Moving cars without an engine

[NYC_George]

I was thinking about the different methods businesses used to move cars after being spotted on a siding. Back in the early 70's we spotted 4 coal cars a week at the Harlem Valley state power plant in Wingdale NY. (photo below) A friend of mine who worked there told me they used a car bumper jack to re spot the 4 coal cars on the trestle. I'm not sure how that worked but he said, that's what they did? I know most of the family owned grain & feed facilities used a rope / pulley type system. The rope was tied to the freight car and wrapped around a metal cylinder. My wife and I took a ride following the New York Central upper Harlem line trying to see if any reminisce of these systems remain. The businesses are gone, some of the building are still there. (photo below) In any case I thought if might be a nice added detail if your modeling a grain / feed business. Two photo of the todays trip and other examples below.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I've heard of the siding being on a slight incline so the cars can be rolled by gravity to where they need to be unloaded. The local switcher would just pick up the empties from the bottom of the grade.

 

[bob]

A friend of mine who worked there told me they used a car bumper jack to re spot the 4 coal cars on the trestle. I'm not sure how that worked but he said, that's what they did?

I've never seen that done, but I guess it would work. They have a pretty long "throw", so I guess you would wedge it on the ties and part of the car and jack it along. They roll pretty well, better than you might guess. It would be a slow process, but I suppose it would work. These days a lot of grain elevators shove them around with backhoes or even those little "bobcat" loaders.

 

[Rico]

Oh yeah I've used those "bumper jack" car movers before!
If it didn't have a thick roll of rubber added onto the end of the handle your knuckles would hit the railhead when it slipped!

 

[bnsf971]

Back when my father still worked in a factory, they had electric winches, and ropes, and winched the cars to spot them.
The winches were on the dock, and oriented so the rope could go through a pulley in order to move a car where it needed to be, if it was on the wrong side of the winch.

 

[Boris]

When Anchor Glass was still manufacturing Bud bottles, in Cliffwood NJ, they used both methods to move cars, the wheel jack, and the winch and pulley. Since the aggregate, sand and soda ash were all over the top of the rail, there was little danger of a car rolling out toward the main.

 

[NYC_George]

[QUOTE="Since the aggregate, sand and soda ash were all over the top of the rail, there was little danger of a car rolling out toward the main.[/QU

Any siding with the slightest grade on the NYC Harlem line had a derail in place to protect the main. The derail was connected to the switch so when you closed it the main was protected. I thought about this when spotting the 4 coal cars on the power plant trestle. I'm not sure if they moved the coal cars with the hand brakes on or off. If the hand brakes were off and they lost control, down the hill and over the derail they would go. This was one of the reasons I asked my friend how they moved the cars.

George

 

[santafewillie]

I saw the winch and pulley with a steel cable being used at a grain elevator back in the 70's. As recently as ten years ago, I saw a backhoe being used out in West Texas. I have one industry (a fertilizer distributor) where I am going to model a winch and cable.

Willie