Hi everyone i was walking across the lot at work today and I saw a CP railroad truck pulling a manitance train with a caboose on the end of it now of course [censored] me did not get any pictures cause it was moving pretty good but to me it looked really cool to see something like that. and also there were to many trees and weeds in the way to get a good pictures but is this comon to see around here.
1.CP RAILROAD Truck (SEMI)
3. GONDALA CARS ONE WITH A CRANE IN IT
That’s not unusual. The BNSF does that a lot around us when they are setting out new ties or retrieving old ones
I saw the same thing (on the CSX) on Colbert, Ga the other day.
I beleive they use a dummy coupler that is an attachment like a removable trailer hitch only heavier. There can also be an air supply and controls for braking. It is simular to using the MOW truck in a “Trackmobile” type application.
Yeah, I’ve seen that too. Listened to the CP dispatcher putting them “in the hole” on the “Lindner track” or “former westward siding”, thought it was a much bigger train though!
Just the thing to make those quick deliveries to customers. Why bother with a train crew, when you can get some truck driver to drive around some loaded freight cars.
Sure would make an interesting photo in the event of a grade crossing accident: “Truck on rails hits truck on road”
Safety First!
Actually, the Iowa Interstate experimented with using a highway tractor as rail motive power about 20 years ago and a railroad in Canada does it today.
It makes sense in the right applications.
The future of intermodal is here. Imagine about 100 semis (highway tractor and trailer) coupled together with a regular railroad locomotive on the front. Along the line, trucks uncouple at convenient locations and complete the trailer’s trip on the highway. All that is needed is drivers stationed at the waypoints to drive away, or maybe napping in the sleeper until it’s their turn to drive. OK, back to reality.
Union Pacific has done this also. Truck pulling about 8 hopper cars with the backhoe on one of the hopper cars unloading ties. Saw this 2 or 3 years ago.
Yep. See the same thing by me every once in a while.
Here’s a picture. It works. Is that Safety_Valve in there?
http://test.brandt.ca/road_rail/images/mymarket/V-Line_Close_Top_lg.jpg
I see them here and there. But I work in MoW for UP. The latest one I saw was a Brandt truck with the crane that moves form car to car vs. the backhoe. These are System tie unloading gangs.