“Do not apply vibrator to any part of the car body. External vibrator bracket Use on loaded car only.”
Where is the “external vibrator bracket”? Anywhere near the “yellow thingies”?
Mookie
“Do not apply vibrator to any part of the car body. External vibrator bracket Use on loaded car only.”
Where is the “external vibrator bracket”? Anywhere near the “yellow thingies”?
Mookie
On certain covered hoppers, on the side of the hopper near the dump doors there is a plate welded. It usually is squarish with a slot in it. They hook a jack hammer here and it shakes the load down and out. Some have it on the car body itself.
some also say “do not hammer sides of car” or no external heat(esp coal cars).as these could put a new hole in the cars.
stay safe
joe
although there really cant be that many hump yards on UP’s system anyway. it seems like only the HUGE yards have humps. and i can only count Proviso, North Platte, and maybe Roseville as big yards. and i dont see much rolling stock with those warnings on them anyway. what’s wrong with humping them though? the hump system doesnt seem to bang them around too much
Isn’t that why center-flow cars were invented?
Mookie,
The vibrator brackets are located on the discharge chutes…for two reasons…one, it works better here as this is where the commodity “packs” up…and two, because the inside of the cars are lined with a substance akin to Teflon, to keep what ever the car is loaded with from sticking to the sides.
If you apply the vibrator to, or hammer on the sides of the car, you can break the “Teflon” coating, damaging the car and contaminating the contents.
The chutes, on the other had, are not lined…they bolt onto the car body, and are designed to be replaced if damaged in a derailment or if the unloading facility beats them up.
Flexing, or vibrating them causes no harm, and as I mentioned, this is where the product will jam anyway.
They make special custom viberators to go in the square slots on those cars, and humping will compact flowable powders…
I’m afraid that this topic is going to get “BERGIEIZED” Too SOON! [:O][:O]
What started out as a serious question has now deteriorated into a mess as usual. So I will just say - I think I need to go so some serious looking and Happy Birthday to Zardoz!
At least now I know where to look, I think…
[;)]
The reason they installed the brackets was to treat a symptom not a cause. Customers in the north receive commodities like coal that have been wetted down and freeze. Other cars have materials compact. The only way they could get the coal out was either to heat the car or beat it to death and sometimes both. There are car shakers made that are a series of I beams with brackets that are put on top of a hopper and the shake it to death. Some customers hand a guy a torch and have him heat the side red hot. Others have a guy hit it with a sledge hammer. I won’t tell how we did it in a steel mill but it was a wonder they didn’t get their cars back in pieces. Obviously several experiences like this and the car would start to have problems so the railroads added a place for the customer to beat the car in a way that causes the least damage hence the brackets.
I will help you out with this… What she is talking about is the open top hoppers used in hauling coal have the aluiminum sides and coal comming out of the north or even around here gets frozen in the winter snow piles up or freezing rain or just plain rain then turns cold. heating is only so so but to see them beat the things with sledge hammers and other things is crazy. ive never seen the vibrator thing going , but it has to be out there.
The coal unloading facility at work has a car shaker - that shakes nearby buildings as well. I’ve never seen it, but it must be a beast.
there are numorous reasons to not hump…a car…fragile lading…extreme length…in need of repair…anybody remember the {no more then 4} slogans on the side of CSXT cars mid 90’s and on…was a compay promotion to lessen lading damage…guess the muckymucks that never worked a cut of cars figured it out that 4 mph was just enough…they aint never kicked cars in the tiny bowl that in Ensel yard in Lansing Mi…
the ever popular Pullman Air-flow covered hopper was the answer to all the bulk mat handling as far as unloading…of course most were retro fitted with shaker brackets…the shorty hoppers to the cement plant in Lansing are Air-flow cars…and right next to the air powered door opener is the air hammer to shake out the bulk cement…
although there really cant be that many hump yards on UP’s system anyway. it seems like only the HUGE yards have humps. and i can only count Proviso, North Platte, and maybe Roseville as big yards.
North Platte
Proviso
N Little Rock
Pine Bluff
Ft Worth
Livonia
Houston Englewood
Roseville
W Colton
Hinkle
Kansas City Neff
A&S E. St Louis
Used to have humps at Pocatello and Dupo.
Dave H.
What started as a legitimate question has seeminly taken on too many nuances and innuendos. I initially deleted and/or editted a couple of posts. However, after further review, I feel that locking this thread is a better alternative.
I’d just like to remind and encourage everyone that there a younger folks who do visit this forum and shouldn’t be subjected to these kind of influences and subject matter - even when done in jest. (Don’t they get enough of it watching TV and videos?) Please try and keep these forums more “family-oriented”, as other may not appreciate the same kind of humor as you do.
I appreciate you consideration in the matter.
Tom