Material handling: specialized, efficient; Safety still reigns as the Number One priority when it comes to material-handling equipment, but suppliers are making machines that do more
Published in: Railway Track and Structures
Date: 3/1/2004
By: Wanek, Mischa
Like everyone else in the railroad industry, material handlers are dealing with tight track time, machine efficiency and safety issues. Here is a look at what railroads are asking for and what suppliers are producing to answer those requests.
Auto Truck
Auto Truck Group has implemented changes over the past year to its ladder, handholds and operator platforms on seated control loaders. According to the company, handholds have been lengthened and guards relocated to better protect the operator.
“Railroad customers continue to request larger-capacity, truck-mounted cranes and loaders to handle the heavier track components now in service,” said Greg Haugen, director railroad sales at Auto Truck. “Although not new, larger-capacity, truck-mounted cranes and loaders are becoming more common in the railroad industry. This has the railroads purchasing larger-capacity truck chassis to maintain the highway payload. Three and four-axle trucks are being used in more applications each year.”
BADGER/BURRO/Little Giant
BADGER/BURRO/Little Giant recently introduced the 1085-R to the railroad industry. The new machine can travel in excess of 30 mph on rail or on rubber and has the capability to lift 5,000- or 6,000-pound machines on or off the rail. The machine has a standard generalpurpose boom that can be equipped with several dipper configurations from 10 to 15 feet, including an extendastick. There are optional buckets available and optional auxiliary hydraulics offered for augers, hammers, brush mowers and other hydraulic attachments. The machine can also be used for clean-up operations with the optional crane boom and eight-foot, eight-inch jib that reaches 38 feet from the center of the machine.
Brandt
Brandt Road Rail Corp. has developed and manufactured a new material-handling system engineering groups can use to distribute material, such as ties, tie plates, spikes, clips and rail. The new system is a combination of the Brandt Power Unit and a modified John Deere excavator (OTM Tracker). The Brandt Power Unit mounts the OTM Tracker onto cars of varying height, allowing it to load or unload the cars with m/w material. According to Brandt, the system is mobile because the OTM Tracker loads itself onto the back of the Brandt Power Unit, then onto a trailer that pulls it down the highway to the next job location.
“We did some extensive interviewing with the different railways before taking this project on. They told us they wanted to keep some important characteristics in mind: Safety, mobility, reliability, service-ability, productivity and a cost-effective way of distributing material. I am happy to say we are very pleased with the results of our efforts,” said Neil Marcotte, marketing and sales manager at Brandt.
Fleet Body Equipment
Fleet Body Equipment has worked hand-in-hand with railroad officials for the past 20 years to evolve simple, monofunctional equipment into complete track-structure systems.
FBE’s product line has evolved to include more efficient and safe equipment, including radio remote controls and equipment designed and specifically based on railroad feedback. FBE points to the range of applications, size of machines, attachments, power systems and control technologies, as well as other improvements, such as improved manufacturing techniques, wider use of higher-tensile steel and advanced designs improving booms, lift capacities, range of motions and stability that are broadening the usefulness of truck-mounted cranes and loaders.
Georgetown
Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. has spent the past year rethinking and streamlining its design process to bring about machines that best suit a new line of thought.
One new product is the MeyersAaron G35 crane, a design focused on handling pre-cast concrete bridge girders. The MA G35 is a cantilevered beam system with complete 360-degree movement and uses a moving counterbalance for attaining neutral or balanced-load lifting. The crane is equipped with GREX’s Beam Transfer System and is capable of a variety of load/offload scenarios due to its three lift stations.
Another new product that GREX says will boost undercutting production rates is the Spoils Receiver System. The SRS uses the patented DUMP TRAIN conveyor train system by adding a self-loading feature to its design. The unit takes waste material from undercutter or shoulder cleaner discharge booms at a rate of 500 tons per hour and currently holds 400 tons of material.
The SELF POWERED SLOT MACHINE is GREX’s multi-task work platform, designed to provide a myriad of material-handling services for railroads. Each unit is capable of picking up and distributing ties, picking up timber, delivering oversize riprap, picking up OTM and rail and performing heavy-duty ditching services. The SPS is used by Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, KCS, UP, CSXT and BNSF.
Guzzler
Guzzler Manufacturing, Inc., offers the Hi-Rail material recovery system on its Guzzler vacuum loaders. This option is designed for the specialized material-recovery applications that railroads typically require. The Hi-Rail’s unique rear-mounted chair and operator station allow a single operator to move the truck along the rails while simultaneously controlling the vacuum-loading system.
“Railroads are always looking for better ways to speed clean-up operations,” said Tab Siegrist, Guzzler product manager. “Because the Hi-Rail option allows the operator to control the entire piece of equipment from one position, safety and efficiency are improved. The Guzzler Hi-Rail system allows the railroad to clean up spills quickly and get back to the business of moving freight.”
Herzog
Herzog Contracting Corp. has developed a more-efficient method of unloading welded rail. This new machine, called the Rail Unloading Machine, unloads rail from a conventional rail train. The R.U.M. is available on a long-term
lease arrangement and includes two Herzog operator/maintainers. The R.U.M. machine has a specially-designed car with power rollers and gantry for pulling the rails from the rail train.
This specially-designed gantry car eliminates the standard winch and has rubber tires so the machine can move by highway after unloading rail using a Herzog tractor.
According to Herzog, the R.U.M. is more productive, reduces injuries, personnel and eliminates the winch. The company also points out that because the R.U.M. can travel by highway to the next rail train, the number of winch cars required, along with costly maintenance, is reduced.
Mitchell
Mitchell Equipment Corp. is offering swing loader material-handling solutions for a variety of manufacturers’ front-end loaders, such as a 15,000-pound-capacity swing loader based on the TEREX SKL 873 front-end loader.
One issue Estel Lovitt, Mitchell’s president, says railroads are asking suppliers to take on is capacity, both in lift over the front and lift over the side and the capacity to effectively move railcars. Lovitt feels there is a need for larger machines with more capacity for handling materials over the side and for moving railcars and notes that Mitchell’s product line has the ability to improve capacity.
Besides capacity, safety was also an issue taken into consideration when developing the TEREX SKL 873.
“We have addressed safety with our new TEREX SKL 873 Swing Loader Material Handler by improving the lift of the machine over the side, improving visibility and providing the machine with a jump seat for a work person to ride along safely,” said Lovitt. “By improving the capacity of swing loader material handlers, the railroads can have a cab down-type machine that fits in between the rough terrain crane and a top-heavy-type swinger material handler to improve the safety of material handling.”
Modern Track Machinery
Modern Track Machinery, Inc., offers a variety of equipment for material-handling needs. The leader in the line-up is the Geismar 360 On/Off Track Hi-Rail Crane. A wide range of material-handling attachments are available, including material-handling forks and buckets, magnet and generator sets, rail and tie grapples and lifting hooks and beams. Adding to the versatility are companion items, such as the TD-20 five-cubic-yard Dump Trailer or the R15RE 15-ton-capacity Tilting Trailer.
Another product is the EPB4221 Hopper Transporter, a self-propelled unit designed specifically for transporting hoppers on track. The Transporter features a turntable that rotates 45 degrees to allow quick loading or unloading in either the back or the side of the hopper. To ensure safety, functions are performed by remote control.
Rail Handling Trolleys are prominent in the Modern Track Machinery product line and the company also offers a variety of pushcarts ranging in capacity from 1,000 to 50,000 pounds.
Railquip
In response to several inquiries from LRV transit operators requesting an easy-to-operate, functional lifting and transferring table for the removal of the vehicle trucks, Railquip, inc., designed, manufactured and delivered a Lift and Transfer Table for Truck Removal and Installation.
The lifting table is powered by an electric motor driving one axle. The power supply cable is 82 feet long and is housed in a cable drum on a spring-loaded retractable reel. The unit can move at speeds of up to two miles per hour and is controlled by the operator using a handheld controller. The Lift and Transfer Table has a loading capacity of 17,600 pounds on a platform measuring 118 inches by 74.8 inches. The platform can be raised to a height of 69 inches at a rate of one inch/second. The platform size, loading capacity and power supply voltage can be custom designed to fit the specific needs of the customer.
The Truck Test and Assembly Stand is another piece of equipment for use in the transit vehicle truck repair shop that was designed and built by Railquip for testing and assembling the transit vehicle trucks. This machine is designed to accommodate dual motor trucks and consists of a main frame, four roller-equipped, adjustable wheel supports, one hydraulically adjustable gear box support on each end, a hydraulic pressure test beam and a 1/2-ton chain hoist for positioning the motors.
RCE
Rail Construction Equipment Co. has been working with BNSF to develop a Scrap Re-claimer Magnet Crane to clean up scrap metals behind steel gangs. The units are based on RCE models TC-80c and TC-120c tie crane platforms and combine the upper structure of a John Deere Excavator and a dedicated rail lower platform that is fitted with a hydraulic-driven generator and 30-inch magnet. According to RCE, the unit has performed well and has helped reduce the need for additional labor for scrap clean up. These units are approved and carry warranties supported by the John Deere dealer network.
All of RCE’s equipment is built using John Deere construction equipment as its prime mover. According to RCE, John Deere-built machines are manufactured with the highest safety standards and latest safety innovations available today.
“The use of modern conventional construction equipment and their attachments, which have been designed for the construction industry, can reduce labor costs by completing material-handling tasks more efficiently,” said Dennis Hanke, RCE’s railroad specialist. “By using modern equipment, which offers versatility, like RCE’s swing loader, the railroads can reduce their labor costs, equipment operation costs and improve the efficiency of their material-handling needs in a safe manner.”
Vaia Car
Vaia Car has equipped all of its loaders with computer-controlled load-sensing devices with in-cab display for the operator and has developed a new product, the TPLS-6500 Beam, for the material-handling market. The focus of the TPLS-6500 Beam, which is 160 feet long with a carrying capacity of 70 tons, is moving complete sections of track, crossovers and switches. Assembled track components can be removed and replaced in track in a short amount of time, allowing traffic to resume quickly.
The TPLS-6500 Beam is capable of operating on track or on its own-powered crawler system. This allows off-site assembly and disassembly of the panels, crossovers and switches where work can be done safely with a minimum amount of manpower and without interruption of train operations.
The Beam, due to its rigid construction, can move assembled track components, such as concrete tie switches, without distortion to the switch. The rail-wheel assemblies allow rapid on-track movement to the jobsite and the crawlers can position the components in the precise location.
According to the company, railroads keep looking for innovations in material handling that are safe, efficient and cost effective and they work with suppliers to achieve those goals.
“Materials handling can be viewed as getting a product from its manufacturing source to the final destination. There are going to be many new and innovative ways to do this in the future and suppliers and railroaders alike will be the driving forces to come up with safe and economical ways to make it happen,” said Cal Coy, North American representative for Vaia Car.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation