what is this?

so this was taken in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, by some photographer.

http://www.westerntour.com/otherSask/MJtrainw.jpg

what is the deal with this?

Looks like a trailer's got a tractor winched up on it.

ha. i never even thought about that being the back of the train.

many of the branch lines in Saskatchewan that are owend by CN are made up of 60 pound rail and there are not many GMD-1 Locomotives left to travel on them lines. Many of the lines are seasonal and only see traffic in the spring and fall so CN began to sell many of them to private operations who use a large Semi truck(s) fitted with hi-rail wheel to service the lines. I saw this in a video that I have on CN/CP Operations in Saskatchewan called "Prairie Rails" the video runs 45 minuets I have seen this video only in Canadadian hobby shops.

that has to cause alot of stress on the transmission no?

I wonder if Canada's regulations on hazmat are different from ours. In the second link U-Haul provided, I can't read the commodity number but the tank car definitely has placards. In the US, the truck would be considered a locomotive and the tank car needs at least one idler car between it and the "power", unless it's merely combustible.

Steve F45 wrote:that has to cause alot of stress on the transmission no?

I looked at the Brandt website for this truck model, and while there probably is a lot of stress, the Transmission is designed to take it:

Twin Disc Transmission
6 forward gears and 2 reverse
75 mph forward, 29 mph reverse
185 cfm screw compressor
approved to pull 3.5 million lbs trailing load

Specs Here

5500 Brandt Power Unit overview Page Here (with video!)

Aji-tater wrote:I wonder if Canada's regulations on hazmat are different from ours. In the second link U-Haul provided, I can't read the commodity number but the tank car definitely has placards. In the US, the truck would be considered a locomotive and the tank car needs at least one idler car between it and the "power", unless it's merely combustible.

That tank is a load of Propane, a Special Dangerous load. Here in Canada, if all cars are placarded (dangerous) cars, there doesn't have to be a buffer of any kind.

would be handy for mow jobs all right . presumably could use the road to get form one side odf a derailment to the other for e.g .

David Benton wrote:would be handy for mow jobs all right .

I have seen this operation a couple of times for MOW service. About a year and a half ago I saw one of these on CSX in Pittsburgh, PA, it had about 8 gons behind it. They were dropping ties when I saw them.

Scooter

The UP MOW uses these rigs all the time. The Conductors/Engineers get ticked as the carrier does not have to call in a Pilot for it.

Depending on the rolling resistance this shouldn't 'pull' any harder than a 'B' train double trailer.

I'd think the rail cars would move easier than a trailer. The tires on a multi axle trailer would have more resistance...the specs are not much more than a HD tractor trailer.

You can get CAT's w/ more HP and more gears in a road tractor w/ just as heavy a differential set. The 'real' HD units used to move over size stuff on dollies & jeeps would have double frames and heavier suspensions too!