I Saw A Train Today!

[doctorwayne]

Well, Gary, I think that they're just like dogs: whisper something like "Wanna go for a car ride?", and they'll be jumping up and down and running all over the house like maniacs. Same thing for train rides.

Wayne

[Gary S]

And... thanks for the link, now we know.

[tetters]

heck, I was not only taking photos, I was also talking on the cell phone. I'm a really good driver. hock:

You forgot drinking a coffee, eating a donut, having a smoke, checking the GPS, and reading the paper all at the same time. :race:

[Bob C]

Wonder if these were built in Johnstown - from Freightcar America's site: "The cars are designed with a new electric, solar-powered activation system, whereby ballast can be dumped remotely by radio control. Their air-operated doors from W. H. Miner Enterprises function like traditional ballast cars, capable of distributing ballast either on the inside or outside of the rails. The electric operating system, provided by Georgetown Rail Equipment, is the first of its kind. BNSF will use the cars in track maintenance system-wide. " NS had similar cars with R/C dump doors, but they were equipped with dual air hoses, the second hose m/u'd to the loco's main reservior (150psi) to supply the operating pressure - this is newer stuff, I guess. :o Bob C.

[Gary S]

Tank car unloading without a permanent facility:

[LiveSteamer]

Great Pictures Gary. CSX has a line through Johnstown, Pa and haul in tank cars and they are unloaded the same way.

[P5se Camelback]

Now that's a cool piece of equipment!!

So, Gary, are you gonna build one ... can you do a tutorial on it?

Just jokin' ... but it is a pretty cool piece of equipment.

Great series of photos, BTW!

bil

[RobertInOntario]

Thanks for posting these great shots Gary.Up here in Ontario you would probably get busted by the police for operating your camera while driving

I frequently have to remind myself to keep my eyes on the road and not the train on the tracks.

My wife constantly gets mad at me for doing this -- watching trains and train-related things while driving!!

Rob

[NJ Devils Fan]

Hi guys...I wanted to chime in for a second here about those solar panels. CSX operates some of the same version on their work trains. They are used to power the chutes on the bottom of ballast cars. A CSX MOW employee controls the flow of each chute while dumping ballast along the track. He can "safely" operate each car with a radio control unit strapped to him while the train is in motion. I have seen this done two ways - I'm sure there are other ways but here is what I've seen.

First, I've seen this done while the MOW employee was in a MOW vehicle. The vehicle was driving alongside the train while laying ballast.

Second, I've seen him on a caboose (branchline with no access road alongside the track).

He can control which direction the chutes pour (outside - inside) and the flow rate of the ballast.

For the record, I was told the panels power the batteries located inside the boxes - the batteries are for remote control operations and the chutes are hydrolic.

It's pretty neat to watch in operation. So, next time your trackside, don't "blowoff" that ballast train in favor of some hotshot TV train. Check out how they lay ballast - and rail for that matter.

I hope I answered some questions for you. I am not a expert by any means, but I have seen it done and how they are used.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Those tank cars pictured without a facility are on a "team track". A great example for model railroaders here. You DON'T NEED TO HAVE A BUILDING TO HAVE A SIDING.

All you need - in MY opionion - is a scrap (or new) piece of flex track and a bumper of some sort. Why flex track Steve? I'll tell you. Go look at just about any "non-customer" siding on a railroad. Not quite "mainline tangent" (straight as ruler) is it? With a piece of flex you can put "little imperfections" in that siding with a bumper on the end "for good looks". Put some slight "back and forth" curves in there. You can't do that with sectional track. The idea here is that sidings are not mainlines. They should not look the same.

All sorts of products are loaded and unloaded on a team track. These tracks are used by customers located away from the railroad who want to use the railroad to ship and receive their products by rail. Some examples are:

Tank cars used for any liqued product such as liqued fertilizer.

Flat cars for just about anything including lumber or farm equipment.

Gondolas for loading pipe, rail or ties (MOW purposes) and phone poles.

The trick here is to use your imagination. If you put a loading dock with a ramp on this siding, you can unload boxcars as well. That's plenty of ideas for a siding with no building.

Sorry to go on and on But that's my modeling tip of the day.

[Gary S]

Stuff seen yesterday...

[Gary S]

CryoTrain full of taters...