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Name four Rail Support industries, and describe the function of each one.
You only need to pick four of these. (You can even search the web for others, if you like. But you must discuss four companies that support the railroads as their primary task.)
The Herzog Comapnies provide four types of services that can help supplement the workforce of a railroad temporarily, for small or large projects. Take a look at what all four of the divisions can do. See if you can spote the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE Train) in two places on their website.
LORAM Maintenance of Way, Inc., has been around making special equipment for railroads as long as the Railroading Merit Badge has existed! Explore their services page, and look at some of their special trains. (Clicking on the smaller pictures on each page will make that imae the large, main image on the page.) What does a railroad need a rail grinder?
Railworks specializes in track building, in North America. This includes restoration of existing tracks, installing new tracks, and even things that conenct to the track, like the signalling systems. What was their latest project in Vancouver?
H & H Engineering provides track building, inspection services, and track rehabilitation services in the Western U.S., supplementing the ability of small railroads and Transit Systems on an as-needed basis.
TTX has been supplying a collection of freight cars to it's member/owner railroads, so that the railroads do not need to purchase large groups of cars that might not always be used. How does this Pooling help railroads? Their comapny history page shows what they have been doing while scouts have been earning the Railroading Merit Badge. Read their company overview to get a better idea about them.
FreightCar America designs special heavy-duty (50-year service life) freight cars. It's making many of them from aluminum for reducing the weight of the car, and giving the railroads better fuel mileage. Look at the different types of cars they make. Which interest you the most?
Balfour Beatty Rail will provide track and signal contruction for small and large projects, and they highlight their expertise in electrified train systems. Look at their capabilities page, and think about which trains in our area use electrified (non-deisel) trains.
(GEISMAR) Modern Track Machinery makes specialized equipment that makes it fast, easy, and consistant to install track and overhead lines (useful if you are a big railroad, with many projects). If your browser has Flash, you can watch a 4-minute demo.
There are currently 120 active merit badges that can be earned by Boy Scouts today, and scouts can find information about all of these on the Internet at the Merit Badge Research Center (MBRC) website, including the Railroading merit badge requirements. The MBRC has worksheets for most of the current merit badges.