John,
I agree with Bill on this one. In the Chicago area where I grew up, I can produce several photos that clearly show that only the two eastbound mains had the rails oiled. The westbound outside main is clearly not oiled. It was common knowledge in those days, in the Chicago territory, that the eastbound rails were oiled to protect them from the effects of salt brine dripping from refrigerator cars. The empty westbound cars rode either the westbound or center mains. The two outside mains were only signal in one direction at that time. Trains only ran bidirectionally on the center main. Oiling rail may have been used for other purpose,elsewhere, but I have no knowledge of that.
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:18 pm (PST) . Posted by:No, oiling kept rail joints from "locking up" and causing problems (track was not anchored as well as it is today and frozen joints led to track out of line). On Saturday, January 11, 2014 2:54 PM, Bill Ewinger < bkewinger@yahoo.com> wrote:
I understand the oiler was used to combat the salt water that would come from the iced reefer cars so the water would not damage the ties and road bed. in this picture they appear to be on a branch line so we are know spraying the oil for weed control?
Bill Ewinger
Burlington Iowa
__._,_.___
![]()
__,_._,___
|