I drove by a train yard today and saw rebar being unloaded from two boxcars.
ReBar in a Boxcar? It would necessarily be in shorter lengths(?) so it could be handled out of the car’s doors. But handling would be pretty rough on the product , having to rig it to drag to a point where it could be lifted and carried. ( Lots of ReBar is now coated to prevent rust) when it is installed into its concrete home.
Usually it is shipped from the mills in longer lengths ( 40 to 50 ft, give or take a little),. and it is either handled by lifting off of, or out of the conveyance: used by the origin shipper. ( flat bed trailer if by truck or out of a gondola rail car/ or even of of a flat car if by rail).
Here in Kansas, coated rebar is pretty much all that is used by contractors working on KDOT jobs. Coated rebar lasts much longer in concrete bridges and roadways.
Sounds to me like the waste of a couple of good box cars. Not only would I be concerned about damage from potential load shifts, but they could have loaded them to more than a couple of feet deep, if that!
Sounds like the rebar must have been too short to transport in the best available cars: flats with low bulkheads and those fold-down “finger” supports (do they make such animals? Now that I think about it, I’ve seen one or the other, but not both bulkheads and fingers).
Many years ago, when I worked a summer job for US Steel Supply bending rebar to customer spec, the rebar was shipped from the mill in 40-50 foot lengths in gondolas, boxcars would be quite impractical since they don’t lend themselves to being loaded or unloaded by overhead cranes. I’ve seen flatcars equipped with the “fingers”, and the slots seem too small for the bundles of rebar that I remember.
Sometimes you just don’t have the right equipment for the job and you have to make do with what you’ve got. I’ve hauled ice cream, cheese, and canned soup on a flatbed truck…strapped down and tarped…because we didn’t have reefers available. Sometimes you do what you have to do to get the job done…rebar in a boxcar doesn’t sound so far fetched. Sometimes transportation is much like making sausages…it is best that the end consumer doesn’t know everything about the process. [(-D]
When I saw the topic, I thought, “Tie it down boys! Tie it down!” And Carl echoed the sentiment with his comments about load shifting.
As I read the posts about loading and unloading, I was reminded of the time that my company received grating for a new mezzanine floor. Of course, it was loaded in the trailer lengthwise (I imagine that it had been pushed in)–and I could not get any grip on it with our fork lift. We did have a short pallet jack that I was able to run under the middle of it–and then it was back and fill, back and fill until I had the jack off the trailer and was able to more easily maneuver it completely out. I think I just left it on the dock for someone else to worry with the next day.
Yeah, “It’s what we do” is one of our sayings where I work and we always manage to do the surprise loads and shipments. From management to the janitor we jump in to get the stuff in and out.
Sometimes a load will come in that was supposed to be dropshipped and we’d have to rearrange our showroom to accomodate it. Nearly everyone is cross-trained in our twelve person operation and the unwieldy load problems are sometimes solved by a suggestion from an unlikely person.
We get into debates at times of whether two 28 foot pups in two coordinated shipments or one 53- footer will do the job.
A funny story:: once I found an abandoned CB radio and went with the female receptionist to the back loading dock which overlooked Amtrak’s corridor main out of Union Station, Washington DC. I knew that a train was scheduled out at that moment and said “watch rhis”. I “operated” the train by extending the antenna and pressing a button. She was SO impressed. Like Amtrak was my train set.
Gotta go now. RIXFLIX
Whoops, our other motto at the end of a particuly tough day is what I’d like to get done on a sampler (ala Whitman’s), “F… It”’
I’m glad to work with the people I do and remain fondly yours,
rick
The rebar that ericsp saw might not have been the long straight bundles ‘in bulk’. Instead, it may have been as many smaller and odd-shaped pieces that were pre-fabricated elswhere, but are notorious for being a sloppy load to get aboard and tie down - see the left photo at this webpage: http://www.rebar.net/ A box car might not have been any worse than a flat or gon from that perspective - and would have the advantage of concealing and securing the rebar against theft by someone seeking cheap and easily transportable steel to steal (!) to sell for its scrap value.
For larger or more quality-conscious cast-in-place concrete projects, the rebar is pre-bent by a specialty fabricator into all kinds of shapes - L’s, J’s, U’s, etc. - even cylindrical ‘cages’ - see: http://www.rebarsupply.net/images/job_photos/RebarCage02-740.jpg , http://www.rebarsupply.net//default.aspx , and http://www.rebarsupply.net//photos.aspx Typically, the long pieces have a J-shaped ‘hook’ at the end for better anchorage to resist the tensile forces; and the bundles of rebar are often wrapped by U-shaped ‘stirrups’, with even the top ends also bent down and around to the inside; the L’s are often used for retaining walls and footings, piers, etc.; the cages for columns and drilled caissons or pilings, etc.
- Paul North.
Using what you have , and the circumstances dictate what you’ll try.
“… 40,000 pounds of frozen turkeys in a rag top 45’ trailerr to Memphis, Tn. Outside temps below 32 F. Made it home in time for pre-Thanksgiving unload. Not to mention pallet loads of groceries in ‘Coal Buckets’ { End Dumps}.”
Darn sure would not try those stunts with some of the folks in grocery trades today.
No way.[:'(]
See the 1st couple of photos (not mine) on this webpage for a typical load of bent rebar:
http://defanimaltruckinglife.blogspot.com/p/pictures-of-loads-that-i-haul.html
- Paul North.
They were short pieces and straight. The cars are double door and the rebar was considerably shorter than the 16 foot opening. The load did shift. They had what appeared to be wood “bulkheads” between rebar sections and they had been knocked over. I have seen similar sized rebar on those flatcars with short bulkheads and fingers (not in a while though) and in gondolas.
I believe the standard lengths for rebar are like multiples of 20’ - see: http://www.ambsteel.com/stock_sheet.php and http://www.nucorbar.com/products.aspx - so “the rebar was considerably shorter than the 16 foot opening” indicates that those pieces were at least cut to a shorter length for a specific customer or application.
Perhaps once reason a boxcar was used instead of a ‘finger-flat’ is unavailability or a shortage of those special flats ? Or, the rebar pieces were so short that they wouldn’t safely or reliably stay in the fingers, esp. if they shifted fore or aft a foot or so ?
- Paul North.