Loading and Unloading Cargo

Loading Cargo on the SFER

The Squarefoot Estate Railway hauls aggregates, like sand and gravel, from
the crusher to the freight transfer point. The cars are loaded by gravity when
they’re placed within the loading shed. Actually, a Giant Hand behind the
scenes does the dirty work. To the spectator, the scene looks just like
the real thing where men with shovels inside the building load the cars.

Unloading Cargo

Offloading the freight is done by gravity, using a special tipper car.
The locomotive pushes the car onto a ramp beside the track. A lever
built into the car’s body rides up the ramp, tilting the body more and more
as it rises. Eventually, gravity forces the load out through the hinged
door into the chute, which directs it to a truck waiting below (not
modeled here, but represented by a translucent box marked
“Intercontinental Trucking Company.”)

You can view the entire process of loading and unloading gravel in action at the SFER’s video movie, “Workin’ on the Squarefoot.”