Working rail roads and their tracks.

[Reb954]

I saw this in an old Sears catalog my parents had and made one for my bike when I was a teenager. It was amazing how effortless it was riding the rail, but I tried it out on an active track!
It would be great for abandoned tracks.
I had to put a small wheel front and back of bike with brackets also.View attachment 651229

That picture brings back some memories. When I was around 10 to 15 years old I worked for a surveying company. They had a job to survey inside a old underground coal mine. Each morning we would ride the coal cars up to the portal and ride them back each night. Then I found out the hoist operator rode a mule to the portal each morning but he had a rail cart he rode down at night. The cart was simple in design, two angle irons running along side the rail that had ball bearings front and rear to ride on the rail. It had a handle that when pulled it squeezed two wood blocks against the sides of the rail to slow down or stop the cart. To balance yourself you carried a stick that rode on top of the opposite rail.

I talked the hoist operator into letting me ride a back up cart he had a few times. It was quite a ride. The hill to the portal was very steep but at the bottom it leveled out for quite a ways so you had to make sure you had enough speed as you got off the hill to carry you to the tipple. The first time I remember I had to walk quite a ways carrying the cart but after that I made sure I had plenty of speed. I remember some of the stories of injuries guys received when things didn't go right. I never crashed but it's probably from pure luck.

 

[MossRoad]

Great story! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Any of you have train whistle bans in your towns? They banned them on the east side years ago, but never on the west side (west side is always neglected in our town). Finally, at a town council meeting, someone pointed it out that once again, the west side gets neglected for years and years. They finally started putting it in place last year.

I live just outside of town in the county, so we still have the train horns. I like them.

Funny story about train whistles....

I thought the signs along the tracks just before each crossing were for compass direction for the engineers to tell them what direction they were going... but I never saw any directions other than West.

 

[oliver1555]

Some time ago, there were some posts about trains sharing bridges with cars. This is the tunnel going to Whittier, Alaska, shared by vehicle and train traffic. Hopefully, it is not a repeat of something that has already been posted. If you haven't been, it should be on your A list!

Whittier Tunnel, Transportation & Public Facilities, State of Alaska

Whittier Tunnel - gorgeous drive to Whittier Alaska - YouTube

 

[RobS]

Any of you have train whistle bans in your towns? They banned them on the east side years ago, but never on the west side (west side is always neglected in our town). Finally, at a town council meeting, someone pointed it out that once again, the west side gets neglected for years and years. They finally started putting it in place last year.

I live just outside of town in the county, so we still have the train horns. I like them.

Funny story about train whistles....

I thought the signs along the tracks just before each crossing were for compass direction for the engineers to tell them what direction they were going... but I never saw any directions other than West.

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

I don't think we have bans. I can hear them in the distance when I lay quietly in bed. It provides an odd relief, almost an assurance that there is life outside still!

 

[MossRoad]

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

I don't think we have bans. I can hear them in the distance when I lay quietly in bed. It provides an odd relief, almost an assurance that there is life outside still!

Reminds me of the time I was awakened by a tornado.

Yanked wife out of the bed by her wrist while she was 5 months pregnant.
Dragged her on her knees across the floor.
Dumped her in the hallway.
Ran into the kid's room, scooped up 4 year old, tossed over right shoulder.
Ran back into hall, grabbed wife's wrist again with my left hand and started heading for the basement stairs screaming TORNADO! TORNADO! while wife is screaming IT'S A JET! IT's A JET! IT'S A JET YOU MORON!!!

HUH? Oh. Sorry. You OK?

She had rug burns from where I dragged her on the berber carpet and a bruised wrist. Fortunately, the baby was OK.

Turns out it was a Fed-X 727 using the rarely used south runway in heavy winds. It shook the entire house. I called the FAA the next day to complain. They said I wasn't the first caller.

I do enjoy the train horns. I can hear them by Honeywell, Grandview, Pine and Country Club. I do miss the clickety-clack of the wheels on the rail joints now that they welded all the tracks, though.

 

[cqaigy2]

I can just hear train whistle in the distance, if wind is right. I love it that i rarely hear any manmade sounds so hear all nature making noises and such, but i sometimes wake up late at night and hear that low lonely whistle in the distance, and that just fine with me.

 

[ArlyA]

Since you guys like horns, you should catch the JAMES R BARKER sometime. Of course like them too. :thumbsup:

 

[buickanddeere]

Train drivers are the world's best drivers, the way they can keep that whole train balanced on top of those little rails without falling off. :laughing:

Bruce

I have often wondered why the train gauge is so narrow at 4'8-1/2'' . 7 ft wide would be more stable but...??????..

 

[Hay Dude]

Nah. Let's keep this on the RR discussion. That subject is for another forum. :thumbsup:

Thanks! Yeah theres plenty, but enjoying the RR talk too much for that. :thumbsup: