Comments on: Passing by the weigh scales, 214 begins her southwards journey as the mist clears on a cool autumn morning. http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Thu, 07 May 2026 15:18:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Chris van der Heide http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=23761#comment-13787 Chris van der Heide Wed, 16 Mar 2016 21:33:50 +0000 http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/IMG_1747-1.jpg#comment-13787 Well, simply, you put a car on it, it tells you how heavy it is, and you subtract the car's stencilled weight to determine the weight of the load for billing. Older scales were basically just a giant version of a balance beam scale like at your doctor's office, just very precisely calibrated, and mostly hidden below the surface. More modern scales just use electronic load cells. The switch points and secondary rails allow heavy weights like locomotives to be kept off the "live" scale rails. Well, simply, you put a car on it, it tells you how heavy it is, and you subtract the car’s stencilled weight to determine the weight of the load for billing.

Older scales were basically just a giant version of a balance beam scale like at your doctor’s office, just very precisely calibrated, and mostly hidden below the surface. More modern scales just use electronic load cells.

The switch points and secondary rails allow heavy weights like locomotives to be kept off the “live” scale rails.

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