BNSF - B40-8 #8634 and GP60B # 346 - what is this combination called? (the GP60 was cabless) - is this the old cow/calf or just an extra power unit?
And a freight car with a plastic tarp not tied down very well over the top. Is this SOP or something out of the ordinary. Too tall to tell for sure, but don’t think there was a permanent cover over the top. Top load car. If this was allowed to go thru the country - the tarp would have been torn off - so they probably tied it down before it left town, but… why not a covered top car?
well i got the second one
the car was probably hauling lumber and the cars have tarps and then underneath have plastic too.we get alot of flatcars with lumber where I work at.the tarps are usually tied down with metal straps too.
hope this helps
stay safe
Joe
Don’t they usually use the open lumber cars to haul it? Can it be hauled in just a regular looking freight car with sides and all? That would be a pain to get it out of there!
Yeah, this had straps - just like grain trucks, but one wasn’t fastened quite right! Major faux pas! (That’s French for oops…and the only French I know other than “3’s company”)
The only thing I’ve ever seen referred to as cow/calf was a switcher combo. The cabless units are usually referred to as boosters. They are the hood version of a B unit.
Just a normal roadswitcher power lash-up…The GP-60B is treated as just another locomotive. It could run on its own. The former ATSF SD45-2m (B) #5502 has been seen around here as a pusher unit on the back end of a big coal train MU-ed to an SD70MAC…Not considered as a cow-calf situation. (not a slug either)…
How the mighty have fallen! The GB-60B was supposed to only be used on transcon priority intermodal trains. Now it’s working roadswitchers… (At least it’s still around, the BN 4000 series B30–7A(B)s are all long gone)…
[%-)]Sis, tell me more about the freight car…was it a woodchip gon? I’ve seen former woodchip gons with tarps before; they’re used to carry hay. We’ve had the thread about woodchip cars and how they’re unloaded; I wonder what happens to these hay cars when they get to their destination (which more likely than not is not equipped with a dumper).
If the car was more like an old coal gon with a tarp over it, it might be hauling contaminated dirt to a disposal site. Probably no major disaster will develop if the load is exposed, but having the cover on it just makes folks breathe easier (if they even give a thought to what’s in the car).
It was an older freight car - about the same size and shape as a side-loader.
I could see either the dirt or hay. Do not remember seeing side doors and no dumps on bottom. But I wonder, too - how do you unload them - unless it is something that could be either vacuumed out or off-loaded by a crane type. But the tarp was really strange.
If it’s hay (and I suspect it was), they probably use a crane of sorts to lift out the huge bales, or whatever they call those big rolls of stuff.
(Oh, no…now we’ve done it! Mook mentioned “quickie”, and I mentioned “roll” and “hay”. We’re gonna get ourselves kicked off for sure. Tell you what, kiddo…take a week or so off, and come back after the furor dies down!)
Up here in hay country we have a highly technical name for them: round bales. We’ve got square bales you wouldn’t be able to pitch onto a hay wagon, too… If they’re loading them into open topped cars, I have to believe they break a few, which would mean a long trail of hay behind a train moving with any speed at all.
Thanks for getting me into trouble guys! I was thinking more how would you unload the dirt. Even I understand hay, rolls in hay, and turkey in the straw…etc.!
I only have 1 more hour to go and then I am running for cover!
I can’t let the wife look over my shoulder anymore or I’m in the doghouse for sure! (as if I haven’t been there already! The dogs already deeded the thing over to me!!)
Mookie,
If it was a open top gondola, it could be anything.
We get quite a few here, we take them out to Safety Kleen, a disposal service, they handle everything from medical waste to slightly radioactive waste, old X ray plates, stuff like that.
The tarp isnt to keep the contents from blowing out, its to keep rain from getting in, then leaching the dangerous stuff out, and dripping through the bottom of the car (they are not water tight).
Stay Frosty,
Ed
Hey Mook,
you said something about how it would be unloaded. Depending on the car type, mostly high side gondolas (inc. coal-porters), the car could be unloaded with a rotary dumper. Where the car is literally rotated completely upside-down and all the contents fall out. A lot of coal is unloaded this way.
BTW, booster units are different than slugs in that they are powered; slugs are for extra tractive effort, but are powered from the (here we go) “mother” unit.
Another quickie - but this time - it is because I am only here for a few minutes. Had to come in and check on the forum (bank, e-mail, hotmail, work, etc.) No puter at home!
I saw some more over Xmas - there were 3 or 4 of them - they were BNSF only and old boxcars, no doors, no dumps and no rotaries. They would have to be off-loaded by a vacuum or crane. They were all tarped with bungee cords. Coming from south and heading west - I have to think they were either some kind of waste disposal, dirt or our garbage from Xmas - heading to California to help with the mudslide!
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