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N L I N Volume 2 O E Number 1 E D N O I T I Mainline Set Out Track Conveyor Location Flood Loader Alternate Conveyor Location HO Western Coal Flood Loader 933-3089 $39.98 N Scale 933-3247 $36.98 Flood Up To Thirty Cars An Hour Loading Loop To Other Loaders Out in the western coal fields, (Optional) surface mining yields an amazing amount of clean- Here are a few sample place- burning, low-sulfur coal. ments for the flood loader. Under the prairies and up in Make sure to place the the Rockies, the depth of some loader at the center of a sid- coal seams are measured in ing or loop long enough to yards, not feet as in most older handle double the length of eastern mines. your longest train, including Huge shovels and gigantic, locomotives. This way trains 125-ton-plus dump trucks feed can pull completely through conveyors stretching for miles the loader without fouling between mines and the rail- This structure, located in In the U.S. alone, coal is a $21 This way you can add heavy- the mainline. central Colorado, has been head. The tall concrete silos of billion per year industry. With duty mining equipment to converted into a washing western coal flood loaders, so the easy-to-build Western Coal your scene. facility fed by a conveyor named because they literally Flood Loader, you can feed In some locations, the loader directly from the mine. flood 100-ton gondolas and entire unit trains of gondolas is on the site of an older mine Trains are loaded by the hoppers with coal, seem to or hoppers to your modern-era facility or along an existing flood loader. Walthers HO or N railroad. Adding the In This Issue scrape the big skies; their Archives Photo branch with limited space; long, angled conveyors creat- flood loader to your pike is cars are loaded on a siding easy; read on for a few model- ing a geometric skyline rather than a loop track. Often, Flood Up To Thirty Cars ing suggestions. against the horizon. Most can home to similar structures. In the flood loader is built next to An Hour . 1 load a 100-car train in just a some cases, conveyors run Perhaps the easiest way to add an older tipple like the New Amtrak Makes Its few hours. from the mine to an older the Western Coal Flood River Mining Co. At a few washing facility and then into Passenger Trains While most western mines use Loader to your pike is to con- sites, the older facility still the loader. Such is the case of struct a loading loop and posi- handles occasional cars and Make Money . 3 them, you’ll also find these one prototype facility used in cylindrical loaders at newer tion the mine head conveyor has its own trackwork; at other 95 Reasons to Take the design of the Cornerstone so it appears to come from a locations the older tipple is Auto Train . 5 midwestern mines in Illinois, Series® HO and N New River Indiana and Ohio, and in the mine off the layout or under- abandoned or has been con- Mining Co. kits. ground. If you want to include verted to alternative uses such Turnouts For More Track Allegheny and Appalachian Planning Possibilities . 7 coal regions at new or rebuilt Grab A Chunk Of part of a mine on your layout, as a washer. The photo of the mine heads. British Columbia The Coal Industry you can place the loader on a Colorado mine and loader is Very, Very Versatile . 8 and Nova Scotia are also For Your Railroad loading loop at a surface mine. an example of the latter. 1 Walthers HO Scale Bethgon Single Car Kits Coalporter® Gondolas Ready- 932-5300 Undecorated $9.98 To-Run 6-Packs $59.98 Bethgon Coal Load 6-Pack 933-1039 $14.98 First Roadnumber Series 932-5301 BN Walthers Cornerstone Series® 932-5302 CSXT Western Coal Flood Loader Vital 932-5303 UP Statistics 932-5304 NS The Western Coal Flood 932-5317 BNSF Early Merger Loader includes a ground- Scheme (aluminum, black, white) level metal conveyor shed, Set #1 four sections of covered, open- 932-5319 BNSF (green) 932-5330 CN sided conveyor, a silo with a 932-5331 BNSF (Mineral Red) loading tunnel and realistic 932-5332 CSXT (silver) decals. Sectional construction Second Roadnumber Series allows you to customize the 932-5311 BN flood loader height to fit your 932-5312 CSXT scene.I 932-5313 UP 932-5318 CSX 932-5327 BNSF Early Merger Scheme (aluminum, black, white) Set #2 This large facility in the Powder River Basin includes facilities for sorting different grades of coal and maintain- ing machinery. Photo by Steve Barry As for blending the flood loader into your scenery, the surrounding grounds are usu- ally quite clean. Aside from a little black coal dust around the loading tunnel, under the conveyors and along the tracks, the sites blend into the surrounding countryside and vegetation. Don’t Forget The Freight Cars Since Western Coal Flood Loaders have been around since the Walthers 49' 100-Ton Quad Hoppers 1970s, you can use a variety of coal Here are a few cars you can use to serve your Western Coal Flood cars to serve them. Loader. Back in the early 1970s when these loaders came into use, Back in the 1970s, some roads were still using a few 70-Ton cars for coal service. railroad-owned Car Model Manufacturer Era cars like Bethgon Coalporter Walthers 1980s-Present Walthers 49' 100-Ton Quad 49' 100-Ton Quad Hopper Walthers 1960s-Present Hoppers and a 45' 100-Ton 3-Bay Hopper Bachmann 1960s-Present Bethgon Coalporter® Gondola mix of other 100-ton and 90- Greenville 12-Panel 3-Bay Hopper Con-Cor 1960s-Present and similar bathtub cars are ton hoppers were the norm. Various kinds of other suitable Greenville 15-Panel 3-Bay Hopper Con-Cor 1960s-Present currently most common. 100- coal cars are available in both Also on the scene were boxy, 100-Ton 3-Bay Hopper Life-Like 1960s-Present high-sided rotary dump gon- ton-plus aluminum hoppers HO and N from a variety of dolas. Today, long trains of are also popular. Both utility- manufacturers. Thrall 50' High-Side Gondola Roundhouse 1970s-Present identical cars, like Walthers owned and railroad-owned 50' Bathtub Gondola Roundhouse 1970s-Present Bethgon Coalporter® Gondolas cars operate to the coalfields. 54' 5-Bay Rapid Discharge Hopper Roundhouse 1970s-Present AAR 70-Ton 14-Panel 3-Bay Hopper Stewart Hobbies 1960s-1970s H39 70-Ton 12-Panel 3-Bay Hopper Stewart Hobbies 1960s-1970s 70-Ton Offset 3-Bay Hopper Stewart Hobbies 1960s-1970s 4-1/2" 31" A train of bathtub gondolas HO Scale 933-3089 $39.98 skirts past a large flood Overall dimensions as shown: loader in the Powder River 32 x 4-1/2 x 16" 81.3 x 11.4 x 40.6cm Basin in 1994. Photo by Conveyor sections each Steve Barry 7-1/16" 18.0cm N Scale 933-3247 $36.98 Overall dimensions as shown: 19 x 2-11/16 x 9-5/8" Visit us at 48.3 x 6.8 x 24.4cm Conveyor sections each WALTHERS.com 4-1/4" 10.8cm 2 Amtrak® Makes Its Passenger Trains Make Money On day one of Amtrak in May, 1971, what little mail and par- cel business Amtrak inherited from the passenger railroads was hanging on by a thread. As part of Amtrak’s charter, it was given the authority to offer mail and express service. Over the last 29 years, mail and express business has been an ever-increasing contributor to Amtrak’s bottom line. Today, with an aggressive new busi- ness plan, new express traffic, new express rolling stock, new routes and a new mandate for self-sufficiency, Amtrak has turned many passsenger trains into moneymakers. A Long Uphill Climb Before Amtrak’s creation in 1971, its predecessor passen- An AEM-7 hustles MHCs and a 1700-Series Baggage Car ger railroads had long known along the Northeast Corridor at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania in that mail and express ship- January, 1995. The “Fast Mail” handles bulk mail and express ments helped their trains cover on an expedited schedule. Photo by Steve Barry costs. In the late 1960s, disas- ter struck; the Post Office pulled most of its mail ship- Even More Cargo look for the single baggage ments and railway post offices Space Needed door in the middle of the car. off the rails. As a result, many Under pressure to end its Like MHCs, these cars have passenger trains which had dependence on government electrical pass-through handled mail became big money, by the mid-1990s cabling, so they can be used money losers; most were dis- Amtrak was scrambling for on the head end behind the continued. more ways to meet its expens- locomotives or on the rear es. Its cash-cow mail and When Amtrak took over the end, ahead of the RoadRailers. express business continued to In service, you’ll find them nation’s passenger trains, it A 1700 Series Baggage Car gets switched at Amtrak’s Chicago grow and it started marketing its express passenger yard in May, 1999. Photo by Jim Hebner mixed in with MHCs and parcel service as a way to sup- express box cars. plement its subsidies. By the mid-1970s, new express con- Amtrak acquired a fleet of for- the 1400 series, these cars tracts were signed, and even mer U.S.