A Scratchbuilt Operating Dockside Coal Unloader

Impressive work! Thanks for sharing.

-Greg

All I can say is WOW !!!!

Think I've seen that one before, but I love it every time.  Thanks!

Terrific animation and modeling!  Thanks for sharing. 

WOW Very impressive!

That's nothing short of amazing, some serious modeling skills on display there!

After seeing that, who still thinks this is a kid’s hobby?

Somebody, has a lot of mechanical and modeling talent. Very nice work.  Truly amazing.

We need a Nobel prize for modeling. This is in the finals.

That is just plain AWESOME!  That gentleman did a fantastic job on it.  Thanks for sharing that.  Very cool and I totally agree with Jim on this one.

What a dump!   

Great modeling! 

A related note...

When working as a brakeman/conductor on Conrail's former CNJ extra list in the late 1970's, the former READING Coal Dumper at Port Reading, NJ was covered by the former CNJ E'port extra list. After Conrail was formed the CNJ's furthest yard location was Bridgeton, NJ and the Reading's was Port Reading, NJ. So they swapped what extra list would cover those 2 respective locations. ex-CNJ covered Port Reading and ex-Reading from Philly covered Bridgeton.  

As luck would have it, I was called to work a 2nd trick 3pm - 11pm at Port Reading. Remember that HO video you may have just seen with the hopper car going down the incline and through the spring switch to reverse into the yard...well there was a brakeman on that now empty coal hopper to handle the handbrake. Picture doing this hoping that the coal car would not hit the bumping block before gravity brought the car in a reverse direction...and also right next to the watery inlet AT NIGHT!  That brakeman was me...only worked the Port Reading dumper once...that was enough.

video of the Port Reading coal dumper... https://youtu.be/wTmuL4JauLM

photos of the Port Reading coal dumper...  https://patch.com/new-jersey/w...hangs-on-by-a-thread

Walter M. Matuch

Walter, hope you had your water wings!

RMT...Ready Made Trains posted:

….. . Remember that HO video you may have just seen with the hopper car going down the incline and through the spring switch to reverse into the yard...well there was a brakeman on that now empty coal hopper to handle the handbrake. Picture doing this hoping that the coal car would not hit the bumping block before gravity brought the car in a reverse direction...and also right next to the watery inlet AT NIGHT!  That brakeman was me...only worked the Port Reading dumper once...that was enough.

Walter M. Matuch

I believe that is what this gentleman is doing, Walter. The empty hopper that he is hanging on, is about to get shoved out of the unloader by the loaded hopper, and go for the wild ride.

It seems like a man rode the hopper up into the unloader, too ….. in Jersey City.  The 3-stall building at the far left is one of the "thawing sheds, for breaking apart frozen clumps of coal in the hoppers. …..

The photos are from THIS ARTICLE  in the November 1951 edition of Railroad Magazine.  A modeler posted it on the web.

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Great working model

There used to be a rotary dump with a gravity tracks in San Pedro years ago. A cut of cars was held in place by switchers and at the short approach to the rotary, the track had a slight grade. The loaded car would be cut loose and roll into the rotary unit where it was stopped via track brakes as in a hump yard. After the car was dumped, it was released to roll out onto the gravity return track and spring switch where it would couple to a string of empties. There was a guy with the most dangerous job in the world who open and center the coupler on the last car on the string waiting for the next one to hit with a bang. Interesting operation to watch. They tore it down and built one for bathtub gondolas on Terminal Island, then later tore that one down. They use the track for holding container trains now.

This thread is an amazing window on a past time. Thanks to all the posters.

Riding those reminds me of "bumper skiing" the main streets as a kid to get over 25mph. About a mile at over 40 was my record. A pal did near 3miles. He was gone for a couple of hours before he got back.

I think I could have handled it, maybe even with a coal stained grin 

Being a gymnast was just as risky and the skills learned removed à lot of other risks and fears

One of those Mcmyler coal hopper unloaders would be a neat project to build from Erector parts for O gauge....  A big and challenging project, but it could also be an operating model.  Would take a lot of space though.

Adriatic posted:

Riding those reminds me of "bumper skiing" the main streets as a kid to get over 25mph. About a mile at over 40 was my record. A pal did near 3miles. He was gone for a couple of hours before he got back.

I think I could have handled it, maybe even with a coal stained grin 

LOL- back when cars had bumpers that you could actually grab hold of. Funniest thing was when you would grab a ride (we called it skitching), and find a glove stuck in the bumper.

I remember one of these on the docks at Mobile when I was a kid - at least the hopper "return" setup. Magnificent model - even if it has the fastest hopper cars on the planet. I know - real estate, grades and what's possible are all part of model RR'ing.

Lionel - if you want to offer us the Accessory of Accessories - here's your chance. Should cost about the same as a nice 4-6-4.

Could that be the next Menard's offering?

I just remembered......I saw something like this at TrainStock......from last January at the NJ HiRailers......

Peter

Now that is something else I must say.