Rail Bonder

Apparently no-one here has any knowledge of these little beasts.....LOL

Dan, you'll have to await the closing of the "4014" thread, then tempers can cool off, and some good thinking will resume.

Kinda reminds me of what I see, when a stray dog comes into the neighborhood, and all of the neighbors dogs will "Pack Him".  Now they're diggin stuff out of "Hot Water's" past from something that happened on a run of the 4449, on the old IC Line, and who really gives a sh*t, anyway!.................................. 

Does anyone know the story behind these? Something Lionel made up? To me it looks A LOT like Baltimore & Ohio 10 at the B&O museum, but no couplers. I have one, but not sure I want to keep it. What is it suppose to be?

http://www.borail.org/BO-No-10.aspx

Sam Jumper posted:

 What is it suppose to be?

http://www.borail.org/BO-No-10.aspx

Apparently, just what the link says!  They used horses to move cars around and wanted a motorized switcher.  Since they couldn't use steam, they went with electric power.

One from Preston, Ontario. Sorry for the water mark.

Either both pictures are of the same unit or it's a very big coincidence they are both numbered M-4.  But I agree, Lionel did a good job, the only thing missing from the model are the welding cables hanging on the end.

Rail Bonder was a legit employment type in the 1960 census

One method was hydraulic - see attached  perhaps only the MOW car was electrically powered

Here is a simple bond wire commonly used on main line track in order to insure continuity in the rail for the signal system. 

I wonder how Lionel came up with he conical pickup on the end of the pole ? Surely someone saw a prototype somewhere. M4 seems to have a rotating wheel on it's pole. If the catenary existed why use another form of power for propulsion ?  Old street cars that I have seen also had pole hooks on each end of the roof. Whenever parked for any time they would lower the pole for safety sake.  You can see this on the trolleys in New Orleans the ones parked at the terminal all have their pole down in the hook. However if such a conical pickup like on Lionel's model exists that would support your theory. 

I remember as a child here in Birmingham they tore the trolley tracks up and replaced them with electric buses that drew power from a parallel dual wire catenary and every time the bus turned a corner the driver would have to get out and get the pole back on the wires.  I don't think the system lasted ten years before they ditched it if favor of diesel buses.  I was only about seven but I missed the trolley the first time I rode on one of the electric buses. The trolleys were much faster !           j

dkdkrd posted:

Apparently these are used for welding rails together, a common practice for today's railroads.  The pole was not used for transporting, if I recall.  It was only raised while stationary to pick up the electrical power to achieve the rail weld. 

Others may clarify, correct, or amend.  I'm certainly not the expert!