08-09-2011, 01:01 PM
Your probably right about that Wayne. I shot the video mainly to show the angles and pitches negotiated by the rolling stock and loco. ...and to demonstrate that it actually works! 
I'll have to see if I can find more info on how exactly they did it. I suspect a lot of how they loaded the floats took into consideration the total tonnage of each car (incl what was in them!) or whether of not if they were just empties. I suspect that they may have blocked the cars according to weight in each train into order to facilitate loading as quickly as possible. The turnout to switch the two approach tracks on my layout is located much closer then the prototype. It certainly was not like the tight track work of an industrial line like those in the NY Harbor areas. Not argue a point, I've also come across several photos like this one...
![[Image: 6915.1297829812.jpg]](http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/9/1/5/6915.1297829812.jpg)
...and scratch my head and think, "That can't be right? That has to be too much weight on one side!"
In the Nov 2010 issue of MRC the first picture for the article Floating Branch Lines, Sternwheelers, Tugs and Barges, it shows a FM 16 - 44 pushing an entire string of flat cars loaded with poles onto one side of the float! Then there is photo I "borrowed" from another site which shows a GP9 pushing some box cars and two wide vision vans onto the same track. The only thing I'm missing, that I dare not try to model, is the float listing to each side as each track is loaded or the appearance of the slip "twisting" due to the weight of... well everything getting pushed or pulled across it.
I have a couple of books on order about the region which may go into greater detail on the actual transfer slip float operations which I am eager to get my hands on. I may adjust my operating scheme according to loads that are in or on each car. So there may be those times when cars are loaded two at a time on alternating tracks.
I'll say one thing is for sure, the CP boys in BC sure liked to live dangerously.
**That photo is my desk top right now.
I'll have to see if I can find more info on how exactly they did it. I suspect a lot of how they loaded the floats took into consideration the total tonnage of each car (incl what was in them!) or whether of not if they were just empties. I suspect that they may have blocked the cars according to weight in each train into order to facilitate loading as quickly as possible. The turnout to switch the two approach tracks on my layout is located much closer then the prototype. It certainly was not like the tight track work of an industrial line like those in the NY Harbor areas. Not argue a point, I've also come across several photos like this one...
...and scratch my head and think, "That can't be right? That has to be too much weight on one side!"
In the Nov 2010 issue of MRC the first picture for the article Floating Branch Lines, Sternwheelers, Tugs and Barges, it shows a FM 16 - 44 pushing an entire string of flat cars loaded with poles onto one side of the float! Then there is photo I "borrowed" from another site which shows a GP9 pushing some box cars and two wide vision vans onto the same track. The only thing I'm missing, that I dare not try to model, is the float listing to each side as each track is loaded or the appearance of the slip "twisting" due to the weight of... well everything getting pushed or pulled across it.
I have a couple of books on order about the region which may go into greater detail on the actual transfer slip float operations which I am eager to get my hands on. I may adjust my operating scheme according to loads that are in or on each car. So there may be those times when cars are loaded two at a time on alternating tracks.
I'll say one thing is for sure, the CP boys in BC sure liked to live dangerously.
**That photo is my desk top right now.