Roundhouse Ritual: The Alemite Grease Gun. In the hours before dawn, a volunteer member of the Nevada Northern shop crew uses a pneumatic grease gun to pack the rod bearings on Locomotive 93 with hard grease. Manufactured by the Alemite Company, these guns came into general usage back in the 1930s, providing railroad crews with a much-needed improvement in efficiency over older, manually operated grease guns. Although they could be powered by shop air, they were more commonly plugged into the locomotive's own air-brake reservoir, as this gentleman is doing here. This made the apparatus quite portable and allowed it to be carried out on the line by crews who might need to do servicing in remote areas.
When attached to the grease fitting on the rod bearing, the heavy grease gun is self-supporting, so the operator does not have to continually support its weight. He operates the trigger mechanism with his right hand, while he feeds sticks of hard grease into a tube with his left hand. The gun makes a fairly loud pulsing sound as it does its work. When the bearings are fully packed, the grease oozes out of the fitting, as can be seen here. Steam locomotives require this type of service after roughly every 100 miles, although most railroads (then and now) do it at every available opportunity. In the case of the Nevada Northern, it is done every morning before the engine leaves the house. A crew member can typically top up all of the rod bearings in 15-20 minutes. Although this particular model of grease gun is probably a dinosaur, the company that made it is still in business today....and still making grease guns.
A tribute of appreciation to the workers who maintain the track, keeping our railways in shape regardless of weather and danger, and keeping them running effeciently.
