Canadian Railroads > Dimensional Load in Halifax

Although the vast majority of traffic in and out of Halifax is containers, we do see dimensional moves from time to time.  Some of the container ships, like ACL's fleet, also handle RO-RO cargo, and there are frequently moves of heavy machinery from Europe going west.  The flatcars for these are often assembled months ahead of time in Rockingham Yard.  Less often, there will be some big loads going east for export, such as this transformer (or whatever it is), which arrived on 12-axle flatcar QTTX 130650 this past Thursday.  Apparently there were no serious speed restrictions (less than 50 mph), so the load travelled on the regular train into Halifax, 120.

120 was powered by three Tier 4 GEs, including one of the few former demonstrators that CN purchased but has not yet repainted, GECX 2038.  The loaded car was buffered by two empty Wisconsin Central 2-bay hoppers, and marshalled about half way back in the train with the rest of the "junk".  All three images were taken at the big curve in Bedford, as the train was slowing for the switch to the Transfer track at Millview.

GTD

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How about telling what state, or providance this is in? Yes you know but everybody else don't know it upkpfan

Halifax, which is clearly mentioned in the subject line, is a city in Nova Scotia, which is a province in eastern Canada.

Jim

upkpfan Wrote:
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> How about telling what state, or providance this
> is in? Yes you know but everybody else don't know
> it upkpfan

WTF is a "providance?"

It is obviously a posting on the CANADIAN board, so the chances of it being in a "state" are minimal.

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Neat catch; I haven't seen a depressed-centre flat with a trio of 2-axle trucks at each end. Just pairs, or else 3-axle trucks. As an aside, I'm Canadian and have been known to be offended when someone Stateside is messed up about our geography. But it doesn't help the level of discourse, or encourage anyone to learn, when scorn gets heaped on them. Gently does it, could we? And no, this is not Justin-speak; I can't stand his approach either.
Fred

feclark Wrote:
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> Neat catch; I haven't seen a depressed-centre flat
> with a trio of 2-axle trucks at each end. Just
> pairs, or else 3-axle trucks. As an aside, I'm
> Canadian and have been known to be offended when
> someone Stateside is messed up about our
> geography. But it doesn't help the level of
> discourse, or encourage anyone to learn, when
> scorn gets heaped on them. Gently does it, could
> we? And no, this is not Justin-speak; I can't
> stand his approach either.
> Fred

The only advantage of using  the 2 axle trucks vs the 3 axle trucks I can think of is that the 2 axle trucks can handle a sharper curve since the rigid wheelbase is less.

Going by the variety of pictures in my collection, 12-axle 6-truck depressed center flatcars are much more common than 12-axle 4-truck ones.

Ray

Apparently I touched a nerve.  I am aware that not everybody who may happen across my posts will have the same level of geographic knowledge of my area as I do, so I do try to provide that basic information (the five Ws).  However, the risk of providing too much information, and especially the same information over and over again, is that it doesn't make for particularly good reading.  In this case, I made a judgment call that since the post was on the Canadian Board, and I mentioned "Halifax", "containers" and "Europe", that somebody would figure out that I'm talking about Nova Scotia.  And if the reader doesn't know where Nova Scotia is (plenty of people don't), it likely won't matter to them anyway.  Certainly for more obscure locations in the province, I try to include that information up front, so the reader doesn't have to go searching for it.  

Back to the topic at hand, I was under the impression that 6-wheel freight trucks were no longer being made, at least in North America.  They seemed to have been manufactured solely by Buckeye Steel Castings company in Columbus, OH, which went bankrupt in 2002.  A company called Columbus Castings carried on until 2016, but it ceased operations and the assets at the site are in the process of being liquidated.  That might account for their current rarity.  Being able to use standard, off the shelf, 4-wheel trucks is no doubt an advantage from a maintenance point of view too.  Around the turn of the last century, Samuel Prescott Bush, the grandfather of Pres. George H. W. Bush, was hired as general manager of Buckeye.  He later became president of the company.

GTD

Those look like 125 ton trucks too. Raised ends to accommodate the 38 inch wheels.

cn6218 Wrote:
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> Apparently I touched a nerve.

Stressfully times for pretty much the whole world. It happens.

Great report on an interesting load!

Generally, 6 1/2 by 12 bearings can carry 71.5 tons per axle; and 6 1/2 x 13 bearings can carry 78.5 tons per axle.

the 50 ton boxcar had a load limit of about 100,000 lbs and a max. gross weight of 154,000 lbs
      70 ton boxcar had a load limit of 154,000 lbs and a max gross of 210,000 lbs
     100 ton car load limit 200,000 and a max gross weight of 263,000 lbs
     115 ton car load limit 220,000 and a max gross weight of 286,000 lbs
The size of the wheel bearings is the major factor in determining the car capacity.

Norm

        
 

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar