Blue Square Model’s Abteilung ’46 shares built-up photos of its rail ripper.

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Thanks!

At last something that really existed from that stable. Note though that on the pictures the three Schienenwolfs are different and in resin they all are the same, only the third has shield.

Looks like the "heavy" one (AB72013) has some ballast(?) boxes added (in comparison with AB2012)...

H.P.

and some kind of support rollers at the "business" end above the railroad rails. Maybe to prevent the whole contraption from tipping backwards if a particularly stubborn sleeper is encountered ?
Railroad lines for heavier traffic would have stronger, and more tightly spaced, sleepers ....

/ Robin

Yep, exactly. BTW apparently this particular one from the trio is based on the exhibit in the Museum of Army Transport, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, now sadly defunct.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beverley_Museum_of_Army_Transport_geograph-3283334-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
As all such demolishing devices, it was built in field conditions and is one-off. So in kit form the rest two which are the same basic construction, are absolutely wrong (you can compare with the photographs).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6gdaBI9rZo

Imagine showing up at a model train meeting with one of those!

Poor men's alternative: :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSmcKGp3LH4

The poor mans alternative worked nearly as good, the problem was that it left reusable (mostly at least) sleepers behind.
It made a mess of the tracks and damaged the sleepers at the points where the rails were attached. Maybe the sleepers could be turned upside down to get fresh wood to attach nails or screws ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRBN6oFt2hw

H.P.

Broken link in H-P's post was this image:


I get the impression that the sleepers being ripped apart in this image are concrete sleepers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_sleeper
The usage of these was increasing during WW II (as a means of saving timber for other usage, pit-props in mines for instance)

/ Robin

Thanks for reposting the picture Robin (even though I can see it in my post ). It's just another view of the one that appears in the first picture in your post and in the second picture I've posted. Just check out the number on the locomotive tender.







On a side note,the postwar US Army M46-based Rapid Railway Destructor prototype was a bit more sophisticated



H.P.

and now I can not see it in any post at all ...
It seems as if it is visible if it is forced into the browser cache and once the cache has been cleared the link goes broken again. I'm using Firefox in case it matters ...
This is the raw link to the image:
http://historyphoto66.com/img/2016/01/A_railroad_plough_also_known_as_a_Schienenwolf_rail_wolf_destroys_Soviet_train_t.jpg

http://historyphoto66.com/img/2016/01/A_railroad_plough_also_known_as_a_Schienenwolf_rail_wolf_destroys_Soviet_train_t.jpg


That M46 freak seems to have been an overly complicated solution to a problem that could be solved in an easier way:
http://peashooter85.tumblr.com/post/130027885011/feed-me-railroads-the-m46-rapid-railroad

/ Robin

Neither of those links work , Robin

I want to know much , much more about the M 46 !

It sucks up the whole sha-bang , less the ballast , and disappears it all into a different dimension ?
( you need another one in that dimension to push it out ? )

It converts the track to fuel ?


EDIT -- I see your edit-added link to the 46 ..
WHAT ?

... I think my version would be more do-able

dude couldn't have been serious ..

I wish these were in 1/35, I'd buy one of each today...

Maybe copy & paste the photo links to another browser tab or window works.

The M46 freak gave me the impression of a seriously over-engineerd solution to a simple problem.

The only "fault" with the Schienenwolf is that the rails could possibly be reusable (the ties/sleepers are F-U-B-R).
The M46 Jack-the-Rail-Ripper solves this by cutting the rails into short bits (firing AP .50 caliber bullets into them to make notches and then some contraption to break the rails at the notches).
Maybe it would have been easier to bend the rails sideways instead. That would make them very difficult to reuse.
/ Robin

Pffffftt !
Hydraulic shears .
you could carry a ton of replacements
snip
snip
snip
or like you say ,some bender / roller
wiggle
wiggle
wiggle

he must have owned a 50 cal ammo factory

H.P.

I see what you mean



Sherman's_neckties

H.P.

could three guys ( that dude on the tree ain't pushing dik ) bend a modern rail like that ?
I never gave it any thought , why would I

Seems like they would be a whole lot tougher than that .



how long is a standard rail section ?

Those are rather light rails, main-line rails during WW II would be heavier.

Which mans standard ??
(1880) United States 39 feet (11.89 m) United States to suit 40-foot (12.19 m) long gondola waggons
(1950) United Kingdom 60 feet (18.29 m) British Rail
(1953) Australia 45 feet (13.72 m) Australia [1]
(1900) United Kingdom 71 feet (21.64 m) - steel works weighing machine for rails (Steelyard balance)[2]
(1940s) United States 78 feet (23.77 m) US [3]

Say somewhere between 13 and 24 meters

Hydraulic shears would imply stopping the whole unit for each cut or have some complex (i.e. prone to faults, needs a lot of maintenance) solution to let the shears move with the rail during the cut.

Following Shermans advice the rails should be twisted and that could probably be done with a set of rollers, maybe one full turn in 10 meters of rail would be enough.

"In case of the sounds of serious battle [Major-General McPherson] will close in on General Schofield, but otherwise will keep every man of his command at work in destroying the railroad by tearing up track, burning the ties and iron, and twisting the bars when hot. Officers should be instructed that bars simply bent may be used again, but if when red hot they are twisted out of line they cannot be used again. Pile the ties into shape for a bonfire, put the rails across and when red hot in the middle, let a man at each end twist the bar so that its surface becomes spiral. ”
— Wm. T. Sherman, Special Field Orders, July 18, 1864"

/ Robin

ah - red-hot steel .

.... now that M 46 using 20 mm ....

Reenactors bending rails:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMrUBFDYe0U
takes more than three guys though ....
/ Robin

IMHO, there are easier ways to set fire to a tree...

H.P.

Personally I just want to see this kit offered in 1/35th!