal train
according to the present invention is characterized in that it
comprises a swivel-mounted digging device disposed behind the
excavating device and consisting preferably of an endless ahain
provided with transverse helical fins, said digging device being
provided with hydraulic cylinders for controlling its movements
in the vertical and longitudinal planes, and such that it can
~ig to a greater depth than the excavating device proper while
covering the entire width of the excavated roadway.
The advantages deriving from this invention are first of
all improved efficiency in comparison with hitherto known railway
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track renewal trains, the use of a single set of carriages bear-
ing with its rear truck on the new track and with its front truck
on the old track, the suppression of an intermediate working
track, the reduction of the working area to the length oE one
track span plus a storage area. Moreover, the machine of the
present invention operates step by step, without any break,when
carrying out the complete sequence of operations necessary for
draining the railway track with the possibility of laying new
spans or old spans if they can be regenerated or old spans con-
sisting of old rails and new sleepers or ties, by using gantriesdesigned for this purpose. The excavation may be conducted in
two steps: firstly the ballast which if desired and possible
may be recovered, then the earth of the roadbed foundation and
the gravel may be discharged just behind the e~cavat~r.
Another advantage characterizing this track draining train
is the rational use of the digging device consisting preferably
of a blade adapted to perform two functions, namely either grad-
ing or digging, by setting said blade for a greater depth of cut
than the endless chain in order to free the material to be exca-
vated.
In addition, when relatively bulky stones or rocks haveto be excavated, the levelling blade, provided with hydraulic
cylinders, may perform movements similar to those of a power
- shovel bucket. To improve the blade penetration, the latter may
consist for example of three units each responsive to separate
control means On the other hand, large stones or rocks which
cannot be transported by the endless chain are pushed off the
roadbed foundation with the assistance of the levelling blade.
For this purpose, these large stones are wedged between the
3~ blade, the endless chain and the helical fins, and thus moved
laterally outwards until the stones are brought onto the benches.
Moreover, it may be pointed out since that all these steps and
more particularly the excavation and levelling ones, are accom-
plished directly from the frame-car standing on the track, the
regularity of the ground-work operations is warranted by the
fact that the digging takes place in a direction parallel to the
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track, at the selected depth, whereby the ground surface is per-
fectly smooth after the removal of the old roadway, this consti-
tuting a good preparation before building the new roadway.
Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings
illustrating diagrammatically various forms of embodiments of
the invention.
Fig.1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view showing on
a reduced scale a complete railway track drainage train according
to the present invention;
Fig.2 illustrateson a considerably larger scale the frame
car with its equipment;
Fig.3 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the exca-
vator provided with lateral spiral or helical fins;
Fig.4 is a view similar to Fig.3 but showing one blade in
a lower working position than the other blades;
Fig.5 is a detail view of a spiral or helical fin with
the digging device consisting of a blade shown in its lower po-
sition with respect to the excavator level;
Fig.6 illustrates in side elevational view the excavator
and the digging blade extended in its operating position;
Fig.7 is ~ diagrammatic perspective view of the blade
and its separate control means;
Fig.8 illustrates in side elevational view a modified
form of embodiment of the blade provided with a grubbing rake;
~ ig.~ is a fragmentary front view of the blade of Fig.8;
and
Fig.10 is a diagrammatic general view of a modified form
of embodiment of the frame car.
The railway track draining and renewal train according
to the present invention, which is shown partially in Fig.1, is
driven by a locomotive tnot shown) and comprises in its front
portion a plurality o cars 1 for loading the excavation conve-
yed by means of an assembly of telescopic endless belts 2. A
working car 3 rolling on a pair of trucks 4,5 comprises an empty
frame 6 having a length L greater than that 1 of a track span 1.
This empty frame 6 is provided with guide rails or races having
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corresponding extensions on the rear cars and adapted to carry
the various gantries, of which two (9) are equipped with means
for hoisting a track span, other means for controlling a plura-
lity of buckets 11 for transporting sand and ballast. Ahead of
the two gantries 9, a truck 10 is also rolling on the guide rails
and from which an excavator 12 is suspended; basically, this
excavator 12 may be similar to the one disclosed in the Swiss
patent N 583,822 and may be either designed to cover the full
excavation width e or~ as shown in Fig.3, for operating on a
reduced width; this excavator 12 is movable laterally in the di-
rection of the arrow F. Furthermore, the train comprises rear
cars 13 for transporting not only the buckets loaded with sand
and new ballast but also the new spans or the new rails.
Referring to Fig.2 illustrating more in detail the work-
ing car 3~ it will be seen that the excavator 12 supported by
truck 10 is provided with a hydraulic cylinder 13 for adjusting
its vertically position, other cylinders (not shown) permitting
its transverse and longitudinal adjustment~ This excavator 12
comprises an endless excavating chain 14 with two lateral heli-
cal fins 15,15' (Fig.3~, a digging device 16 consisting of a
blade to be described more in detail hereinafter, and at the
rear of the digging blade 16, a rammer or tamper 17 also control-
led by means of hydraulic cylinders. Moreover, this excavator 12
could be mounted for swivel movement about a vertical axis.
To warrant a perfect digging depth and a perfect slant of
the roadway, or the roadbed foundation, the frame of the working
car 3 is held in a horizorltal or inclined position, as a function
of the slant of the roadway or the roadbed bottom, by means of
penduli. To maintain the longitudinal profile, that is, to per-
mit at any time the orientation of the frame 6 parallel to the
roadbed bottom, respectively to the terrace or bench, the frame
6 is mounted on the rear truck 5 by means of a hydraulic cylin-
der 40 permitting its vertical adjustment.
The endless excavating chain 14 with its h~lical fins 15,
15' is adapted to excavate the bench down to a depth of, say,
90 centimeters and over a width of about 5 meters. The endless
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chain delivers the e~cavation to an endless telescopic conveyor
belt 2 mounted on the front car 1 and adapted to connect the
chain 15 to cars disposed at the front of the train and adapted
to carry away the waste.
In this first form of embodiment the diggin~ blade 16
is mounted directly to the excavator 12 whereby, as will be
described presently, a cooperation is obtained between the blade
and the excavator for removing large stones. Moreover, in this
specific form of embodiment the excavator 12 is coupled to the
rammer 17.
To improve the penetration of the digging blade having a
length of, say, 2.6 m, this blade consists of three lateral
sections 16a,1~b,16c (Figs.3 to 7) actuated separately by cor-
responding hydraulic cylinders 28a,28b,28c to which they are pi~
votally mounted by means of a pivot pin 30, said cylinders being
mounted in turn to arms 18a,18b,18c pivotally mounted by means
of a main pivot pin 32 to the excavator 12; these arms 18a,18b,
18c are actuated separately by hydraulic cylinders'29 pivotally
mounted at 31, Fig.6 showing only one of these cylinders. With
these various control and pi~ot means it is possible to impart
separately or simultaneously -to each segment 16a,16b,16c move-
ments similar to those of a power-shovel bucket, whereby large
stones, rocks or ballast fragments can be excavated efficiently.
The stones and the like thus excavated by the blade are subse-
quently moved by the helical ~ins 15,15' towards the central
chain 14 of the excavator and the largest stones which cannot
be transported by the chain are expelled outside the roadway
with the assistance of blades 16a,16b,16c. To this end, the
largest stones will be wedged between the blade 16, the chain
14 and the helical fins 15, the complete assembly being moved
laterally until the stones or rocks can be deposited upon the
benches.
Of course, the blade 16 could consist of a single section,
or two or more than three sections, but obviously a blade divided
into several sections adapted to be adjusted separately affords
an improved ballast removing action and a more flexible handling
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than a single, wide blade. As illustrated in Fig.4, in case of
need a single section 16c only may be lowered by a height _ in
relation to the level of the other sections 16a,16b for removing
a large stone located in front of this single section 16c, or
alternatively, as illustrated in Fig.5, both sections 16a,16b
could be lowered to the same depth in relation to the excavator
level. If the blade comprises several lateral sections, it is
also possible to contemplate the pivotal mounting of each sec-
tion about a separate vertical axis.
To warrant a sufficient tear-up force, the excavator 12
is driven along the working car 3 with the assistance of winches
mounted on the front and rear cars.
~ he gravel and ballast are levelled either by means of
the blade 16 and helical fins 15 which transfer the excavation
out~ards, or by means of a blade swivel-mounted on the rammer
suspension structure, as will be described presently.
In the specific form of embodiment illustrated in Figs.3
to 7 of the drawings, the lower portion of blade 16 is provided
with teeth 19 in order better to tear off the ballast, however
without any inconvenience when the blade is utilized for level-
ling the roadbed foundation or the bench, said teeth forming
only shallow grooves without any detrimental consequence.
According to a modified form of embodiment illustrated in
Fi~s.8 and 9, the digging device comprises a grubbing rake 20
consisting of three lateral sections 20a,20b,20c adjustable in
the longltudinal plane and depthwise, for further improving the
excavation of the old ballast. Each section 20a,20b,20c of the
yrubbing rake is carried by an arm 22 pivoted at 26 to another
arm 21 pivoted in turn a-t 32 to the excavator 12. The arm 21 can
be tilted about the pivot pin 32 by means of a hydraulic cylinder
29, and the arm 22 is adapted to rotate about the pivot pin 26
under the control of a hydraulic cylinder 25 pivotally connected
at one end through a pin 25' to arm 21 and at the other end
through a pin 25" to arm 22. Furthermore, this grubbing rake 20
operates in conjunction with a levelling blade 23 also consist-
ing of three sections 23a,23b,23c and adjustable separately by
3~
means of a cylinder 24a, respectively, whereby these three sec-
tions can operate or not at the same level as the three sections
20a,2Ob,20c of the grubbing rake.
~ ccording to another modified form of embodiment, illus-
trated diagrammatically in Fig.10, the excavator 12 comprises
only the excavation chain l4 and helical fins 15,15' but, in
contrast to the last-described form of embodiment, it is not
combined with the digginy and levelling blade or with a rammer.
In this example, the digging blade 36 responsive to a set of
hydraulic cylinders 38 shown only diagrammatically in Fig.10 is
mounted to a separate truck 35 rolling on the guide rails of the
working car, behind the truck 10 supporting the excavator 12,
and this separate truck 35 is provided with separate drive means
so that it can be moved independently of the excavator 12. If
desired, the rammer 37 may also be mounted to this truck 35.
The works, taking ~lace in all cases within the empty
frame, comprise the following sequence of operations:
- removing the old spans by means of the gantries 9,
- excavating the old ballast and the old roadway earth,
and transporting the material by means of the endless belt con-
veyor 2 to the cars 1 at the front of the train,
- levelling and compacting the roadbed foundation or bench,
- transporting and distributing the new gravel by means
of the gantries; this operation may take place as soon as the
first few meters o~ the roadbed foundation have been excavated
and rammed,
- levelling the gravel by means of the levelling blade,
and ramming,
- transporting and discharging the new ballast by means
of the gantries,
- levelling and compacting the bew ballast,
- laying the new spans or the old spans, or spans compris-
ing old rails and new sleepers, by using the gantries, and
- advancing the drainage train.
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