I have some constructive railroad Dump Truck questions.
How often do railroads use Maintenance of Way Dump Trucks?
Which railroads use MW Dump Trucks?
Do they only use the Dump Trucks for moving Ballast?
Andrew Falconer
Andrew:
In this area, Union Pacific, div point is Parsons, Ks. It has a MOW dump truck. I’ve seen it being loaded with a tractor mounted back-hoe, loadu\ing debris. Mostly it seems to be used to haul rip-rap rocks to some troublesome soft spots on the ROW south of Parsons; This line is the old MKT main to the South, the train crews run mostly to McAlister, OK. for crew changes. Also off this line there is a line from the Prior<OK area that turns east towards Arkansas, I think this was, originally a MoPac line to the Little Rock area, Parsons, Ks based MOW crews work down to this area as well.
The truck is a tandem Ford dump truck, with a lifting bed that can dump to the rear of the truck,- in the conventional manner. This same truck’s bed can, apparently, be rotated 90 degrees to either side to dump the cargo.
By the way, I had failed to mention earlier that this particular truck is equiped for Hi-Rail operation; As are several of the MOW gang, larger trucks, you know with crew cabs, cranes, service bodies and the like.
The dump truck I see around here (also UP) is used for plowing snow and spreading salt. I’m sure it has its non-winter uses, too, but I’m not familiar with them.
They haul ties, track material or anything else that can be dumped. (Or craned off)
They pick up and move: dirt, ballast, sand, asphalt, garbage (BNSF in LA has two full time garbage dump trucks - assume other terminals in large cities have similar issues with some of the local lowlife.residents.)
Most are paired with a Martinez Trailer to haul backhoes and other such similar sized equipment.
Most roadmasters territories and signal gangs have a few around.
A few have hi-rail gear and rotating dump beds.
Thank You for all the great answers.
Since the materials are not generating any immediate revenue for the railroads, it probably is better to haul them in something that does not move over the rails.
Andrew
…and then there are dedicated service Air-dumps, gondolas, open top hoppers. You go with what you are dealt. (Especially if you are M/W-Engineering dealing with an Operating Department that does not always remember its internal customers until service is affected.)
Out here in the far reaches of the SE Arizona desert the UP has a wide assortment of vehicles, including road graders, dump trucks, cranes, caterpillar tractors, and even a large flat-bed truck with couplers and air hoses on both ends and a crane that can climb up onto the top of a hopper to unload ties. I’ve seen this truck pulling three loaded hoppers up hill.
csx has a dumptruck that they use for plowing and for dumping ballast.it also hauls various equipment on trailers for csx.Csx also has the Brandt trucks that can pull gons so they can drop or pick up ties without needing an engine crew for mow work.
stay safe
joe
True enough - “Don’t take up space / operating slots that could otherwise be used for revenue traffic”, which is more practically enforced by the Operating Dept. as mudchicken has also noted above - IF the traffic is heavy enough to really be an issue. For example, scheduling for the M-O-W dump truck should be able to work around a 1-train-a-day branch line.
But as MC (and others) have also pointed out in the past, sometimes “push comes to shove” with regard to track time, esp. if the line is out of service due to damage. More typically, there are places where a hi-rail dump truck is the only practical way to do certain things - such as along an otherwise inaccessible R-O-W out in the boonies or up on the side of a mountain or down in a canyon, etc. The ultimate need is in a tunnel - undoubtedly the best way to move out and unload the debris from roof falls, cleaning the side drainage ditches, etc.
- Paul North.
I’ve seen several in use. Will post photos once I get back on my home computer and the power gets turned back on. There was an NS hirail dump up in Gallitzin this Summer hauling rock into the tunnel. The driver positioned the truck next to a pile of gravel, got out of the truck and into a large four wheel scoop loader. He loaded the truck and then got back in the truck and backed it into the tunnel. Very inneresting.
Saw an R J Corman dump being used to piggy back a jet engine into a tunnel at Frankfort, KY. That was something.
I’ve seen one in Salisbury NC, when NS was replacing ties beside the the station platform.
I wonder if the engine was for one of Corman’s own aircraft?
If the railroads handled their paying customers business the same way they handle their on track company material…they would be out of business in short order. If M/W-Engineering personnel kept track of their on track company material like the paying customers do they would have what they need, where they need it, when they need it. The handling of on track company material is a black hole that no one wants to effectively address.
In a search for Railroad Dump trucks there was one photo of a Hi-Rail Dump Truck that looked like it was not as large as a Highway only Dump Truck.
There would appear to be a limit to the capacity of a Hi-Rail Dump Truck to make it practical.
Andrew
When you get over a certain size, air dumps look really good. (You’re asking to do a lot with that add-on wheelset structure and still have a low enough tare weight to be OTR compliant)
Aside from the tare vs. payload weight issue noted by mudchicken above -
If the Hi-Rail Dump Truck is equipped with one of those rotating dump bodies so that it can dump to either side of the track, that capability and potential position affects the maximum length = size/ capacity of the dump truck in 2 ways:
-
Clearance to be maintained between the “tailswing” of the rotated body, and both whatever may be off to both sides when it is in the “down” position (such as a bridge abutment or tunnel wall), and whatever is overhead in the upper corners of the clearance diagram or “envelope” where the top front of the dump body will be going as it is raised - again, bridges and tunnels come to mind. Also, for something of that kind of short rectangular shape - maybe 8 ft. wide x 17 ft. long - the outer corners will probably govern the “tailswing” dimension, if only for a brief moment partway through the rotation;
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Stability against rocking off the track, or even overturning. When up on the Hi-Rail wheels, the lateral / cross-ways wheelbase is drastically reduced from the normal 8 ft. or so to just about 5 ft. (head-of-rail to head-of-rail). As the load slides down and maybe up against the tailgate, you don’t want too much weight piling up or hanging up too far out there beyond the rail or ends of the ties, esp. if there’s only a ditch or embankment there so that there’s no other support out tat way.
-
Paul North.
R J Corman’s jet engine equipped dump truck at work on a tunnel project in Frankfort, KY during July 2007.
Driver of dump truck also did double duty on the loader as seen here. After loading the truck he backed it into the Gallitzin Tunnel.
Ballast work a couple of years ago at North Wye, KY.
