Railcar loading equipment comes in all shapes, sizes, and forms, but there are several pieces that are essential for loading docks and railcar areas. These items load and unload the cars swiftly and efficiently and ensure a lack of spoilage and damage to the product. Whether they’re vehicles or mechanical systems, they help you safely empty and refill boxcars, hoppers, tanks, and more. Here’s your quick guide to railcar loading equipment and the devices no railcar loading systems can do without.
Forklifts
Every material-producing facility out there employs forklifts in its daily operations. Forklifts are multipurpose material handling trucks that can swiftly load and unload boxcars and center beams without risking toppling, spilling, or other issues. Since they handle big loads piled on pallets, forklifts are indispensable.
Loading Spouts
Covered hoppers are self-contained railcars. People can access their contents via hatches on their tops and chutes on their bottoms. Covered hoppers require loading spouts because they must receive loose, powdery, and granular materials from tankers and silos. Loading spouts connect to tankers, silos, and other containment devices and use gravity to funnel materials into a covered hopper railcar. The greatest thing about loading spouts is that they attach to the hatches, preventing any goods from getting out and keeping the car’s exterior clean and dust-free with a corresponding filter unit as part of the setup.
Gauging Devices
When you’re loading and unloading materials, someone, or more often, something, needs to keep track of what’s coming in or out of the railyard. Gauging devices come in various styles, keeping track of liquid and solid materials as they enter and exit containers like tanks. Gauges are a vital safety feature as well, recording pressures, weights, load levels, amounts of materials, and other data. They make the process of handling materials smooth and trouble-free.
Loading Arms
The humble loading arm is the last item we’ve included in this quick guide to railcar loading equipment. Loading arms come in two forms: top loading and bottom loading arms. They load and unload liquids of all sorts from above or below. Not just simple tubes, they can come equipped with accessories like safety equipment, heating systems, and seals and liners that come in handy for hotter or more heat-sensitive liquids. Acids, water, oils, syrups, alcohol, and industrial chemicals are just a few things that loading arms add and remove from tankers and other container railcars.