TJ; tnx for sharing the links as well--and yes the sound on the vid definitely is protesting! We have some track near Woodstock on the CP that currently is used for storage. Does the same protest.
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Ian P - If a man speaks in a desert where no woman can hear, Is he still wrong?
The tide really isn't a huge factor with the barge, the wind is. Anything over 20 knots will keep the barge from going. Other than that, the barge will float if there is a load to move, day or night.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
That was really cool to see--thanks for posting it. I missed this thread till just now.
Do they have to time the barge to the tide? I assume there would be a failry limited range the ramp could handle
Hey TJ and crew thanks for the geart info and pix. I've always been interested in the railroad marine interface. So what do I model, the Sierra Nevada/Cascade mountains and the Great Basin desert.
Rob
Hey thanks TJ and crew for a lot of good info and pix. I've alway been fasinatied with the railroad marine interface. So what do I model, the Sierra Nevada/Cascade mountains and the Great Basin desert.
The short version of the book:
http://www.nrhs.com/spot/eastern_shore_rr/
For those who are interested in learning more about this part of the Pennsy there is a good book available. It is part of an apparent series entitled "Images of Rail". The particuar book is "Eastern Shore Railroad" by Chris Dickon ISBN 0-7385-4243-1, and published by Arcadia Publishing --- 800 - 853 - 2070
I found it an interesting read.
The line into Ft. Miles, Rehoboth, and such is almost dead. The Rehoboth branch was abandoned years and years ago(recently converted into a hiking/bike path). They still run tank cars and covered hoppers into a plant that sits just outside the main gate of the old Ft. Miles. That plant extracts magnesium from the water for use in pharmaceuticals. The fish factories are gone and replaced with housing. Ft. Miles is now Cape Henlopen State Park.
The main line runs down from Wilmington through Harrington, Seaford, Pocomoke, and terminates in Cape Charles at the carfloat bridge. An Eastern branch takes off from Harrington to serve Milford, Georgetown, and on down to Dagsboro, Frankford, and Selbyville. The main use of this line is now unit trains of coal for the Indian River Power Plant. The branch from that line at Ellendale which served the town of Milton (granary, canning factory, and lumber stub) is about to be abandoned because the busineses have gone under and the land is now being developed into housing. The strawberry loadings from Selbyville dried up in WWII. Between Seaford and Laurel, Perdue chicken co has a plant that takes chicken manure and pelletizes it into fertilizer which is shipped off the peninsula by rail.
This was all part of the PRR empire, and is now NS down to Pocomoke. The State of VA, or the respective counties took over the part from Pocomoke on down in an effort not to lose all train service, and contract the operation to outside operators.
The 09-32 (orange) weighs 269,000lbs and is 95ft long, the UNIMAT (yellow) is about 187,585 and 80ft long (I'll get more specifics tomorrow on both)
The float is indeed double sided, but only one side is used, I don't know why but I'll find that out tomorrow also, but I believe back in the days of steam it had to be docked in the direction of travel so the steamers could face correctly. Diesels don't have that issue and there is a run around track at both yards, but no evidence there ever was a turntable or wye. There is no steering on the barge, it just floats and the tug does all the work. The apron ramp is raised and lowered at the control station (I have a photo of that high tech machinery posted) by pumping air in or water out to a large bladder tank on the front end. On the video I just uploaded today you can see the apron ramp raising up to meet the barge. The low side is locked in first, then it's lowered so the other slide pins can be fastened in place.
I don't have any photos of the Little Creek side, but it looks identical to the Cape Charles end, only the wood is worse. It was night when we were there and taking pictures while trying to work safely was not a good idea. I'll be sure to get some photos in the daylight of the south end.
The BCRR only runs from Little Creek VA to Pocomoke MD (maybe 90 miles or so) where it interchanges with CSX. I don't know who runs in Lewes, maybe Cpt Bob or Cudaken know as that is their stomping grounds.
Hi TJ, I'm inpressed with your coverage of the car float opreation. I'm more familiar with the old San Francisco Bay operations by the WP, ATSF and SP. I'm courious as to how the apron is raised and lowered; on SF bay counter wieghts were used with cables strung over large overhead pulleys. Also the float appeared to be double ended. Is there steering on the float, Bay Area floats had a pilot across the stern with two rudders.
I was in the US Coast Guard and was stationed at Lewes, DL., installing radio beacon equipment at Cape Henlopne and Brandywine Shoal Light. A railroad ran into Lewes and as I remember there was a wye with one leg going to the Army base at the Cape with the other two legs going toward Wilmington and down the DL/MD coast. Is this part of the same railroad your talking about?
Wow, really good stuff. Interesting to see the connection of the float. How much does that tamper weigh? Thanks for sharing, Joe
For the pix of the bargeload of beer check out the thread "TJ's Mission"! That barge is about 22"wide, and 5 feet long.
Here is a link to the railroad,s information:
http://www.varail.com/baycoast.htm
The float has been in operation since 1884 and I'll bet Cpt Bob's pension that the physical track they are using now dates to that time also. They've got a lot of really cool stuff over there, enough to have a very well equiped living train museum.
The barge we used was 410ft long. The cars are not fastened to the deck, only chocked and hand braked. I'll upload some more photos later this evening. I don't recall what the name of the tug was, I figured since it was contracted it really didn't matter as far as making a photo record, but it was blue. No doubt Cpt Bob knows the boat.
Paul, they should be here on the thread we did shortly after TJ got sent to the sandpile. Forget what we called it, but maybe Tom Trigg can recall. I still have them on a camera chip, & I think Tom may have them. I might have sent some up to Pete also!
TJ, what tug did they have pulling on the string? I've probably seen her around!
By the way Walt, that Barge is already modeled. Harry Holtgrewe in our club has one, Capt Bob has a remote controlled Tug. They loaded the barge with DogFish Head refers, and pushed it across a large pond near Harry's house simulating a trip over to the Middle East where TJ was stationed.. They took lots of pictures and sent them to TJ.
Bob, where are those pictures.
Paul
Great pictures TJ. Now I understand the barge load of Dogfish Head we sent you over in Iraq. You are still doing the barge thing. Ill bet that was an interesting trip across the bay.
Merry Christmas
Paul aka Camaro1967
TJ,
Great photos and video, thanks for sharing. That's just the kind of stuff we need more of, showing a little known aspect of railroading.
How long is that barge, and how many cars will it accommodate?
Now THAT would be a really cool thing to model!
Happy holidays
walt
Bob, I got bumped on the Bear to Pocomoke leg due to "training". I picked up the machines in MD, so I didn't call you. Got bunches of photos, many more that I felt like uploading. BTW- on the video posted "heavy load" the noise you hear is 100% track noise, nothing else. Those poor rails were protesting.....
Don't care about responses, the topic is not one to lead to a great many commentaries, but the post view count is 1/3 what an unrelated topic heading would get. Interesting, but I'm not ruffled at all. After all, I'm the one that got to drive the machines
TJ, I looked, you forgot to call with some sort of ETA so I could go try to catch you going by either Greenwood or Seaford. I was also going to let Pete know so he could catch you up by the canal bridge if it would have worked out!
Other than that, anything I could have said had been said so I didn't answer! Don't get your skirt flipped so easily!
That's cool, Jack. Thanks for sharing.
And a Merry Christmas to you too Ben! Hope all is well with the family.
I should have named this thread "GM going bankrupt" or something unrelated so I could get somebody to look at it. I understand minimal responses, that's OK, but only a handful of views? Isn't anybody interested in railroads around here?
Hi T. J .
You have an interesting job, thanks for the pictures and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year with your family. Ben
One of the cool things about my post-retirement job is that I get to play with really big trains. This week I got to move two tampers from Pocomoke, MD down the Eastern Shore of VA to Cape Charles, then float them across the Chesapeake Bay on a car float. Here is a slide show of some photos I took.
http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp312/tangerine-jack/?albumview=slideshow
Here is the photo album, but with video.
http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp312/tangerine-jack/
Enjoy!
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