I have never seen a Shuttlewagon until today when the Science Channel showed how they are made. They have a 600 hp diesel engine and can pull 40 cars. It has rail wheels as well as big rubber tires, so it can run off the track. Perhaps if I lived near a freight yard then I would know about these freight movers. Wonder if we'll ever see an O gauge model?
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Boy, that's different.
A TrackMobile (which Lionel's made) by a different manufacturer.
Rusty
billsoff,
Way cool, I want one in O gauge no doubt about it.
PCRR/Dave
,
A few shots of one we operate in California I saw on a business trip.
These are used in place of a locomotive in industrial settings where cars need to be switched out regularly for loading and unloading between full rail pulls by the railroad. I don't think you would ever find one in a rail yard where locomotives would be present to do the work.
A TrackMobile (which Lionel's made) by a different manufacturer.
Rusty
Here: Trackmobile Take your pick. Even has TMCC!
Painted couplers? I thought that was verboten.
Painted couplers? I thought that was verboten.
I seriously doubt that that thing is FRA compliant, or even under FRA jurisdiction.
Painted couplers? I thought that was verboten.
I seriously doubt that that thing is FRA compliant, or even under FRA jurisdiction.
Being that they never traverse mainlines they don't need to be. They are only used on private rail spurs within company grounds.
I'm thinking that they can pull cars that are 40 feet long, but pulling 40 cars seems like an awfully optimistic assertion.
Well, I count at least 25 cars in this TrackMobile photo:
Rusty
I looked at their website. Shuttlewagon has some really good features. They have put a lot of thought into the design of these machines.
Thanks, John, for posting this topic.
Are they legal to run on public roadways, say like farm tractors do?
@texgeekboy that’s a great question and have never been asked that. I am going to have to find out. I will let you know when I have an answer.
Is there a "ballpark figure" of how much a railroad charged an industry for a switch? The answer can be compared to the cost of buying one of these shuttle machines, as well as the industry having the convenience of getting a switch at any moment they needed it.
Rob; during most of my career, the C1’s would shift cars around inside a plant multiple times and rarely charge for it. That changed when they began requiring all car movement’s within a plant site to be requested electronically. Crews were forbidden to move a car unless the conductor had it on his/her work order. Once they could track intraplant switch moves, the cash register started ringing.
I recollect CN being the first to start this when Hunter was there. Basically he transitioned everything the railroad had previously done as a courtesy into what I referred to as “ala carte” railroading. By the time I “pulled the pin” in mid 2019, all the Class 1’s where handling in this manner.
The cost of the intraplant switch moves aside; another factor driving rail customers to perform their own intraplant switching is simply that the railroads no longer want to mess with it. As manpower has been cut over the years, local crews have been given more industries to serve. If they burn their hours of service at one or two customers moving this car over there and that car over here, the local crew is unable to complete all their work and customers further down the line are not receiving the service they require.
Curt
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