CShaveRRDon't you wish we could see reporting marks and numbers clearly?
And you can, from a bench at the Rochelle Railroad Park.
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
cefinkjr schmaltz I feel an urge to tell you that when there is no action in Rochelle, I turn up the sound and use the occasion to relax. Call me crazy. Old Amish (?) saying: "The whole world's crazy but me and thee. And sometimes I wonder about thee." Actually, the rest of the world is certain that we train-nuts are crazy. I learned to ignore them a long time ago.
I feel an urge to tell you that when there is no action in Rochelle, I turn up the sound and use the occasion to relax. Call me crazy.
Old Amish (?) saying: "The whole world's crazy but me and thee. And sometimes I wonder about thee."
Actually, the rest of the world is certain that we train-nuts are crazy. I learned to ignore them a long time ago.
Old Quaker saying. My granddad was fond of quoting it as:\
"Everybody is crazy but me and thee; and sometimes I wonder about thee."
I always say that 'I am a train-nut; just not well TRAINed.'
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
I suspect that this has been asked and answered previously but I noticed a switching move today on the BNSF spur to the DelMonte facility and suspect that it is a hand thrown switch as a train returned from the DM track. stopped, then pulled through the switch, stopped, pulled forward out of sight, (suspect past the WB home signal) and then a man left the switch ares and walked East along the track toward where the train went. Since the switch is within the interlocking limits, does this (DelMonte) track have an interlocked signal to access the main? I also saw a trainman riding on the East end of the two cars being pushed by the locomotive as the locomotive was on the West end of the two cars. So does the Rochelle crew consist of three people? And lastly, this locomotive didnot look like a BNSF one, could it have been BJRY (Burlington Junction Railway) doing this switching?
Interesting, possibly temporary, structure deposited north of the diamonds next to one of the signal shelters, showed up sometime today. Anybody have any ideas?
Sorry to ask this question when we are discussing the question a couple posts up, but what ever happened to the demolition of the building behind the diamonds?
Looks like the BNSF signal crews are busy today. Maybe UP is going to put a full-time welder in the new box! :)
A picture on RP shows tie work on the UP which explains the delays yesterday.
rdamonA picture on RP shows tie work on the UP which explains the delays yesterday.
Not to mention explaining the army of track equipment and workers today! This includes a white bus that showed up at about 10:30. Most of the visible work is west of the diamonds, but a lot of equipment coming in from the east on the south UP track.
Busy day.
Maybe we can get a camera here as well ...
http://www.saukvalley.com/2016/06/20/fans-of-bikes-and-trains-will-soon-get-a-new-view-in-oregon/ayirhff/
Now the Plasser 09-16 Dynacat is tamping the south track east of the diamonds at 12:30 CDT. I don't know if it's just the rain washing the machine, but it looks very clean and new.
BTW, Plasser has some neat videos of other tampers on their web page...just not this one.
ChuckCobleighI don't know if it's just the rain washing the machine, but it looks very clean and new.
Could be rain but I don't think I've ever seen a Plasser that looked like it needed a bath.
ChuckAllen, TX
For this Californian, very interesting weather at the crossing within one hour. First overcast, then steady rain, now clear and sunny.
Traffic mirrors the weather. Thirty minutes ago on ATCSMon all was quiet, now it's wait time.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
A bunch of spine cars ... and a blue-and-yellow ATSF paint job as the second unit of the second train, if my brief glimpse of it is accurate.
Brian Schmidt CShaveRR Don't you wish we could see reporting marks and numbers clearly? And you can, from a bench at the Rochelle Railroad Park.
CShaveRR Don't you wish we could see reporting marks and numbers clearly?
I'm sorry--that wasn't very helpful, especially for anyone who lives an hour and a half or further away from the park (that's about our normal distance...right now we're about a week and a half away). Why is this such a difficult question to provide a reasonable answer for?
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
ChuckCobleigh Now the Plasser 09-16 Dynacat is tamping the south track east of the diamonds at 12:30 CDT. I don't know if it's just the rain washing the machine, but it looks very clean and new. BTW, Plasser has some neat videos of other tampers on their web page...just not this one.
mudchickenThe CAT tamper would be following the tie gang or other production gang passing through. It would not be there to work on the diamonds - It's not suited to heavy lifting or lining.
They gingerly moved the CAT over the diamonds without the tamping action.
When UP did the tie thing on the north track a while back, I happened to catch the tamper coming through as well, which led me to the Plasser page and the videos on some of the product pages. One of the videos, as I recall, was shot in Mojave, I think, coming into town from the south.
When stopping in Tehachapi I have seen a CAT parked with other machinery on the siding on the east end of the town, but I haven't seen one in action. At least not yet. My luck in Tehachapi has been to arrive in town when a lot of MOW work is going on in daylight and traffic is held until near dusk. Great for watching train lights go through town all night, though.
About 1:50 PM CDT, EB BNSF manifest comes to a hard stop after what sounded like a dynamiter east of the camera about 30-40 cars into the train.
Still sitting there with the crossing gate bells ringing at 2:15 PM CDT.
Ditto, 2:35 PM CDT.
2:44 PM CDT, now shoving west, scanner sounds like making a joint somewhere north of the diamonds. 2:47 now slowly moving east after making a joint and then stopped. 2:50 slowly moving west again.
3:04 PM CDT, now moving west again, conductor should be back on the head-end and dispatchers have jockeying to do for a while. As EB is getting going, a WB stacker comes through on BNSF. So, essentially a 75-minute hit because of a separation, as the DS calls it.
Thanks for the play-by-play. Did a quick search to see if anything made the news and found this story about the city railroad.
http://www.rochellenews-leader.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=16412&page=72
ROCHELLE — The Rochelle City Railroad is expanding. City council approved the project for the Northern Interchange Yard that will add an additional 2500 feet of track to the north of the existing tracks. [snip]
There she goes again- running solo, short train. Trying to post a snapshot from the webcam, but not succeeding.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Looks like signal folks are out in force today, and a crane is in position by the eastbound UP signal bridge. This might be cutover day.... but I've guessed wrong before.
does anyone know what is happening right now with the signal bridges.
Just heard the BNSF Dispatcher confirm that today is the big cutover and that a westbound would be held at Stewart (5-6 miles to the east of the diamonds) until about 12:30 (CT)
schmaltz does anyone know what is happening right now with the signal bridges.
Now would be a good time to get a last look at the UP's eastbound signal bridge. It's not going to be there much longer.
I've got Rochelle up in a tiny window; just large enough for me to glance over to see if there's anything worth checking in a larger window. Can't see exactly what's happening even in full screen on a large monitor but the sound still comes through. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was a low-intensity fire fight going on over there.
Anybody else notice something missing just west of the diamonds?
The signal shed on the far side of the diamonds was pulled out Wedmesday morning. I was watching about 0700 CDT and a backhoe was moving around the building. I went away for about an hour and a half and when I returned the shed was gone. The backhoe didn't look big enough to lift the building, so I think a Cherry Picker truck swooped in there and hoisted the shed onto another truck and it was gone.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
The signals have been cut over, for sure. Both of the UP's old bridges are still standing, as of this noon, but without signals on them. One of the westbound two-headed masts of searchlight signals is on the grounds of the park; I suspect that it will become part of a permanent display (it needs a little work and a few parts to spruce it up). The old westbound BNSF bridge is completely gone.I can't get used to a home signal requiring only one head, but that's the case with the new westbound signals on both UP tracks and one of the two BNSF tracks.The good news is that the new color-light signals are very easy to read from inside the park (with the possible excption of the green lights, obscured by the thickest part of the hoods).In other news, fresh medians have been put in for both railroads at Ninth Street, the crossing in front of the park. No more deafening horns when eastbounds go past the park (at least not after the ban goes into effect).
MofW gang tramming West on UP - 0720 CT
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Interesting example right now of just how tight MOW windows can be. A EB BNSF oil train showed up at the same time as the trucks parked on the north side of the tracks left, and before the EB cleared the diamond there was an WB oil train heading across it.
EDIT: Apologies, I had my directions reversed in my original post.
When is the ban going into effect? I'm going there in August so I was just wondiring.
CShaveRRNo more deafening horns when eastbounds go past the park (at least not after the ban goes into effect).
That's not good; I won't know when a train is approaching while I have the Rochelle window hidden.
I have no idea when the ban will go into effect. I don't know which crossings it will cover, other than the two obvious ones. Perhaps if you're lucky, Chuck, you'll still be able to hear the crossing bell when the gates drop.
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