Thursday, July 24, 2014

D&RGW narrow gauge RR car dumper

The D&RGW narrow gauge railroad built a car dumper at Salida, Colorado in 1924 to transfer coal, ore and other bulk materials from the narrow gauge cars to standard gauge cars.  The dumper was furnished by the McMyler Interstate Company of Cleveland, Ohio.


These photos are from a 1924 railway magazine so they are a little grainy.  The narrow gauge was on the upper level with the standard gauge running underneath.  The loaded cars were on a gravity track with one load at a time dropped to the machine for dumping.  The operation required five workers.  The dumper could handle up to 20 cars per hour.


The above photo shows the dumper in action with the counter-weights part way up the towers.  


Above is a view of the upper, narrow gauge portion of the dumper.   I have no idea of how many years this machine was in operation.

Layout extension

Below is a photo of my completed layout expansion which at this point has no scenery, track or structures permanently installed.   The tunnel from the next room is center left above the brown support leg.  The tunnel exit temporarily comes through a hotel structure from my fathers layout (he used it for a similar purpose).  As you can see there are cabinets and shelves under this part of the layout.


My varnish company warehouse is coming along.




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