# Track stops



## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

The most common piece I see at the end of spurs is that Hayes type stop that was made starting around 1926... however I can't seem to find any reference about what they did *before* that. Did they just put a mound of dirt over the end of the track? Was there some kind of common structure used? Or were the ends just left bare, with the assumption that the crew would always stop the cars before the reached the end?


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Often they build a ramp out of ties and backfill with gravel. The rails would end near the vertical timber wall facing the tracks. Or, as you suggest, they often simply dumped a yard or two of gravel and rocks over the stub ends. Also, some roads used clamps that had curved faces like brakes on the trains, but they were clamped onto the rails. The rolling stock's wheels would make contact with them and would be kept from going further.

Back in the days before cars and trucks were common, they used horses in what is called drayage. Box cars would be spotted beside drayage docks and horses would drag laden wagons up to the box car doors. These tracks for loading were commonly known as "team tracks" named for the teams of horses and loading teams it would take to load box cars in a timely way.

Also, they had icing docks where lake ice would be drayed to the same locations, or to a special trestle at the height of the box car roofs, and later the reefer roofs, and large blocks would be slid along planks and into top compartments in the ceiling of the reefers.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

There are/were several different ways railroads 
kept cars from going off the end of their spur tracks.

Here are models of some:

http://model-trains.trainz.com/train/Track-Bumpers

Others include a 3/4 round device fastened to each rail.
The wheel fit in the round. There were crossed timbers,
and as mentioned mounds of dirt or ashes.

I built my own using spare HO rails soldered to the
track rails. I used a plastic bumper to avoid shorting
the track.









Don


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## carinofranco (Aug 1, 2012)

The PRR that ran through our little SW PA town had concrete wedge shaped blocks at the end of the spur lines. we used to play king of the hill on them


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

first war era the most common were the Hayes 'bumper' stops, with the Hayes wheel stops coming into use later on ...
before that there was no real standard, however the braced tie with gravel fill was fairly common due to it's low material costs, when labour was cheap ..

The hayes is still in production, and varieties can be found on the hayes site
http://wch.com/pdf/catalog/bpfacts.pdf

my layout is 1890's era, and a prototype sample of what I used in in the photo below


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

The all-time greatest "bumper stop" was Chicago Union Station when the Silver Streak came roaring in. :laugh: :laugh:
Bob


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

A spare tie spiked across the rails was a common stop in branch lines.

Fortunately, that's extremely easy to model, too.


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Very cool info so far, thanks everyone! Wvgca and CTValley, I think your ideas are more in tune with what I'm going for. My target year is around 1904, sort of a wild-west / mining town era, so bare minimum will look really good in those settings.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Shdwdrgn said:


> Very cool info so far, thanks everyone! Wvgca and CTValley, I think your ideas are more in tune with what I'm going for. My target year is around 1904, sort of a wild-west / mining town era, so bare minimum will look really good in those settings.


I decided I wanted to tackle the gravel-filled crib or ramp:


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

raleets said:


> The all-time greatest "bumper stop" was Chicago Union Station when the Silver Streak came roaring in. :laugh: :laugh:
> Bob


New Jersey Transit tried that approach a couple of months ago. Turned out to be very expensive and very vomplex to build...


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Track bumpers*

The little-used spur out where I work has two metal objects at the end of the rails that look like the dorsal fin of a shark with the concave side facing where a wheel would be. They are painted "safety yellow".


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

GNfan said:


> The little-used spur out where I work has two metal objects at the end of the rails that look like the dorsal fin of a shark with the concave side facing where a wheel would be. They are painted "safety yellow".


If they look like the image below, they are one of the earlier styles









image off 'net, not mine, prototype


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Track bumpers again*

Yes, more or less. I didn't realize they were "older"; that spur was built in the last 5 years or so they must still be in use. I've experimented in n-scale with making a "reasonable facsimile" from pieces of Atlas insulated rail joiners - they're the right color.

Where do you go online to look for "12-inches to the foot" track accessories?


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