OScale Trains

Modern OrderThe biggest part of model railroading is thetrain. I started the last column that way, but itis true to such a high degree it deserves sayingagain. It shouldn’t be surprising that if we,as modelers, follow modern railroad operatingpractices, then we should also follow modernDOT (U.S. Department of Transportation) safetyrules when building a model train consist. Whena crossing arm stops the average morning commuter, I doubtif they wonder why there are four locomotives, then a boxcar,then a tank car, then six more boxcars followed by eight moreflats and so on. Don’t they know they are watching efficiencyroll past? Don’t they care that their safety is in the balancewith every click-clack, click-clack? My thought is, probablynot. Thankfully the railroad and the government do care andthey know how to keep things in order.The DOT has written guidelines for train consists to ensurethe safest transport of everything from t-shirts to TNT. TheDOT guidelines require special placement of critical freightcar loads in the train consist. Those critical loads are usuallyclassified as hazardous materials. The DOT rules dictate howa train can be built in the yard. No hazardous material car canbe placed within six cars from a locomotive. Highly flammablematerial should never be placed close to a chlorine tankcar. Chlorine, while not flammable itself, is an oxidizer. It willfuel the fire and could make it impossible to extinguish. Onthe other hand, it is safe to place hazardous material cars likesulfur dioxide tank cars with the chlorine tank cars, becausesulfur dioxide will neutralize the chlorine and visa-versa,should they ever come in contact. That would be the hopeanyway.Obviously, you can’t separate a hazardous material carfrom an engine by six lengths when the train is made up ofonly four cars. Yard switching, local switching deliveries, anddeliveries on the mainline can take exception to some of theserules, if a slow maximum speed limit is observed and thereare personnel with radios available to observe the movement.When you, as the yardmaster, are contemplating the order ofassembly for trains in the next operating session, give somethought as to hazardous material car placement. We cannotalways build a train long enough on our layouts to follow allof the guidelines mentioned here. However, slowing downand taking extra time to switch a hazardous material car willachieve the same point and purpose. In the end just gettingthere safely is half the battle.Railroads make money by delivering freight cars to customers.The more cars delivered, the more money the railroadmakes. Keeping the train consists in an order that benefitsswitching will minimize the time-consuming process of settingout and picking up cars. I can tell you that train crews likethe switch list to be ordered, too. Unfortunately, that doesn’talways happen. When a road crew is operating in a territorythat isn’t familiar to them, the engineer would like a train builtwith consideration to horsepower, as opposed to the weightof the train. It can be jerky night on the rails if the yardmasterhas put too many heavy cars at the end of a train and there isslack in the couplers. Heavier cars like 60’ boxcars, large tankcars over 50’ in length, and loaded hoppers should be placedforward in the consist (giving due consideration to DOT safetyrules). Lighter cars, like double-stack well cars, large autorackcars, and empty freight cars, should be placed to the rear.Heavy-to-light is a good rule of thumb. The exception wouldbe a unit train, such as a coal train, where every car is eitherloaded (heavy) or unloaded (light).Now a personal note about this column. It has been myextreme pleasure to be able to do this column for O ScaleTrains Magazine. However, this will be the last installment of“The Modern Image” that I will be writing.Happy railroading!(Publisher’s note: No, we didn’t fire Carey. He is going backto school and will not have the time to devote writing a regularcolumn. However, Carey will still do drawings for us and occasionallysubmit an article. Carey’s good friend and modern-eraO Scaler Gene Clements will be taking over the helm of thiscolumn. In addition to being a model railroader, Gene worksas an engineer for the BNSF. You can’t get more modern-erathan that! We hope to have Gene’s first contribution nextissue. —Joe G.)uNew! O Scale BirneyThis is a true O Scale 1:48 model. The die wasmade from the drawings of a real Birney!The model comes with a complete interior, less powertruck and lighting package: $35.95. We expect a 4-wheelpower truck kit in mid-April, followed by the lighting kit.Pa Heritage Models Ltd.715 Ridgeway Road, Birdsboro, PA 19508www.paheritagemodels.comSept/Oct ’06 - O Scale Trains • 43