When should a dead end track end in a bump post… and when a set of wheel stops?
Thanks in advance [:)]
Hi Dave
When you don’t want rolling stock or trains rolling off the end of the line[:D]
Buffer stops (bumper post) possably quite elaberate ones are used in passanger terminals and there environs also loco depots .
The thing is wheel stops are also used in loco depots and yards as well as bumper posts.
Bumper posts provide a better means of stoping trains coming off the end of the line
In model railway terms if the end of the line is close to the edge of the layout
put in a good strong well anchored bumper post.
My own preferance is to go for the bumper post every time if not,
a truck load of dirt does the trick and looks quite interesting as an alternative
As would a set of wheel stops that did not so the front car bogie is part burried in the dirt on the wrong side of the stop.
regards John
John gives good rules of thumb.
I have seen wheels stops used in places where ordinarily one would expect to see a true bumper. One example was the Santa Fe depot in Galesburg, which has since been torn down – if the car had gone beyond the wheel stop bumper it would have crashed into the west end of the depot, which ordinarily one would think would be protected by a true bumper, but no.
Also there are a couple of kinds of wheel stops. One kind is almsot portable and simply clamps onto the rails, more or less matching the profile of the wheels that would rest against it. Another kind looks similar but actually has a flat portion resting on top of the rail, so that if it is hit it slides, with the wheel resting on the flat part that slides so it does not flatten.
A bumper is constructed with the thought that it might actually be, well, bumped – that is, the bumper is enough feet away from the actual end of track to meaningfully transfer the forces of impact down into the track, ties and ballast. A wheel stop takes most of the impact itself. That is why it is not uncommon to see broken wheel stops.
The thing about bumpers, as well as the pile of dirt/rocks or pile of ties, is that they tend to damage the couplers. Also if the car rides up into the pile of dirt or rocks it can damage the airbrake system in ways that are hard to detect until it is too late.
Dave Nelson
Generally,
Bumpers tend to be used at passenger terminals. Wheel stops everywhere else. Wheel stops can be as simple as a pile of dirt or a couple crossed ties, or more complex like cast steel wedges.
Nick
How about models of bumpers and wheel stops? There are some that are rather pricey, like $5 a piece. These are metal rail type, and come with a 3-inch track section. Some of these have special requirements for insulated rail joiners, since they are a single piece of bent rail that connects the two tracks.
Atlas makes plastic ones, but they aren’t particularly prototypical.
Walthers makes a bundle of like a dozen of them for around ten dollars. I haven’t seen these, but I assume they are plastic and don’t include rails.
What other alternatives are there? I’m thinking of scratch-building a few out of Evergreen H-columns.
I’ve seen piles of ballast used as well
I like wheel stops best,they don’t mess up KDs,and are easy to make.and cost nothing.
Some triangle strips of plastic,a small drill bit ,and tooth picks.Most eveyone has this stuff laying around[^][:D]
JIM
Bruce,
The Walthers track bumpers are indeed plastic but look very realisic. Here’s a link from the Walthers web page:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3511
The track bumpers can be glued on top of a piece of 3" sectional track. I came up with a modification to the Walthers product that will allow you to make them not only “movable” but strong. Here’s the link:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40247
How strong are they really? Well…I ran an Athearn blue box F7 into one…going at full throttle…and it stopped it COLD!
Tom
Quite some time ago, I purchased both scale bumpers and wheel stops cast in white metal; my recollection is that I obtained them from Walthers.
If you don’t want either the bumpers or the wheel stops, you could follow the
prototype of the Pig Tail branch of the PRR that ran from Oil City, Pa to Buffalo, NY
When I worked for them in the late fifties, the only thing that prevented cars from
running off the end of a siding was ten days unpaid vacation for the train crew
responsible.
[#welcome]
Great first post. Don’t be a stranger.
Chuck
Wheel blocks and bumpers did not seem right for the module I am working on so I went searching on Walthers for other ideas. There is a simple wood frame filled with rocks available for HO but I model N scale so I knocked this together.
A few creosote soaked posts with logs laid between them and a bunker of rock behind it. It looked right for a siding that I wanted to look like it had been in use since the road was built in the 1880’s.
These are all good posts, so let me tell you about a bumper that worked. In the late 70s I was riding into the Stuttgart Germany train station - stub ended. The engineer wasn’t paying attention and hit the bumper at the platform at probably 3 or 4 mph. Even at that low speed it was a violent stop. Every head was turned towards the train and the great cloud of dust hanging in the air. Getting off the train I saw that the bumper was a really BIG concrete block, with 2 marks on it from the engine buffers. So, I know from experience that huge blocks of concrete will keep a train out of the depot concourse!! JOHN.
Bumper’s were installed in stub ended railroad stations such as LAUT ,NY, SF, and Chicago, largely to protect passenger’s inside the Depot (Remember ‘Silver Sreak’?, and as previosly said, wheel stops , dirt piles, ties, or what-have-you, everywhere else.
That being said, TOMAR’s actual rail bumper’s look SO cool.
Don,
You’re right about that - although kinda pricey @ $4.25 ea. ($3.40 discounted)
Handsome looking, for sure. [tup]
Tom
Aha! Another use for old brass track! A little styrene, a little CA, a few drops of rust and you’ve got it.
At one time the Selley firm made white metal castings of wheel stops. Perhaps a bit over size but I think they cost a quarter when I bought mine in the 1960s. Perhaps they are still listed in the Selley portion of the Bowser catalog. Like most Selley castings they benefit from some cleanup with a file.
Dave Nelson
Great stuff guys… but when/where should I use which to copy the real thing? I’ve lately been seeing a lot more bump posts on industrial spurs than I would have expected… but wheel stops show up where I would expect a post. Is it just a matter of choice or is there any system to it?
Our local brewry here has two sidings that are side by side one has the the full fancy bumper, the other has just the two plain wheel stops, so its what ever you want.
Walthers makes a great looking bumper kit you get 12 for $9.98 just and they are plastic so you don’t have to worry about shorts.
Juneco models makes both the quarter-circle style in a white metal. Miniatures by Eric makes this same style and the slight curve/flat top style of wheel stops in cast brass.
Both look good when painted a CPR or CN yellow, with some washes of black and/or rust colours.