Trough Train.....

[myred02]

Copcarss:

How old must one be to remember Burma-shave signs along the road???????

West Virginia still has a few of them alongside some major highways that I saw on my last trip up to Charleston. As far as I know, these signs were not made by Burma-shave, but they expressed their message in the same manner (one sign after another).

-Brandon

[Wyonate]

Good ideas that actually work continue to exist until a better idea that actually works replaces it in the rail industry.  Ideas that don't actually work are not good ideas.

What you said.

RWM

I think that goes with about any industry

[Railway Man]

Good ideas that actually work continue to exist until a better idea that actually works replaces it in the rail industry.  Ideas that don't actually work are not good ideas.

What you said.

RWM

[BaltACD]

  another good idea that died in railroad buracracy....

Good ideas that actually work continue to exist until a better idea that actually works replaces it in the rail industry.  Ideas that don't actually work are not good ideas.

[Wyonate]

YES!! Thank you for the drawing!!!! That is what I am looking for!!! Thank you!!!  If there any more drawings out there I would like to look.  Thanks to everyone who has posted!! You guys are awesome!!

[CNW 6000]

Dan, the most you'll see in current operation are five-unit articulated cars.  I'm not sure whether the old Santa Fe 10-packs have been scrapped, but I'm pretty sure they're no longer running.  It's also possible, if an intermodal car is bad-ordered, the boxes can be loaded to another one, or simply unloaded and reloaded if that makes it easier to fix.  Try doing either of those with a monster coal car!

Great points Carl.  Thanks!

[csmith9474]

I don't know if this well help or not, but here you go... http://www.nisa.org/Troughca.jpg

[CShaveRR]

Dan, the most you'll see in current operation are five-unit articulated cars.  I'm not sure whether the old Santa Fe 10-packs have been scrapped, but I'm pretty sure they're no longer running.  It's also possible, if an intermodal car is bad-ordered, the boxes can be loaded to another one, or simply unloaded and reloaded if that makes it easier to fix.  Try doing either of those with a monster coal car!

[nanaimo73]

I lived in Gillette for years and seen it come through all the time until about 1999.  But didn't see it for a few years.  I have recently got into Trainz, (simulator).  I am hoping to get some drawing a possibly rebuilding the Trough Train.  But I need some drawings.

 

Each car had single axels at the ends, and 12 two axel trucks in between.
26 axels total per car.

This photo says deliverly took place during December 1994.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=977754

[CNW 6000]

(Gee, how old does one have to be to remember Mad Magazine?)

Alfred who?

Hey, where'd you get that picture of our governor?

(Oops, politics--wash out my mouth with soap!)

What, Me worry?

On the note of the trough train/larger linked cars, why does this concept still work with the COFC cars?  I see trains made of lots of these cars. 

[CShaveRR]

(Gee, how old does one have to be to remember Mad Magazine?)

Alfred who?

Hey, where'd you get that picture of our governor?

(Oops, politics--wash out my mouth with soap!)

[Wyonate]

  The barge traffic can carry more as 20-40 railroad cars equal one barge and the weight is reduced because there is less ancellory equipment to haul around

A little off on the barge capacity there.  Standard barge carries a thousand tons of coal.  The fleet of rail cars for coal is moving from an old standard of 100 net tons to 115 tons.  Do the math.

Actually 122 tons in a 286K aluminum gon or 118 tons in a 286K rapid-discharge hopper, such as manufactured by FreightCar America or Trinity.

RWM 

Changes come so fast these days...  Next thing you know there will be remote controled locomotives.

My family and I went to northern Montana for Thanksgiving and for the first time, other than a DP unit, I seen, what I figured, a remote controled locomotive.  It was in Anaconda, Montana.  An unmaned GP9M (MRL) shoving on string of about 30 gondolas.  Interesting, but I also thought about another job taken by technology.  (That sucks)

[Wyonate]

I lived in Gillette for years and seen it come through all the time until about 1999.  But didn't see it for a few years.  I have recently got into Trainz, (simulator).  I am hoping to get some drawing a possibly rebuilding the Trough Train.  But I need some drawings.

[spokyone]

(Gee, how old does one have to be to remember Mad Magazine?)

Alfred who?

[Andrew Falconer]

The date of the building of the original BN TroughTrain has to be between 1990-1993 because one of these cars was in Gillette, Wyoming in 1993.

Andrew

[jeaton]

  The barge traffic can carry more as 20-40 railroad cars equal one barge and the weight is reduced because there is less ancellory equipment to haul around

A little off on the barge capacity there.  Standard barge carries a thousand tons of coal.  The fleet of rail cars for coal is moving from an old standard of 100 net tons to 115 tons.  Do the math.

Actually 122 tons in a 286K aluminum gon or 118 tons in a 286K rapid-discharge hopper, such as manufactured by FreightCar America or Trinity.

RWM 

Changes come so fast these days...  Next thing you know there will be remote controled locomotives.

[Railway Man]

  The barge traffic can carry more as 20-40 railroad cars equal one barge and the weight is reduced because there is less ancellory equipment to haul around

A little off on the barge capacity there.  Standard barge carries a thousand tons of coal.  The fleet of rail cars for coal is moving from an old standard of 100 net tons to 115 tons.  Do the math.

Actually 122 tons in a 286K aluminum gon or 118 tons in a 286K rapid-discharge hopper, such as manufactured by FreightCar America or Trinity.

RWM 

[jeaton]

  The barge traffic can carry more as 20-40 railroad cars equal one barge and the weight is reduced because there is less ancellory equipment to haul around

A little off on the barge capacity there.  Standard barge carries a thousand tons of coal.  The fleet of rail cars for coal is moving from an old standard of 100 net tons to 115 tons.  Do the math.

[Wyonate]

Are these the type of cars that sometimes haul garbage out of big cities like New York?

Actually the garbage trains are simply containerized units on a flat car.  And they smell..and have an incredible tendency to stop in front of wherever you happen to be train watching.  Has happened to me several times.

Thats funny!!!! Not insulting you, but that is funny!  Sounds like my luck too.

[trainfan1221]

Are these the type of cars that sometimes haul garbage out of big cities like New York?

Actually the garbage trains are simply containerized units on a flat car.  And they smell..and have an incredible tendency to stop in front of wherever you happen to be train watching.  Has happened to me several times.

[TRAINCATS]

Were they not hard on the track? Shorter train pluss more weigh = a lot more stress.

[Wyonate]

Yea, but still, does anyone have a scale drawing?  Or know where I could find one? ya know, the Trough Train.

[trainboyH16-44]

Copcarss:

How old must one be to remember Burma-shave signs along the road???????

I've read about them in history books

[beaulieu]

The biggest problem with the trough train beside the fact that only one powerplant had a rotary dumper that could handle them, was fine coal getting between the lap joint at the articulation point in the cars. The abrasion of the coal quickly wore out the sheeting at the joints causing coal to leak out of the cars and fouling the ballast.

[Phoebe Vet]

(Gee, how old does one have to be to remember Mad Magazine?)

I remember the Burma-Shave signs, too.

Back to coal.  We've had at least one power plant in our area make the switch from barge to rail in recent years.  The economics ae shifting.  We still send a few trains to transloading facilities, but that's often ultimately destined to power plants that can't handle trains (such creatures exist!).  More often, these plants are supplied by lake freighters, but one sees barges going up the canal, too.

Moving coal from Scranton / Carbondale/ Lackawanna to the Atlantic Ocean (At Hoboken) at one end, and to the Great Lakes (At Buffalo) at the other end was the primary purpose of the Lackawanna Railroad. I bet even some of those barges were coming from a train.

[CShaveRR]

(Gee, how old does one have to be to remember Mad Magazine?)

I remember the Burma-Shave signs, too.

Back to coal.  We've had at least one power plant in our area make the switch from barge to rail in recent years.  The economics ae shifting.  We still send a few trains to transloading facilities, but that's often ultimately destined to power plants that can't handle trains (such creatures exist!).  More often, these plants are supplied by lake freighters, but one sees barges going up the canal, too.

[Phoebe Vet]

Phoebe Vet,

Actually, Burma Shave signs date to the years B.C. - Before Chris. I'm only 27, but appreciate older classics like steam locomotives, Burma Shave signs, etc. I've got a couple books at home on the Burma Shave signs, including one that is supposed to have each of the slogans ever applied to the signs. I thought the version in my signature line was appropriate for a railroad forum!

 

CopCarSS:

My YOUNGEST child is more than 27, and I do remember Burma-Shave signs.  They were the highlight of any long trip. (& my eldest is named "Chris")

I have cut & pasted yours, and plan to put a set on my layout.    Thanks.

During the cold war, Mad Magazine had a parody set of signs that said:

Fat Nikita's

Getting Stronger

Can't afford to

Wait much longer

Sherman Tanks

 

lol.

[CopCarSS]

Phoebe Vet,

Actually, Burma Shave signs date to the years B.C. - Before Chris. I'm only 27, but appreciate older classics like steam locomotives, Burma Shave signs, etc. I've got a couple books at home on the Burma Shave signs, including one that is supposed to have each of the slogans ever applied to the signs. I thought the version in my signature line was appropriate for a railroad forum!

 

[Phoebe Vet]

Copcarss:

How old must one be to remember Burma-shave signs along the road???????