dumpsters

[Mr Fixit]

I was about to make a smartarse comment [in jest of course] about this thread being 'a load of garbage' and really being 'down in the dumps', when it occurred to me that one growing source of rail traffic for modern railroads is that of trash trains. How do they get loaded? At a truck to rail transfer facility of course and they require a rail to truck facility at the other end and there are bound to be spare dumpsters at either facility to collect spilled rubbish.

Also for those wanting a scene other than the standard building on fire for their fire department to respond to, how about a dumpster fire scene? Burnt dumpsters, Fire trucks [Fire Appliances], Cops and cop cars, a tilt tray truck from the bin company, supervisors and bosses emerging from everywhere, and/or a burnt dumpster truck wrecked by a fire caused by hot items being dumped into the truck. TV camera crews reporting on the dramatic fire and resulting traffic snarls, on lookers gawking, go slow orders for train crews due to the disturbance.

Plenty of food for thought.

Or am I just talking a load of rubbish here?

Mark

[Sumpter250]

Plenty of food for thought.

Or am I just talking a load of rubbish here? Mark

Well......when the minds have feasted until full on the "food for thought", there will be "leftovers", that will become......
a load of rubbish? !!
Now......where did I put that dumpster !

" how about a dumpster fire scene? Burnt dumpsters, Fire trucks [Fire Appliances], Cops and cop cars, a tilt tray truck from the bin company, supervisors and bosses emerging from everywhere, and/or a burnt dumpster truck wrecked by a fire caused by hot items being dumped into the truck. TV camera crews reporting on the dramatic fire and resulting traffic snarls, on lookers gawking, go slow orders for train crews due to the disturbance. "

That would be one very large bunch of LPBs ( Little Plastic Bozos ) to pose and paint........I like it !!

[Mr Fixit]

On the subject of Overhead loading Dumpster trucks, I just remembered a discussion I had with one driver one morning as he emptied the bin.

Now Im not sure just how many of you are aware that Melbourne has a very vibrant and active tram network but it turns out that at least one dumpster truck per year ends up contacting the overhead powerline for the trams. Contact with the live lines ends up in effect welding the dumpster bin to the truck lifting forks, with lots of resultant sparking, delays, police cars and fire trucks, supervisors from the private tram companies and the bin company and one very chastened and embarrased driver. Not to mention lots of paperwork and phone calls with the bin companies insurance company.

Now if you were modeling a traction or tram line [be it pole or cantenary] then I am sure that your older neighbourhood small industrial concern would require a regular visit from the dumpster truck and it might just happen to have a contact accident with the overhad lines or end up snagging the support wires which is another seemingly regular accident.

There also used to be a Munitions Factory over in Maribyrnong and the entrance and exit to the facility was right under the tram lines, something trucks carrying munitions are not supposed to do. Anyone see a OHS issue there?

Mark

[Mr Fixit]

For those of you who are considering making a dumpster truck body to mount on a commercial vehicle chassis you have handy I would like to suggest the following sites for further investigation.

Classic Refuse Trucks classicrefusetrucks.com has lots of photos of various makes and models of US dumpster and garbage trucks from the 30's thru to the dumpster era beginning in the 60's thru to todays monster size trucks. Well worth a look and a bookmark on your computer under your model train resources so that your layout can be era correct and upto date with its sanitation responsibilities.

I would also like to suggest 1-87 Vehicles at 1-87vehicles.org as a good place to check out the different manufacturers and suppliers of HO scale vehicles.

I found both of these sites from reading threads here on this site, but it seemed like a good time to mention them for those that havent found them.

A modern dumpster truck body would appear to be a fairly easy project as the main body is basically a rectangle with surface mounted framing. The problem as I see it would be in the manufacture of the dump arms which could be fairly fragile as would the forks.

Most dumpster trucks that I see here in Melbourne are tandem steer, tandem drive axles and finding such a model could be difficult. There are however a small number of single steering axle dumpster trucks as well but I would estimate that it would be less than 5% of the total fleet. One arm bandit domestic bin trucks are mostly single steer, tandem drive, 85%.

Mark