Page 3 - May 2022 Track N Times

FEATURE STORY

RGS8’S JOURNEY

By: Zebediah Dintelman, Manager Rail Grinding

As employees, we often have two or three ever-lasting
memories that we regularly speak about when discussing
our careers and the unique places we visit with folks that
just don’t understand Loram. One of those ever-lasting
memories for me was from my time in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), and no not the gold-lined streets of Du-
bai or the fast cars of Abu Dhabi, but actually the barren
deserts surrounding Al Mirfa, Madinat Zayed, and Liwa. In
2014, very early into my Loram career, I was asked if I
would be interested in working in the UAE with LRG7.
After a quick Google search and seeing the beforemen-
tioned gold-lined streets and fast cars, it was a no brain-
er. To say Google had let me down was an understate-
ment! After five challenging months, with help from our
friends at Vandhana, we successfully ground our last switch and were able to look back at a successful grind program.
Fast forward to Spring 2021….

“How fast can we get a KLD on RGS8?!” Operationally speaking, that is one phrase that almost never brings excite-
ment. In all reality, all we hear is rush, rush, rush. Knowing the priority, importance, and the opportunity to break
into the Arabian Peninsula’s rail grinding market yet again, our mindset quickly changed from, “We can’t!” to, “How
can we?” With help from Loram’s Technical Support, Specialized Maintenance, Product Management, and Project
Management Teams, we were able to successfully source and install the required KLD on RGS8.
A KLD was not the only requirement for RGS8 prior to its delivery to Jebel Ali, the machine needed to be in near
perfect condition to hit the Euro-norm grind specifications. Years and years of North American Heavy Haul service
had RGS8 in less-than-ideal condition. Jeff Leadstrom’s Specialized Maintenance crews were able to pull yet another
rabbit out of their hat and successfully changed a
grind buggy and numerous grind motors. In addi-
tion to the countless hours worked on the grind
car, Jeff’s team was able to pull and repair the en-
gine as we prepared for the harsh desert climate.
In July 2021, the machine was officially ready to
begin the journey to Manchester Port in Houston,
Texas and eventually Jebel Ali just outside of Abu
Dhabi. To begin the journey, we needed to inter-
change RGS8 from Canadian National to Union
Pacific just outside of Joliet, Illinois, a need that
sounds much easier than it actually was! With tre-
mendous help from Mike Garcia (Fleet Logistics

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Page 1 MAY 2022