60s-70s Intermodal Ramp Question

[sirenwerks]

In the era I model - late 60s to early 70s - ramps were used frequently in towns across America as intermodal traffic took root. I look at some pics from the period and trailers are all aligned facing in the same direction, and in other pics trailers are oriented willy-nilly, even on the same flat.  It didn't make much of a difference if the trailers are on/off loaded using lifts, but the size towns I'm modeling didn't weren't quite big enough to have piggyback yards, and would rely on using off-load ramps. So how did railroads guarantee cars would end up at ramps oriented in the right direction to be off-loaded by yard tractors?


Were ramps used mostly for loading flats? Was it common practice to have two ramps oriented in opposing directions in some locales for off-loading? Did they wye or turntable the cars in some places to turn them if they showed up pointed in the wrong direction? Did they just route the car to the next town that had a ramp correctly oriented? Curious minds who were too young to have a camera and being wandering rail yards during the era they model want to know...

[nkalanaga]

In the early 70s it was very rare to find a flat with the trailers facing opposite directions, as the hitches weren't set up that way.  Finding two cars with the trailers facing the opposite directions was very common.  At least in Pasco, there were two solutions. 

1:  Switch the cars into two groups, and send the one facing the wrong way around the wye.  The wye was also the old NP/SP&S junction, so that required some work, and tied up the main lines for a while, but it was done, especially for cars placarded "Unload this side only", when they faced the wrong way.  In a pinch, they could also be turned on the turntable, which, along with the roundhouse and engine service facility, was inside the wye.

2:  Have two ramps, one for each direction.  In Pasco, until they built the new intermodal yard just east of the hump yard, the second ramp was a portable one, and could be turned either way.  (The new yard wasn't originally CALLED the intermodal yard, because no one in Pasco had heard that term yet when it was built.)

For a small town terminal, they may only have the one portable ramp at the team track, and it could be put on either end of the car as needed.

[Chris333]

Not far from me Erie put in a piggy back ramp. It was a single track that ended into a concrete ramp.

This is the plan for it:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/dwg/71B-13931.gif


I'm sure I can find an actual photo, but it looked like this:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/85/65/e2/8565e2f8ab4588d1cdc32994bdb414a1--loading-ramps-lower.jpg

[sirenwerks]

Chris, I understand what the ramps were. Concrete, packed earth, etc. ramps that truck tractors backed up onto to hitch to or unhitch a trailer on a flat. But as the train rolled into town with a flat to be unloaded, the railroad had to make sure the flat arrived so the trailer ended at the ramp hitch first. What I want to know is, if dumb luck didn't make it happen, how did the railroads right the car?

[Chris333]

You gonna make me look it up     It was past when I model so I never paid much attention to it.  I can tell you the ramp only faced one way and there was no wye nearby.

[Chris333]

Found the photo. Just says "Circus style loading was in effect at all Erie ramps at that time" 1955. Nothing about how they pick the direction.

Maybe at first all of their ramps faced the same way 

[jagged ben]

Nick, how were portable ramps moved?

Also there's another aspect of circus loading I've always been curious about.  So when the tractor loads a trailer into a spot on a car, the hitch in that spot has to be down, obviously.  Then the tractor leaves.  How was the hitch then raised such that the trailer ends up perfectly hitched to it?  Did the trailers ever have to be adjusted once the tractor had gone, and how was that done?

[CBQ Fan]

Nick, how were portable ramps moved?

Also there's another aspect of circus loading I've always been curious about.  So when the tractor loads a trailer into a spot on a car, the hitch in that spot has to be down, obviously.  Then the tractor leaves.  How was the hitch then raised such that the trailer ends up perfectly hitched to it?  Did the trailers ever have to be adjusted once the tractor had gone, and how was that done?

Didn't the flat car hitch slide forward and backward?

[wcfn100]

Didn't the flat car hitch slide forward and backward?

No.

From what I've seen, the trailer needs to be lined up fairly close to the correct position.  The hitch had a cover plate that you would slide open creating a 'window' that the king pin would go into as the hitch was raised.  Then the hitch cover plate would be slid closed which would push everything into the correct position and lock the trailer down.

Jason

[CBQ Fan]

No.

From what I've seen, the trailer needs to be lined up fairly close to the correct position.  The hitch had a cover plate that you would slide open creating a 'window' that the king pin would go into as the hitch was raised.  Then the hitch cover plate would be slid closed which would push everything into the correct position and lock the trailer down.

Jason

The units I dealt with must have been oddball exceptions and not the rule.

[wcfn100]

The units I dealt with must have been oddball exceptions and not the rule.

The hitch cover plate covers the whole top of the hitch.  If could see it looking like the whole hitch moving at it slides closed.

Again, the is just from my research.  I'd love it if someone had more first hand knowledge.

Jason

[wcfn100]

Was it common practice to have two ramps oriented in opposing directions in some locales for off-loading? Did they wye or turntable the cars in some places to turn them if they showed up pointed in the wrong direction?

The CNW Proviso yard had 14 unloading ramps, 7 facing each direction.

There's a shot I've seen of a MILW trailer getting turned on a turntable.


Jason

[Missaberoad]

There was a series of articles in Railroad model journal covering early TOFC including loading and securing... When i get home I will check the old trainlife to see if i can find them..

The collapsable hitches were raised and lowered pneumatically with what looked like a big air ratchet...

[wcfn100]

The collapsable hitches were raised and lowered pneumatically with what looked like a big air ratchet...

Depend on the hitch.  Early hitches had a screw drive and others were pulled up by the tractor.


Jason

[Missaberoad]

Depend on the hitch.  Early hitches had a screw drive and others were pulled up by the tractor.


Jason

Interesting I should have assumed considering the hap hazard nature of early intermodal, there's likely unique setups for every railroad...

I think the article I referenced was based off UP practices...