Question: chain-driven railcars?

[spitfire]

Does anyone know how rail cars might be moved inside a foundry without using a locomotive? Something along the lines of a chain or cable drive - is that the method that would be used? If so, does the chain loop back underneath the tracks or above?

Any help would be appreciated.

Val

 

[shaygetz]

What I've seen at bulk plastics plants is an electric winch at the end of a spur that pulls the cars thru and over the hoppers for the silos. It's a cable that's used, nothing special or complicated for modeling. I've even pondered doing it with a slo-mo motor under the modeled winch. Hope that helps...

 

[MasonJar]

There is a big metalworks complex outside of Ottawa that uses a winch and/or a big front end loader to move gondolas and flats around.


Andrew

 

[mhdishere]

My Dad worked at a warehouse when I was a kid, and I remember him telling me that they'd use the cable from the overhead crane to pull rail cars where they needed to be spotted.

Also, it seems to be there was some sort of lever you could use to move a car by hand, you fitted it under a wheel and lifted to move the car.

 

[Vic]

You Can't Do This Now I Bet

QUOTE "Also, it seems to be there was some sort of lever you could use to move a car by hand, you fitted it under a wheel and lifted to move the car."

That's called a carjack or a jackpole. You can start a car rolling on level track with one arm.

Back in my youth (ha ha) I worked at a hardwood lumber mill. We would spot boxcars and flats with a 1949 Chevrolet dumptruck that had no brakes!!!....We always pushed and pulled from the rear of the truck. Pulling was the worst....to stop the car you had to slow the truck, let the car hit the rear of the truck and then shut the engine off with the truck in gear so that the engine compression and gears would act sorta like a brake. Spotting cars was always a hit or miss operation but I got pretty good at it!!

 

[shaygetz]

Re: You Can't Do This Now I Bet

Originally posted by Vic
Back in my youth (ha ha) I worked at a hardwood lumber mill. We would spot boxcars and flats with a 1949 Chevrolet dumptruck that had no brakes!!!....We always pushed and pulled from the rear of the truck. Pulling was the worst....to stop the car you had to slow the truck, let the car hit the rear of the truck and then shut the engine off with the truck in gear so that the engine compression and gears would act sorta like a brake. Spotting cars was always a hit or miss operation but I got pretty good at it!!

Yikes, I know an OSHA man that woulda had a coronary on the spot

 

[sumpter250]

Spotting cars was always a hit or miss operation but I got pretty good at it!!

Oooh, that had to be fun when you missed.

 

[Fred_M]

We used the loader on a tractor to push them. Just eased it against the truck and push. DASH

 

[spitfire]

Thanks for all the great info folks! I knew someone here would have the answer.
I'm planning to build a small gear house at the end of the track to power the cable. Its position is shown by the blue line. Now I wonder if I need to cut out a channel between those tracks for the cable. Any suggestions?

Val

 

[shaygetz]

The installation I'll be modeling did not have a channel. I wouldn't want to be the poor lunk that has to haul the cable 2-300 feet everytime a new string of full cars gets dropped off. Nice mill :thumb:

 

[60103]

Val: a lot of British yards used a capstan with a cable. The capstans were powered from somewhere and rotated. A cable was hitched to the coupling and looped around the capstan and then someone pulled it tight. This was enough to move the cars, but someone had to keep pulling on the cable until the car was in the right spot when they relaxed it. This was often used with wagon turntables to move the cars at right angles to the siding and into a building, or to another track.

 

[railwaybob]

In addition to the cable and winch, which is okay of there's only one siding and the cars are going only in one direction, there's also a trackmobile.

This is like a small speeder with 4 metal wheels on 2 axles that straddles the rails. At one end, there's your standard coupler to couple to the car to be moved.

90° to the metal wheels are 4 rubber tires on 2 axles. The operator's cab hangs over the side of the rails. To get the trackmobile off the rails, the operator simply lowers the rubber tires which jacks up the track mobile. He drives out of the tracks and away down the road to the next car.

For MasonJar, there used to be one at the Hershey plant in Smiths Falls.


PS - Haven't heard from you since January 4th. Are you still interested? Reply offline