Spacer cars.......when are they necessary ?

Hello
Which conditions make spacer cars necessary ?
Ok, to prevent that flammable or toxic loads are running directly behind the engines, that's pretty clear !

But why are spacer cars in high&wide moves and other special loads necessary?

Examples:
pipes on flatcars:
(pipes -> because they shift very well in a case of an accident, and slip into the engines?)

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windmill parts on flatcars

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combines on flatcars

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Maybe someone know the reason

Bye

You're correct about the pipe loads; truckers won't haul pipe, re-bar, steel (or concrete) beams, or anything else that can be bundled and loaded lengthwise on a flatbed trailer without a "headache rack" (reinforced bulkhead). A sudden impact would send that stuff forward into the cab. NS also adds an empty to the rear of all its solid ethanol trains, in the event of a rear-end collision.

And a couple of years ago, I worked an industrial contracting job which took me to many of the tank farms and refineries along New Jersey's "chemical coast". Several Conrail switch jobs utilized ldler flats (painted in M/W gray) to keep the loco further away from points where flammable cargoes were being loaded or unloaded.

Boeing uses spacers all the time with their 737 movements on BNSF from the Wichita factory to the Everett Washington factory. I used to think the wings/tail sections were inside...

About two weeks ago there were four of them nose-tail at Murray Yard, North Kansas City, awaiting a run up the historic Q.

.Taurus. wrote:Hello
Which conditions make spacer cars necessary ?
Ok, to prevent that flammable or toxic loads are running directly behind the engines, that's pretty clear !

But why are spacer cars in high&wide moves and other special loads necessary?

I like the idea of using them as crumple zones. You would rather have the load hit an empty or a flat than the engine or other cars carrying expensive/hazardous stuff. (Or preferably have whatever hits the train crumple the spacer car and NOT the expensive/hazardous load.) Amazingly enough the simple answer is "to add spacing"!

Heavy loads can be spaced out as needed ... imagine a short bridge with a weight limit. The engine plus the load would be too much but an empty car allows the engine to clear the bridge before the heavy load. Multiple heavy cars in a train can have spacers between each to distribute the weight.

I've even read on the Internet where a spacer was added behind a private car for the end of train device so the private car owner wouldn't have to have it on their coupler.

justalurker66 wrote:I've even read on the Internet where a spacer was added behind a private car for the end of train device so the private car owner wouldn't have to have it on their coupler.

What would be the objection to this?

Passenger wrote:

justalurker66 wrote:I've even read on the Internet where a spacer was added behind a private car for the end of train device so the private car owner wouldn't have to have it on their coupler.

What would be the objection to this?

I'm not sure ... I just read it on the Internet (so it must be true).

Date: 01/17/10 09:18
Another use for a spacer is when a passenger car is being shipped in freight service. A freight car one with out shelf couplers is coupled to the passenger car to avoid damage to the diaphragms and a coupler to hang the EOT marker.
Source: Trainorders

justalurker66 wrote: I'm not sure ... I just read it on the Internet (so it must be true).

Date: 01/17/10 09:18
Another use for a spacer is when a passenger car is being shipped in freight service. A freight car one with out shelf couplers is coupled to the passenger car to avoid damage to the diaphragms and a coupler to hang the EOT marker.
Source: Trainorders

Trainorders? That explains it...

Spacer cars are also used as handles to reach into buildings where engines can't go. Or for loading car floats and barges where the weight of the diesel engine is too great. Some systems had skeleton cars for this purpose. Usually made from retired, outdated equipment.

Spacer cars are used as directed in Timetable and hazmat regulations of each railroad.

justalurker66 wrote:I've even read on the Internet where a spacer was added behind a private car for the end of train device so the private car owner wouldn't have to have it on their coupler.

I would rather have the e.o.t. on the knuckle of my private car as opposed to an empty car slamming into my car's drawbar.


Another reason for spacers or "idlers" is not some much to distribute weight, but because the load hangs ove the knuckle or drawbar of the car which it is on.

In the Chicago area, bottle trains use spacers because the loadings are too heavy for many bridges. Bottle trains carry molten steel from blast furnaces to rolling mills. After the big steel bankruptcies, many mills lost their blast furnace.
http://www.grassellitower.com/images/co ... sselli.jpg

Everyone here sited an example of using spacers. to sum it up, some classes of hazardous materials need to be spaced away from engines, cabooses, and climate controlled cars, like mechanical reefers. Other times some industries need to be switched with spacers due to either clearances or locomotive weight. Some heavy loads need to be spaced to prevent overloading bridges. I often catch special trains from GE's turbine plant. These loads are heavy enough to need tw spacers between the engine and the first load, and then an additional two spacers between each load..

I remember seeing in an old issue of TRAINS Magazine a short article and photos of a small
railroad down south that used an old company boxcar as a spacer between two locomotives.
This was necessary because of a couple of bridges that had had their weight limit ratings
lowered, thus preventing the two locos to move across together. This railroad actually ran
the required MU hoses / connections thru the entire length of the boxcar.....the car ended
up having MU connections on each end. The car was coupled between the two locomotives,
all MU's were connected, and the train operated that way....multiple unit consist....just not
coupled together!

Just a note on nomenclature... I'm not sure I've ever heard such equipment referred to as spacers, only idler cars or idlers (as referred to in CSX's and 2nd TOs posts).

Cowford makes a good point. We are really talking about two different things here.

Spacers are cars used to distance hazmat loads from locomotives, occupied cabooses, cars with sources of ignition (like running mechanical reefers), or other hazmat loads that are not to be carried in proximity to each other. Spacer boxcars can also be used to protect locomotives or cabooses from cars with loads that could shift and endanger crews.

Idler cars (usually flat cars) are used where adjacent loads overhang the end of the loaded car. Thus, an empty flat car is needed to provide clearance. An example would be idler cars used between flat cars carrying wind turbine blades.

Other uses for idler cars would be to space heavy loads in a train to keep from exceeding bridge loadings. Or, to form a "handle" for reaching into places where a locomotive cannot go (hot steel mills, lightly built docks, industrial tracks with curves too tight for locomotives).

Les