Implications Of Moving Abandoned Locomotives And Rolling Stock

[gmpullman]

mbinsewi

That's interesting to know, Ed, as I thought some of the equipment was bought from Amtrak

Any equipment R.B. Circus buys they strip the cars to bare-bones ripping out all interior partitions and gutting electrical, plumbing and heating systems. They use their own "home-grown" power system.

Amtrak requires two HEP jumpers on each side of the coupler, and they have to both loop back at the last car. The system requires twelve 4/0 cables the length of each car! The plugs also have three 72 volt "control" pins along with the three 480V pins.

Amtrak HEP is 480V 3 phase, 1200 kW with a max of 400 amps.         VIA Rail uses a slightly different wiring scheme and requires modifications to run in Amtrak service.

I don't know the power specs of RBBX but I do recall a person familiar with it mentioning that it is "woefully inadequate".

Sorry to hijack the thread, just thought I'd pass that along if anyone was thinking of picking up a RBBX car and planning to run it on Amtrak right away...

Have fun! Ed

[dehusman]

cascadenorthernrr

The answer a diesel b-unit used as a generator car. (Just a thought)

Diesels generate 600 volt AC or DC, the P2 operates on 3000 volt DC.  So now you will have to modify a second unit to operate the first unit.  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[olson185]

cascadenorthernrr

Hi I have an interesting conundrum for all of you. Ok first on a highway near my house there is a grade crossing for a unused railline (at least it was/is at the moment but it will probably be in use soon due to all the track work going on) and when I look down the line I see a caboose that appears to be either in a siding or something what would be the logistical implications of moving it about ten miles away to my house (I live on 8 acres so space isn't a problem) now this is just curiosity so its not like I'm actually going to do it. Here is a link to Google Maps Earth

And now for my second question, I was googleing about NYC P2 Boxcabs when I learned of a few locos and some rolling stock that is just rotting away in Glenmont, NY at Beacon Island and I was wondering what would it take to get some or all of the equipment out of there and all the way down here to Louisiana I'm especially interested in the boxcab in the picture below.

If purchase price and moving costs are not an issue, you seem to have it be fairly do-able, to create a static display on your property, given you live in such a rural area.  If it were me, I'd look to sell the power plant and detach the trucks for the move.  I've seen entire houses moved and the logistics and cost of that would far out-weigh the logistics and cost of moving either of these.

If we had one more acre, I'm fairly sure I'd look into getting a piece of rr history, too.  The Long Island RR comes within 2 miles of our home so I would think delivery would be do-able.  Convincing the wife to go along with it?  Maybe not so much.

[NWP SWP]

Ok how would the track have to be laid to prevent shifting?

[tedtedderson]

cascadenorthernrr

I understand that and in that case I will work to help the preservation of them.

 

Can you start using the "add quote to your post" button? 

Makes everything much easier to read. 

T e d

[Geared Steam]

tstage

 

 

maxman

 

 

 

Yep...

 

yep x 3

[wraithe]

The old saying, use small steps...

 

You stated originally about the Caboose being close by...

That wouldn't cost the earth and if you can afford it, then thats the best start...

A tilt tray semi trailer could lift the caboose... a loader to dig in front of track end, to lower the tilt trailer to be more level and then tow it on.. Job isn't that hard... Over here in Australia we have purpose built trailers for carting rail equipment and being a more populated country in the US, there should be contractors that have them...

It may only be 8 mile to move it, but you will be charged for truck and loader to get to site from there yard...

Job should take about 4 to 6 hours, if everything goes right...

Plus you will need 40ft of track laid for the caboose, that you could do in preperation before hand...

 

The loco, I wouldn't bother with.. Its a platform move if in one piece and still a platform move if you remove the wheels... The amount of ballast makes it very prohibitive and bridges have to handle the weight.. It would still weigh in excess of 100 tonnes, and in such a short lenght between front and rear, thats a hell of a load bearing in such a short space for bridges...(platforms do no more than walking pace).. Even using a barge to do the most distance, its still a big job...

I have moved loads of simular weight and length... They are stressful at the best of times, so I charged accordingly... They need to be organised weeks in advanced, and one little hiccup can stop you dead in your tracks... And I can say, if my truck was stuck on the highway because you or the gov body made a mistake, I would be charging $200 per hour while I was sitting drinking, eating and sleeping in my truck stuck on the road...That would be for my truck only, not all the other people and equipment needed to do the job...(ps, just an idea of cost, delivery site of one job, they hadn't removed the concrete entrance and gates from the site when we arrived, so 4 police and 2 escort vehicle drivers and myself stood around blocking a road and talking for 4 hrs while they made the entrance clear for me to enter... That cost them over $16,000)

Things to consider, road condition and weight limit, power lines, bridges, signage, building and bridge clearances, corner clearances, underpass clearances, over head clearance of power lines, high tension power lines, etc etc, you get the idea, its a big job for even an experienced contractor, so the cost will go back to the person paying...

Try for a little step first, caboose...