managers. The test greases were selected based on the input from the advisory committee. They were selected with a requirement that they were commercially available and had been on the market for a minimum of five years. While there are several suppliers of petroleum oil based greases, the team identified three bio-based grease suppliers two of which were manufacturers and the third one a private label distributor. The mineral oil-based greases were those that are known to be in use by major Class I railroads. One of the candidate grease was especially known to be in use by the majority of railroads, and was selected as reference grease in the field tests. The candidate greases were analyzed in laboratory tests, environmental chamber and in revenue service field test on a railroad to assess their performance. Additionally a new test method was used to assess the tackiness that would categorize the performance of the greases as suitable for rail lubrication.


The results indicated that bio-based greases perform equal and in some cases more effectively for reducing friction between the railroad tracks and train wheels, and carrying down the track. The results of testing in the environmental chamber indicated that bio-based greases can pump at cold temperatures in typical grease dispensing equipment used by the railroad industry.


1. Introduction 1.1 The objective of the project was to study the use of bio-based lubricant and grease technologies in railroad applications. Several commercially available rail curve greases were identified and tested. Three mineral oil based and three bio-based rail curve greases were selected for comparative testing. Greases included a summer and a winter version. The testing was based on laboratory results that included the evaluation of rail curve greases using a number of standard test methods. Testing was also conducted in an environmental chamber using two grease dispensers from two Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) at different temperatures; followed by field testing at two different sites on a revenue service railroad using two grease dispensers at each site. This report offers a highly compressed version of the full report. The full report can be accessed on line at the US Department of Transportation site free of charge at www.fra.dot.gov/Elib/Document/3936


1.2 Test in Temperature Controlled Chamber The purpose of testing in the environmental chamber was to expose two commercial lubricators from two Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to test greases side by side and perform testing at different temperatures. The test allowed each grease to be tested in the two test lubricators at different temperature points ranging from about 110°F (38°C) to about -10°F (-23°C).


Table 1. Resources and grease used for test of greases in the environmental chamber.


Table 1 presents the resources including the grease lubricators used for this test. Three biobased greases were tested against one of the most common mineral oil based grease for a total of four set of tests.


a. The equipment used included a wayside lubricator with a digital control box, supply hose and one 48-Port bar. Simultaneously a second wayside lubricator equipped with digital control box, supply hose and bar were tested. Train traffic was simulated using a Train Simulator that would simulate the passing of a train wheel by a proximity sensor which in turn would signal the pump to run for a predetermined period of time. The distribution bars for each lubricator were placed in a plastic lined drum to catch the grease being pumped through the bars and weigh the amount of grease output.


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