I caught this on a Virtural Railfan video. To the far right, there is a guy inside the open window and in front of him are 3 cab windows.
It is sandwiched in between tank cars, and the ones in front have black hoses coming down from the tops. I don't know if that's related to this car or not.
May as well show you the front.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Looks like a weed sprayer to me.
It is probably a weed sprayer.
It could also be some sort of fire suppression apparatus ( the tank cars could be holding some sort of foam chemicals. ) But it doesn't appear to have any marking's denoting it as fire equipment.
Rust...... It's a good thing !
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=561656
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Car belongs to the Asplundh 'tree surgeon' company, and used to be orange (I think the same color as their trucks). It is part of a 'vegetation spray train'.
This is a freelanced weed sprayer car, one of two, that I scratchbuilt almost 50 years ago. The side-mounted spray arms are positionable....
Wayne
Thanks. I considered a weed sprayer but on my photo, I didn't see anything that looked like it would spray. Some of the linked photos are different up top.
BigDaddyI considered a weed sprayer but on my photo, I didn't see anything that looked like it would spray.
If you look at the first picture you can see the water cannons on the top of the rear deck, they are used to reach out 100 ft or more, particularly around grade crossings.
On the second picture, if you look under the corner of the car you can see a hose under the cut lever, that is the hose to the spray bar on the bottom. The spray bars fold in with pnuematic cylinders while moving or to clear bridges. When unfolded they stick out about 5-6 ft from the side of the car and spray the ballast section. Its there, you just have to know what to look for.
I rode one of these cars across jointed rail on a branch line in Kansas, OMG. They spray at about 15 mph, the smell of chemicals is everywhere, very little ventilation and the car rocking at every joint. Way less fun than you would imagine.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com