Western Railroad Discussion > Dumping coal cars

As a companion post to Stash's question below http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4236586 here are a few photos showing the dumping shed at Muscatine (Iowa) Power and Water.

1.  It is not common to see a car parked in the shed like this but the car shaker lift motor failed and they uncoupled the train to give the electricians better access for repairs.

2.  The belts can't carry the coal away as fast as it is dumped so it piles up like this in the dump pit.  It takes approx. 4 mins to unload a car.

3.  Couplers showing the smaller diameter air hose that supplies air to the dumping cylinder.

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4.  Trinity rapid discharge coal hopper.  Steeply sloped end sheets and doors over almost the entire bottom of the car enables these cars to unload very quickly.  The car jumps visibly when the doors open and the coal drops out.

5&6.  One of EMD's finest backs through the dumping shed.

Thanks for looking,

Andy

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Interesting post.
How's the cotter pin on a chain in the second photo used?

pmack Wrote:
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> Interesting post.
> How's the cotter pin on a chain in the second
> photo used?

It's used to lock the eletric shoe back out of the way if needed.
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

I don't see a device like a "striker" to shock the shoes here. Do they use a handheld "wand" device or do they just push the buttons on the dump valve?

Drew Mitchem
Centralia, WA

Great post Andy!

Erik

Just push the buttons by hand.  The button is in the rectangular box mounted on the car at far left in the 2nd photo.  Here's a photo of one of our coal crew using the pushbutton.

Andy


> I don't see a device like a "striker" to shock the
> shoes here. Do they use a handheld "wand" device
> or do they just push the buttons on the dump
> valve?

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Ah Muscatine. Been your plant a time or two.

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