Air Brake Gauge Calibration

seth4404 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 04, 2013 10:39 pm **Posts:** 32

Question regarding air brake gauge calibration. Namely, I use a Salem CO2 style gauge tester to calibrate air brake gauges on 92-day intervals. This is done by pressurizing the locomotive gauge and comparing the locomotive pressure to the tester's pressure. My question is how often should the gauge on the tester be calibrated?

Mike Tillger · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:08 pm

Are you under FRA jurisdiction? We test ours every 92 days on a dead weight tester or anytime it has been dropped or mishandled, ours is used 3 to 5 times per month.

Mike Tillger

seth4404 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 04, 2013 10:39 pm **Posts:** 32

I will be under FRA jurisdiction.

I was figuring it would need to be calibrated every 92 days. Deadweight testers aren't cheap though, neither is sending out a gauge 4 times a year for calibration. Gotta bite the bullet on it I guess.

Bobk · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:11 am

[quote="seth4404"]I will be under FRA jurisdiction.

I was figuring it would need to be calibrated every 92 days. Deadweight testers aren't cheap though, neither is sending out a gauge 4 times a year for calibration. Gotta bite the bullet on it I guess.[/quote]

Find one on Ebay. They are there and affordable. Here is one complete and just starting. Know your product and prices and you can do well.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ashcroft-1305B ... Sw5AFZZlXP

BnOTolSub · **Joined:** Mon Dec 18, 2017 11:41 am **Posts:** 162

Are you going to be running this locomotive frequently all year round? I believe you can get out-of-service credit if the locomotive is not used in 30, or more, consecutive days.

Bobk · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:02 pm

[quote="BnOTolSub"]Are you going to be running this locomotive frequently all year round? I believe you can get out-of-service credit if the locomotive is not used in 30, or more, consecutive days.[/quote]

No out of service credit

trainsfireengine · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:40 pm

Bobk wrote:

seth4404 wrote:

I will be under FRA jurisdiction.

I was figuring it would need to be calibrated every 92 days. Deadweight testers aren't cheap though, neither is sending out a gauge 4 times a year for calibration. Gotta bite the bullet on it I guess.

Find one on Ebay. They are there and affordable. Here is one complete and just starting. Know your product and prices and you can do well.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ashcroft-1305B ... Sw5AFZZlXP

Ashcroft states that the 1305 B dead weight tester which is shown in this eBay listing is around 40 years old and Ashcroft does not support it anymore. That means that if you do not get the proper test weights for it which are required to do lower pressure air gauges or it requires any parts from Ashcroft then you may be out of luck. That may explain why this tester has been listed and relisted on eBay for so long without any bids. So "know your product" might be the key phrase here.

The current deadweight tester model that is in the Ashcroft catalog is the 1305 D, there was not a 1305 C, they skipped a letter in the model numbers.

SZuiderveen · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:04 pm

If you acquire an electronic test gauge, you only have to calibrate it once every 365 days. You can use it to cascade regular analog test gauge 92 day tests if you have need for more than one test gauge in your shop (and the electronic gauge is a higher grade than the gauge being tested). Despite the heading, §232.309 (c) applies to all test gauges, not just single car test devices.

Regards,

Steve Zuiderveen

Quote:

§232.309 Equipment and devices used to perform single car air brake tests.

(a) Equipment and devices used to perform single car air brake tests shall be tested for correct operation at least once each calendar day of use.

(b) Except for single car test devices, mechanical test devices such as pressure gauges, flow meters, orifices, etc. shall be calibrated once every 92 days.

(c) Electronic test devices shall be calibrated at least once every 365 days.

(d) Test equipment and single car test devices placed in service shall be tagged or labeled with the date its next calibration is due.

(e) Each single car test device shall be tested not less frequently than every 92 days after being placed in service and may not continue in service if more than one year has passed since its last 92-day test.

(f) Each single car test device shall be disassembled and cleaned not less frequently than every 365 days after being placed in service.