Live bottom conveyer train?

[Rusty Spike]

UP is putting in new sidings in my area and yesterday a stange train pulled into the area. It has a conveyor contraption at each end of 40 or so open top hopper looking cars. I can't get close to get a good look but it appears the cars must have a live conveyer underneath that catches ballast and conveys it to the two-car conveyer contraption at each end. The first of the two conveyer cars catches ballest from beneath and lifts it for the end conveyer car that can swivel its conveyer off to the side to drop the ballast.

Is this what I'm seeing?

 

[Rusty Spike]

Anyone ever seen this train unloading?

 

[Rusty Spike]

Google comes through again:

The DUMP TRAIN is a high-speed aggregate delivery system consisting of 15 articulated cars with a conveyor system under the hoppers on each car. The 16th car is the transfer car that contains the power to run the system and a 50-foot unloading boom. The unloading boom is able to unload in an arc from 90 degrees of track centerline, providing placement at up to 2,000 tons per hour.

GREX notes that the DUMP TRAIN is the only known system that can dump ahead of itself, making it ideal for ballasting in washout and certain other situations.

If needed, GREX can provide a ballast car that is continually fed by the DUMP TRAIN. The ballast car has a plow and gates allowing the ballast to be dumped on the inside or outside of the tracks.

The DUMP TRAIN can also be used in stockpiling aggregate at rail crossings that are to be reworked. No material is wasted in that only the amount of needed material is unloaded.

GREX does not sell the DUMP TRAIN, but is a provider of DUMP TRAIN service to the major Class 1 railroads. The units are primarily used in construction and maintenance-of-way.

The largest job that DUMP TRAINs have been used for has been providing the sub-ballast for the double- and triple-tracking in the Powder River Basin area in Wyoming.

DUMP TRAINs have been chosen as the delivery system of choice for the massive BNSF Arsenal Intermodal project near Joliet, Ill., requiring more than four million tons of aggregates. DUMP TRAINs will be delivering 13,500 tons per day to this project. This will be accomplished by running three DUMP TRAINs together, delivering 4,500 tons per delivery.

With the capability of unloading at 2,000 tons per hour at precise placement, the DUMP TRAINs will be making three deliveries per day over the 33-mile haul.

If done by truck, this would require more than 540 truckloads per day. This job was scheduled to begin in late August and continue throughout the Winter.

 

[Rusty Spike]

Found pictures on this great website: http://www.trainweb.org/dbrr/mow/GREX.dumptrain.html

 

[viperman]

I've actually seen something like that before. But the one I saw only had like 5 cars, not 15

 

[LoudMusic]

That reminds me, I need to go take pictures of a rail maintanence car that's parked in town. It's CRAZY looking.

You've got an interesting find there. I don't know that I've seen one of those rolling around my neck of the woods.

 

[Rusty Spike]

Prime moment - my son (age 8) and I went for hair cuts last night and on the way home we saw the Dump Train had moved next to a great railfan spot. We pulled up and walked to a small hill just 25 yards away or so.

This Dump Train had two 15-car hopper/conveyer cars and was off-loading ballast into a big stock pile. It was headed by a UP dash 9 and an ex CNW SD-40 (best I could tell anyway - very dirty).

We watched as one 15 car section unloaded nearly all its cargo - each car has four hoppers with hydraulic (air?) clam shell doors at the bottom just above the conveyer. These are operated by a crewman on a catwalk that runs the length of the train. He would open a hopper and we could see the mound above disappear. As that one nearly finished unloading he'd open the next one. Each hopper took about 55 seconds to unload - less than 4 minutes per car and thus less than an hour to unload (65 tons x 15 cars) nearly 975 tons of material (assumed 130,000 pounds per car based on empty weight and loaded limit).



The cars closest to the elevator and boom were unloaded first. All doors were left open until the last hopper was done. The 50 ft. boom dropped the load at a 90 degree angle from the train. Two crew members watched the stock pile and radio-ed to the engineer when it was time to move forward.

The cars are hooked together via drawbar with a conveyer belt "holder" that swivels above the drawbar between each car. Power for the conveyer comes from the control car at the other end with the elevating conveyer and othe unloading boom.

We had a great time watching, discussing and hanging out. I got a big old hug and kiss before he went to school this morning and I'm convinced spending quality time together last night helped achieve that. Who cares what the quality time is centered around - if it brings you together it's all the better.

I took two photos with my PDA - wished I would have had my real camera.

 

[zedob]

Just remember "Don't Hump the Dump Train"

Hey, it says it right on the front of it.