How does one answer to this?
Food for thought:
Without trying to seem mean or nitpicking? I surely don't. I'm far from being a rivet counter. As a former long-haul flat bed driver, I see several mistakes to my eyes. Overall for modeling reasons it is acceptable, and well done. It looks like it simply rolled down an embankment when it derailed causing minor repairable damage. In the real world I don't know what an FRA inspector would say to it. What sticks out in my mind is a 69,700 pound car, sitting on three discharge chutes, on a wood deck, without additional support? I would think the photo of the GATX car would be a steel deck. It also does not show how the load is secured to the TTX car, and the fence rail obscures that area. I doubt a wood deck would stand up to a 23,233 lbs. load on three points of contact. I would hope in the photo of the GATX car, that the RR placed some kind of dunnage between the discharge chutes to support the car, as well as the ends of the car.
Real world: A 79,100 lbs. roll of 1/4" coiled steel 7' wide X 5.5' tall, on a big rig: 6" ahead of trailer center, two 4"X4" 8'L pieces of wood, placed against the front and rear of the coil, another 4X4 placed on top of those, so that it rests on the other 4X4's and nailed together, creating a box around the coil 8" high. To further secure the coil to the flatbed trailer takes 20 1/2" chains.10 chains to the rear of the trailer, and 10 chains to the front of the trailer. (I wish I had taken a photo of that load). It went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. (How do I know this, I had the crane operator set it. I drove the nails into the 4X4's and chained the load, then drove it to Pittsburgh).
On any heavy load chains need to be crossed so that they form an X. If 4" wide straps are used a single twist on each side will eliminate the strap sounding like a baseball card hitting the spokes of a bicycle wheel. This reduces strap wear. Rule of thumb, straps are placed every 6' to 8' of the load, if possible. Excess chain at the chain binder would be wrapped around the binder handle and secured in place by an 18" rubber bungi cord.
At 50' long it could also be placed on a 48' flatbed semi trailer. Provided that the bottom of the car faces the passenger side of the truck, and chained & strapped accordingly. 6" allowable over hang on the drivers side. Followed by proper flagging & bannering. (all 8 corners of the load marked with 12" red flags. 12 more flags required for the chutes, as they protrude beyond the right side of the trailer. The rear of the trailer itself also needs to be flagged, as does the front bumper of the truck. The front and rear of the vehicle must also be bannered. The banner must be yellow in color with black lettering and must read "OVERSIZED LOAD". This load would also require an escort both in front of and behind it. After delivery all flags and banners must be removed. These were the requirements back in the late 90's when I stopped driving over the road. They might have changed by now.
Check with your local state police for current requirements. (most of the state police departments) are responsible for D.O.T. compliance. In regards to the trucking industry.
In regards to the FRA I'm sure they don't want a bunch of emails asking the same question(s). However they do have a web page. The three departments to contact, (I would think) would be: government affairs, railroad safety & perhaps railroad policy & development.
It never hurts to ask.
There is no such thing as a dumb question. That only exists if it's never asked.
I hope all my ramblings make sense.
I don't get to see that many damaged cars up here, on the old Great Northern main line. So maybe in regards to your model, I'm talking out of my.... On how it should be tied down.
The damage looks really good though, and very convincing. That's a job well done.
A search on Bing images: "damaged freight cars" has a photo of a car which is a close match for yours. The damaged car appears to be on a steel deck, flat car. The four corners are supported with at least 8 short 4x4's under the corners. It looks like they used steel cable to secure the car in place using cable clamps. Car # 49791, reporting mark UTCX. Under "damaged rail cars" It looks like they still use chains on locomotives, to tie them down. Or you could call R.J. Corman railroad Group and ask them how they do it.
Cheers,
Charlie
