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Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I find the traditional sized Postwar cars, like the coal/ore dump cars, work well for making unit trains. Their smaller size makes for longer unit trains running through reverse loops.

Arnold

Good work...your videos keep getting better...did you get a different camera?  Fendermain

Alumina Unit Train

I was familiar with unit trains as Alcoa used them from my childhood company town, to transport alumina (alumina is aluminum oxide powder which is refined from Bauxite ore and used to feed an aluminum smelter to make the metal) from the alumina refinery in Point Comfort, TX to the aluminum smelter in Rockdale, TX.  We loaded and shipped 25-30, 100 ton covered hopper cars each day, 365 d/y by unit train.

I thought it would be neat to have a unit trains for common commodities on my railroad layout.  So I made and collected some covered hopper cars used for alumina and they can be run on the layout even though I do not have an alumina refinery to load them.

The Alumina cars are from right to left, White Ormet car from Burnside, LA, two Alcoa Silver cars from Point Comfort, TX or Bauxite, AR, and Blue Reynolds car from Sherwin, TX or Bauxite, AR.  The Ormet car was homemade, the second Alcoa had a homemade individual 8 covers, and the Reynolds car has homemade cover with three hatch covers.  I have worked for these three companies (Alcoa bought Reynolds) and also Kaiser Aluminum in Baton Rouge and plant in Gramercy,LA.  I need to make a Kaiser Alumina car to complete my Alumina Unit Train.

IMG_0653

 

I  made an ORMET alumina covered hopper car although they leased their cars.

IMG_3541

 

I bought a Reynolds Metal covered hopper car without the 12 roof hatch covers.  I made a more modern, easy to use center fill cover for the car. 

IMG_3543

 

Charlie

Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie
Fendermain posted:
Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I find the traditional sized Postwar cars, like the coal/ore dump cars, work well for making unit trains. Their smaller size makes for longer unit trains running through reverse loops.

Arnold

Good work...your videos keep getting better...did you get a different camera?  Fendermain

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone camera for the past 2 years. Very pleased with it.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:
Fendermain posted:
Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I find the traditional sized Postwar cars, like the coal/ore dump cars, work well for making unit trains. Their smaller size makes for longer unit trains running through reverse loops.

Arnold

Good work...your videos keep getting better...did you get a different camera?  Fendermain

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone camera for the past 2 years. Very pleased with it.

 

For me, the appeal of unit trains is that they are so realistic. Real freight trains often have many of the same train car, such as oil tanker cars, hoppers, boxcars, refrigerator cars, gondolas, etc. Seeing a long unit freight train can be breathtaking.

It can be challenging for an O Gauge model railroader to assemble a long unit freight train. Some of the freight cars are expensive. 

If affordability is desired, I recommend starting with some Lionel Postwar Sunoco oil tanker cars. That was my 1st unit train. These oil tanker cars do nothing, and can be purchased with some rust (very prototypical) for as little as $5 per car. I look for ones that have good couplers and that have wheels that are in decent shape. A cleaning with warm water and ivory soap plus one drop of light oil on the inside and outside of each wheel goes a long way to forming a nice unit train of 8 to 12 cars or more. If there is crud on the wheels, I scrape it off with the blade of a Swiss Army knife.

Although I do not have this yet, another affordable unit train would have 10 or more Postwar Lionel gondolas. They also do nothing and can be purchased for a very modest price (between $5 and $10 per car) at train shows. What is stated above regarding oil tankers applies to gondolas.

Arnold

 

 

Here is a video of an oil tanker unit train pulled by an MTH Proto 3 CSX smoking diesel:

IMO, this unit oil tanker train is very realistic. I have seen the real thing on the Western side of the Hudson River at West Point. I also saw this unit train (the real thing) overlooking the Hudson River at the Garrison Institute 2 weeks ago.

Although I'm not 100% sure of what I'm about to say, I also believe that in the real world such unit trains provide a very economical way of transporting massive amounts of cargo like oil and, provided there is no horrendous train wreck, which is very rare, it is also better for the environment than other means of transporting immense quantities of freight like oil. 

So, I believe model and real unit freight trains are very good things. By modeling such trains, we are promoting the real thing and well as the models. It could generate a lot more excitement about model and real trains if rebuilding and renovating real train infrastructure finally happened in a big way in the United  States. Arnold

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20190730_173958
Pat Kn posted:

Pat, thanks for sharing your above YouTube videos. They show gorgeous unit trains running on a gorgeous layout with great music in the background. 

Love the combination of music and O Gauge trains. Arnold

 

There are at times one or so Unit Train on the layout.

Coal Car Unit Train

I have a coal mine so coal cars are needed and are shipped in a unit train.  So I started collecting 3 or 4 dumping coal cars, so I can load them at my coal mine loading station and unload them into one of those Lionel coal bin/trays.

IMG_0665

 

Oil Tank car Unit Train

I have 3 or 4 oil tank cars, chemical tank cars, gondolas, boxcars, flat cars, log cars, milk cars, cattle cars, etc. to make unit trains for each type car. 

Below is an example of one, a tank car Unit Train.

IMG_0654

 

Unit train of Milk cars

IMG_0686

IMG_0664

 

Auto loader Unit Train

Pictured below are 4 auto loaders operating as a unit train.  I have to be careful with these when using heaver metal cars as they are top heavy on curves.  I picked up a box of red metal 57 Chevy convertibles but plastic ones are better for auto loaders

IMG_0682

So you can see unit trains add interest and fun to the layout and operation.

Charlie

Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie

Good evening all:

I have been waiting a long time to share this.  Some details were not perfect, but here it is anyway.  Enjoy.

The cars are all Lionel 6-26xxx or 6-27xxx class H43 hoppers, which are equipped with die-cast frames and sprung metal trucks. They are filled with rice coal from Tractor Supply Company, and weight about ~4.5lb each. The train is almost 120lb total.

There are 5 motors that power this train, (3) MTH E44s and (2) MTH E33s. They do NOT have vile traction tires, so the power is distributed, and the train needs most of those horses.  Two of the E44s are up front, one is right in the middle, and the two E33s bring up the markers. Since the caboose is a steel frame, it can be placed ahead of the helpers.  The motors draw about 3A to keep this train moving at 35smph.

Last edited by Pantenary
Apples55 posted:

PANTENARY;

What’s not perfect??? That was an amazing video. And 120 pounds... incredible. I assume all the engines are powered from the catenary, correct???

If you did not notice, I won't spoil it.  I am a perfectionist, and I should have waited to get some of the details right.  Sometimes though, its better to just share.

Yes, all the motors on my system are powered by the catenary.  You will not find any rollers in my house! 

Thanks for watching.

 

--Nate

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