| Posted by Andrew on January 14, 2023 | |
Can some one give me some information as to what I am seeing here? Lots of questions.
Firstly, is this one long train I am seeing? i.e. the loco is nearly touching the last car. Now I can only see one sets of points (switches), if so how does the train get out of the loop? Uncoupling the the locos from one and re-coupling at what was the rear, or shoving back out to the "main line"?
Next, can those silos take all the grain out of that train, at the one time? Then what happens to the grain?
Regards,
Andrew
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This loop layout is very efficient. Advantages include the minimum amount of track and grading needed to receive a train, cars do not need to be coupled for unloading, and power / EOTD just switch from the head end to the rear end to reverse direction and pull out towards the next loading point (no runaround track needed). Since the train was not broken up, a complete air brake test is not needed to depart the empties. The layout does require a large parcel of land to fit the loop, an underpass or bridge is needed for unimpeded truck access when trains are present, and a loop is not easily expanded if there is a future need for larger trains sizes. However, those are minor drawbacks. This is an exemplary track design!
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| Posted by bradley on January 15, 2023 | |
Andrew, this facility is a feed mill. They unload grain here, and mix it into feed, most likely chicken feed. My guess is as you said, simply move the engines to the other end and go back from where they came. Again just guessing, but the direction it came from is probably the direction you need to go to reach large grain loading areas, hence the one way switch arrangements. Probably no reason to go the other direction anyway, so they only built one set of switches to the main line, saved a couple hundred grand.
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