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RIP track

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
General view of part of the rip tracks at the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company Proviso Yard, Chicago, Ill. April 1943
General view of part of the rip tracks at the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company Proviso Yard, Chicago, Ill. April 1943

A RIP track, short for repair in place track,[1][2] (also known as a "cripple track" in slang terms) is a designated track, or tracks, in a rail yard or a siding along a section of a main rail line where locomotives and/or railroad cars can be placed for minor repairs.[3] A RIP tracks allows for minor repairs to be done without removing the units from service and sometimes allows for these repairs to be done without removing a freight load from the car.[4] In some yards, a RIP track may be used for staging locomotives or damaged cars for major repairs and some rail yards may have more than one RIP track to serve both functions.

Discover more about RIP track related topics

Rail yard

Rail yard

A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or unused locomotives stored off the main line, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Cars or wagons are moved around by specially designed yard switchers (US) or shunters, a type of locomotive. Cars or wagons in a yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including railway company, loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Yards are normally built where there is a need to store rail vehicles while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a tower to control operations.

Siding (rail)

Siding (rail)

A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighter rails, meant for lower speed or less heavy traffic, and few, if any, signals. Sidings connected at both ends to a running line are commonly known as loops; those not so connected may be referred to as single-ended or dead-end sidings, or stubs.

Locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the use of these self-propelled vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains, but rare for freight.

Railroad car

Railroad car

A railroad car, railcar, railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck, also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a vehicle used for the carrying of cargo or passengers on a rail transport network. Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more locomotives, form a train. Alternatively, some passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single railcars or make up multiple units.

Usage

When it is discovered that an unloaded freight car requires repairs, they are normally sent to the repair shops. However, mechanical defects often do not show up, or are not discovered, until after a freight car has been loaded and is in transit. Obviously, it would be expensive and entail considerable delay to have to unload a defective car and transfer the load onto another car before the cargo can continue its journey. Often the repairs required are of a minor nature and such as may be taken care of in a short time with the proper facilities without unloading a car. It is for the repair of loaded freight cars that a RIP track or RIP track operation is specifically provided.[4]

As is well understood in railroading, loaded freight cars requiring repair before they can safely continue to destination, are removed from the train and delivered to the incoming side of a rip track which area is commonly referred to as the "bad order" area. From the bad order area the cars are moved into the middle portion of the rip track which is referred to as the "repair" area.[4]

Seeing as most of the repairs have to do largely with the car trucks or under frame, jacks are used in the repair area for lifting the cars in various ways and locations. Therefore these jacks can be easily moved alongside the track or tracks in the repair area. Once the cars have been repaired they are removed from the repair area into the discharge side of the rip track which is referred to as the "OK" area.[4]

Switcher locomotives are used for delivering defective loaded cars to the RIP track and for removing them after they are repaired.[4]

Gallery

  • A railway worker putting the finishing touches on a rebuilt caboose on the RIP tracks at Proviso yard, Chicago

    A railway worker putting the finishing touches on a rebuilt caboose on the RIP tracks at Proviso yard, Chicago

  • A boxcar being painted on the RIP tracks at Proviso yard, Chicago

    A boxcar being painted on the RIP tracks at Proviso yard, Chicago

  • A boxcar being jacked up for repairs on the RIP tracks at Proviso yard, Chicago

    A boxcar being jacked up for repairs on the RIP tracks at Proviso yard, Chicago

  • A railroad employee jacking up a gondola car to swap out a truck

    A railroad employee jacking up a gondola car to swap out a truck

In popular culture

A RIP track is featured in the 2010 action-thriller film Unstoppable. In the film the protagonists and their locomotive use a RIP track to avoid a head-on collision with 777, the film's runaway locomotive, after being unable to fit into an earlier siding due to the length of their train.[5]

Source: "RIP track", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, December 30th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIP_track.

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Further Reading

Train

Railroad car

Classification yard

Grand Trunk Western Railroad

Siding (rail)

Rail yard

New York New Jersey Rail

Rail freight transport

Catskill Mountain Railroad

Freight house

Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island

North Hawthorne station

Portland–Lewiston Interurban

Hardwick and Woodbury Railroad

Copper Range 29
References
  1. ^ Russell, John W. M. "Railway Terminology - Yard Configuration". home.cogeco.ca. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. ^ Parks, Walter. "RAILROAD, RIP TRACK, or Repair Track". carknocker.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  3. ^ Roberts, Randall. "RIP Facility/Track". Model Railroad Trains. About.com. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e US3055310A, Griffiths, Clyde C. & Saxonmeyer, Wallace J., "Railroad rip track installation", issued 1962-09-25 
  5. ^ "Unstoppable (2010) - IMDb" – via m.imdb.com.
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