Inexpensive and quick to install, our tricky new Side Swiper™ can augment existing unloading capacity or serve as your primary unloading system.Its self-contained modular design enables installation in matter of days - with virtually no excavation and minimal site preparation. Then, bring on the hopper cars.

The Sideswiper™ can handle mechanical hoppers as quickly as workers can open the doors, but it was specifically designed for fully-automated remote-control, with Rapid-Discharge cars in mindand quick car-to-car cycle times. And for big unloading jobs like unit trains, the compact 12-ft. x 29-ft. design lends itself to tandem installations, to double or triple production by positioning two or three cars at once.

The Sideswiper™ innovation, a retractable rail spanprvides space under the rail car for heavy-duty conveying equipment without the complication and expense of traditional excavated unloading pits. Ballast and ties are simply replaced by two I-beams to form a collapsible rail assemly that, when retracted, permits deployment of a receiving/containment deck. Then the cargo methodically feeds onto a high volume conveyor for transfer to stockpile or truck.

A single operator controls the entire procedure from a central panel (assuming rapid discharge cars with automatic doors). If two or more sideswipers are in use, one panel controls all. Functions include: car positioning and arresting**, receiving deck deployment and retraction, receiving-deck conveyor activation and speed controls, hopper door activator, feed-depth-baffle control, water spray control, takeaway conveyor control, panic buttons lights, remote monitor (optional for monitoring multiple installations as well as the other side of the train), radial stacker controls (a radial stacker, if needed, is seperate item). Also, optional is an air conditioned operator's cab that encloses the control panel, along with the stop-go signal light and horn for truck load-out, and conveyor belt scales with monitor and controls and weight-ticket printer. The controls for car vibrator, recommended for conventional hopping cars, can also be included in operator's cab.

** Locomotives assistance is needed for longer strings of cars.

The Sideswiper system requires little capital investment, especially in view of its simple modular installation. And reduced labour requirements and faster unloading times will quickly result in lower operating costs, reduced freight rates, the elimination of demurrage fines and many other savings.

The Sideswiper™ is modular hopper-car unloading system designed for rapid unloading without the problems of an excaveted receiving pit. Its secret is a retractable rail section that leaves the railcar's wheels firmly on the tracks but opens sufficient ground-level operating space beneath its hopper section to unload at 30 tons/minute or faster. Constructing the 10ft to 30ft-deep pits that are common for hopper-car use is disruptive, time-consuming and expensive, and creates the need for high-horsepower conveyor systems to return the cargo to the surface. But removing the railroad ballast and ties and mounting the rails on two retractable I-beams allows plenty of room for hig-volume conveying at surface level.

Between its wheel trucks, a coal car's dumping sections spans 32 feet. The Sideswiper™ makes use of this, once a car is positioned, by retracting a 2-ft-high track/I-beam assembly and simultaneously deploying a receiving/containment deck to fill the resulting 29 x 9-ft space. (retaining walls also deploy to hold the cargo without spillage as the hopper doors open, an important feature that, unlike most bottom-dump systems, accommodates automativ rapid discharge doors.) The receiving deck feeds the cargo at a controlled rate onto a high capacity takeaway conveyor, positioned parallel to the railcar, for transfer to final disposition.

As soon as the car is empty, the reciving deck retracts from beneath it to a stowed position above the takeaway conveyor and the track span simultaneously redeploys and locks into place for safe railcar transit. Fish plate pins automatically interlock the rails on each end of the span and spacer bars add extra stability by locking into plave between the I-beams. A horn alerts the operator and others in the area that the train is ready to move,, and the operator can deactivate safety stops and advance the train to begin the cycle again.

Aggregate cars are smaller, with 20-ft hopper spans, and a narrower but equally strong Sideswiper™ version is available for them. An even narrower version is available for ore hoppers, which need only a 12-ft dumping span. Also available for commercial terminals and multiple service applications is a combinations version that can accommodate all three hopper car types.

The SideSwiper's™ modular design lends itself to tandem installations, to double or triple production by unloading 2 or more cars simultaneously. It also permits delivery of an entire machine on a single tractor-trailer, and generally results in complete installation in less than a week's time.