Anybody use these? If so, on the end of every track? Just on certain sidings? Which ones?
Thanks
Hi,
Yes, I use “bumpers” on all my sidings. I like the Walther’s ones that take only a few minutes to build and have painted then to look like rusty metal. There are all sorts of bumpers on the market and to vary the look, I’ve used different brands.
Hope this helps.
Mondo
Sure. I bought the 12-pack from Walthers. It wasn’t quite enough, so now I have to decide whether to scratch-build a few, use piles of “gravel,” or go out and buy another package. The Walthers ones are plastic and require some minor assembly, and then you’ll want to paint and weather them unless you’re really into black. The Atlas ones are really overbearing, IMHO, but the Walthers ones look appropriate. Other manufacturers make nice units which are part of the stub-end rail, but they are not cost-effective if you’re building a yard.
Walthers. Look fine when painted and not pricey.
Also piles of ballast and maybe a tie or two where they look appropriate.
I started with the Atlas bumpers and then switched to the Walthers, which look more realistic.
Jim
I use the Walthers on every stub end track. Saves a lot of grief.
Tom
I use some, but trying to be prototypial, I also use other stops like large piles of gravel or 2 ties "X"ed at the end of a siding, especially in out of the way places.
Ron
I use them on all my sidings, but sometimes even that’s not enough…one time I was running with 6 second generation 4 and 6 axle engines at about 50MPH, then it went onto the stub siding without me noticing, ripped the atlas bumper up, all four spikes, and wekt into the river…
I’ve decided to go with the prototype - which is almost always the easiest way.
For important stub tracks, I use the Walthers bumpers. In a couple of places, these are backed up with piles of gravel, just in case. They are close enough to my prototype’s standard bumper to satisfy me, and save a bunch of scratch building.
Less important tracks get steel chocks, vertical plates about axle high on each rail, welded on top of channels that go over the railhead and are bolted to the web. The side away from the end of track is cut in a quarter-circle, and the whole thing is painted bright yellow.
Really unimportant tracks have a tie chained to the top of the rails, backed up by a few wheelbarrow loads of gravel if they don’t end against a dirt bank.
Note that none of these things is meant to stop a locomotive traveling at speed! Stub end tracks in hidden staging end against foam rubber padded chunks of 2"x4" stud.
If you want a track bumper that WILL stop locomotives “traveling at speed”, here’s an easy modification to the Walther’s version using 10 x 10 dimensional wood and CA:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40247
Believe it or not, it works. (…and the locomotive was unscathed.)
Tom
There’s an article in a past Model Railroader that shows how to make them from pieces of rail. If you do, make sure you cut one of the rails on your siding just before the bumber, or you’ll have a short circuit.
To carry this a little further, I would insulate both rails as some locos use the frame as part of the electrical circuit and with metal couplers it can still short circuit if the coupler touches the bumper. Also as a safety measure, unless you plan to park a loco against or close to the bumper, I would insulate the rails at least a locomotive length from the bumper. This way a loco would at least be trying to stop before crashing into or through it. Ken
There are also common wheel stops, hayes type, got them from Bowser. I use them on the ends of industrial tracks.
When I said that none of the bumpers described were meant to stop a locomotive running at speed, I was referring to prototype locos, not models.
Physics 101 - E = m(v squared). When mass = 100+ tons, you don’t have to square much velocity to get more than enough energy to rip a track bumper right out of the ground. Proof of statement - the GG-1 that ended up in the basement of Washington Union Station, and the French steam loco that punched through the wall of a station in Paris and fell nose-down into the street.
Easy modeling of abandoned spur track:
Place a heavily weathered/rusted track bumper, buried a bit in some dirt or paved around with asphalt, at the end of a stretch of empty ROW, which can be alongside an industrial building, or alongside a ramp or dock, or in the middle of a storage yard, or so on (you can place a modern building, parking lot, dirt pile, whatever, at the other end of this ROW - the spur is abandoned, after all). For an extra touch (if you are modeling areas of humid climates) add small trees and bushes along the ROW.
Double extra points if you embed some rail or track in the asphalt, and then put a fence in the middle of this track to divide two properties (or small parking lot concrete bumpers along the middle of the track, for customer parking).
I use the Walthers bumpers. 12 in a package at a good price. I like the look and love the bang for my hard earned buck!
Trevor
Do you have a part number? I looked on Walther’s website, but didn’t see any 12 packs of bumpers.
Saw a prototype one today made from a K-rail (concrete road divider) backed up with a pile of ballast. Unfortunately, that won’t work on my mid '50s layout. Well, the pile of ballast will.
Here is a link: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3511
Jim
Here’s what we use down in New Zealand - a lump of concrete. You can gauge size from the rail at bottom left. Looks like it would be easy to make from foam.
Looks like a left over from “The Battle of Helm’s Deep” , do orcs come with it ?[B)][(-D][(-D]