Although this photo is undated and exact location unknown it is among the collection of photos taken during the Diversion Channel project in southeast Missouri. I think this weed burner would be a neat scratchbuilding project. I don't know when they started using chemical weed kill but this would also be a curious relic sitting on an overgrown siding on a more modern era layout. I'm surprised to see a white stripe painted on the road. I didn't know roads where that developed around here back in the teens.
Jim, Here's a links to a previous thread, which discussed weed burning/scorching. http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?5403-Weed-Control-Vehicles&highlight=weed+burner I am a bit suspicious about a nineteen "teens" date for the photo.
Wonder if this could have been somewhere between Delta and Advance, where Hwy. 25 paralleled the Hoxie Sub? Only 2 cross-arms on the line pole, so I'd guess it's not mainline? Neat photo, Jim!
At this location on the Hoxie Sub, the pole line had but one cross arm. The rail looks a bit heavier, too.
There is a small clip within a video posted on youtube taken out in Oklahoma I think somewhere around Award of a weed burner in operation, pretty interesting stuff, wouldn't want it around during drought conditions! Brad Slone
I wonder when the chemical method took over. I also wonder if branch lines just used a ground crew to go along and burn the ditches or whatever. A burning crew would be interesting to model if prototypical.
Take a look at the thread Karl pointed out in his first response. Chemicals were definitely in use by 1970, but I don't know how much earlier they appeared. Paul
Good eye for the details, as always, Karl. Thanks very much - I need to look more closely at the picture that's around here somewhere that I believe your father took when a track gang was replacing rail along the Hoxie Sub. Jim, I think that a scale burning operation would be right up there with modeling functioning scale torpedoes and fusees. I'm still waiting for someone to come up with a way to model those. Best Regards,
Pretty scruffy looking ground, similar to south of Hoxie, Mark Tree, Wilson or Lawton, Ok even. Its being pulled by a Motor Car, looks to be a vintage maybe 50's, because of the pancake roof. The older ones, did not have roofs. later straight roofs. Burning was used anywhere that it was allowed. Burning and burying ties, became a no-no in the mid 70's. But I don't know the location, fits a lot of places. William Jackson
Ken, that is indeed why railroads went to gas fired heaters and cold air blowers. Embers would get in the tie and burn up over a time period. That caused the tie to need to be replaced. Switches used to have pot's under the points, asbestos shingles were nailed to the sides to prevent the tie from burning to some good. It still world burn some ties. Cold air blowers work best in places like Montana and Wyoming where melting of snow is little problem. Gas fired works best where the snow melts during the day, it prevents freeze up at night. Ice buildup. William Jackson