I'm planning on a RIP track for a small yard, along with a small engine service facility. The Dec '23 issue of MR's Ask MR column addresses a subscriber question about railcar repairs. "Often found in or near classification yards, RIP tracks can handle quick repairs like repairing a broken grab iron or door latch, repacking a wheel bearing, or swapping out a broken coupler. More extensive work involving a car's trucks, structural members or brake gear must be done at a car shop." However, I recall seeing a YouTube video of replacing a 1:1 railcar's wheelset outdoors in a small yard, on what looked like a RIP track, with nothing more than a couple of heavy duty jacks, some timber cribbing, and a heavy duty forklift with some lifting straps. They also swapped out the brake pads, IIRC. Since they had the whole truck out from underneath the railcar, I'm pretty sure they could have handled truck repair/replacement as well. So, the point of my question is whether it would be appropriate to have a scene showing such a wheelset swap in progress on a RIP track on my layout? (I know, it's my layout, my rules, but...) I don't have room for a car shop, unless I use the locomotive service facility for railcars as well, but then the the whole scene would be hidden inside. What say you all?
It wouldn't even need to be a RIP track........I've seen them doing such repairs just on a normal siding, including swapping out a truck on an SD70ACe. During the recent MRL/BNSF bridge collapse, they had 2 sets of repair equipment ......one on each side of the river to deal with a group of Boeing cars that got stranded. They were lifting the flatcars off their trucks (with the fuselages still loaded) and placing them on flatbed trailers, trucking them down the interstate for a couple of miles, then placing them back on trucks on the other side of the river so they could continue on the Seattle. So yes, your repair scene would be totally appropriate.
A RIP track is where many wheelsets and trucks were changed out. Such a scene would be very appropriate.
Even a siding alongside a main line can be used as a RIP Track. A Rip track is for simple repairs. Anything extensive would be done at a car shop or engine shop. Truck replacement or simple truck repairs can be done in place.
Worth doing? Yes! Add interest? Yes! Most of the time, whenever I recall seeing something like this, it is beside a roundhouse on a whisker track or just a siding, because the hard work (as in engines) takes place in the buildings. Rolling stock (unless they are building it from scratch) just needs to be repaired good enough so it can be sent on its way (especially if it is a foreign road...quickly fix and send the other road a bill). Flat spotted wheels, brake shoes, air lines, and other quick fixes (broken boards or door latches), then send them on their way. A parked or broken freight car provides no income, no matter how pretty it may look.
RIP tracks do normal running repairs and can be very primitive, it really doesn't take anything high-tech to repair a typical car. RIP tracks repair cars, engines are serviced and repaired at different facilities. Diesel engines only need to have an inspection that requires more than the crew once every 92 days. It really needs to go to the shop only once a year. Steam engines require more maintenance than diesels. The vast majority of diesels spend less than 5% of their lives inside a shop building. 95% of the time they are sitting out in the open for weeks or months.
Steam engines required a LOT more maintenance than diesels. The backshop tour guide at Steamtown mentioned that for every steam locomotive on the road, there were two in maintenance, both minor and major. Early diesels needed less than one engine in maintenance for every three on the road.
