Trash Flats and Containers

[JWB]

I noticed Matt Snell's articles in the May-June-July 2012 RMC on municipal solid waste equipment and facilities with mild interest, but I thought this was mainly a New York metropolitan area item. However, railfanning in the LA Harbor area last year, I noticed that trash flats and containers are also in use out here:

Then I began to notice on railfan DVDs from the last 15-20 years that trash flats are quite common in blocks on manifests on both sides of the Hudson River and on the Boston & Albany, so eventually I decided to add some to my layout, since I'm gradually adding more items from the conspicuity-stripe era (I guess German modelers would call this Epoche VI).

Looking more closely at the subject, it's clear that Matt Snell, despite the 3-part article that covers a fair amount of ground, has just scratched the surface here, though the series is a big help. The Atlas Trainman containers on this Trainman flat seem to be East Coast style, though I think they're also in use in the Pacific Northwest. The open types on the prototype shot I made aren't available commercially. The Snell series shows how to kitbash model 20-foot containers into the open top style on my prototype shot.

[Adrian Wintle]

There are trash containers in the trains shown in the video linked in this thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/68994-canadian-pacific-southern-pacific-in-new-jersey/

 

The first train is a block train of the second style, while the second train has a few of the first style.

 

I have a few resin N-scale open-top containers. Fine-N-Scale sludge container, I think http://www.finenscale.com/intermodal.html

 

Adrian

[JWB]

I tracked down where most of these flats are coming from in the Los Angeles area (Paramount) and was able to get a few shots without trespassing too noticeably.

So far, it looks as if there's a pretty big variety of dumpster-type containers in use. None of the half-height style here seem to be commercially available, but other photos I've found on the web show full-height Roll-on types available from Walthers and Herpa also in use. The July 2012 Matt Snell RMC piece also gives directions for scratch building one of the half-height styles shown here.

 

 

[kamerad47]

Those blue & gray containers are not trash , they are contaiminated dirt or dirty dirt going to a wash plant or landfill.

[trisonic]

Here's some interesting Trash Footage from Staten Island of New York's trash hauled by CSX off the island via the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge (unfortunately no shots of bridge):

 

 

Filmed earlier this month. Locos have some interest too...

 

Best, Pete.

[JWB]

Those blue & gray containers are not trash , they are contaiminated dirt or dirty dirt going to a wash plant or landfill.

You're right. "Trash" in the sense I was using it covers a spectrum of rail traffic, not all in containers -- dirty dirt also moves in gons and hoppers, while sludge (i.e., processed poop) moves in half-height dumpster style containers similar to these. In addition to municipal garbage and processed poop, what I would call "trash" traffic also includes construction and demolition debris and dirty dirt. Some of this moves in unit trains, some of it in short blocks or even individual cars, which seems to happen with the stuff coming out of Paramount. What I think all these have in common is that they all go to landfill destinations, and all the loads are covered with tarps.