Working rail roads and their tracks.

[bcp]

I'm curious what part of that they were able to get a patent for ..

​

Railcar airbrake system for attachment to machinery​

Abstract​

A railcar airbrake system for attachment to or integration into machinery, such as a wheel loader preferably includes a rail car coupler, a glad hand air hose, a compressor, an air storage tank and a sliding base frame. The sliding base frame preferably includes a plurality of top and bottom supports, a base support plate, top and bottom cross members, a coupler slide device and two vertical support posts. The railcar coupler and the glad hand air hose are retained in the coupler slide device. The plurality of supports, the cross members, plate and posts are used to create a structure, which incorporates the slide base frame. The air storage tank and the compressor are secured to the base support plate. The compressor supplies compressed air to the air storage tank. The air storage tank supplies compressed air to the glad hand air hose.

US11518421B1 - Railcar airbrake system for attachment to machinery - Google Patents

A railcar airbrake system for attachment to or integration into machinery, such as a wheel loader preferably includes a rail car coupler, a glad hand air hose, a compressor, an air storage tank and a sliding base frame. The sliding base frame preferably includes a plurality of top and bottom...

patents.google.com

Bruce

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

That's rather bizarre to me. We had trainline air on machines years ago. Very similar to this machine I am linking. I'm not sure how you patent something that's already in existence and in use. I know the knew Swingmaster units were available with a knuckle and air hookup for car moving as well because we had one probably 15 years ago. We also had a Cat 966 loader with a compressor setup and knuckle on it that was used for car moving. Here is a link to an older Swingmaster 360 with the knuckle and air tank for train air.

Ozark Mountain Railcar

Ozark Mountain Railcar || Swingmaster 361 Speedswing

ozarkmountainrailcar.com

 

[ArlyA]

New Noodle crane at Pokegama Yard in Superior WI. December 11th 2025.

 

[MossRoad]

Old Purdue crane at North Judson museum...

 

[bcp]

A scrapyard near here used one of those self-propelled railroad cranes, with boom removed, as a yard switcher.

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

That would be cool to see.

 

[BravoXray]

New Noodle crane at Pokegama Yard in Superior WI. December 11th 2025. View attachment 4573667

New Noodle crane?

Ah, maybe a reference to the latticework boom?

 

[ArlyA]

New Noodle crane?

Ah, maybe a reference to the latticework boom?

I'm not sure what the CN boys were referring to.

 

[BravoXray]

I'm not sure what the CN boys were referring to.

Oh, maybe they're referring to laying continuous rail sections.

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

They likely won't use a crane like this for rail laying. I don't know what the CN uses but most RR's use something on rubber tires these days. They usually have hyrail capabilities too so they can travel to the work location and then set down on rubber. That was how we did it at least. Prior to that they used Burro cranes which were small boomed on rail cranes that could pull a material (idler) car with them and thread rail in. They had a mechanical transmission and were powered by a 4-71 Detroit. The CN crane pictured here is a diesel electric crane that probably came from IPS in Duluth MN. I don't recall the tonnage capacity now but I'm thinking maybe 100 tons? That would be with outriggers set. I have a video or two of working a bridge project and the pile driver driving piling for the bridge replacement. Berminghammer pile driver. I will have to find it and share it here.

 

[eolesen]

When I was loading Army and Postal vehicles onto rail cars, we had to move the cars by hand after the loco dropped them on the siding to get them close enough to each other for the bridge plates to span the gap between cars. Then we'd set the brakes.

The tool was similar to this....

I've used one of those to move cars at the Illinois Railway Museum.

 

[ArlyA]

A southbound taconite train rounds the bend near Mt Iron MN this afternoon amid snow squalls that were moving through the area. 12/18/25

 

[ArlyA]

Union Pacific No. 4014, known famously as the 'Big Boy,' powers through a snowy winter landscape. Originally retired in 1961 and restored to operation in 2019, this massive engine holds the title of the world's largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive, serving as a rolling tribute to the transcontinental railroad's history.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[MossRoad]