Field Validation of Inspection Gauges for Wheel Climb Safety at Switch Points

TRB’s Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Safety Project 28: Field Validation of Inspection Gauges for Wheel Climb Safety at Switch Points provides a field assessment and validation of chipped point gauges, AAR 1B wheel contact gauges, severely worn wheel profile gauges, and gage-face wear angle gauges, which were developed under IDEA Project S-23 for prevention of wheel climb derailments. The report explores how these gauges performed in their field environment. Selected track inspectors on several railroads used these gauges for a trial period to assess their practical usability as well as their value in identifying marginal or potentially dangerous switch points. The gauge designs were then reevaluated in light of these field trials and modified accordingly. Inspectors then performed a second set of field evaluations on several railroads using the modified gauges.