Got another one for my Forum friends. I was looking at getting the Walthers Truck and Rail Scale kit for my woodchip loading area. I was wondering if there was a set distance that the Freight car scales would be set apart or if that depended on the use of the scales as well as how far away they would be set fron the loading facilities.
As usual, any assistance that can be provided would be most welcomed.
Don't quite understand your question.
Railcars are generally only weighed once, if they are weighed at all.
Era matters. On a modern railroad many cars are weighed when they are humped (many modern hump yards have a scale built into the hump to weigh cars for the humping process). On unit trains, often the commodity is weighed as its loaded so the car isn't weighed per se or the cars move on weight agreement, a certain type coal car is loaded to "standard" on averge weighs so much. Once a year or every couple years they weigh a couple dozen cars, average out the weight and then for the next year that average weight is the weight used for the cars and they don't bother weighing cars.
Scales can either be owned by an industry or by the railroad. Back in the steam era, every significant yard had a scale. Now a days scales are few and far between (other than hump yard scales.)
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Era in question is the early 70s to 1980. Where the scale would go on the layout would be west of a pair of woodchip car loading structures. It would be industry owned.
Looks like you have answered your own question.
dehusman Looks like you have answered your own question.
Not completely. If one were to look at the box for the Walthers kit it shows two pads with a distance between them. I am still wondering if both are used what the distance needs to be.
Maybe post a Walthers product number so we can see what your talking about.
Most companies dealing with wood products, including pulpwood logs, are those business that pays the source of the product, such as private logging companies, etc., by the ton.
The check is written when the truck that brought it there, to the rail yard, is weighed. So much per ton, what ever the price or market is.
The company writting the check to the source, pays the railroad what ever the price is, to have it shipped, to whatever facility it needs to go.
To figure what really happens, I'd search around for the companies that receive wood chips, and figure out how it's done.
Mike.
My You Tube
933-4068 is the kit in question.
A few months ago, I brought an old fridge to a scrap metal place. I drove the truck, through the scale, got a weight, then dumped the fridge and reweighed the truck.
After all this, they gave me seven dollars.
After that, I drove to another transfer station with some old TVs. I unloaded them and they charged me seven dollars.
I thought of putting in a scale as part of my carfloat terminal. Weight could be important in the loading of a carfloat. Does anyone have any idea how this might have been accomplished?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Read the weight off the waybill.
The rail scales are coupled, weigh in motion scales. They can be anywhere, in another state if you want. The truck scale needs to be near the scale house, within sight and walking distance.
FRRYKid I am still wondering if both are used what the distance needs to be.
You answered this question with the first part of your reply to Dave,
FRRYKidIf one were to look at the box for the Walthers kit it shows two pads with a distance between them.
Set it up the way the box shows.
FRRYKid 933-4068 is the kit in question.
Mike
The Walthers description with the kit says its a weigh in motion scale. They weigh a truck, not a car. They weigh each truck, so all they have to be is one truck long, then add them together to get the car weight. Both trucks don't have to be on the scales at the same time. many of these scales have one scale instead of the two on the model. They are commonly connected to a computer system. An AEI reader or wheel detector and computer track list keeps track of which car/truck is on the scale and update the weights.
Kind of a pricy set up for a woodchip yard. Most of the wood chip yards I've seen weigh the chips while being loaded in the car, they weigh the chips with a scale in the loading conveyor or they use a weight agreement for the carsand don't weigh cars. Wood chips are very, very low revenue (the railroad makes the money hauling the paper or OSB.)
It was a thought for some more detail on the layout. I may back off from getting it.
If your track is on 1/4" cork roadbed, cut the cork and ties under where you want the scale your to be, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. Put a thin card board or sheet styrene base under the opening and a head wall at each end. Then get some 1/8-3/16 in. I beam and glue it to the bottom of the rails between the headwalls. paint the headwalls and base concrete and the I-beam another color.
Voila! Track scale.
Take some stiff thin cardboard or styrene and make a base about 12 ft x 30 ft. Put a foot wide strip (1/8") flat around the edges of base. Then cut apiece that fits inside the rim (roughly 10 x 28). Paint the base and rim concrete color and the flat part black or dark grey.
Voila! Truck scale.
Add a small building with windows facing the truck scale and a small building, metal shed or signal cabinet near the track scale to complete the scene.