A “nolix” layout:
.
More discussion at:
KnuT’s Peavine & Santa Fe:
.
Q.
Satellite maps have led me to a neat woodchip loading
spur. There are six cars present. Two have been loaded (and
are coupled together), one is being loaded and isn’t coupled
to anything. Behind them are three empties, one solo and two
coupled together. How does this operation work? Who moves
the cars under the loader, the railroad or the customer?
– Titus
A.
Here are the maps and street views Titus saw:
and
Questions, Answers & Tips - 3
or:
and
.
An aerial view at
shows a Trackmobile
handling center-beam flats at the site (partly hidden under
trees with a couple of freight-car-red cars) and reveals a boxy
object along the rails near the chip loader that looks like a car-
puller system for moving cars.
With that data in hand, Titus “remembered seeing these wood-
chip cars on a Flickr group ... I found the answer to my origi-
nal question. On one of the photos the photographer added
a note: ‘At this spot they load these guys up with wood chips
from overhead while a tractor pulls them back and forth with
ropes on a pulley system to evenly fill the cars.’ ”
There is a good photo of a loader at
but none of a
car puller.
3. A Union Pacific freight rolls under a signal bridge on the
nine-mile stretch of two main tracks at Blaser, ID in 1990.
The bridge carries signals for traffic in both directions on
both tracks. Josef Brugger photo.
3
MRH-Oct 2014
