Trains.com

News Wire: Fire and derailment in southern Pennsylvania

9367 views
104 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, August 26, 2017 2:57 PM

The most basic of rail car movers!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Saturday, August 26, 2017 3:01 PM

Polish Locomotive

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, August 26, 2017 3:03 PM

My brothers were not Poles, but one spoke to me, more than 50 years ago, of moving cars that way at the TC&I wire mill in Ensley.

Johnny

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Saturday, August 26, 2017 3:08 PM

BaltACD
The most basic of rail car movers!

I would say 2nd most basic.  Dropping them would be most basic.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, August 26, 2017 3:16 PM

zugmann
 
BaltACD
The most basic of rail car movers! 

I would say 2nd most basic.  Dropping them would be most basic.

Can't drop up a grade.  Wouldn't want to use it up much of a grade, but it can move a car up small inclines.  Many tracks aren't graded as they ideally should be to facilitate dropping.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Saturday, August 26, 2017 3:25 PM

BaltACD
Can't drop up a grade. Wouldn't want to use it up much of a grade, but it can move a car up small inclines. Many tracks aren't graded as they ideally should be to facilitate dropping.

Which is why it is "basic".

Many of the feed mills we serve are graded the right way.  But they are mostly old places, so I guess some thought was put into that sort of thing back then.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Saturday, August 26, 2017 4:15 PM

Deggesty

My brothers were not Poles, but one spoke to me, more than 50 years ago, of moving cars that way at the TC&I wire mill in Ensley.

 

The West Milwaukee shops were 70% Poles.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Sunny (mostly) San Diego
  • 1,920 posts
Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Saturday, August 26, 2017 4:41 PM

cx500

You also presuppose that the shipper/receiver who has to move the railcar has a supply of compressed air available, with a connection at the physical location of the car.  Remember, it could have been a string of cars set off at the siding.  Some use trackmobiles, a lot may use cable winches, especially smaller grain elevators.  And then the occasional tow by rope and pick-up truck in a pinch.  You can even move rail equipment by hand with a "carmover"; slow but surprisingly effective, several inches at a time.

Don't forget the John Deere tractor (or was it an International?) that was used to move the beet gons past the loader near my  boyhood home, oh so many years ago, back when SP still owned the cars, even.  I think the beets went to Santa Maria or Salinas, if I recall.  They weren't going to the local Holly Sugar plant.
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Burlington, WI
  • 1,418 posts
Posted by rvos1979 on Sunday, August 27, 2017 11:37 PM

zugmann

 

 
Shadow the Cats owner
Here is how easy it is for one of my drivers to drop a trailer for a customer. He spots it in the location our customer wants it. Lowers the landing gear disconnects 2 airlines climbs in the cab pulls a knob on his dash and pulls away. No climbing to crank a brakewheel or using a brake stick to crank it on it either. Just crank the dolly legs down disconnect 2 airlines and remotely pull his 5th wheel and they are gone.

 

Ok, then can the customer throw a chain around the trailer and drag it over top an unloading pit?  Then let it roll down via gravity so it is out of the way for the next one?   I can probably crank a brake on faster than it takes someone to lower landing gear, BTW.  

 

Mrs. B., not to sound disrepectful - but there's a pretty large difference how railcars are handled vs. trucks.  Namely restricted space of where there are actual rails.  Then you have the trucks that think those shiny things make great parking spaces.  Ugh.

But on a broader scale, it's not a matter of the actual brakes.  It's a matter of how railcars are handled at many industries.  It would be like you taking the wheels off your trailer when you drop it off.  It still can be moved - but it isn't practical. 

 

That'd have to be one big caging bolt for a maxibrake on a railroad car............

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Allentown, PA
  • 9,810 posts
Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Monday, August 28, 2017 9:10 PM

zugmann
BaltACD
Can't drop up a grade. Wouldn't want to use it up much of a grade, but it can move a car up small inclines. Many tracks aren't graded as they ideally should be to facilitate dropping.

Many of the feed mills we serve are graded the right way.  But they are mostly old places, so I guess some thought was put into that sort of thing back then.

It was the subject of one of the modules (can't remember the fictional name of the industry) in the AREMA Track Alignment Design Seminar (TADS) course when I took it as a refresher/ re-certification a few years ago.  I don't know if it's still included, post-Lac Megantic disaster.

- PDN. 

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 2,325 posts
Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 7:48 AM

Randy Stahl

 

 
Deggesty

My brothers were not Poles, but one spoke to me, more than 50 years ago, of moving cars that way at the TC&I wire mill in Ensley.

 

 

 

The West Milwaukee shops were 70% Poles.

 

 

Is that why they used to have pole pockets on locomotives Stick out tongue

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:49 AM

rdamon
 
Randy Stahl
 
Deggesty

My brothers were not Poles, but one spoke to me, more than 50 years ago, of moving cars that way at the TC&I wire mill in Ensley. 

The West Milwaukee shops were 70% Poles. 

Is that why they used to have pole pockets on locomotives Stick out tongue

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 10:47 AM

BaltACD

 

 
rdamon
 
Randy Stahl
 
Deggesty

My brothers were not Poles, but one spoke to me, more than 50 years ago, of moving cars that way at the TC&I wire mill in Ensley. 

The West Milwaukee shops were 70% Poles. 

Is that why they used to have pole pockets on locomotives Stick out tongue

 

 

I suppose Euc was "participating" in poling as well?

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • 3,231 posts
Posted by NorthWest on Saturday, December 30, 2017 1:01 PM
  • Member since
    September 2011
  • 6,449 posts
Posted by MidlandMike on Saturday, December 30, 2017 8:31 PM

In the new derailment, only 4 cars out of 175 derailed.  Sounds like they were luckier this time.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy