Ed's Law strikes again!.. Kimball, MN

[learmoia]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kimball,+MN+55353/@45.3110387,-94.3146144,265m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x52b4e58d80e09399:0x785a077ade0b8c63

It appears to be a transfer/turn table that pivots at one end.

First I've seen of it apart from Model applications.

~Ian

[eric220]

Wow. A prototype sector plate!

[learmoia]

Wow. A prototype sector plate!

Yeah I wasn't sure what to call it.. (I didn't know the model RR term..).. Sector plate sounds like a harddrive term..

Great way to utilize the space..  (It'd make a great OneTrak Module..)

Still cool though.. I'd love to get pictures of it.. It appears to be home built...  And it's a US prototype..

[glakedylan]

with a freight car on that sector track
how will they operate the locomotive
just pull the train out from the other end?
no way to get locomotive onto sector

[aikorob]

with a freight car on that sector track
how will they operate the locomotive
just pull the train out from the other end?
no way to get locomotive onto sector

to just pull the cut out, they would have to go through their buildings on several tracks
I don't see a trackmobile---but there is a front end loader off to one side
Is this a repair business?

[Bendtracker1]

Looks like a private rail car repair company.

http://www.kimballrailcar.com/

[rswinnerton]

Once again, Ed's Law wins the day.

[nkalanaga]

To move the car they could use a portable car puller. with rail clamps and a cable, or a manual car pusher.  I have no idea what the proper name is, but I used one once, as a teenager in Pasco.  The BN allowed a group of us to move a boxcar at the Pasco depot, just to show how it was done. 

The device is a pole with a hinged "foot" on one end.  Stick the foot between the wheel and the rail, as far in as it will go, and pull down on the pole.  A cam raises the end of the foot attached to the pole, forcing the wheel, and car, to move a little.  Raise the pole, reset the foot, and repeat.  Very slow, but the car will move, and once it's moving, it rolls quite nicely.  If you have help, they can push on the car, and once it's started, it isn't hard to keep rolling.  Stop it with the handbrake.

[Bob Bufkin]

To move the car they could use a portable car puller. with rail clamps and a cable, or a manual car pusher.  I have no idea what the proper name is, but I used one once, as a teenager in Pasco.  The BN allowed a group of us to move a boxcar at the Pasco depot, just to show how it was done. 

The device is a pole with a hinged "foot" on one end.  Stick the foot between the wheel and the rail, as far in as it will go, and pull down on the pole.  A cam raises the end of the foot attached to the pole, forcing the wheel, and car, to move a little.  Raise the pole, reset the foot, and repeat.  Very slow, but the car will move, and once it's moving, it rolls quite nicely.  If you have help, they can push on the car, and once it's started, it isn't hard to keep rolling.  Stop it with the handbrake.

There is a movie (short) either done on CN or CP which shows the use of this device.  Shows a boxcar being moved to a grain elevator for loading.

[eric220]

There's another possibility about moving the cars. Note the block at the end of the car on the plate at the pivot end. I looked up the same location in Apple Maps, and there's no car or block on the plate; the plate is just a pair of beams with cross bracing. However, two cars on two different tracks have those blocks on them closest to the pivot point. I wonder if those are attached to the cars and a winch is run through the pivot point to pull the cars onto the plate.

[nkalanaga]

Eric:  Very possible.  I've seen that done using a loop on the end of the car puller cable, run through a pulley, and attached to the coupler.  There are probably as many ways to move a car, without a loco, as there are people stuck with the job.

Bob:  One of the elevators near Pasco, WA had an old farm tractor with a large steel plate on the front, and a length of chain.  To move cars, they pushed them with the plate against the coupler, or looped the chain around the coupler and pulled them.  This was in the 70s, so the tractor may have dated from WW II.  It looked OLD.

I've also seen a pickup truck with the tailgate removed and a coupler mounted in the bed...

For a model scene, almost anything mechanically possible and not unreasonable dangerous would work.  Ones imagination could really get a workout here.

[rswinnerton]

I pulled a Conrail camp car with my Chevy 1500. (I think pulling a 65,000# cast steel flat car voided my warranty...)

[nkalanaga]

Russ:  Probably not.  I read somewhere that rolling resistance foe a railroad car was about 5 pounds per ton, with solid bearings.  Stating, according to the same source, was closer to 50 lbs.  Figuring 35 tons, the starting resistance would be about 1750 pounds, which should be within your towing limit.  The load increases dramatically on grades, so if you can pull a loaded highway trailer up a hill, you should be able to pull a rail car on level track. 

Bob:  I think I've seen that same video, from Canada's National Film Board:
https://www.nfb.ca/film/grain_elevator

[Bsklarski]

In the past we have tried to drop cars and failed. Sometimes we were able to push them enough to clear by means of a single human. Its possible lol.

[nkalanaga]

Yes, the secret is to NOT expect the car to move quickly.  Lean into it, brace your feet against a tie, push as hard as one can, and KEEP PUSHING.  Eventually it will very slowly start moving.  Rocking it, like a stuck auto, is not only useless, but very frustrating.