Trackside Lounge 3Q 2011

Yay, indeed!

And thanks, Dan, for opening up the place.  Happy July, everyone!

Dan, I don't recall whether I gave you the compliments you're due for that sweet-morning-light shot you posted yesterday.

In the middle of all of the theories and such about what went wrong in Nevada, here's a link to an article about what went right:

http://utu.org/2011/06/29/2-amtrak-conductors-a-story-of-selfless-bravery/

Oh Carl, if I can see through my tears to type, thank you SO much for posting that link!! I had no idea, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that!

Everyone please be safe this holiday weekend but let's take time out to remember what the 'holiday' is all about.

Recently, I've been driving by some of the strangest looking equipment I've ever seen, at least in recent memory. It's marked as belonging to a bridge painting company but it's all parked on the ROW of a shortline.

Is it fairly common for a company to seek, and be granted, permission to park trucks and equipment on the ROW? Thanks!

I still have no idea what that really weird looking thing is--maybe it cleans the bridges before they paint them??!! It's on a flat bed --not a low boy-- and it has several diff. small 'hoppers' (6 maybe) and huge vacuum hoses of lg diameter. I can't find a pic on their website, so the mystery remains, at least for now.

Yes, if there's room, and it won't interfere with normal railroad operations, and there are no safety or security issues, etc.  Otherwise, the contractor would have to pay fuel and personnel to bring the equipment to the site each day, and take it back at the end.  Guess who would pay for that ?  It's an easy non-cash way for the RR to lower the actual cost of the work. 

Not an expert on this, but have seen it done: That's probably sand-blasting equipment (OK, most use a man-made grit instead these days, but the name persists).  The different hoppers might be for different sizes or grades of grit, or maybe just for more supplies of it - also, "fresh" vs. "used".  The vacuum hoses are to suck up the grit for re-use and to keep the site clean.  As importantly, the old bridge likely had lead-based paint on it - and it's a big 'no-no' to let those lead particlesget loose into the air or environment, so the vacuum also recovers that for filtering, separation, and proper disposal.  For instance, see the equipment pictured in this brochure (4 pages, approx. 1.25 MB in size):

http://www.surfaceprep.com/BrochureFull.pdf

- Paul North. 

Thanks so much; it's the green one! I appreciate the help.

Nance, I thought about sandblasting when you mentioned that stuff, but would have had no idea how to proceed from there.  Nice to have a guy like Paul around to share his expertise!

I was going to take a solo bike trip to Elmhurst before the worst of the heat hit, but was thwarted by a flat tire.  So, since the car was scheduled to come out anyway today, I took that for my errands.  There's still ample evidence of storm damage that took place 11 days ago in Elmhurst. 

I spent about an hour in downtown Elmhurst, during which four freights were seen (it was the off-hour for weekend scoots).

I also drove to the east end of Proviso, where the new bridge to connect the coming third main track to the IHB has been built, and just awaits track.  That's not bad progress since I last looked at it this spring!  Lots of excavation closer to Mannheim Road in Bellwood, but I couldn't figure out exactly what I was looking at there.  The face of the earth as I knew it is sure being changed!

When the temperature drops a few degrees cooler (from the current 91 degrees with no breeze), I'll go out and put my bike back together--the tire is repaired.

Just saw this over at Trainorders.com:

http://www.argus-press.com/news_local/article_ff550084-a440-11e0-80ee-001cc4c002e0.html

I guess they haven't heard of the Railroaders' Memorial Museum in Altoona, or the plans for a railroaders' memorial in Galesburg, but it's still a good idea.  And, as they point out, this is just a short way down the road from the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso.

There was also mention of a whistle-sounding tribute in northern California, held by Amtrak and Union Pacific employees in honor of Laurette Lee, the conductor who perished in the Nevada wreck while doing her job, during the memorial service being held in the roundhouse at the California State Railroad Museum.  Reportedly UP notified the crews of this action in a Form C train order.

Saw a NOKL hopper in our yard the other night.  Interesting part was it was in fresh CN paint, CN logo, CN website, but factory NOKL marks (not a patch). 

Also saw an old railbox with new marks, but for the life of me I can't recall them.  NOKL, AEX, EEC... something like that.

I'll be looking for some thirdhand Railbox cars.  I've seen a few like that (old Railbox cars that had had large-railroad owners, then were cascaded to shortlines), but nothing recently.

As for those new NOKL cars with CN markings, there are 214 of them, NOKL 853000-853213.  They're not exactly news (built 11/07 through 2/08 by National Steel Car), but I never saw my first one until a month and a half ago, up in Dan's neck of the woods.

We had six trains today during the hour during and around church services.  Two were the scoots, running close to on schedule (and still carrying large crowds inbound for the last day of the Taste of Chicago).  The first train through was the only real surprise--an eastbound coal train, two units, one DPU, running like something was after them. 

CShaveRR

"...running like something was after them." 

WMNB4THRTL

 

CShaveRR:

 

"...running like something was after them." 

 

 

Oops, my mistake!  It was one train, running like something was after it.

Seriously, the line through here is slightly downhill all the way toward Proviso, and it's unusual to see an eastbound freight train, especially a coal train, working it the way this one was, and moving that quickly.  When the DP unit passed us, it was still under throttle, and the train hadn't slowed any, if at all.  Not that I'm complaining!

There have been times when I've been at Elmhurst that these trains come past the station with dynamics howling, slowing rather dramatically for the control point only about  quarter-mile further east.  Scary, but spectacular, and done without air!

Hopefully, you know I was howling at the phrase and I had no idea of a 'mistake.'

BTW, very nice job on that other thread with calling his attention to where it should be!!! Obviously, somebody needed to!!!

Yes, I should have winked or something! 

I hope everyone has a pleasurable but safe Independence Day!

CShaveRR

an eastbound coal train, . . . running like something was after them. 

I hadn't heard that expression since my Dad used to say it. He always used the term "them" in reference to the then four man crews.

My all time favourite though, is one he heard in the late '70's made by a Conductor about the Engineer in reference to how fast they made a WB trip from Medicine Hat back to Calgary. Carl, as a bike rider you should appreciate it. The conductor said, "He had it her in the big sprocket!"

There has been much chatter on Canadian RR forums this weekend about the news that the CPR Royal Hudson 2816 has been laid up with a cracked rear driver axle. I guess they had trouble on a run from Golden, BC back to Calgary. They got back to Calgary and moved the engine down to the Diesel Shop at Alyth. They removed the axle and rear driver pair and then moved the engine outside the shop. The engine's appearance schedule has been cleared up to July 18, but at this time they are giving no estimated repair date, so more events may yet be cancelled.

And to all US readers, have a Happy Independence Day!

Bruce

And a happy Fourth of July to you, too, Bruce!

Question for anyone:  any good or bad experiences to report from having stayed at the Depot Inn and Suites at LaPlata, Missouri?  It's supposedly a place that caters to railfans, but isn't all that close to the former Santa Fe Transcon.  Anyway, we'll be spending a night there later this week, on our way to our niece's wedding in the Ozarks.

Do they have a Fourth of July in Canada?

Do they have a Fourth of July in Canada?

Nope, they go straight from the 3rd to the 5th.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

Carl, a railfan friend has stayed there and he liked it.  I've been past the place and it's not too far from the ex-AT&SF.  IIRC there is an overlook a short walk from the motel.  The wife and I have talked about going there, but so far haven't done so.

As to fast running, one phrase heard around here every so often is "put it in eight and don't be late."  

Jeff

Deggesty

Do they have a Fourth of July in Canada?

In spite of what Nance says, yes there is a fourth of July on our calendar.

We just celebrated Canada Day on July 1st. It was the 144th anniversary of our confederation as a country.

The celebrations are pretty much the same; picnics, BBQ's entertainment at various parks, but maybe just a little less fireworks. There is not all that many jurisdictions left where individuals can legally obtain them.

Myself, I went down to Prince's Island Park to see some entertainment.

Bruce

Ah, oops, I stand corrected once again.

Back when I was a boy, the question was "is there a Fourth of July in England?" And many people would answer, "Of course not," not realizing that you need a day between the third and fifth.

Perhaps the closest that the English have come to such a celebration was a celebration of the Glorious Revolution of 1688--when James  II (he was also James VII of Scotland) realized that he had better leave England because he was no longer very popular. So, on 21 December (Gregorian calendar), he fled London, dropping the Great Seal of England into the Thames (it was never recovered) as he fled. His nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange had already landed with his army which, except for a couple of minor skirmishes, triumphed, without bloodshed, over the forces that were loyal to James.

Ever since, Britain has been a constitutional monarchy.

Incidentally, the colony New York and New York City were named for him while he was the Duke of York (there have been better Dukes of York since).

Been There - Done That

I just received the Classic Trains First Ten Years DVD, and after I installed it I was trying it out. I randomly picked out the Winter 2004 issue and on page 28 I saw about the best picture of a small town Railway Station Agents desk I have ever seen.

The size of the desk and windows and the spacial relationship of everything made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Every Agent had his "stuff" in different spots, so except for that, and the type of levers used to operate the Train Order Semaphores, the effect the picture had on me was just awesome.

If you have access to that back issue, or the new DVD, you can see what an office REALLY looked like.

Bruce

Hey, thanks a bunch for that, Bruce! At this point, I don't have access but still, good info to know. We never know what the future holds; I could strike it lucky someday and get them!!

AgentKid

The celebrations are pretty much the same; picnics, BBQ's entertainment at various parks, but maybe just a little less fireworks. There is not all that many jurisdictions left where individuals can legally obtain them.

zardoz

 

with the fire danger up there this year there would be few, if any, fireworks.

 

On July 1 at Blackfalds, AB, just north of Red Deer on CP's Calgary-Edmonton line, there was a fire at a company that supplies exotic chemicals to the oil industry. Being busy putting out the fire meant that the fire department couldn't attend the town's organized fireworks display, so it had to be cancelled. But that fire produced a massive amount of smoke, and flames leaping an estimated 100 feet in the air. It was probably more exciting than any fireworks display, and fortunately there will be no long term environmental damage.

Bruce

As mentioned (kind of) on the "Today in History" thread, today--or, rather, tonight--is the 130th anniversary of the night that Kate Shelley, oldest child (15) of a deceased C&NW employee, literally crawled across a trestle over the Des Moines River in a ferocious storm to get word to the railroad that another trestle had collapsed under the weight of a locomotive, thereby saving a passenger train from disaster.

There are a few versions of the story out there, and I seem to recall Trains having an article disputing one of the major facts of the story.  Be that as it may, Kate was regarded as a hero by nearly all of America for a while, and is still memorialized by the UP in the naming of the new bridge over the Des Moines River near Boone (the trestle Kate would have crossed over was on a route that was abandoned probably over 100 years ago, taking the main line over the river at a lower level than the current and previous bridges do). 

Larry or Jeff, do they still celebrate Kate in Boone?

Kate who?  Sad to say, but no.  You'll hear about it around the Boone and Scenic Valley sometimes.  I doubt anyone around here remembered the date.  I'm a bit ashamed to say I didn't remember either.

When the story is told, the version told is the standard one where the passenger train was ready to leave Moingona and she arrived in the nick of time to stop the train.  The Trains' article said the CNW had already stopped traffic.  If you think about it, that would seem to be correct.  The train, engine actually, that collapsed a bridge and went into Honey Creek had been sent out to check the bridges and fills on the line.  Traffic would be stopped until they reported from the next telegraph office.

This in no way should make Kate's deed any less heroric.  First, she didn't know.  Second, and maybe more importantly, the railroad didn't know the engine had gone down.  There were (IIRC) 4 men on that engine.  I think 2 were lost in the flooding, while 2 hanged on to the wrecked engine in the water.  Had she not gone, those 2 survivors probably wouldn't have lasted long enough for rescuers to find them. 

I'm on the downside of Federal Rest, due to mark up at 10pm.  It'll probably be after midnight when I go over the bridge, but I'll be thinking about it.  Weather tonight should be good, had thunderstoms and a tornado about 15 miles north of here last night.

On a side note about the severe weather.  We had our scanner on listening to law/fire reports about the storm and of course, the railroad.  A tornado was radar indicated north of here and a warning issued.  The TV weatherman about 15 minutes later said the warning had been cancelled since the storm had lost strength.  About that time I hear the dispatcher start to call trains to tell them to stop because of the tornado warning.

Jeff 

Perhaps this is the article that Carl mentioned:

Carl - Do you know anything about this story, which I ran across while looking for the above ?

- Paul North.