Clean out tracks
NW Mailing List
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Wed Dec 5 16:41:03 EST 2018
Ed (my buddy Shop Inspector on the Shaffers Crossing shop track a few
years ago),
I had not seen this email from you when I posted my recollections on the
innovative clean out arrangement with a "mule train" between two strings
of box cars. I should have realized that you are the one who would
remember the arrangement. I am glad that you explained that the
extended platforms were placed on G-1 gondolas because I never would
have visualized that this would have placed the platform at the right
height for box car floors. Also, it makes sense that a Trackmobile
(presumably operated by carmen) would have been used to move the "mule
train" instead of a yard engine.
Thanks for the memories,
Gordon Hamilton
On 12/4/2018 5:03 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> When I was a Shop Inspector at Shaffers Crossing Car Dept. 1959-1961
> they established a boxcar cleaning and upgrading place on three tracks
> south of the west yard. They put a platform on top of a couple of G-1
> gons wide enough to make easy access to box cars on either side (they
> were just at the right height). They had a Trackmobile for motive
> power. The platform gons had tool boxes and even a steam generator
> for washing cars out. I worked the thing for a few weeks, there were
> probably a half-cozen carmen assigned to it. We’d go down the tracks
> and clean out the cars, making small repairs to the linings and
> floors, and classify the cars for distribution. I don’t remember ever
> using the steam jenny. We’d do two tracks in the morning and they’d
> pull them and put another two tracks in for the afternoon.
> We made a lot of class C cars for the Warehouse (freight station) and
> B-1 cars for bag loading at Buchanan (couldn’t have any splinters that
> would snag a bag). We didn’t get any cars that we could make suitable
> for cigarette loading at Winston-Salem or Durham, or A-1 cars for bulk
> baking soda at Saltville. Those usually came off the shop track.
> Cigarette cars had to have straight and vertical ends, and we had no
> “stobo” machine to straighten ends. The stobo was an ingenious way to
> straighten ends used in connection with a Hyster crane. The boxcar
> side at the shop track made good use of it.
> Ah, for the good old days of the 40-foot boxcar. And the Journapak
> lubricator pads. I was lucky to be there then because journal
> bearings were undergoing a metamorphosis that would culminate with
> roller bearings, and cushion underframes, and all that good stuff.
> Fun times. I saw the first H-11 hopper, the 30000, come out and do
> its test runs.
> BTW – it should be established that I hold the worlds record for the
> number of hotboxes on one four axle car out of Shaffers shop track.
> Eight hotboxes. That got me the Ig-Nobel prize . . .
> Ed King
> *From:* NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 04, 2018 3:44 PM
> *To:* NW Mailing List
> *Cc:* NW Mailing List
> *Subject:* Re: Clean out tracks
> Jim, Jim and Ken,
> In my days on the yard, 1981 onward, the tracks Jim and Ken spoke of ,
> I knew as the "dirty hole", or "clean-out tracks". Even though there
> was no cleaning of box cars at this date, there was an area toward the
> east end of these tracks where MofW disposed of old rotten ties, fill
> dirt, etc. There were only three tracks, I believe, that were used at
> all. MofW stored their cars on two of them. The third was last used to
> load fuel oil (for company use). We would spot as many as 25, or a few
> more. Trucks from Montvale would continuously ran back and forth
> filling these company tank cars. Almost every day, a 2nd shift yard
> crew would pull the loads and re-spot the empties.
> Concerning the customers job of cleaning out their own cars, some
> still didn't get the message! Crews were instructed not to pull cars
> with trash still in them.
> I forget which year, but the old "dirty hole" was turned into a nice
> looking EPA approved landfill.
> I personally believe the "super-elevation" was simply the lack of
> track maintenance, coupled with the fact of the ground settling around
> all the junk that had been dumped over the decades. It was obvious
> during my time there was no maintenance on those tracks, unless they
> were cleaning up a derailment!
> Jeff Sanders
> On Tuesday, December 4, 2018, 1:11:12 PM EST, NW Mailing List
> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> Thanks Jim and Ken!
> On Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 11:52 AM NW Mailing List
> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>
> Jim
> Just to add to Mr. Blackstock excellent write up. The are west of
> Shaffers was referred to, at least by my father a Radford Division
> conductor, as the “Clean-out hole”.
> Now, my father was a child of the depression, and always wanted to
> repair, fix or use something over rather than buy something new.
> Now, I am not faulting him on that. So, with that in mind, at
> least once, I recall him taking me down there one time to pick up
> some good plywood he had spotted them tossing out, so he asked,
> they said help yourself, and we went back in the truck to load up.
> I honestly don’t remember what we used the stuff for, but I
> remember walking around and like Jim said there was trash and
> nails everywhere, did not remember seeing any rats. But it was
> cardboard, paper, wood, scattered all over, and maybe 3-5 tracks
> full of boxcars.
> I suspect there are not many if any photos of the area, not
> because it was unappealing to rail fans, but it was deep on
> company property. The area is now all filled in, nicely covered
> with grass, and fenced off, hard to tell what might be buried
> under there.
> Ken Miller
>
>> On Dec 4, 2018, at 9:43 AM, NW Mailing List
>> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> The clean out tracks at Shaffers Crossing was just west of the
>> engine terminal on the South side. The old stock pen was in the
>> same area.
>>
>> Re excessive super elevation. Not sure on this. Could be that
>> the area between the tracks were worn down by removal of some
>> dirt every time they ran machines to clean up the debris. On the
>> other hand it could have been by design to keep those rats from
>> jumping in the open box cars.
>>
>> I was only at the clean out tracks three times. One time to show
>> me as a new employee where they were, one time to check on the
>> location of a car and another to check out some interesting junk
>> to see if it had potential use. When you were at the location
>> you had to watch every step. There were plenty of nails and rats
>> to avoid at all cost. I never did see a rail fan with a camera
>> taking any photos in this area.
>>
>> As for me, I would rather walk through the stock pens than the
>> clean out tracks.
>>
>> Several years after my clean out experience when I was in the
>> Traffic Dept. we put in charges for cleaning out cars. This was
>> a tariff charge that required all empty cars be cleaned by the
>> customer before releasing the car to the carrier as an empty.
>> The only exception was dunnage used to block and brace the load
>> being returned to the original shipping origin. This eliminated
>> the need to operate the massive clean out tracks.
>>
>> Jim Blackstock
>>
>> On 11/28/2018 12:57 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>>> On another list there has been a discussion about clean out
>>> tracks and the cleaning of cars; some photos show the clean out
>>> tracks to have excessive super elevation that assisted in the
>>> removing of dunnage and the cleaning of the car, i.e. steam
>>> cleaning.
>>> Does anyone have insight in how N&W handled cleaning of box
>>> cars, etc? Were the clean out tracks super elevated? Any photos?
>>> Thanks.
>>> Jim Brewer
>>> Glenwood, MD
>>>
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