Canadian Railroads > CN CWR Train Components - Individual Cars

On Friday I posted some shots of CN rail-carrying flats, at https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,5864801. I had the intention of posting some shots of cars from one of their CWR trains, so thanks to Train611 for shots of former NAR welded rail train on CN, and a historical note from another reader, engineerinvirginia. I was encouraged to find a simple step to make my slide scans brighter than the recent sludge I've been turning out (with apologies), so I'm more enthused about this. This is a six-shot post.
1. This is CN 44295, the Rail Threader Car and the way of moving welded rail from inside the carriers to outside the existing rail head. This was the tail end of CN #488, Edson to Saskatoon according to the TSG, on June 20, 2000 at 1247. The CWR train was the back half of a consist whose front half was a string of ballast hoppers. The location is between East Edmonton and Victoria Trail, just behind Yellowhead Auctions. I spend many hours here over the years, without being hassled. I assume I can't do that anymore. The car is 52' long, the flat was built in 1-41, and CN converted it for this use in 6-84.
2. This is the same beast, CN 44295, standing in a siding at Hinton, AB on July 7, 2002.
3. Coupled to the rail threader car is CN 44294, also a 52' car, built 1-40 and modified 6-84. It appears to serve the function of receiving the rail fed from the chutes of 44295, and is equipped with block and tackle suspended from its gantries to get the rail at the right height to feed into the racks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/24 14:07 by feclark.

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4. Next in the string of this CWR consist is CN 46894, which only has overhead walkways at one end, and is apparently designed to handle just the overhang at one end of the car. Length is 47-2, but I cannot make out the build date; it's 2-xx.
5. In order (moving away from the threader car, probably skipping a few cars along the way) is one of the rail rack cars, CN 46601. It was built new for this purpose, but I can't make out the last year of the date; it's 8-8x, and the length is 41-6. You'll notice the welded fish-belly configuration, rather than riveted.
6. The last style of car to be shown is also a rack car, but this time with a straight channel configuration to the side sills. It's length is 41-1, and it was build by CN on 5-87. Would moonlighter be able to tell us which shop is HQ? Thanks.
As a practical question, could you model one of these in HO? What I mean is, would there be enough flex in the rail, and grab from your flanges, to keep the thing on the tracks while negotiating curves? I assume the model railroad turn radii are too tight because they're not prototypical.
Fred
 

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Thanks Fred for your interesting post.  As you know we see little MoW equipment around here, so few trains, nothing ever wears out!  VIA is doing a lot of work on their Alexandria sub but this work is done at night.

Gerry Gaugl
Ottawa ON