Rotary train car coal dumping - GIF and video

[nova_robotics]

Cool! I saw one of these in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It grabbed two cars at a time and flipped them. I was amazed.

Slightly off topic but somewhat related. The rail dumper was 99.9% automated, but the union pushed to have an operator. So there was an operator booth over the dumper, and he had a control panel with a big green button. The train cars moved into position, everything lined up, whatever else that had to happen, all completely automated. Then the dumper would wait for the operator to press THE BIG GREEN BUTTON to do the flip. Now here's the really great part. The gentleman, a rather large gentleman, who sat in the operator's booth didn't want to lean forward to press the button. When he was poured into his chair in the morning he wanted to stay there and not exert and further effort. So he had a drumstick. A literal wooden drumstick that you would use on a set of drums. He would use said drumstick to jab at the BIG GREEN BUTTON without having to actually move. It was glorious.