MIKE MAYSE: INDIANAPOLIS, IN; JULY 2010


BEN SWOPE: AUG. 1982


Owned by a contractor, but being used on the CSX, this excava- tor (top) is equipped with large, flanged wheels that allow it to be moved along the top of a gondola. On the end of the boom is a magnet being used to off load tie plates. This tie unloader (above)


curves in the track, the rail load simply flexes within the car-mounted racks. Unloading continuous welded rail is done with other specially-equipped flat cars with winches and guide rollers to place the end of a rail string near the existing rail and ties. The unloading crew chains the rail end to the track, and the train is simply pulled out from under the rail string.


The most difficult part of modeling these welded rail trains is modeling the long strings of welded rail. Even the smallest section of scale rail is too stiff to follow our sharp model railroad curves. No one yet manufactures a more flexible simulated rail material (perhaps made from a polymer), so the best we can do currently is to model an empty train in route back to the rail welding plant. Railroad track needs to be “surfaced” as the passage of trains settle low spots in the track or after major track- work, such as following crosstie or rail changing gangs. Typically, new ballast is added to the track to lift and smooth the rail’s elevation. This stone is deliv- ered in large quantities by cars de- signed to deposit it directly where it is


RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN


FRANK ORONA: PUEBLO, CO; JUNE 15, 2012


runs on beams mounted atop a Conrail gondola. In both cases, the ability to move along the top of the car increases the ma- chine’s reach and, thus, the amount of work it can do. Continu- ous weld rail is carried on special flat cars (above right).


needed onto the track.


Dumping ballast in the old days was done with drop-bottom gondolas or out- dated coal cars dragging a tie chained under the gates.


Specially-designed


cars now control the flow of stone, re- quiring less effort by the section crews assigned to walk along and open the doors. However this is still a dusty op- eration for a section hand.


A recent innovation in ballast dump- ing operations have the hopper doors automated; a laptop computer opens and closes the doors by a technician in the cab of the locomotive. Since crews no longer have to walk beside the train, these trains can dump ballast at speeds up to 20 m.p.h. and at any hour of the day or night.


Modeling the actual dumping of bal- last on your layout could get messy and introduce unwanted dust onto the rails. However, a ballast car train could still travel across your layout, either empty in route back to the quarry or moved loaded to an off-layout dumping location. All you need is the appropri- ate ballast cars for your era and some drop-in loads of stone. You could even model a quarry spur where these


trains are loaded between operating sessions.


Another necessary track mainte- nance task is spraying the roadbed for weed control. Some railroads main- tained their own spraying equipment, while others used a contracted service. These trains were typically pushed from the rear and led by a car designed to carry the spray booms, pumps and a cab for the operators to control the equipment. Often, these spray cars were converted from old boxcars or reefers, adding additional doors and windows as needed. Tank cars of water and chemicals coupled between the spray car and the locomotive with in- terconnected pipes and hoses supply the liquids to the spray car. Modeling a weed spraying train would require a modified boxcar for the spray car and added piping to dedicat- ed tank cars. Simulating the opera- tions would be as easy as adding a loco- motive to push it across the mainline. With the innovations of DCC, one could even automate the swinging of the spray booms, headlight and horn, and perhaps even the sound of the engine- driven pumping equipment.


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