Model train layout

Having settled upon the site for the model railway and determined the gauge, there comes a whole host of minor problems connected with the arrangement of the lines, that is, the layout of the track. Practically speaking, there are three groups of track layouts. Firstly, the non-continuous systems ; secondly, continuous systems, mostly based on an oval; and thirdly, combination systems and the layout of sidings. A non-continuous track is one which runs from one terminal station to another at the opposite end of the line, and in its simplest form is a plain, straight track. This elementary plan is far and away the best for straightforward test runs, the hauling of young passengers, and so forth, but it offers little scope for embellishment, nor does it yield the maximum of interest. Another disadvantage of the simple straight track is the space needed, a length which is seldom realizable in the average home, except along a corridor or somewhere ,of that nature, where a straight continuous track is the only possible arrangement. Some experienced model railway owners are, however, of opinion that the non-continuous track is very useful for timetable running, and that a considerable degree of realism I can be attained with such plans. One happy arrangement of a non-continuous line is shown in Fig. 1 a layout suitable for a No. "OO" gauge line in a space measuring 11 ft. by 6 ft wide.

This is really a very ingenious plan, as it offers the advantages of a long run in a small space, a result attained by the introduction of a diamond crossing. The terminal stations are disposed within the rest of the track, which at first sight appears to be an oval, but by commencing to trace it out from either terminal it will. be seen that a train leaving that station would traverse the diamond crossing, pass the second terminal station, run around the outer loop past the first station, then over the diamond crossing for the second time, and so to the second terminal station. Objections to such a system are the signalling of the crossing, and the fact that the engine must be moved by hand at each terminal and coupled to the other end of the train. This is not so vital as it may seem when a clockwork loco is used, as, in any case, it must be handled for the purpose of winding. Sidings or bays can be added at each terminus as desired, but the main line must be a single track, as a double-diamond crossing is an intricate piece to, make and many problems are introduced in the signalling and controls if accidents are to be avoided. One way of overcoming the difficulty is to substitute a skew arch bridge for the crossing, and to make one station at a higher level than the other, a plan that has manifest advantages on the score of realism. A matter that must be studied most carefully when laying out any track is the radius of the curved portions, because it has been proved by experience that there is a minimum radius below which it is not possible to go without causing the trains to leave the track. These minima are as follows: No. "O" gauge, 2 ft. radius; No. "1" gauge, 3 ft. radius; and in the 2-in. gauge, 4 ft. radius. These dimensions are the minima, but it is highly desirable to increase them, and the practical minima for a track should not be less than the following: No."O" gauge, 3 ft. radius; No. "1" gauge, 4 ft., and for the 2-in., 5 ft. 6.75 in. The latter dimensions permit of express locomotives

negotiating such curves at a good speed, but even these radii can be increased with beneficial results. Commercially made tracks of many kinds are now on the market conforming to the foregoing dimensions, the former often described as "small" or old-radius curves, and the latter as "large" or new-radius curves. The curves of points and crossings must, of course, conform to these radii or be somewhat larger. A practical hint when arranging for a track in any existing room is to prepare a large piece of cardboard or thick paper by cutting one corner away to the desired radius, and thus making a quarter circle template which can be laid on the floor and the position of the line thereby ascertained. Remember, however, to leave room at the corners so that long coaches or other stock can swing round on the curves without colliding with the wall or any other obstacle, not forgetting to include in this category any other adjacent lines or sidings; also remember that the minimum-radii curves on any double track must be allocated to the inner line, and the outer line made proportionately larger. When a track layout is worked out on paper, it is imperative to make the drawings accurately to scale, as large as possible, and to be very careful to adhere to the actual radii of standard tracks unless the lines are to be laid specially for the job in hand.

Coming now to continuous tracks, the elementary form is, of course, the circle, which is quite unsatisfactory for anything more than a toy. The natural development is to add straight rails between the two half circles, thus making the oval, which is perhaps the basis of all continuous tracks. A simple continuous track, suitable for a No. "O" gauge railway in a very small space, given in Fig. 2, provides a single main line, with a loop road at the station and a curved siding for carriages. A loop road leaves the main line near the station and serves a small goods yard and also a turntable which, in conjunction with the radial-type engine shed, forms a convenient way of handling and storing three locos. A rather more ambitious plan, suitable for a No. "O" gauge railway occupying a room measuring 16 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft., is shown in Fig. 16, and comprises a continuous run, a spacious goods yard, terminal and wayside stations, a turntable and loco sheds. The main terminal station is indicated at A and has two platforms, one arranged as a bay. The turntable shown at T allows the locos to be worked out from their shed, and the engine on an incoming train can be uncoupled, run on to the turntable, turned end for end, and by running over the junction line, can be shunted on to the head of the train. The signals and controls for this section should be located at Y, and another signal box and controls operated from Z, adjacent to the station and sidings at B, which turns this into a combined terminal and posting station. Goods trains can work from the goods yard, leaving at the upper end Y, make any number of circuits, and arrive at the goods yard by way of the crossing at X, picking up or dropping wagons at station B en route. An example of a continuous double track suitable either for No. "0" or No. "1" gauge railways, and very adaptable as regards space, is given in Fig. 17 and, although simple in appearance, has considerable potential interest. Actually the plan was evolved for a No. "1." gauge model railway, electrically operated and controlled, and occupying a top room measuring 20 ft. long and 16 ft. wide. There is in all about 100 ft. of double track, which stands on a permanent base 3 ft. in height and enamelled white. The railway is operated entirely from the outer edges of the track and occupies about 120 sq. ft. of floor space, which leaves room round it for the operators. The chief architectural items are the station, with a single

line of track, two large engine sheds, a miniature ferro-concrete overbridge with flanking walls and approach road, and a fine tunnel with well-modelled fronts and abutment walls. Interest in this plan is mostly confined to long-distance non-stop runs and to local shunting operations ; one interesting detail of operation is possible thanks to the lengthy tunnel and the remarkable possibilities of electric control. If the layout is studied, it will be found that it is impossible to run a train out of the station around the track and then back to the station without shunting or backing, but by stopping the train in the tunnel and automatically uncoupling the loco, a second engine can be run into the tunnel at the other end of the train, and hauled by it in the reverse direction back to the main station. The first loco is, of course, shunted out of the tunnel at the earliest opportunity and brought back into service as required. In this way the effect of up and down trains, entering and leaving the terminal station gauge is readily attained. This is one of the difficulties of planning a satisfactory model trains layout for a continuous or combined system, and is worthy of considerable attention. In principle, if terminal to terminal running is called for, plus a continuous track, one terminal must be placed "facing," that is, the train must approach the points leading to the station, and the other terminal must be "trailing," that is, the train must, when leaving the station, traverse the points on to the main or continuous track. Unless these conditions are met, no matter how they may be disguised, the train cannot work from a terminal station, around a continuous track, and run back to the terminal without reversing or changing engines.

This difficulty has been very ably overcome in the layout (Fig. 3) devised for a No. "0" gauge railway. Here there is a single line arranged in the form of an oval, which is available by suitable signalling and controls for trains running in either direction. Any train can be run from terminal to terminal direct or can be diverted over the continuous part of the line, make the requisite number of journeys and finish a non-stop run at the other terminal. This railway occupies a room measuring 16 ft. square, and is built on a baseboard laid on trestles, mostly standing against the wall. In order to allow the door of the room to be opened, a lifting bridge is fitted at the point B and is provided with suitable locking bolts. The layout was evolved for control by one operator, and, therefore, shunting has been reduced to a minimum in the normal operation of the trains. The system is served by one main locomotive depot with turntable, and a three-road engine shed, and a coal and watering plant, shown at CW. The main terminal, Norwich station, has four roads ; Lowestoft, the second terminal, has two roads and a bay. The harbour station is equipped with a water tower, WT, and a spacious goods yard and depot. A non-continuous tunnel opposite the fireplace is novel and attractive. Reedham has one through line and a bay, and local trains can be operated between it and the harbour station and between Lowestoft. Operative interest has been attained by this layout in an admirable way, as the track arrangement provides for almost all classes of model train working, either long-distance passenger expresses or goods trains, and a local service can also be handled. Pictorially the arrangement is very good and full of interest, thanks to well-executed wall paintings and clever modelling of the buildings. The harbour station incorporates a quay and depicts a characteristic channel port with harbour mouth and a distant view of the open sea.

Bisnis logistik merupakan bisnis menggiurkan belakangan ini sehingga ngga heran bila PT. Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) membentuk anak perusahaan untuk meraih peluang bisnis di sektor pendistribusian barang ini, dengan menciptakan PT. Kereta Api Logistik (KALOG).

Dibentuk tahun 2009 lalu, namun beroperasi secara resmi di Sumatera Selatan (SS) menjelang akhir tahun 2010. Berikut ini sebagian personil pendukung tim KALOG Sumatera Selatan, diantaranya : Ass. Manager Operation Kertapati (KPT) Budi Susanto dan Ass. Manager Suka Cinta (SCT), F. Agung - lihat foto dibawah ini.

Tim KALOG dibantu Krani yang terdiri 4 (empat) cowok ganteng yang siap mengawasi dan memeriksa kontainer, mulai muat hingga bongkar di tempat tujuan, dalam keadaan baik dan bersih (bersihnya muatan batu bara, paham donk).

Foto dari kiri ke kanan (ki-ka), Pristiyanto, Yakub, Beri dan Doni. Seragam boleh sedikit bervariasi penggunaannya tetapi safety equipments, tetap jadi prioritas, semisal helm dan sepatu. Ngga ada tawar menawar.

Tim Supir (Driver) merupakan kombinasi generasi muda dan generasi djadoel sehingga satu sama lain bisa saling mengisi dan belajar. Foto ki-ka : Juli, Alex, Syam, Nasir dan H. Saelan.

Kerjasama tim (teamwork) menjadi kunci keberhasilan dalam sebuah pekerjaan. Tanpa disiplin dan sikap saling pengertian, sulit mengharap yang dicita-citakan bisa tercapai. Selamat bekerja dan sukses selalu.

Train signals
The signals on a model railway can be disposed as a glorified form of ornamentation, or can be correctly arranged as a definite means of controlling the train service. In the former case a few signals are located at strategic points near the track, and manually operated by a lever at the bottom of the signal post. This is not good practice, and a great deal of the interest and instructional value of the model is lost. When the railway is permanently installed, all the signals and points can be operated from properly positioned signal cabins, and it is quite feasible entirely to control the trains from the signal cabins when electrical devices are installed. Between these extremes it is practicable to arrange for a combined hand and automatic control system, or to make it as complex or as simple as circumstances and personal inclination may dictate. Signals are quite cheap to buy ready made, or can be constructed at home for a small sum; alternatively, a middle course can be followed and prepared sets of parts purchased and assembled. Signals are usually controlled by a small hand lever on the base, or by wires from a signal cabin. The usual arrangement of a single-arm semaphore signal is shown in Fig. 7, where it will be seen that the signal arm is normally held at danger, or "stop," that is, in the horizontal position, by the lever and weight at the base of the post. When a lever is pulled in the signal cabin a wire connecting from it to the counterweight lever on the signal post is pulled downwards, and the connecting rod between the lever and arm is pushed up, thus pushing the signal arm to the "clear" position, that is, in a downwards sloping direction. When the the cabin lever is put back to normal the counter weight falls and the signal arm returns to danger. The connecting wires are guided in any convenient way by means of small screw eyes, or through proper guide-posts with pulleys. Other levers in the signal cabin are connected by thin metal rods to the points and crossings, which can by their aid be moved in either direction. These rods are guided in a similar manner to the signal wires, but bends and curves are traversed by the use of cranked arms pivotally mounted on bases screwed to the baseboard of the track. On real railways the levers in the cabin are interconnected in such a way that it

is impossible to move any lever which might conflict with another; for example, it would be impossible to move any given point-lever until a controlling signal ahead of it had been set to "danger." Space limitations forbid more than passing mention of this most intriguing aspect of model railway working. Signal arms are not always mounted singly on one post; sometimes there are two arms on one post, the lower arm having a V-shaped notch in the end and acting as a "distant" or warning signal, indicating to the engine driver the need for extra caution or a reduction in speed, as a signal not far ahead is at "danger." Two or more signal arms are not mounted on one post to control two lines of track except occasionally for an "up" and "down" single line the practice is to mount each arm on a separate post ; but often one of them is shorter and supported on a platform or bracket attached to the main post. Such an arrangement is known as a bracket signal. A development of the idea is the gantry, such as that in Fig. 42, where two sub-stantial uprights carry a beam over several tracks, and the signal posts are fixed to the beam over their respective roads. These signals are, however, actuated in the same manner as for a single post except for the use of rods and bell cranks on the gantry, the various wires being connected near the bottom of the gantry posts to their respective levers or bell cranks. The levers employed in the cabin can be elaborate affairs with interlocking bars, but a very simple arrangement, as shown in Fig. 43, is serviceable, inexpensive and well within the constructive ability of most amateur railway engineers. The lever frame consists of a wooden baseboard with uprights at each end, their upper parts connected by wooden longitudinals. A sheet of tinplate slotted and notched for the levers covers the top part, as shown in the diagram. The levers are made from umbrella ribs notched for the connecting wires and pivoted at the bottom in the same way as an umbrella. The lever frame is fastened to the baseboard of the railway, and connections made as before described. The signal cabin is separately made and simply stands in place as a covering to the levers. An idea of a suitable signalling system for a continuous single line with a loop at a station is shown in Fig. 6, and comprises a bracket signal controlling the main and loop line. Two single "home" signals control the approach to the station, and the remaining pair, known as "starters" regulate the departure of trains from the station.

Signals should always be so placed that the distance between them is sufficient to accommodate the longest train on the system -a space technically known as the train berth. This is an important rriatter, as should the end of a train overlap the previous signal point or crossing it would necessarily block it and upset the operation of the system. For example, the distance from A in Fig. 6 to the inner home signals is the train berth, but if the train were much longer, then it would foul the points and the bracket signal would be blocked, or an accident might easily occur. The signalling of a goods yard or siding is often controlled by small signals known as ground signals, because they are situated low down near the ground. One example of a semaphoretype ground signal, Fig. 45, shown in the "off" or "clear" position, indicates how such a signal is employed. It is always placed to face a train coming into the points, and the green light, or depressed semaphore arm, indicates that the point is set for the train to turn off the main line; but when the red light shows, or semaphore arm is up, the point is clear for the passage of a main-line train.

Model trains
Volumes could be written on the subject of model trains and locomotives; the different types, their capacities, advantages, and so forth, and still there would be something more to add. Like their prototypes, there are a great number of different kinds of model trains and locos, ranging from a little four-wheeled engine to the multi-wheeled express locomotives that haul the fastest and heaviest trains. The cost of these models varies almost as widely as the types, a matter that is easily demonstrated by study of any of the catalogues issued by the manufacturers. Not only do the types vary, but most of them are available with a choice of steam, electricity or clockwork as the motive power. The proper gauge of engine will, of course, have already been settled before the time comes to choose

the locomotive. As a rule it is a wise policy to begin modestly, by getting a simple engine, and become familiar with its manipulation before acquiring something of a more expensive nature. Enormous strides have been made in recent years in the manufacture of really high-grade model locos, and it is safe to assert that British makers are producing the finest examples in the world. Rustless steel, and other modern materials of construction have done much to remedy some defects associated in the past with models of Continental manufacture, and today the model railway enthusiast has a wonderful choice of high-grade locos at extremely moderate prices, considering the mass of detail work involved. Those with a bent for mechanical engineering can make up their own engines from the castings and parts supplied by several firms, but this work involves considerable time and a good deal of manipulative dexterity, as well as a practical knowledge of metal-working processes. The smallest model locos commercially made are the tank engines for the No. "00" gauge, which cost are small. Some inexpensive locos can be made at home by obtaining a good-grade electric mechanism, complete with coupled wheels, and making the carcases or body work, either in tinplate or with thin wood or cardboard. Another plan, especially applicable to the smallest gauges is to fit an electric mechanism into a goods brake van, or a passenger coach and make "dummy" engines. Steam-driven tank locomotives are practical for dealing with goods traffic or suburban passenger trains, their short wheel-base, small diameter coupled wheels and generally robust design contribute to their overall efficiency. Many of these tank engines do not exactly follow the lines of a particular prototype, but are in a sense freelance designs, based on good practice and typical of colliery or industrial engines. The enormous flexibility of the electrically driven train model makes it extremely fascinating to handle, as it can be stopped, started, reversed, made to run fast or slow, entirely at the will of the operator, who only has a switch or two and a resistance to operate. Thus, by a suitable combination of locos, track controls and electric signalling, every movement of a real train can be reproduced without the need of touching the train. Moreover, it is possible and practicable to couple or uncouple the engine from the rest of the train and even to carry out shunting operations without having to move from the signal box or control board. The productions of the commercial firms catering for the model enthusiast are remarkably efficient and faithful to their prototypes, and the thanks of all model railway lovers are justly due to those firms for their courage and foresight in popularizing the hobby.

Railroad history
The railroad is sprung from the application of two fundamental ideas - one the use of a mechanical means of developing speed, the other the use of a smooth running surface to diminish friction. Though these two principles are today combined, they were originally absolutely distinct. In fact there were railroads long before there were steam engines or locomotives. If we seek the real predecessor of the modern railroad track, we must go back four hundred years to the wooden rails on which were drawn the little cars used in English collieries to carry the coal from the mines to tidewater. The natural history of this invention is clear enough. The driving of large coal wagons along

the public highway made deep ruts in the road, and some ingenious person began repairing the damage by laying wooden planks in the furrows. The coal wagons drove over this crude roadbed so successfully that certain proprietors started constructing special planked roadways from the mines to the river mouth. Logs, forming what we now call "ties," were placed crosswise at intervals of three or four feet, and upon these supports thin "rails," likewise of wood, were laid lengthwise. So effectually did this arrangement reduce friction that a single horse could now draw a great wagon filled with coal - an operation which two or three teams, lunging over muddy roads, formerly had great difficulty in performing. In order to lengthen the life of the road, a thin sheeting of iron was presently laid upon the wooden rail. The next improvement was an attempt to increase the durability of the wagons by making the wheels of iron. It was not, however, until 1767, when the first rails were cast entirely of iron with a flange at one side to keep the wheel steadily in place, that the modern roadbed in all its fundamental principles made its appearance. This, be it observed, was only two years after Watt had patented his first steam engine, and it was nearly fifty years before Stephenson built his first locomotive. The railroad originally was as completely dissociated from steam propulsion as was the ship. Just as vessels had existed for ages before the introduction of mechanical power, so the railroad bad been a familiar sight in the mining districts of England for at least two centuries before the invention of Watt really gave it wings and turned it to wider uses. In this respect the progress of the railroad resembles that of the automobile, which had existed in crude form long before the invention of the gasoline engine made it practically useful. In the United States three new methods of transportation made their appearance at almost the same time: (1) the steamboat, (2) the canal boat, and (3) the rail car. Of all three, the last was the slowest in attaining popularity. As early as 1812 John Stevens, of Hoboken, aroused much interest and more amused hostility by advocating the building of a railroad, instead of a canal, across New York State from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, and for several years this indefatigable spirit journeyed from town to town and from State to State, in a fruitless effort to push his favorite scheme. The great success of the Erie Canal was finally hailed as a conclusive argument against all the ridiculous claims made in favor of the railroad and precipitated a canal mania which spread all over the country. Yet the enthusiasts for railroads could not be discouraged, and presently the whole population divided into two camps, the friends of the canal, and the friends of the iron highway. Newspapers acrimoniously championed either side; the question was a favorite topic with debating societies; public meetings and conventions were held to uphold one method of transportation and to decry the other. The canal, it was urged, was not an experiment; it had been tested and not found wanting; already the great achievement of De Witt Clinton in completing the Erie Canal had made New York City the metropolis of the western world. It was a simple matter to find fault with the railroad; it has always been its fate to arouse the opposition of the farmers. This hostility appeared early and was based largely upon grounds that have a familiar sound even today. The railroad, they said, was a natural monopoly; no private citizen could hope ever to own one; it was thus a kind of monster which, if encouraged, would override all popular rights. From this economic criticism the enemies of the railroad passed to details of construction: the rails would be washed out by rains; they could be destroyed by mischievous people; they would snap under the cold of winter or be buried under the snow for a considerable period, thus stopping all communication. The champions of artificial waterways would point in contrast to the beautiful packet boats on the Erie Canal, with their fine sleeping rooms, their restaurants, their spacious decks on which the fine ladies and gentlemen congregated every warm summer day, and would insist that such kind of travel was far more comfortable than it could ever be on railroads. To all these pleas the advocates of the railroad had one unassailable argument - its infinitely greater speed. After all, it took a towboat three or four days to go from Albany to Buffalo, and the time was not far distant, they argued, when a railroad would make the same trip in less than a day. Indeed, our forefathers made one curious mistake: they predicted a speed for the railroad a hundred miles an hour.

Undeveloped were the resources of the country that the builders of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1828 petitioned Congress to remit the duty on the iron which it was compelled to import from England. The trains consisted of a string of little cars, with the baggage piled on the roof, and when they reached a hill they sometimes had to be pulled up the inclined plane by a rope. Yet the traveling in these earliest days was probably more comfortable than in those which immediately followed the general adoption of locomotives. When, five or ten years later, the advantages of mechanical as opposed to animal traction caused engines to be introduced extensively, the passengers behind them rode through constant smoke and hot cinders that made railway travel an incessant torture. Yet the railroad speedily demonstrated its practical value; many of the first lines were extremely profitable, and the hostility with which they had been first received soon changed to an enthusiasm which was just as unreasoning. The speculative craze which invariably follows a new discovery swept over the country in the thirties and the forties and manifested itself most unfortunately in the new Western States - Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. Here bonfires and public meetings whipped up the zeal; people believed that railroads would not only immediately open the wilderness and pay the interest on the bonds issued to construct them, but that they would become a source Of revenue to sadly depleted state treasuries. Much has been heard of government ownership in recent years; yet it is nothing particularly new, for many of the early railroads in these new Western States were built as government enterprises, with results which were frequently disastrous. This mania, with the land speculation accompanying it, was largely responsible for the panic of 1837 and led to that repudiation of debts in certain States which for so many years gave American investments an evil reputation abroad.

Building the railroads

In the more settled parts of the country, however, railroad building had comparatively a more solid foundation. Yet the railroad map of the eighteen forties indicates that railroad building in this early period was incoherent and haphazard. Practically everywhere the railroad was an individual enterprise; the builders had no further conception of it than as a line connecting two given points usually a short distance apart. The roads of those days began anywhere and ended almost anywhere. A few miles of iron rail connected Albany and Schenectady. There was a road from Hartford to New Haven, but there was none from New Haven to New York. A line connected Philadelphia with Columbia; Baltimore had a road to Washington; Charleston, South Carolina, had a similar contact with Hamburg in the same State. By 1842, New York State, from Albany to Buffalo, possessed several disconnected stretches of railroad. It was not until 1836, when work was begun on the Erie Railroad, that a plan was adopted for a single line reaching several hundred miles from an obvious point, such as New York, to an obvious destination, such as Lake Erie. Even then a few farsighted men could foresee the day when the railroad train would cross the plains and the Rockies and link the Atlantic and the Pacific. Yet, in 1850 nearly all the railroads in the United States lay east of the Mississippi River, and all of them, even when they were physically mere extensions of one another, were separately owned and separately managed. Successful as many of the railroads were, they had hardly yet established themselves as the one preeminent means of transportation. The canal had lost in the struggle for supremacy, but certain of these constructed waterways, particularly the Erie, were flourishing with little diminished vigor. The river steamboat had enjoyed a development in the first few decades of the nineteenth century almost as great as that of the railroad itself. The Mississippi River was the great natural highway for the products and the passenger traffic of the South Central States; it had made New Orleans one of the largest and most flourishing cities in the country; and certainly the rich cotton planter of the fifties would have smiled at any suggestion that the "floating palaces" which plied this mighty stream would ever surrender their preeminence to the rusty and struggling railroads which wound along its banks. This period, which may be taken as the first in American railroad development, ended about the middle of the century. It was an age of great progress but not of absolutely assured success. A few lines earned handsome profits, but in the main the railroad business was not favorably regarded and railroad investments everywhere were held in suspicion. The condition that prevailed in many railroads is illustrated by the fact that the directors of the Michigan and Southern, when they held their annual meeting in 1853, had to borrow chairs from an adjoining office as the sheriff had walked away with their own for debt. Even a railroad with such a territory as the Hudson River Valley, and extending from New York to Albany existed in a state of chronic dilapidation; and the New York

and Harlem, which had an entrance into New York City as an asset of incalculable value, was looked upon merely as a vehicle for Wall Street speculation. Meanwhile the increasing traffic in farm products, mules, and cattle from the Northwest to the plantations of the South created a demand for more ample transportation facilities. In the decade before the Civil War various north and south lines of railway were projected and some of these were assisted by grants of land from the Federal Government. The first of these, the Illinois Central, received a huge land-grant in 1850 and ultimately reached the Gulf at Mobile by connecting with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad which had also been assisted by Federal grants. But the panic of 1857, followed by the Civil War, halted all railroad enterprises. In the year 1856 some 3600 miles of railroad had been constructed; in 1865 only 700 were laid down. The Southern railroads were prostrated by the war and north and south lines lost all but local traffic.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, railroad magnate

After the war a brisk recovery began and brought to the fore the first of the great railroad magnates and the shrewdest business genius of the day, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Though he had spent his early life and had laid the basis of his fortune in steamboats, he was the first man to appreciate the fact that these two methods of transportation were about to change places - that water transportation was to decline and that rail transportation was to gain the ascendancy. It was about 1865 that Vanderbilt acted on this farsighted conviction, promptly sold out his steamboats for what they would bring, and began buying railroads despite the fact that his friends warned him that, in his old age, he was wrecking the fruits of a hard and thrifty life. But Vanderbilt perceived what most American business men of the time failed to see, that a change had come over the railroad situation as a result of the Civil War.

Second stage of the Railways in the United States

The time extending from 1860 to about 1875 marks the second stage in the railroad activity of the United States. The characteristic of this period is the development of the great trunk lines and the construction of a transcontinental route to the Pacific. The Civil War ended the supremacy of the Mississippi River as the great transportation route of the West. The fact that this river ran through hostile territory forced the farmers of the West to find another outlet for their products. By this time the country from Chicago and St. Louis eastward to the Atlantic ports was fairly completely connected by railroads. The necessities of war led to great improvements in construction and equipment. Business which had hitherto gone South now began to go East; New Orleans ceased to be the great industrial entrepot of this region and gave place to Chicago and St. Louis. Yet, though this great change in traffic routes took place in the course of the war, the actual consolidations of the various small railroads into great trunk lines did not begin until after peace had been assured. The establishment of five great railroads extending continuously from the Atlantic seaboard to Chicago and the West was perhaps the most remarkable economic development of the ten or fifteen years succeeding the war. By 1875 these five great trunk lines, the New York Central, the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Grand Trunk, had connected their scattered units and established complete through systems. All the vexations that had necessarily accompanied railroad traffic in the days when each one these systems had been a series of disconnected roads had disappeared. The grain and meat products of the West, accumulating for the most part at Chicago and St. Louis, now came rapidly and uninterruptedly to the Atlantic seaboard, and railroad passengers, no longer submitted to the inconveniences of the Civil War period, now began to experience for the first time the pleasures of railroad travel. Together with the articulation of the routes, important mechanical changes and reconstruction programmes completely transformed the American railroad system. The former haphazard character of each road is evidenced by the fact that in Civil War days there were eight different gages, with the result that it was almost impossible for the rolling stock of one line to use another. A few years after the Civil War, however, the present standard gage of four feet eight and one-half inches had become uniform all over the United States. The malodorous "eating cribs" of the fifties and the sixties--little station restaurants located at selected spots along the line--now began to disappear, and the modern dining car made its appearance.

The accidents which had been almost the prevailing rule in the eighteen fifties and sixties were greatly reduced by the Westinghouse air-brake, invented in 1868, and the block signaling system, introduced somewhat later. In the ten years succeeding the Civil War, the physical appearance of the railroads entirely changed; new and larger locomotives were made, the freight cars, which during the period of the Civil War had a capacity of about eight tons, were now built to carry fifteen or twenty. The former little flimsy iron rails were taken up and were relaid with steel. In the early seventies when Cornelius Vanderbilt substituted steel for iron on the New York Central, he had to import the new material from England. In the Civil War period, practically all American railroads were single track fines - and this alone prevented any extensive traffic. Vanderbilt laid two tracks along the Hudson River from New York to Albany, and four from Albany to Buffalo, two exclusively for freight and two for passengers. By 1880 the American railroad, in all its essential details, had definitely arrived.

The Union Pacific railroad

But in this same period even more sensational developments had taken place. Soon after 1865 the imagination of the American railroad builder began to reach far beyond the old horizon. Up to that time the Mississippi River had marked the Western railway terminus. Now and then a road straggled beyond this barrier for a few miles into eastern Iowa and Missouri; but in the main the enormous territory reaching from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean was crossed only by the old trails. The one thing which perhaps did most to place the transcontinental road on a practical basis was the annexation of California in 1848; and the wild rush that took place on the discovery of the gold fields one year later had led Americans to realize that on the Pacific coast they had an empire which was great and incalculably rich but almost inaccessible. The loyalty of California to the Northern cause in the war naturally stimulated a desire for closer contact. In the ten years preceding 1860 the importance of a transcontinental line had constantly been brought to the attention of Congress and the project had caused much jealousy between the North and the South, for each region desired to control its Eastern terminus. This impediment no longer stood in the way; early in his term, therefore, President Lincoln signed the bill authorizing the construction of the Union Pacific - a name doubly significant, as marking the union of the East and the West and also recognizing the sentiment of loyalty or union that this great enterprise was intended to promote. The building of this railroad, as well as that of the others which ultimately made the Pacific and the Atlantic coast near neighbors - the Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific, the Northern Pacific, and the Great Northern.

KG-162/2012] PT. Kereta Api Logistik Kembangkan Layanan Door-to-Door

JAKARTA: Pada hari Kamis 21/06 lalu, di kantor PT Kereta Api Logistik (KALOG) Jakarta dilakukan acara sosialisasi jasa titipan KALOG. Acara ini dihadiri oleh perwakilan dan kantor cabang yang sudah dipersiapkan secara matang oleh tim kantor pusat.

Ceritanya begini deh. Apa dan Bagaimana KALOG sampai berkeinginan mengembangkan bisnis kurir.

Sejak berdiri pada tahun 2009, ekspansi usaha KALOG, anak perusahaan PT. Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) (Persero) semakin menunjukkan eksistensinya. Pada awal berdirinya, layanan usaha KALOG hanya melakukan pelayanan pengiriman barang hantaran hanya dari stasiun ke stasiun.

KALOG mengembangkan proses bisnisnya sebagai perusahaan penyedia jasa layanan distribusi logistik secara Total Solution melalui End-to-End Services.

Dengan terbitnya surat izin dari Direktur Jenderal Penyelenggaraan Pos dan Informatika No : 059/KEP/DJPPI/KOMINFO/06/2012 tentang Izin Penyelenggaraan Jasa Titipan PT. KALOG, menjadi modal bagi KALOG dalam mengembangkan bisnis barunya, yaitu bisnis jasa titipan atau kurir.

Saat ini KALOG akan mengembangkan layanan angkutan barang yang akan langsung mengantarkannya dari pintu ke pintu atau kerennya, door-to-door services.

Direktur Keuangan dan Umum PT. KALOG, Soemartono , mengatakan bahwa embrio dari bisnis jasa kiriman ini sebenarnya sudah ada sejak KALOG berdiri. Tetapi fokusnya masih dalam bentuk jasa pengiriman barang hantaran, dan pelayanannya lebih banyak dari stasiun ke stasiun. Konsumennya pun sebagian besar masih para ekspeditur.

Dalam pengembangan usahanya, KALOG melayani dari tempat pengiriman ke tujuan atau Door to Door. Dan akan menjaring pengguna pengirim langsung, bukan lagi para ekspeditur, ujar Soemartono dalam acara Sosialisasi dan Internalisasi Layanan Bisnis kurir PT. KALOG, Kamis (21/6).

Pada kesempatan yang sama, Manager Bisnis Kurir PT. KALOG, Army Hani menjelaskan, untuk menunjang bisnis baru ini, pihaknya telah menambah jumlah perwakilan/cabang di daerah dari 6 kota menjadi 17 kota yang tersebar di sepanjang Pulau Jawa.

Diprogramkan pada tahun ini, jumlah total perwakilan/cabang yang dimiliki oleh PT. KALOG menjadi 37 unit. Dengan bertambahnya jumlah jaringan pelayanan di daerah, diharapkan akan semakin mengoptimalkan bisnis baru yang akan dikembangkan oleh PT. KALOG, jelas Army.

Foto dari kiri ke kanan : Manager Bisnis Kurir PT. KALOG Army Hani, Direktur Keuangan dan Umum PT. KALOG, Soemartono dan VP SDM PT. KALOG, Zaroni, saat memberikan penjelasan tentang bisnis baru PT. KALOG kepada seluruh perwakilan daerah PT. KALOG.

Pihaknya pun akan semakin ketat dalam mengantarkan barang hantaran. Sesuai dengan standar tingkat keamanan yang telah dibuat PT. KAI tentang barang-barang yang dilarang dimuat dengan berdasarkan pada peraturan yang berlaku.

Seperti barang yang mudah terbakar atau meledak sampai pada barang yang mengandung zat psikotropika. Mengingat telah terjadinya kebakaran barang hantaran yang terjadi di Stasiun Semarang Poncol beberapa bulan yang lalu.

Sumber : Humaska / Foto : Humaska + KALOG.

[English Free Translation] On Thursday 21/06, at the office of PT Kereta Api Logistik (KALOG) Jakarta do the socialization of KALOG courier service. The event was attended by representatives and branch offices that have been carefully prepared by a team of head office. Congrats.

[KU-125/2012] Angkutan Barang : Pangsa Pasar Ditarget Naik Jadi 25%

JAKARTA: Pemerintah menargetkan pangsa pasar angkutan kereta barang bisa meningkat menjadi 20%-25% setelah pembangunan jalur ganda kereta api lintas utara Jawa sejauh 432 km rampung pada akhir 2013.

Hingga saat ini pangsa pasar (market share) angkutan barang melalui kereta api masih rendah baru menyentuh 0,7% dari semua barang yang diangkut moda transportasi, sedangkan angkutan penumpang melalui kereta baru mencapai 7%.

Direktur Sarana Ditjen Perkeretaapian Kementerian Perhubungan Sugiyadi Waluyo mengatakan jalur ganda tersebut ditargetkan baru selesai pada akhir 2013 dan 2014 diharapkan resmi dioperasikan.

Dengan jalur ganda (double track) itu, kapasitas pengangkutan akan bertambah dari sebelumnya. Saat ini masih rendah yah, dari seluruh penumpang moda yang ada, yang naik kereta baru 7%, sedangkan dari seluruh barang yang diangkut melalui kereta itu baru 0,7%, diharapkan naik lah, yah barang antara 20%--25%, katanya ditemui di Gedung Kemenhub, akhir pekan lalu.

Menurut dia, proyek rel ganda tersebut sudah dimulai sejak Januari lalu tetapi pihaknya belum bisa membeberkan seberapa jauh kilometer yang sudah dirampungkan pada jalur ganda tersebut.

Bisnis mencatat pembangunan double track kereta api lintas utara Jawa itu bernilai investasi Rp9,01 triliun.

Proyek double track Jakarta--Surabaya itu dibagi ke dalam empat rute yakni Cirebon - Brebes (62 km), Pekalongan - Semarang (90 km), Semarang - Bojonegoro (175 km) dan Bojonegoro Surabaya (105 km). (Bsi)

CONTAINER DRY PORT oleh: BUDI CAHYO RIYADI NIM : 224309024

Pendahuluan Peran transportasi bagi kelangsungan perekonomian sebuah wilayah (negara, provinsi,kota) sangatlah penting. Sebuah sistem transportasi yang terpadu, efisien, dengan biayarendah akan ikut membantu kelangsungan perekonomian negara tersebut. Secara umummoda transportasi dibagi menjadi 4 jenis, yaitu angkutan darat, angkutan laut, angkutanudara, dan angkutan kereta api. Setiap moda transportasi tersebut tidak dapat bekerjasendiri sendiri. Setiap moda merupakan mata rantai yang harus terorganisir dalam suatusistem transportasi.Kondisi transportasi suatu negara biasanya sebanding dengan kemajuan negara tersebut.Negara negara maju seperti Amerika Serikat, Jepang, dan negara negara Eropaumumnya sudah memiliki sistem transportasi yang baik. Sebaliknya juga bagi negaraberkembang seperti Indonesia, pengelolaan sistem transportasi juga masih belum baik.Secara umum masalah masalah yang ada pada sistem transportasi di Indonesia adalahsebagai berikut

Masalah transportasi di Indonesia :

1. Mahalnya biaya transportasi Penekanan biaya produksi merupakan sasaran utama industri agar bisa bersaingdipasar dunia, termasuk didalamnya biaya logistik. Biaya logistik di Indonesiatermasuk sangat mahal kalau dibanding dengan negara-negara ASIA lainnya. DiIndonesia biaya logistic mencapai 14,08 persen dari harga produksi suatu barang..Bandingkan dengan Jepang yang hanya 4,88 persen. Tentunya angka tersebutmerupakan angka yang sangat tinggi. 2. Pengiriman barang yang tidak tepat waktu

Keterlambatan merupakan hal sudah biasa di Indonesia. Selain kurangnya kedisiplinan waktu oleh SDM yang ada, pengiriman yang tidak tepat waktu juga dikarenakan faktor faktor lain seperti kongesti pelabuhan, bencana misalnya banjir,cuaca buruk.

3.

Banyaknya pungutan liar

Pungutan liar tentunya akan membuat biaya transportasi menjadi lebih besar. Pungutan yang ada mulai dari Bea Cukai, Pelindo, Adpel, dan preman preman yang teroganisir oleh aparat. Pemberantasan pungutan liar juga tidak dapat denganmudah diberantas, karena biasanya pungutan liar di- backup oleh orang dalam.

4.

Birokrasi logistik yang lama dan berbelit

Birokrasi didalam pelaksanaan logistic di Indonesia sangat tinggi, seperti ditunjukan dalam grafik berikut. Dalam grafik ditunjukan bahwa di singapura hanya di butuhkan satu hari, sedangkan di Indonesia tujuh hari, sehingga jelas di sini banyak hal yang masih bisa dilakukan untuk mempercepat waktu penyelesaian. Lamanya proses birokrasi tersebut tentunya membuat system transportasi kita menjadi lebih buruk dan semakin tertinggal dari Negara-negara lain.

5.

Infrastruktur yang tidak memadai

Infrastruktur di sini yang paling tidak memadai adalah jalan raya. Tidak adanya jalankhusus untuk kendaraan pengangkut barang seperti truck container, membuat truck truck container berbobot puluhan ton harus berbagi jalan dengan kendaraan kendaraan kecil lainnya seperti mobil dan sepeda motor. Yang terjadi adalah jalan jalan tersebut akan cepat rusak dan akhirnya membuat pengiriman barang menjaditidak lancer. Kondisi yang lebih parah terjadi

di luar pulau Jawa seperti pulau Sumatra dan pulau Kalimantan. Truk truk container harus melewati jalanan dihutan yang tidak beraspal, dan jalan jalan tersebut akan berubah menjadikubangan lumpur pada musim hujan.

Pembahasan

Multimoda : Apa itu?

Multimoda adalah pengangkutan barang dengan palingsedikit dua jenis (moda) transportasi yang berbeda, berdasarkan satu kontrak transportasi multimoda, dari satu tempat dalam suatu negara dimana tanggung jawab atas barang tersebut diambil alih oleh multimoda transport operator (MTO) ke suatu tempat di negara lainyang telah ditetapkan untuk penyerahan barang dimaksud.

Container dry port

Container dry port merupakan salah satu jenis dari multimoda. Pada konsep container dry port, pengangkutan container dari dari daerah pengiriman (kawasan industri, pabrik, depocontainer) ke pelabuhan yang semula diangkut menggunakan truk container, digantikan olehkereta api khusus pengangkut container. Dengan system container dry port, semua proses pengepakan (stuffing), penyelesaian dokumen, dan pembayaran dipusatkan. Hasilnya adalah

percepatan proses dan juga kemudahan birokrasi. Manfaat dari semua itu tentunya adalah pengurangan biaya transportasi.

Keuntungan dry port:

1. Meningkatkan produktivitas pelabuhan

Dry port memungkinkan arus keluar masuk container dari dan ke dalam pelabuhan menjadi lebih lancar. Hal tersebut tentunya akan membuat port time kapal menjadi lebih berkurang. Port time kapal yang berkurang tentunya akan membuat proses bongkar muat kapal menjadi lebih cepat dan efisien. Itu artinya kapasitas dan produktivitas pelabuhan juga meningkat.

2.

Mengurangi kongesti di pelabuhan

Seringkali terjadi kongesti di pelabuhan karena banyaknya container yang tertumpuk di pelabuhan. Kongesti ini biasanya terjadi karena container tidak bisa keluar dari pelabuhan, misalnya karena jalan banjir. Karena banjir tersebut, jalan raya menjadi macet, sehingga proses keluar masuk container ke pelabuhan terhambat. Bahkan seperti yang terjadi di Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok, warga sekitar pelabuhan menutup akses jalan keluar masuk pelabuhan karena jalan tersebut terendam banjir. Hal tersebut tentunya menyebabkan arus keluar masuk container dari dan ke dalampelabuhan menjadi terhambat.

3.

Mengurangi kemacetan di jalan raya

Truk truk container yang melintasi jalan raya seringkali membuat kemacetan, karena memang truk truk tersebut berjalan dengan kecepatan rendah. Belum lagibila terjadi banjir. Dengan konsep dry port, pengangkutan container dialihkan kekereta api. Hal tersebut tentunya membuat volume kendaraan di jalan raya juga berkurang.

4.

Mengurangi resiko kecelakaan di jalan raya

Truk truk container juga merupakan salah satu penyebab kecelakaan di jalan raya.Tidak tersedianya jalan atau jalur khusus truk container menyebabkan truk container harus berbagi jalan dengan kendaraan kendaraan kecil lainnya, seperti mobil ,sepeda motor, becak, dll.

5.

Mengurangi biaya perbaikan jalan raya

Biaya yang harus dikeluarkan untuk perbaikan jalan sangatlah besar, terutama untukjalan jalan yang setiap harinya dilewati truk truk container bermuatan puluhan ton. Ditambah lagi kebijakan Menteri Perhubungan per 1 Januari 2009 yang tidakmenolerir lagi muatan overload truk truk yang melintas di jalan raya.

6.

Mengurangi polusi udara

Apabila kita dapat menggantikan 30 truk container dengan 1 rangkaian kereta api container tentunya polusi udara yang dapat dikurangi sangatlah banyak. Konsep dryport dapat mengurangi emisi gas buang (CO2) sampai 25 % . Hal ini sekaligus menjawab kebutuhan transportasi yang ramah lingkungan.

Kendala

1.

Biaya investasi yang mahal (pembangunan rel, pembebasan lahan)

Biaya untuk membangun system dry port memang tidak sedikit. Biaya investasi terbesar biasanya adalah pembangunan rel kereta api dan pembebasan lahan. Hal tersebut biasanya dapat diatasi dengan menggunakan jaringan rel kereta api yangsudah ada, tinggal menyambungkan rel kereta api ke daerah daerah yang menjadi jalur kereta container.

2,

Pengoperasian kereta api yang belum baik.

Tidak bisa dipungkiri pengelolaan kereta api oleh PT. KAI (satu satunya operator kereta api di Indonesia) masih belum baik. Sudah sering terdengar kecelakaan kereta api, keterlambatan kereta api. Namun kabarnya Departemen Perhubunganberniat menghapus monopoli PT.KAI dengan membuka kesempatan kepada pihak swasta untuk menjadi operator kereta api. Masuknya pihak swasta sebagai operator kereta api diharapkan dapat meningkatkan kualitas

pelayanan kereta api. Kualitas pelayanan kereta api yang baik tentunya akan mendukung jalannya sistem dry port.

1. Kemungkinan adanya double handling Double handling dapat terjadi apabila letak pengirim barang jauh dari lokasi dry Adanya double handling karena sebelum muatan diangkut menggunakan kereta api,sebelumnya harus diangkut oleh truk container.Urutannya sebagai berikut : a. Truk container mengambil container di dry port. Setelah itu kembali pabrik/daerah asal muatan. b. Muatan dimasukkan ke dalam container. Truk container kembali lagi dry port. c. Muatan dipindahkan dari truk container ke kereta api container. sini terjadiperpindahan muatan yang pertama. d. Kereta api container berangkat ke pelabuhan. port.

ke ke Di

e. Di pelabuhan container dipindahkan dari kereta api container ke dalam kapal container. Di sini terjadi perpindahan muatan yang kedua. Double handling ini dapat dicegah dengan membangun dry port yang dekat dengan asal muatan. Misalnya membangun dry port di dalam kawasan industry. Sehingga barang yang diproduksi dari industry tersebut langsung dimasukkan ke dalam keretaapi container.

Penutup

Kesimpulan :

1.

Dry Port dapat digunakan untuk mengatasi masalah transportasi di Indonesia

2. Diperlukan koordinasi instansi terkait agar konsep dry port ini dapat berjalan ( Pelabuhan, PT. KAI, Dephub)