Testing of: a prototype flange-bearing derail design Reports how Transportation Technology Center designed and evaluated a prototype flange-bearing design for a low cost, highly reliable derail at the Facility for Accelerated Service Testing in Pueblo, Colorado. The prototype design attempts to address issues with derails used in the industry and is a departure from typical derail designs in that the prototype is entirely flange-bearing. This feature permits the design to raise the vehicle a shorter distance, thus requiring less work to derail a vehicle. These changes in derail design reduce the vertical impact loading from the car striking the derail and require substantially less crowding (diverging) force as a result of the derail bearing on the backside of the flange only. Concludes that the design requires less equipment and material to accomplish the same task as traditional derails currently in use.
Railway Track and Structures, Jan. 2017. pp.13-15.