Are there any factors that determine when a railroad will choose to use one over the other?
Rick
Bumpers can stop a car or locomotive more reliably than wheel stops, although both can be defeated.
mvlandsw Bumpers can stop a car or locomotive more reliably than wheel stops, although both can be defeated.
Yes, and a very effective barrier is a huge pile of dirt or rock. I guess I was thinking along the lines of what happens when something goes wrong.
I've noticed bumpers at stub ended passenger terminals. Piles of dirt or ties seemed to be common with stub sidings.
It seems to me that I now see wheel stops where decades ago I would have seen a bumper being used. I wonder if the concern is not wanting to destroy or damage the coupler (which hits a bumper but not a wheel stop).
There are some very heavy duty wheel stops out there that attach very firmly to rail and transmit kinetic forces to a tie. The wheel stops tbat actually have a curved face that meets the wheel directly are strong but I have also seen some where the casting has broken, so where that kind of wheel stop is really needed and has done its job, it might come at the cost of destroying one or both wheel stops. That is what I see more of the slab steel kind of wheel stops these days.
Bumpers also transmit the kinetic forces to the rail ties. Bumpers and heavy duty wheel stops probably do a similarly effective job at stopping a moving railcar or train. Of course a bumper is stopping the coupler not the wheel itself and that means the entire center sill or frame takes the brunt of the forces. One risk with a wheel stop is that in extreme cases the forces could cause the pins holding the trucks in place to fail meaning the locomotive or rail car body could keep sliding forward and there is nothing to stop them.
You always see bumpers in passenger terminals where the stakes for failure are much higher. Some of those bumpers have spring loaded faces that meet the coupler.
But you used to see true bumpers even at relatively unimportant sidings and I see less of that now. I suspect cost and the ease of installing (and uninstalling and moving and reusing) wheels stops versus bumpers is why they seem more used now than bumpers.
Piles of dirt and rock are mentioned. I have seen that. What I have also seen used as a bumper is a bunch of railroad ties held together with steel cable and presumably fastened to the rail or tie in some way.
Dave Nelson
Both only really work when the car is going very, very slow and isn't very heavy.
Wheel stops are cheaper than bumpers.
Wheel stops are less scrap metal to remove when trying to rerail the car shoved over the end of the track.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com