Yard Scales & Gauntlet Track

[Connoquenessing Valley Railroad]

Hello Folks

Yard scales usually include a gauntlet track. I've done a bit of a search here on our Fora but I can't find the answer to my question(s):

1. Is the gauntlet track to allow cars and power to pass the scale without being weighed,
2. is it to keep power and any other heavy stuff off the scale track (and, if so, how are cars moved when coupled to power not perfectly aligned) or
3. is it there for some other reason?

Finally, what arrangements are made for switching - standard, stub or something else? 

Thanks in advance.

Bill Rice-Johnston
Connoquenessing Valley Railroad

[dehusman]

Connoquenessing Valley Railroad

1. Is the gauntlet track to allow cars and power to pass the scale without being weighed,
2. is it to keep power and any other heavy stuff off the scale track (and, if so, how are cars moved when coupled to power not perfectly aligned) or
3. is it there for some other reason?

1.  Yes

2.  Yes

3.  Generally no

[dknelson]

As it happens the May* issue of MR has information on scale tracks as part of the Beer Line series, and more to the point it has references to two prior articles on MR that have information on scale tracks.

I have seen scale tracks as part of both stub ended and through track situations.  At least two industries in the general area of my home town had their own stub ended scale tracks for weighing, presumably, outbound loads, unless they were insisting that inbound loads be weighed too which makes sense for loads that leak during shipment such as foundary sand.  The railroad's scale test car would be brought to the factories to test their scale tracks from time to time.   So scale tracks are not exclusively to be found on the railroad's own yard.

Dave Nelson

 * I stand corrected - yes the April issue has the Beer Line scale track piece.  The May issue has a discussion of scale tracks in The Operators feature. 

[TomDiehl]

dknelson

As it happens the May issue of MR has information on scale tracks as part of the Beer Line series, and more to the point it has references to two prior articles on MR that have information on scale tracks.

I have seen scale tracks as part of both stub ended and through track situations.  At least two industries in the general area of my home town had their own stub ended scale tracks for weighing, presumably, outbound loads, unless they were insisting that inbound loads be weighed too which makes sense for loads that leak during shipment such as foundary sand.  The railroad's scale test car would be brought to the factories to test their scale tracks from time to time.   So scale tracks are not exclusively to be found on the railroad's own yard.

Dave Nelson

You mean April issue.

[Sperandeo]

Hi Bill,

The gantlet (spelled according to Webster's Third New International, but pronounced like "gauntlet") is to keep locomotives and cars not being weighed off the scale. However, the issue with engines isn't just weight but thrust. Some cars may be heavier than a locomotive, and that's okay if within the scale's capacity, but applying the thrust of the engine's drivers to the scale's live rails can damage the scale mechanism. (Cars too heavy for a given track scale may still be weighed by placing one truck at a time on the scale and adding the two weights to give the total.)

In the April MR's "Build the Beer Line" installment I showed how to use cut-down Peco turnouts to make point switches for the gantlet track. The coupler misalignment is within the radial swing range of the couplers, meaning an engine on the bypass rails can push or pull a car on the live rails. In my May "The Operators" column I explain the procedure for weighing cars and give references to other sources.

Not all scales have gantlet tracks, especially weigh-in-motion scales and modern-day scales using electronic strain gauges.

So long,

Andy