worked on a railroad scale

[bhil3]

Hi, I work on scales for a living, and the odd time it is a railroad scale. I worked on one last week. On Wednesday we were there and tested and calibrated it with the railroad weight test car, and I couldn't get any pics or videos. We went back Friday to move the remote display and I got a couple. This is in Hamilton, Ontario at the very end of a switching spur served by Rail Link.

 

[setxrailfan]

I've been on a switch crew in the past and spotted the CNWX and MPX 2-axle version scale test cars on a static weigh scale we used at the Port of Beaumont Texas.

I've seen another place use an empty tank car to calibrate their rolling scale also.

 

[bhil3]

The test car is long gone before this pic, but it is now re-labeled with the reporting mark CANX which is for Canac Corp, who does rail scale testing. Not sure about in the U.S. but in Canada they are the ones that do the rail scale testing.

 

[bhil3]

Here are a couple more pictures, the car directly on the scale, and a closeup of the weight reading.

 

[roee]

So they still use weight in Canada? I figured they'd be using mass, but I guess since the cars interchange with the US and must meet AAR standards they need to have there weight labeled on the side.

 

[roee]

Not sure about in the U.S. but in Canada they are the ones that do the rail scale testing.

The major railroads do their own scale testing and calibration. The Bureau of Weights and Measures may inspect the scale to ensure it is correct. I know the hump yard scales can not be used for revenue information since they are on a hill. Good enough for the hump equipment to use the information, but apparently not for billing customers.

 

[bhil3]

Weight is all we use here! We have test weights in both Lb and Kg for different application. The rail scale test car is certified to 80,000lb. At this job we had Canac there for the part to do with the railroad purpose, plus a measurement Canada rep for the purpose of it being a legal for trade scale seeing as this customer ships the loads of scrap iron sold by weight.

 

[roee]

Weight is all we use here! We have test weights in both Lb and Kg for different application.

Pounds is Weight and Kilograms is Mass. If you go to the moon your weight will change, but your Mass will not. Weight relies on the force of gravity exerting on an object, where Mass is absolute. Of course the scales that we typically use measure an objects weight, and then if you use KG scale, then it just converts it into KG since the force of gravity is essentially the same everywhere on earth.

Yeah, I'm being a nerd..

 

[bhil3]

Actually for scale weight and calibration it is not the same anywhere on earth. Measurement Canada has "gravemetric" regions where a scale must be re-certified if moved out of them.

 

[Midsouth fan]

We have weigh-in-motion scales at our chemical plant we test yearly. The past 2 years a scale testing company was used that had their own heavy (what I call) motorcar that was hauled in on flatbed truck. It takes longer for them to unload the motorcar and put the weights in it than it does for them to putt-putt down the track and do the actual weight comparison. Then after all of that excitement, we weigh 5 cars. First, each set of trucks are weighed statically, then we weigh the cars in motion 10 times (gotta have 50 good passes before the scales are "certified") at speeds of 2-3 mph.

 

[bhil3]

This particular scale is for static weighing not in motion. With the Canac rep, a Measurement Canada rep, and 2 from our scale company we were done in 3 hours with having to make adjustments.