VLA railroad

[nachoman]

Since Mountain Man is posting some weird railroads, I thought people may be interested in perhaps the weirdest of all. The Very Large Array radio observatory is located in New Mexico, and the large radio telescopes are repositioned by railroad.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page99/index.html">http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page99/index.html</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainweb.org/southwestshorts/vla.html">http://www.trainweb.org/southwestshorts/vla.html</a><!-- m -->

And yes, there are even railroad crossing signs where the tracks cross the highway. Of course, the only "train" you would see is a giant radio telescope being hauled by a giant transporter that looks more like a crane than a locomotive. They actually roll on two parallel tracks arranged in a Y pattern (a double track mainline!).

[Tyson Rayles]

Way back, 80's I think, Model Railroader did an extensive article on modeling that. While different and offering some modeling challenges, operationally it leaves a little to be desired.

[MountainMan]

Since Mountain Man is posting some weird railroads, I thought people may be interested in perhaps the weirdest of all. The Very Large Array radio observatory is located in New Mexico, and the large radio telescopes are repositioned by railroad.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page99/index.html">http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page99/index.html</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainweb.org/southwestshorts/vla.html">http://www.trainweb.org/southwestshorts/vla.html</a><!-- m -->

And yes, there are even railroad crossing signs where the tracks cross the highway. Of course, the only "train" you would see is a giant radio telescope being hauled by a giant transporter that looks more like a crane than a locomotive. They actually roll on two parallel tracks arranged in a Y pattern (a double track mainline!).

I'm encouraging diversity...not being "weird", and the railroads I refer to were fully functional, hauling equipment, supplies and troops back and forth using real engines and real rolling stock. People often complain that they can't think of anything different to model, so I have presented some unique possibilities. 8-)

Doesn't look like a person could do much with the VLA. Can't even switch the suckers and they move at a glacial pace. Not much cargo space, either. Make a nice animated diorama, though.