I know these were banned from service a while back. (early 70’s??) So I know it wouldn’t be appropriate to see an SD 90 or Dash 8 pulling any cars that had them. (right?) But what do you guys do about it? Do you take them off and patch the holes? Do you only buy cars that don’t have them? Do you just plain not care if they have them or not? Will Burt tell Mary he’s been abducted by aliens?(let’s see who gets THAT one)Tune in![:P]
Pull them off, drill out the holes to accept 2mm styrene and plug them. I then rust up the plugs for fun.
David B
Some cars still have the roofwalk supports on them, so you can leave them on if they’re molded onto the roof, or make some out of styrene (I noticed in the latest Walthers HO catalog, there’s a company selling said roofwalk supports, for the uninitiated).
I think some railroads’ MOW boxcars still have roofwalks on them. I’m not sure if roofwalks are just banned from interchange service, or banned, period.
Did the real railroads cut them off or did they just let attrition and the scrap yard take of the problem?
SOAP
I Loved the show, hadn’t thought about in years. Thanks. Mike
As the Feds’ “get 'em off” date approached, many railroads had their rip track crews torch them off, leaving the supports to rust. The upper ladder rungs sometimes got the same treatment, but were more likely to get a quick shot of rattle-can paint so the cuts wouldn’t be too obvious.
Chuck [modeling Central Japan (where there weren’t any roof walks) in September, 1964]
I model 1900-1905 so its not a problem. 
Dave H.
[#ditto] You beat me to it.
wow, learned something new… again, love this forum…
Let me get this straight. Someone deemed the service walkway on cars as unsafe… right? So they removed them. So now if there is a need to climb on top, the have to do so on an uneven surface that isn’t graded for traction? Or am I missing something?
Could you give the reason why they were “banned”? Very interesting stuff!
Ken
Having walked some freight car roofs in the late 50’s I can tell you it was unsafe, and unhealthy. It was also forbidden on the Santa Fe in the years I worked while the train was moving. Of course a lot of things were unsafe then, including hanging on a side ladder holding a switch list and a lantern while the switch engine shoved a cut of cars into a siding.
They were more useful back in the old days when brakemen had to walk the roofs of the cars to set the brakes to slow down the train. Lost a lot of good men that way.
Bob
The practice of going on the roof was also banned along with the roofwalk.
Some cars, like covered hoppers, have roofwalks, but they are for access to the roof hatches, and not to be used while the car is in motion.
Some cars, like covered hoppers, have roofwalks, but they are for access to the roof hatches, and not to be used while the car is in motion.
Thanks! That was going to be my next question. Did they take them off the cabooses too?
Roofwalks were originally intended to allow crewmen access to brakewheels when they had to crank ‘em down individually on each car, by hand, while in the train was in motion. Roofwalks’ days were numbered, really, once Westinghouse air brakes, controlled by the engineer, and allowing the whole train to be slowed as a unit, were invented–but they didn’t disappear right away. The roofwalks finally met their demise with the practice of moving braakewheels down, lower on the car, which is where you see them today.
Eventually, the mandate came down to remove the roofwalks, as well as the tops of the tall ladders, which weren’t needed, either, because there was no longer a good reason for crews to risk their lives walking on top of moving cars in bad weather, etc.
There is very little reason for a crew member to get on top of a house car these days.
Nothing like ridin’ the breeze with your Handlin in hand on a cold winter’s night protecting the shove or relaying hand signals.Unfortionally it wasn’t against the rules on the PRR.
Then how about ice or sleet on the grabs and stirrups?
I usually I held the Handlin and switch list with one hand while using the other hand to hang on the grabs.Of course a lot of times the other brakeman was in position to make the uncoupling or make the joint.Of course kicking cars saved the hassle of shoving cars…[:D]
MR wrote:Eventually, the mandate came down to remove the roofwalks, as well as the tops of the tall ladders, which weren’t needed, either, because there was no longer a good reason for crews to risk their lives walking on top of moving cars in bad weather, etc
Beg to differ…The handbrake was still high mounted so,the B end ladder had to remain in place…The other ladders could be lowered as you say.
One other note on why running boards (roof walks) lasted so long into the era of automatic (air) brakes–access to the retaining valve. Note the retaining valve applies a modest amount of braking action to the selected car. In spite of the prevalence of dynamic braking on diesel-electrics, they have been known to fail. Railroads with significant grades have operating rules, often in the Division’s Employee Timetable Special Instructions, requiring X number of retainers (# of cars) to be set before descending a ruling grade when operating without dynamic brakes (or insufficient operative DB). Although the retaining valve has a lever accessible from the ground, a valve also was mounted high on the car end, alongside the brake ratchet housing. Formulas or tables were provided that dealt with weight of train or number of cars per operative dynamic brake and then how many retainers to set for any unaccounted for (by the dynamic braking capacity) train weight/length.
The mid-60’s ICC rule for new cars made sure the retaining valve was ground-accessible, as well. With great respect to our former brakemen responders (a dangerous job!), we must still note that “some” cars built with high-mount brake wheels and retaining valves (and running boards) DID get their brake gear relocated lower during the conversion period. It is not a hard and fast “rule”. It was up to the railroads to decide whether to relocate the brake wheel. If it was left high, then access to it had to be maintained, hence the retention of high ladders on that end of the car.
Good discussion, and hat’s off to the lowly brakemen!
So what exactly was the time frame for this conversion period? Did it differ from class 1, class 2, etc… Would you EVER see one on a car today? And still the caboose question.
I remember the changeover to no roofwalks. I would say about 1973 - 1977 was when we noticed at our warehouse all the box cars we received had no roof walks and some of the ladders were lowered along with the brake wheel.
Con Rail would spot the cars and set the air brakes. We had to climb the ladders and tighten the brake wheels and chock the wheels before we unloaded the cars.
From memory I believe it was 1967 when the no roofwalk mandate went into effect. So from that date forward, most freight cars made new came without roof walks (except covered hoppers mainly).
What I have, right or wrong, is that the ruling was mandated by the FRA in 1964, with 1966 (later extended to 1974) as the date when cars in interchange service had to have them removed. The rule applied to cabooses as well. Cars that required topside access, like covered hoppers, could have them.
No new cars could be built with roofwalks after 1966.
Even after 1974, cars that were not to be interchanged with other roads (such as MOW cars, for example) could still have the roofwalks.
Regards
Ed