Page 5 - C:\My Documents\Track N Times July 2020

GREX Dump Trains

by Jeff Stone, VP Operations, Georgetown Rail Equipment Co.

As the Loram family of business units grows we continue to expand our offerings to our customers and bring on
different types of equipment. One of these is the Dump Train. This unit is comprised of a stacker car that supplies
the power, hydraulics, and electrical to 15 hopper cars that are loaded with material. Our standard Dump Train has
one continuous conveyor belt that is 1,800 feet long and runs the entire length of the train moving material from
each hopper to the stacker car. Our newest version is our Dump Train for curves and this unit has a separator belt
under each hopper car that allows the operator to unload in a curve.

The Dump Train can unload 1,500 tons of aggregate an hour within 50 feet of track centerline. This material can
vary in size from fines to 5” ballast and is used for placing walkway ballast, washout repair, roadbed construction,
bridge material placement, replacing crossing material, or stockpiling material.

The unloading is accomplished with a sin-
gle GREX operator.

The history of the Dump Train dates back
to 1985 when the founder of GREX, Ned
Sneed, received the first Dump Train pa-
tent. These trains were originally built to
haul aggregate from Texas Crushed Stone
quarry to Texas Department of Transpor-
tation road projects, asphalt and concrete
plants in Texas and Louisiana. The Missis-
sippi River floods of 1993 were the prov-
ing grounds for the Dump Trains for the
railroads as they were used to fill in wash-
outs. With this success, we have grown
our fleet to include 16 standard Dump
Trains, 8 Dump Train for Curves with one
more Curve train being built that will go
into service later this year. These trains
are in service across the United States and

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