Boxcar Brake Wheel

[traindaddy1]

Thanksgiving visit.....Discussion topic ...Appreciate your opinions

When setting up a consist, is it proper that of all the boxcars be set with the brake wheels at the same end or is a mix okay (some with the brake wheel in the front in the direction that the train is moving and some with it in the back)?

As always, many thanks.

PS...I've already heard.... "It's your railroad, set it up the way you want it" and "What diference does it make, they're only toys"

[Randy Stahl]

Trains are never set up that way.

[doctorwayne]

One of the few times the orientation of the B-end within the train might matter is if the car were placarded with "UNLOAD THIS SIDE"/"UNLOAD OTHER SIDE".  More often than not, the crew spotting the car at its destination would take care of turning it if necessary:

I also have cars on my layout which are not to be turned on account of the particular needs of loading and unloading them:

These cars also have specific routing instructions, as they exceed clearances on various areas of the layout.

Wayne

[hon30critter]

Randy Stahl

Trains are never set up that way.

That would be a lot of work. Every yard would need a turntable or a wye. It wouldn't make sense given that almost every rail car was designed to run in either direction.

As doctorwayne points out, there were exceptions of course. I believe that some large coal gondolas that were designed for use in rotating dumpers had to have the proper orientation. That was why many of them had one end painted in a bright colour. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Dave

[ATSFGuy]

In my freight trains, some boxcars run with the brakewheel facing backwards and some run with the wheel facing forwards.

I didn't know you payed attention to this kind of thing. Very Interesting.

[traindaddy1]

Randy: Wayne: Dave:  Thanks.

ATSFguy:  Interesting! Don't really pay attention....It was the "turkey"....After the meal, the guys were playing with the trains and the topic arose. Thanks.

[ACY Tom]

Freight cars are designed to be bidirectional. Occasionally there will be situations in which a car must be oriented in a particular way for loading and/or unloading, but those are very rare occasions. It would be very rare to see all the cars in a freight train oriented the same way. 

There have been open top cars designed for car dumper operation, which had a rotary coupler on one end only. In that case, the cars might have to be oriented with all of the rotary couplers at the same end. This is because of the couplers, and has nothing to do with the requirements of the brake system. 

Tom 

[tomikawaTT]

Unit train cars with rotary couplers usually have the panel closest to the rotary coupler painted a contrasting color, so the people running the dumper can tell at a glance where it is.  The first coupler (the one coupled to the locomotive) has to be a rotary, and the rest will line up the same way.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[NDG]

 

Some Cabeeses had a brake wheel on both ends so, when that end was leading, as in a drop, or a kick, the Conductor could make a joint by gravity or momentum.

Coming into the Yard, from the West, here, we used to drop Cabooses over a mile, and let them go so fast they would pass their head end in the adjacent track. You then threw a pail of water at the opposite man, as he never heard you coming if in D/B.

This way the Caboose was at the Bull Switch end of the Yard for the S4 to grab, without having to go all around to get it from tail end.

There was a Bowl in the yard to capture kicked cars.

Now, to amplify on Rotary Drawbars.

Most Rotary cars had an identifying mark, stripe or herald on the Rotary Drawbar end so one could tell at a glance if Rotary end was against a Unit, Remote Slave Car, or Remote Units or Caboose.

Say the Rotary was on the front end where the lead locomotives were. All he rotaries back would be on the front end of their cars. Duh.

Now, if there was a Remote Unit in the Consist, or a Slave Car to actuate the remote power by radio, there would have to be a Double-Rotary coupled AHEAD of same, as units etc did not have Rotary Drawbars, as a rule.  These cars were usually in a separate number series and had the Identifying mark on BOTH ends.

Same at Caboose end.

If Rotary DBs on opposite end, the Double Rotary car would have to be against the lead unit, and against the trailing end of Slaves.  Caboose would be okay.

Special Instructions stated TWO Rotary D/Bs were NOT to be coupled together, as then they could both revolve and both become upside down..

Care had to be taken re these instructions, and at least One 1 Caboose was turned on it's side at the Dumper as non Rotary car next ahead.

Instructions were then issued to have Cabooses UNMANNED as car ahead went into Dumpers.

Some Cabooses here had TWO 2 Train Line Angle Cocks and hoses on EACH END, so could couple to air hose on Rotary car ahead. This way, the cars could be rotated w/o Air Hoses uncoupling in the flip, and these cars of riveted construction just post War, Cupola off set. A few were centre-cupola newer cars of welded construction as the need arose for these as more trains put on.

FWIW. When all correct, ALL the Angle Cocks and Hoses on ROTARY cars ON SAME SIDE of train to allow hoses to be long enough to accommodate rotation thu 180 degrees.

Certain 'Unit Train' Units also had the double hose arrangement.

Some wood chip gons end-dumped similar to a dump truck on dumpers at Pulp Mills, and these all had to 'oriented' the same way for mill crews. Other cars had side doors and were unloaded from a side ramp.

The dumping kind had a mark as to which end the door was on.

Sometimes these doors opened en route and made a mess, but it smelled GOOD.

Two 2-axle Scale Test Cars did not have Air Brakes, Hand Brake only as shoe ware would upset car weight.

Plows' front truck did not have springs, as it would bob up and down pushing snow if sprung.

The front blade moved up and down by air cylinder in car body, nose slid on 2 adjustable runners which rode on rail top, and could be adjusted for height of rail it was running on. Snow cooled them.

Blah, Blah Blah.

 

Thank You.

[JOHN C TARANTO]

Oh please, daddy, they're not toys.  And we don't play with them either!  When I set up freight cars on my layout, I usually pay no attention to brake wheel orientation.  I do however pay attention to my weathering, and face the best looking side out for my visitors to see!  ;}

Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep 'em rolling!  John.

[traindaddy1]

John:

I really appreciate your comment and understand where you are coming from since I was a serious "model" guy in HO.

Now, in my older age, sight not as good as it once was and uncertain hands, I've gone on to the larger stuff. We are a group of guys who are into "Classic Toy Trains" and enjoy just running the trains.

All the best.

[traindaddy1]

Chuck: Tom: NDG............Thanks for your posts.

[challenger3980]

JOHN C TARANTO

Oh please, daddy, they're not toys.  And we don't play with them either!  When I set up freight cars on my layout, I usually pay no attention to brake wheel orientation.  I do however pay attention to my weathering, and face the best looking side out for my visitors to see!  ;}

Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep 'em rolling!  John.

 

 

There is someone in SERIOUS DENIAL.

YEP, They ARE TOYS, albeit Expensive TOYS, but TOYS none the less.

Call them them "SCALE MODELS" if you like, but they are still TOYS.

Model trains are not TOOLS, the only things they produce are Enjoyment, SMILES and FRUSTRATION, in always varying proportions, but they are STILL TOYS, accepting the truth can be a Liberating experience, you should try it.

Doug