data needed on hopper unloading

Gary Pfeil

Active Member
I want to model a sand/stone/gravel dealer, bringing in those materials in open hoppers. I'm wondering if anyone can point me to pictures on the net of the trackwork between the piers of an open pit which those materials would be dumped in. I figure steel rod and turnbuckles or some such thing would be used to keep the rails in gauge since there would be no ties where the hopper dumps. Also need details of the top of the support piers. How long is the typical span? What supports the rails between piers? I figure it would be the same as similar structures to dump coal at coal dealerships. Any help will be much appreciated.
 

cidchase

Active Member
http://southern.railfan.net/coal/article.html

Maybe you can talk Vic into taking a picture of
the pit for you :D :D :D

This one's in Mass., hard to tell about the details:
http://gurt6.tripod.com/upton8.htm

Florida:
http://www.jahnaconcrete.com/concrete.html

http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1979/79-7/limephoto4.jpg

I wish I could find one with a better detail of what's actually
supporting the rails!!! I think it's just a reinforced concrete
bridge with an open hole covered by a hatch, and a steel
rectangular funnel below to direct the product onto the belt,
my best guess!!:D :thumb: :thumb:
 

Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Thanks Cid and Ted. Those are interesting links. Seems like modern unloading consists of using conveyors to bring the material from a pit to silos. What I'm looking to do is have the track elevated about 12' and use front end loaders to move materials around the yard. The prototype for what I'm modeling did not receive material by rail, they received them by barge. The name was Tidewater Sand and Stone, in Hackensack. They used a crane to unload the barges, then front end loaders moved them to the storage area which consisted of approx. 4' high concrete walls forming boxes open in the front. Each "box" or bin held a different material. The front end loaders loaded dump trucks and there was a truck scale at the entry/exit point. They also bagged sand. No attempt at keeping the sand dry as I recall. The loaders would dump a bucket of sand in an elevated hopper, a lever opened a valve in the pipe at the bottom of the bin and a bag was tied around the bottom of the pipe. There were wooden pallets of bagged sand next to it. About 10 years ago I built the main building and one of the sheds. I had photos but at the moment can not find them. I want to substitute rail service for the barges. My memory can fill in details of the yard but since there was no rail siding I need to come up with at least a plausible way to model it. I'm thinking the rails would need to be supported by steel beams spanning the piers. And held in gauge with the turnbuckles I mentioned above. I can probably space the piers to match the length of the hopper cars. I'm thinking two or three hopper car lengths long. If anyone has thoughts on how correct this would be or what would be more appropriate, I'd be glad to hear it.

Thanks!

Gary
 

TR-Flyer

Member
Gary:
Look in Johnson's "Track planning for Realistic operation". I think it has some shots of low tech coal loading operations and also photos of ash pits, one i remember shows a guy with a shovel slinging ashes into a gondola. You might be able to tell how the pits were handled from those photos.

Regards,
Ted
 

Goattee

New Member
Coal shoot

Gary Pfeil;
This is probably not exactly what you want but it might give you some ideas.
It is of a derelict coal receiving spot for the power company in Stanton, VA.

 

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Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Hey Goattee, that's an interesting shot. I hadn't thought of using hoppers beneath the tracks. It looks like each pair would hold the load from one hopper car? Do you know how they moved the coal from there? Thanks for posting the pic.

Gary
 

Goattee

New Member
No info.

Gary; I could not tell as the most of the power company was fenced off. It looked to be a feeder line and probably at one time had a small engine. Wish I had played more attention. Perhaps there is someone in that area who could answer better.
 

TR-Flyer

Member
Hi Gary:

Found these the other night. My wife scanned them for me and i've set them up as jpg files. Don't know how they'll look but here goes.

This first on shows the guy shoveling cinders. Looks like they have steel posts between the rails to keep them in gauge.
 

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TR-Flyer

Member
And you might be able to see a little track/trestle detail in this one.
 

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