Railroad Construction and Maintenance Equipment

The mechanic is checking the hydraulics on a used Norscot CAT 432D backhoe.  The service truck is an International Durastar by First Gear.  The backhoe came with an auger, chisel, boom and fork.

@darlander posted:

Great project Keith!   I see a couple in my future.   Did you start with a two bay hopper?  Anxious for more details.  Thanks for the post.

Cheers, Dave

Thanks Keith as you have inspired me and I'm in the process of building two ballast hoppers.   I purchase a couple of Weaver two bay hoppers on eBay for the project and have finished the demolition phase.   I'm now ready to build the drop chutes.   I have also completed the ballast loads for the cars.  Happy to share a few pic of the process so far!

My Canvas:

My target:

Demolition with a little help from a radio arm saw:

Clean up with 60 and 80 grit sanding blocks:

Ready for the building of the shoots:

Ballast loads are finished:

Love a new project!!   Will post again when finished!

Cheers, Dave

Completed the Hart ballast hoppers.    

Cheers, Dave

@darlander posted:

Completed the Hart ballast hoppers.    

Those look great, let me know when you are taking orders....

Here's a preview of a rail construction yard diorama I"m working on with a Diecast Promotions 1/50 Chevy Silverado. 

Jet power snow blower.   A newly purchased jet powered snow blower has arrived and has been set out on Danlilu siding on the Mountain Division where it will wait to be called on for winter storms.

Some very nice die cast being used in MOW service along with some very nice MOW rolling stock.

Darlender, any photos of chute fabrication?

BIG HOOK in action.

@coach joe posted:

Some very nice die cast being used in MOW service along with some very nice MOW rolling stock.

Darlender, any photos of chute fabrication?

Coach Joe, sorry for the delay with my response. We have recently returned from a Canada and  northwestern US road trip and I have been away from my computer for most of that time. It was just today that I noticed your request for more pictures of the build. I was able to use materials that I had on hand so I do not have all the styrene/copper stock numbers used for the chutes.

The bones of the build are Weaver 2 bay offset hoppers. The drop  chutes are scale 6.5 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 2 feet high.   Hope that the following pictures tell the story:

Cheers, Dave

@darlander posted:

Coach Joe, sorry for the delay with my response. We have recently returned from a Canada and  northwestern US road trip and I have been away from my computer for most of that time. It was just today that I noticed your request for more pictures of the build. I was able to use materials that I had on hand so I do not have all the styrene/copper stock numbers used for the shoots.

The bones of the build are Weaver 2 bay offset hoppers. The drop  shoots are scale 6.5 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 2 feet high.   Hope that the following pictures tell the story:

Cheers, Dave

Thank you for the progress photos.  I have a better understanding and see more of the details in the unpainted versions.

                                                          1960'S ERA...

While visiting Cajon Pass yesterday, my friend took me to Colton, CA to see a derailed UP SD40-2.  Near the Colton yard was a GATX car cleaning and repair center. 

The MW department recently had a  demonstration of a hi-rail MB Unimog with Mulag mower attached to the front .  This is a 1:50 scale model by NZG, and the mower is detachable.  NZG also made a shunting version.

You can see interesting videos online of the mower in use.

I recently saw a similar Unimog with a boom mounted mower (attached in the  truck bed though) cutting brush along the highway in Maryland.

The vendor brought another piece of German equipment to demo.  This is a 1:50 scale Atlas 1604ZW railroad excavator by Conrad.

I like the separately painted towing bar.

It only came with one bucket, unlike the DCM CAT railroad excavator which came with several attachments.

The contractor outfitted a 1:50 Sword Ford F250 flatbed dually as a welding rig.  The flatbed truck and welder are custom and were purchased finished.   Custom laser cut mud flaps, welding tank holder, reel rack, and tool box fronts (boxes are styrene) were added.  The top hose reels, welding tanks, and fire extinguisher are 3D prints.  The bottom hose reel is a metal casting.

This PJ Trailers 1:50 scale dump trailer from Weiss Brothers is hauling a Bobcat loader for some light ballast work.