MOW setups

[dispatcher812]

What do Railroads usualy have in a consist of a MOW train? Do they usualy paint there MOW engines a different color?

 

[jbaakko]

What do Railroads usualy have in a consist of a MOW train? Do they usualy paint there MOW engines a different color?

Most railroad just use available power. However, Amtrak deviated from this and painted all MOW equipment orange. Conrail painted dedicated ballast units plain gray.

Now-a-days they don't even have dedicated trains anymore, they call out companies like RJ Corman to do the recovery with side boom tractors. Sometimes they have Hi-rail truck cranes and the such.

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Yep' colors varied for most MOW equipment,here X29 on my Willmar Div. mineral red dominate's.While browns,greys, even blues are used elsewhere....

 

[sledgehammer]

MOW details

To answer your first question, you need to answer what era are you modeling?...If you are doing the 70's or maybe even the 80's, then you can go whole hog with bunk cars, (and a variety at that, cook cars, shower cars, as well as bonafide 2 man, 4 man, or 8 man dormatory bunk cars) tool cars, mow tank cars, ballast cars, gondolas and air dumps....but as things have progressed, you now have entire Herzog corporate trains for ballast and ties I think, using host road power to deliver where necessary. Roads in early days would have themselves colaborating between Roadmasters and Trainmasters, doing a work train of power, a small crane on a flat car, and either hoppers or gons on each end of the flat...as they would do the seasonal task of ditching where mother nature has reeked her havoc. Nowadays, roads have hirail rigs with ditch buckets to do the job. So again, HIGHLY depending on which era you are modeling dictates what you can legitimately model.

 

[dispatcher812]

To answer your first question, you need to answer what era are you modeling?...If you are doing the 70's or maybe even the 80's, then you can go whole hog with bunk cars, (and a variety at that, cook cars, shower cars, as well as bonafide 2 man, 4 man, or 8 man dormatory bunk cars) tool cars, mow tank cars, ballast cars, gondolas and air dumps....but as things have progressed, you now have entire Herzog corporate trains for ballast and ties I think, using host road power to deliver where necessary. Roads in early days would have themselves colaborating between Roadmasters and Trainmasters, doing a work train of power, a small crane on a flat car, and either hoppers or gons on each end of the flat...as they would do the seasonal task of ditching where mother nature has reeked her havoc. Nowadays, roads have hirail rigs with ditch buckets to do the job. So again, HIGHLY depending on which era you are modeling dictates what you can legitimately model.

I am modeling today. Providence and Worcester to be precise.

 

[UP2CSX]

The P&W has a few ditchers and ballast cars that are painted either gray or oxide red, depending on where they came from. They are used to clean out debris on an emergency basis from flooded trackside ditches and remove flood debris from bridge pilings. The ballast cars are to replace ballast in case of a washout. There are a few MOW flatcars, again painted mostly gray, that carry rail for emergency repairs in washouts. They will use whatever engines are available if they need to to use the MOW equiment. Other than that, the P&W has no MOW equipment. They contract all normal maintenance activites with RJ Corman and wreck cleanup with a couple of local companies, including one hazmat firm. Most work is done from trackside with long reach cranes or from hi-railers. The days of the MOW and wreck trains sitting in the yard waiting for the next job are long gone on almost every railroad in North America.

 

[dispatcher812]

The P&W has a few ditchers and ballast cars that are painted either gray or oxide red, depending on where they came from. They are used to clean out debris on an emergency basis from flooded trackside ditches and remove flood debris from bridge pilings. The ballast cars are to replace ballast in case of a washout. There are a few MOW flatcars, again painted mostly gray, that carry rail for emergency repairs in washouts. They will use whatever engines are available if they need to to use the MOW equiment. Other than that, the P&W has no MOW equipment. They contract all normal maintenance activites with RJ Corman and wreck cleanup with a couple of local companies, including one hazmat firm. Most work is done from trackside with long reach cranes or from hi-railers. The days of the MOW and wreck trains sitting in the yard waiting for the next job are long gone on almost every railroad in North America.

Awsome thanks for that.

 

[Railphotog]

There is a difference between MOW trains - Maintenance of Way - and wreck trains. MOW trains maintain the right of way, wreck trains with their 250 ton cranes clear up accident sites. Some modelers use terms for the two different trains as being the same, and they aren't!