Adaptable platform for loading and unloading railway cars

An apparatus that provides selectively deployable worker access with fall protection to at least a portion of the top of a tank disposed above the ground and carried by a railcar on a railroad track, the apparatus comprising:

• a. an elevated platform extending in a longitudinal direction and defined in part by a deck having a pair of longitudinally extending sides that are separated apart from one another in the transverse direction, each side of the deck being disposed to a respective opposite side of a virtual longitudinal centerline that extends down the length of the platform and is oriented normal to the transverse direction;
• b. a pair of longitudinally extending stringers including a first stringer disposed along one side of the deck and a second stringer disposed along the opposite side of the deck, each stringer defining an upper flange extending along the length of the respective stringer and extending in the transverse direction;
• c. at least the first stringer defining a lower flange spaced vertically apart from the upper flange, the lower flange extending along the length of the first stringer and extending in the transverse direction, the upper and lower flanges of the first stringer forming part of a first trackway extending along the length of the first stringer;
• d. a first gangway having an inboard end disposed between the upper and lower flanges of the first stringer and slidably along the first trackway, the first gangway having an outboard end spaced apart from the inboard end in a transverse direction and configured for pivotal movement with respect to the inboard end;
• e. at least the upper flange of the first stringer defining a plurality of groupings of bolt openings wherein the magnitude of the spacing in the longitudinal direction between the bolt openings of each group is a first spacing and the magnitude of the spacing in the longitudinal direction between any two groups in succession along the length of the first stringer is a second spacing;
• f. a first railing defining at least a first end post and a second end post spaced apart in the longitudinal direction from the first end post, each of the end posts extending in a vertical direction, each end post having a vertically lower end defining a foot flange, each foot flange defining a separate group of bolt openings adjacent each and post wherein the magnitude of the distance in the longitudinal direction between the bolt openings of each separate group of each foot flange defines a gap and wherein the magnitude of the spacing in the longitudinal direction between the group of bolt openings of the foot flange of the first end post and the group of bolt openings of the foot flange of the second end post is the first spacing;
• and
• g. a plurality of threaded bolts and nuts wherein a first threaded bolt is selectively received through a respective bolt opening of the foot flange of the first end post and a respective bolt opening of the upper flange of the first stringer to selectively attach the respective first end post of the first railing via a respective first threaded nut tightened on the end of the respective first threaded bolt and wherein a second threaded bolt is selectively received through a respective bolt opening of the foot flange of the second end post and a respective bolt opening of the upper flange of the first stringer to selectively attach the respective second end post of the first railing via a second threaded nut tightened on the end of the second threaded bolt.