Hi, All. I was handed an item by my RSS today on Fire Trains...thought some of you might be interested : http://wildfiretoday.com/2010/08/24/figh...h-a-train/.It appears that fire fighting trains still have a place in some areas, and are even state-of-the-art systems and equipment in some services.

Very cool, I never knew they had anything like that

This is something that Caltrans should invest in forth wild fires

tomustang Wrote:Very cool, I never knew they had anything like that

This is something that Caltrans should invest in forth wild fires

In California as with most places in the West, wild fires will start more often away from railroads than nearby, so there would not be a lot of use for the state to have such equipment. I think both the U.P. and BNSF have such equipment for use to fight fires near the right of way. In fact the BNSF has had tank cars filled with water parked on a siding near Sullivan's curve in the Cajon Pass for as long as I can remember being interested in trains.

Nice stuff!!! Might be my next "Challenge" project.. A FF Train for our Trestle bridge

Now i have to start looking for 1:20 Firefighting equipment

B.T.S. has a set of three firefighting cars in their McCabe Lumber Co. series. While you may not want to buy it(some REALLY high prices over there), you can take a look at it for ideas on how you might scratchbuild one. It sounds like a really neat idea, and definately makes sense. It made even more sense back in the days of steam, when fuel sources were EVERYWHERE (coaling towers made from wood and filled with coal, log bunkers usually made from wood and holding none other than, you guessed it, wood, and numerous other combustibles, passenger cars were made from wood, lots of other combustible materials around railroad property too)...

The best plan of attack would be to make your tool car and your firefighting car first, then build however many water cars you think are appropriate.

Possible operations with a fire train on the line might be, using car cards/waybills, something like: A multi-block waybill for a fire train is called for by a random dice roll. I would use a 100-side dice and have only 1 or 2 numbers be a fire train, but definately no higher than five. So for instance, every five minutes or so during the session, rolla 100-sided die and if it comes up as, say, a 42, 16, or 92, everyone pulls off of the tracks and somebody drops their engine to pick up the fire train and takes it to the site specified on the waybill, which would be drawn from a special box with different sites named on them(coal tower, Durango station, Telluride water tower, Saltillo tankhouse, or wherever you might decide a fire could take place). The fire train would then be taken there, you might have some sound effects(water spraying, the sound of the pump, some people running around screaming their heads off, or anything else of that nature), and you would have it sit there. You might rev the prime mover up some to make it sound like its powering the pumps or something, but otherwise it would stay there while it "fights the fire," then returns, and everything resume as normal. You could then haul away any possible remains from something to generate still more traffic on your line.

The actual possibilities are endless. You could do so much with a fire train added into your operations, or plan one in if you haven't built your layout's main yard, or have't built a layout at all yet.

Hello, could not pass up the topic as lionel had a postwar operating "fire" car with a fire man and a hose that turns side to side and a manual op ladder I have one will have to post a pic sometime.

I remember MRR had a articale on real fire trains long ago maybe 70's early 80's.

Yeah ... I seem to recall a brass SP Fire Train that there were bunches of photos of in the model railroad magazines back in the mid-'70's ... at least that's what I think I remember, or have been trying my best to remember since this thread first started. :oops:

I think it was a little Mogul with a shorty Vandy tender and three specialized fire-fighting "tank" cars that had specialized roof walks w/ railings all around and some appropriate fire fighting equipment on top, hoses and nozzles and such. If my memory has not totally turned into grits and red-eye gravy, the train was outfitted to fight brush fires along the tracks in the southwest.

Please ... someone stumble across that train, either photos or the article, and help me get over feeling like it's all over ... that I'm really losing it now! :oops:

Think I remember that as a back-cover ad on MR/RMC - PFM or GEM Models ??? Bob

I think the BNSF just has the tank cars loaded with water and parked in Cajon, If a fire breaks out, the state and federal forestry service is there to fight the fire, and I think they just use the water that is stored there to help out in the area adjoining the tracks. For larger areas they use helicopter drops and converted Dc7s loaded with water to drop on fires.

Here's an older version. The picture was taken in the early '60s and is of a water car belonging to a lumber company located near North Bay, Ontario.


Wayne

doctorwayne Wrote:The picture was taken in the early '60s and is of a water car belonging to a lumber company located near North Bay, Ontario. Wayne

That tank car looks very similar to those in the MDC Three-in-one Fire fighting train kit.

Bob C Wrote:Think I remember that as a back-cover ad on MR/RMC - PFM or GEM Models ??? Bob

It's not on the back of MR/MRC, 1970-1980.....But I'm sure I've seen the picture somewhere.