I live in Colorado Springs and have some pics of where the Rio Grande used flat cars as retaining walls for their easement. This is along the current UP/BNSF joint mainline. If anyone is interested let me know and I will post them if I can figure out how. I think this would make for some cool scenery and thought I would share.
Please post them here! Here’s how: get yourself a free account at http://www.photobucket.com/ Upload your photos there, and use their supplied links, the ones with the [img] tag at each end. Post the links here. Simple as that!
Bob Boudreau
I definately think it would be worth a look.
Fergie
I know of a lot of old flat cars that have been turned into one-lane auto and foot bridges, and I know that the Rio Grande used rock-filled hoppers as a wind-break on a portion of their Big Ten curves on the Moffat line, but flat cars as retaining walls is a new one on me. I sure hope you can post the pictures, because it sounds fascinating!
Tom [:D][:D]
The MKT drove H columns and then dropped boxcar doors between the flanges to make a retaining wall just south of Tower 55 in Ft Worth.
Dave H.
I will try to get those pics posted this evening. I just wanted to see if there was enough interest to post them. At Kirby Yard (former Southern Pacific, now yellow fungus) in San Antonio they used an 89 footer as a bridge over a drainage ditch. I guess this sorta of stuff is the ultimate recycling.
We’re waaaaaaaaitinnnnnnnnnng…
Keep your hat on man!!! Seriously though, I have everything at home and will get this stuff out this evening.
csmith9474,
Hey, no problem. The comment was not meant as a hassle. Sorry…[:(]
Tom
I can’t wait. This sounds like a nice project for me.
Hey, cool stuff going on here. I definitely would like to see this stuff. I may have to get back on this evening. Twhite, do you have any pictures?
This will have to go on my layout somewhere[:D]
~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~
Tom,
I should apologize if that came off the wrong way. It was in fun. I need to start using smilies.
csmith9474,
I sorta thought so but didn’t want to assume anything. (I forgot to use the smile myself) Anyhow, I’m looking forward to seeing the pic when you get around to posting it. [:)]
Tom
Here they are folks. This is my first time posting pics so I hope it’s OK!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/csmith9474/000_0137.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/csmith9474/000_0140.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/csmith9474/000_0136.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/csmith9474/000_0135.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/csmith9474/000_0134.jpg
verry cool pics
Photobucket gives you two options for selecting photos they host. One starts like you’ve posted, with http: The others start with [ img ] and end with [ /img ]. (I’ve added extra spaces between the square brackets so this will show up here).
The second option is the preferred one on this forum, as your photos apper right within your post, no need to click on to see.
I’ve added the [img] tag to your first photo:
Easy as that!
Thanks for posting them in any fashion!
Bob Boudreau
csmith9474,
Thanks for the pics! That’s pretty wild. I would have to say that those flat cars have definitely seen better days…
Tom
I wasn’t able to drop in last night. That’s cool stuff, it is!
~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~
Looks great!! i Wounder if that might have been a wrek theres too??? something to think about??
carl
This answer may be boring but…
Retaining walls are usually cantilevers…
Easy way to picture it… when you put a rule over a table edge to twang it… that’s a cantilever… the bit sticking over the edge… Now, turn this through 90 degrees… and you have a situation like a fence post. How much the fence will hold up in a wind… or with cows leaning on it… depends not on the number of wires but on the length of post in the ground and the nature of the ground. So sometimes you put a bracing post on the lee side to add strength.
For a retaining wall the situation is the same as the fence… except that the wind or cows are replaced by the ground being held up on one side. The load may be heavy but is usually pretty constant. The important the important thing is the effectiveness of the cantilever. the earth behind the visible bit of the wall is trying to lever the wall into the open space in front of it. What is stopping it is the effectiveness (or not) of the grip of the ground around the part of the wall that is out of sight below ground… with earth on both sides of it.
Without the bit in the ground all that any structure is is a heap of material on the surface… for example a pile of sandbags. these may do the job… it depends on the load being applied, for how long… and how well the pile holds together. People in flood zones are familiar with this issue.
That said… the flat cars in the pictures (nice pictures)! look more like a derailment that someone decided wasn’t worth the bother/cost of cleaning up. To some extent the cars might help stabilise the embankment in the same way that Rip Rap does.
The cars are the wrong way up to do much though… the frame holds what’s on the floor up and the strength in the opposite direction is relatively limited. If these cars were placed as retaining walls they would do their job more effectively with the floor against the bank. they would also do a better j