Question.....

[bobgrosh]

Obviously they left the train parked in the city where longer than 2 hours.

Every 2 hours a meter maid marks the wheels.

Two hours later, if the train is till there with the marks, she writes a ticket.

BB

[spikejones52002]

The white markins are to make it easy anyone to see that the wheel is turning. If not they can be pulled out immediately to have the bearings checked and not cause a wheel flat spots.

 

[paceway]

As an over the road driver I can tell you that maney trailer tires are marked that way (only with yellow paint) so the driver can see if the wheels are turning or not in his mirrors. Without a mark of some kind you can't tell if they are rolling or slidding. Once you get up to speed of cource you will see the smoke, but by then the damage is done.

[GearDrivenSteam]

That may well be it, as they were showing Chama on some of the show. Thanks for the answers, fellers.

[Southwest Chief]

If this was on Cumbres & Toltec (497 is there now), my guess would be the white marks indicate freight cars that have had their bearings, trucks, and wheels checked, repaired, lubed, etc... and thus are ok to run. 

In Chama there are a lot of freight cars, but very few can go out on the line without wheel and truck work.  The white stripes probably indicate the cars that are road ready.

[Anonymous]

Count system?

[GearDrivenSteam]

Well either way, the white marks were on EVERY single wheel on the rolling stock, at least on the right side of the train.

[S&G Rute of the Silver River]

My informal RR empliyee opninion would be the white marks are ither left over from the machineing of the wheels, or they use the marks to spot cars that are locked up from a ways away. That's what I'd use em for.

[cacole]

Trains and locomotives is on EVERY Saturday morning....I think at 9 AM, EST.

The first showing is on Monday afternoon and then it's repeated on Saturday.  There used to be a repeat broadcast on Thursday, too, but I think they eliminated that one.

I just program my VCR to record it for later viewing if I'm not going to be at home.

And back to the original question:  I have seen those white stripes painted on the wheels in some videos about the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, too, but have no idea what they mean.  My best guess would be something to do with maintenance -- designating which wheel bearings have been checked and lubricated, for example, since a lot of this work is performed by volunteers.

[GearDrivenSteam]

Trains and locomotives is on EVERY Saturday morning....I think at 9 AM, EST.

[Anonymous]

The 1st time RFD-TV has a train show on and I miss it Every time somethings on is either draft horse or how to make your horse do something...... figures

[GearDrivenSteam]

I was watching Trains and Locomotives this morning on RFD-TV. They had the Rio Grande #497 pulling a short consist of stock cars and gondolas and stuff. On every piece of rolling stock except the Locomotive, tender and caboose, the wheels had a white mark on them. It kinda reminded me of the white tape we used to put on drag slicks years ago so that we could go back later and review the video tape and note wheel spin. Why are these marks there?