When is a trackmobile not enough for a shortline?

I've been learning about trackmobiles lately. They seem like such a good idea being that they don't need tracks, can borrow weight from the car it's pulling for tractive effort and use little fuel. It makes me wonder why railroads like the Grafton and Upton which hauls 1 or 2 cars at a time don't use them? You know how a lot of shortlines don't like some of the newer heavier cars because it's so hard on the track? why don't they just have a trackmobile at each end to lighten the cars? Is this idea unrealistic?

The trackmobile I used to run was limited on what it could haul. It did not have air brakes, so you have to deal with that. I think some of the bigger ones do though. I used to pull up to 6 loaded grain covered hoppers on level track, and it could get real tricky sometimes. It was difficult to get moving and hard to stop, and this was at a couple of miles an hour. The couplers had a hydraulic lift on it them that would try to lift the car you were moving, this is where the traction came from. While they work well for moving a couple of cars on level track, I would not want to be in one moving at any speed over a couple of miles per hour with any kind of load. I remember getting pushed along many a times trying to stop.

JasonA wrote:The trackmobile I used to run was limited on what it could haul. It did not have air brakes, so you have to deal with that. I think some of the bigger ones do though. I used to pull up to 6 loaded grain covered hoppers on level track, and it could get real tricky sometimes. It was difficult to get moving and hard to stop, and this was at a couple of miles an hour. The couplers had a hydraulic lift on it them that would try to lift the car you were moving, this is where the traction came from. While they work well for moving a couple of cars on level track, I would not want to be in one moving at any speed over a couple of miles per hour with any kind of load. I remember getting pushed along many a times trying to stop.

Thanks Jason, this is just the answer I was looking for. How many miles did you move these cars? Did you have to go over crossings? If so did a flagman go with you? How did this thing drive when it wasn't on tracks? Could it burn rubber?

Well there is a shortline in a town about 150 south of Chicago known as the the Kellar Branchline. The line runs through Peoria Illinois. The line is about 8 miles long. The city bought the line in the early 80's from the Rock Island when they went under. It was originally run by the local terminal railroad, but they wanted out in 1997. Pioneer Railcorp came in then and named the Line Pioneer Industrial Railway. The Line was run by an RS3. When the city decided to turn the line into a bike trail, Pioneer didn't want to go, so a Chicago Operating company came down and decided to run the line with an SW9 and a trackmobile. They decided to move about 200tons of lumber up the line with the trackmobile, the crew didn't giive the train time to build uup air preassure. They headed up the line's hill and lost traction with no brakes. The crew jumped while two lumber cars and a trackmobile careened downhill at 30mph. It went over several crossings and ran into a line of cars at the junction. The railway has been referred to as a While E. Coyote railway as they do stuff like this all the time. I know and like all of their employees and have gotten cab rides on several occations. One time they snuck me out of BNSF's Western Ave. yard when I was following them by bicycle. I rode on the floor of the cab so the BNSF cops wouldn't see me.