This is gonna sound down right weird but have you guys and gals seen any shoving platforms ? CSX platform car comes to mind but there are others. One like uhhhhhh , darn can’t remember what railroad it was. I think it was Wisconson Central and theirs was a flat car with a boxcar end on one side and open all the way across the car. On top of the boxcar wall side, it had red,green and yellow lights for remote control. Sure wish I could find a picture of this car, last time I read something on theis car was in trains magazine in the mid 90’s. WC used this car for rock train service.
I think these cars would fit quite nicely on a heavy switching branch or industral hub.
Deos anyone have or know of photos of WC remote platform car ???
It’d make an interesting model. Why don’t one of you guys tackle it.
Even better. You each tackle it and see who comes up with the better looking model.
That oughta get some competition going.
dragonriversteel I saw a car that you posted in your first link. It was at the yard in Augusta, Ga. I wonderd what it was. I did get pictures. Thanks for the info. Phil
I think ‘shoving platform’ and what you’re referencing in the pictures are a little different, from what I’ve always heard.
What you see in the first two posted pictures (again, this is only what I’ve heard, I have no hard evidence backing this up) are actually radio control cars, which house the electronics and radio equipment to run radio controlled locomotives. I don’t know much about how they work, or why they’re designed the way they are, but I don’t think they’re traditionally referred to as ‘shoving platforms’.
Shoving Platforms, from what I understand, are basically non-revenue cars, like a gutted caboose, which are placed at the end of a long string of cars, which have to be backed down the line for a long distance. The conductor rides the shoving platform as another set of eyes for the engineer at grade crossings, to protect the rear end of the train, as it backs up. Coal mining in Kentucky, Virginia, and the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains are places you can see shoving platforms, because often times the mine tracks are dead end tracks, and the train would have to back long strings of cars up the grade, sometimes several miles, to the mine.
I always thought cabooses were cool anyway, but I model modern operations on CSX, and shoving platforms are the only way I could realistically incorporate a caboose into my scenes. I have a long dead end branch line going up grade to a coal mine, which I will be using cabooses as shoving platforms at the end of the trains. The caboose will be cut out at the bottom of the grade when the coal train is on it’s way back to the mainline.
Do a search for ‘caboose’ or ‘shoving’ on www.railpictures.net and you can find alot of pictures of cabooses that are used for this purpose in modern times. You can also search for ‘radio control’ and find alot of similar pictures of the radio control cars.
Here’s one example of a shoving platform that I found on that site.
Thats a great idea, I’m headed to my work bench. Should have something by the end of the day. I have an old crappyTTX life-like flatcar, thats just waiting to be kit-bashed/ torched/destroyed/heavy shopped and made into something new.
It won’t be a CSX shoving platform, but it will be some type of shoving platform for the mill.
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
Well around here, CSX shoving platforms are typically cabooses.
Such as the C&O 3109
The C&O 3104
And the C&O 904151
You guys were also talking about remote control operations. I’ve never seen any RC shoving platforms, but we do get actual RC Drones here.
The engineer is shown here on the CSX 9119, an RCPHE4, formerly a GP38. The engineer has the control pack around his neck that he uses to control the engines. So in turn, the GP15T behind the 9119 can be controled remotely by being coupled to the 9119. But for some reason, the drones never have prime movers or traction motors. So in a sense, they are RC platforms.
Other drones we have around here are rebuilt GE B23/30-7 units.
jshrade said:Shoving Platforms, from what I understand, are basically non-revenue cars, like a gutted caboose, which are placed at the end of a long string of cars, which have to be backed down the line for a long distance.
Not all cabooses are gutted but,fully working cabooses…The CSX uses one in Marion as does the NS…The crew can ride inside of the caboose on cold or rainy days.
Built in under a day, a norfolk southern remote control platform car. Yes …I know NS doesn’t have cars quite like this one, is all for fun. I took an old crappy life-like flat car added sides and a new deck,with a bunch of other stuff also.
By the time I painted it, i realized the paint was gloss black. The photos are my usual crappy pictures…sorry. Also I didn’t want to use a good flat car like a roundhouse car if this didn’t turn out as planned.
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
Nice looking…Although in real life the RCO Sleds are nothing but problems. Due to a design flaw, the jarring action of the engine slamming into the non-buffered RCO Sled has a tendency to knock the circuit boards loose, rendering the thing useless.
We had (the key word is had) some shoving platforms built from flatcars as well. They dissappeared after it was determined they had square wheels. Although, it was nicer then riding the side of a car, the shove plaforms were still a bear to ride. I prefered the cabooses (nice cushion underframe, and soft ride trucks)
