Device for laterally displacing a railroad track

Abstract

A method and a system for correcting the misalignment of a railroad track is provided which corrects the track by the steps of applying a force laterally of the track to move it in the direction of its correct position, sensing the track position relative to a datum, automatically reducing the force in response to the sensing step, permitting the track to react to the reduction of the force and automatically rapidly repeating the force application, sensing, and reduction steps to set up a vibratory cycle of force application until the desired track condition has been achieved. The system provides a valve which has a rail position feeler in the hydraulic connection between pump and jack, which feeler upon sensing the rail operates to close the valve to terminate a jacking action. Pressure sensitive switch is provided in the hydraulic connections between the valve and the pump that operates to exhaust the jack when a pre-determined pressure has been built up in the connections between the pump and the valve. This permits the track to react to the jacking action and move away from the feeler to re-open the valve and re-institute a jacking action. A counting circuit is provided to monitor the number of operations of the valve so as to control the number of jacking actions which are performed in an aligning operation.