Why Use A Car Mover?

Repositioning railcars in a rail-switching operation has always been a formidable task. Before the advent of the mobile railcar mover, large locomotives were often employed to move railcars. Locomotives were expensive, immobile (limited to track use) and over-powered for the situation. But, what are the real advantages to using a locomotive or a mobile rail car mover? Both a locomotive and a mobile rail car mover offer several advantages.

• You do not need to wait for your connecting rail service provider to spot or move rail cars, which can save you thousands in railroad switching charges.
• Moving rail cars for loading and unloading can provide significant cost savings by lowering railroad demurrage charges.
• Moving a rail car with a Mobile Rail Car mover or locomotive is a safer alternative to tractors and other movers that are not in control of the railcar.

Why use a Mobile Rail Car Mover? “Sold under brands, Trackmobile, Shuttlewagon, Rail King, Pettibone and Unimog”

Advantages:

• Mobile with the ability to move off and on the rail fast, because they not only have rail wheel technology, but also hi-rail road wheel technology
• Easily transported to different locations
• High Tractive Units available that can move over a dozen standard, modern freight cars
• Easy to operate and maintain with one person

Important Items to Know

• With weight transfer models (Rail King and Trackmobile) Tractive effort of a rail vehicle depends upon the weight transfer technology. Weight transfer is a simple technology whereby you increase the weight of the rail car mover by lifting a portion of the weight of the railcar you are moving onto the car mover.
• Your track structure can effect the total capability of your rail car mover. This includes grades, curves, materials on the track and weather. A survey of railroad track before making a purchase is imperative to proper model selection.

Locomotives

Advantages:

• The cost of purchasing a late model railroad locomotive is usually less than that of a mobile rail car mover.
• Locomotives will usually provide adequate power and tractive effort for even the most complex car moving tasks.

Important Items To Know:

• Locomotives are immobile, and cannot be taken on and off the tracks easily.
• Locomotives also require special rail yard design to allow them to move around cars or out of the way of connecting rail carriers.
• Older locomotives may not have readily available parts and may need remanufacturing.

Call us today and we can help you with the proper model and selection.