PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR Modeling municipal waste trains
Part I: a transfer facility Construction and operation/M.R. Snell
R
ailroads are constantly adapt- ing, developing new traffic for their lines as shipper’s needs
change. We have seen the boxcar re- placed by the intermodal revolution and now we are witnessing the devel- opment of an even newer type of traf- fic, municipal solid waste. The growing problem of landfill space in urban ar- eas has necessitated moving this com- modity, officially known as “MSW” (Municipal Solid Waste, more common- ly known as trash) to distant landfills using containers carried on flatcars. Unlike standard intermodal traffic, the equipment used in waste ship- ments is normally in dedicated service and is specialized in design, suited specifically to the MSW commodity. The most common container style is a large box matching the standard 20- foot container length yet easily identi- fiable since they measure 12 feet high, 3½ feet higher than a standard inter- modal container. Designed exclusively for MSW service, they feature steel slab construction with vertical rein-
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) containers (above) are easily recognizable by their design. They are higher than a regular freight container and feature a ratchet closure at the rear.
forcing ribs on both the sides and ends, an end discharge gate with chain and ratchet closures, a fire port on one side of the container and a removable roof. Carried three to four per flat car on both specialized new cars and modified secondhand cars, these MSW contain- ers can be found in large car blocks or
even entire unit trains destined from a transfer facility to a landfill. Once un- loaded the containers will generally travel back to their origin point for re- loading with no apparent visible differ- ence between a load and empty, a plus for operations-oriented modelers. We will look at modeling the cars
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