end of track in stub yard

[Anonymous]

As I noted in a previous post, I am modeling the era of '38 to '53. What would have been typically used as the end of track bumper in a stub yard? A standard Hayes or similar post, a timber crib, earth fill, or something else? Thanks for any help.

[BR60103]

How prosperous is your railroad?
I seem to remember that CPR used mostly wheel stops (metal castings bolted to the rails with a curved surface to catch the wheel.) A siding with a lot of traffic or a grade would get a Hayes type bumper.
I can think of at least one current installation where a siding was cut off at the client's fence and two ties placed over one rail and uner the other (one each way).
The only sand drag I know of was in the Toronto subway, where a spur ended at a concrete wall next to a tunnel portal.

[dehusman]

The prototype would use a pile of dirt. Simple and effective. Wheel stops and bumpers get run into and damaged, a pile of dirt isn't hurt.

Having said that, from a modeling perspective, I would use Walther's bumping posts. I assemeble them per the instructions, then glue a piece of 6x10 or 6x8 styrene under the "open" end of the base. I drill a hole in the styrene piece and the flat part of the base and then use two spikes to hold it down. Very effective.

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

A railroad might not have used any "permanent" wheel stop or bumper at the end of track, particularly if the siding or yard track was level (or the grade tended up toward the end of track) and if no great harm would be caused to persons or property if a car were to be shoved beyond the end of track. The railroad would rely on crew members to obey the operating rules, to see that cars were not improperly shoved beyond the end of track, and that cars left on the siding or yard track were properly secured with handbrakes or chocks. If there were a situation where a car was shoved beyond the end of track under the conditions described here, there would probably be less damage without a bumper or other permanent stopping installation than with one. The same may also be true in model situations!

[dehusman]

A bumper or wheel stops might stop a single empty car barely rolling, but trust me, several loaded cars at walking speed or a larger cut or a cut being shoved will go through them like butter.

Dave H.

[BR60103]

I saw a picture of a stub yard in Britain where, of a dozen or so tracks, two had buffer stops (bumpers) at the end and the rest had piles of broken timber at the end of the tracks where cars had struck them too hard.

[Anonymous]

I prefer the pile of cinders at the end of the track. Nice secnic statement of a small railroad without much money.

With that said, I use Atlas HO bumpers on track ends. I have not yet figured out how to "Cushion" them.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how prototypical this might be, but in the coal mine area of our N-scale layout, we have several stub tracks. One of the members took small bits of flextrack, each about 1-1/2" long, cut off about 1/2" of the ties and stuck the rails into the foam underlayment. They look just like barricades, and I'm sure that if we painted them, they would look pretty realistic.

I know that there are plans to use the rail-bumpers for other stubs on our layout.