https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BLfsevq4MU
Interesting, but in those last 40 seconds I was waiting to see a locomotive going like a bat out of hell chasing it. Nothing. What a let-down.
A Keystone Kops or Laurel and Hardy moment gone to waste.
Anyone know the story?
Poorly cropped video... starts with the car in the middle of the scene and it is gone in just a second or two. The rest of the video is useless and wasted my time. Should have had at least some those useless seconds from the end moved to the begining so we could see more of the approach of the car.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Someone explained in a YouTube comment that the camera was a Trainorders.com webcam, which was triggered by movement and stays on for a predetermined period. Whoever posted it didn't edit. Happened in 2005...
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Edit: my point was rendered moot.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Flintlock76 Interesting, but in those last 40 seconds I was waiting to see a locomotive going like a bat out of hell chasing it. Nothing. What a let-down. A Keystone Kops or Laurel and Hardy moment gone to waste. Anyone know the story?
I was expecting to see a milk carton.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Flintlock76Interesting, but in those last 40 seconds I was waiting to see a locomotive going like a bat out of hell chasing it. Nothing. What a let-down. A Keystone Kops or Laurel and Hardy moment gone to waste. Anyone know the story?
To be perfectly honest - that happened on my territory.
I don't recall hearing about it, of course I was working nights at the time and the video obviously happen during daylight hours.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
OK, here is another one on NYSW in which it shows the car crashed. This one was set free by a local brat kid. The political talk is rather entertaining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doEOipH3WfY
CMStPnP OK, here is another one on NYSW in which it shows the car crashed. This one was set free by a local brat kid. The political talk is rather entertaining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doEOipH3WfY
The tender was sent out for repairs and is back. I haven't been down to Utica for a while to see how the cosmetic restoration is going.
The youngster was never charged, though I believe NYS&W now uses more robust means of securing cars there. And the lead to the station has been severed.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68The tender was sent out for repairs and is back. I haven't been down to Utica for a while to see how the cosmetic restoration is going. The youngster was never charged, though I believe NYS&W now uses more robust means of securing cars there. And the lead to the station has been severed.
I am actually surprised they did not have that steam locomotive display protected by a derail further up the track given that if it was ever hit it could damage the depot as it did. Seems to me someone should have spotted that or possibly even remove a section of track prior to the display?
As I recall, there was a derail in the path of the runaway covered hopper, but it was not set in the derail position.
CMStPnPtree68 The tender was sent out for repairs and is back. I haven't been down to Utica for a while to see how the cosmetic restoration is going. The youngster was never charged, though I believe NYS&W now uses more robust means of securing cars there. And the lead to the station has been severed. I am actually surprised they did not have that steam locomotive display protected by a derail further up the track given that if it was ever hit it could damage the depot as it did. Seems to me someone should have spotted that or possibly even remove a section of track prior to the display?
The tender was sent out for repairs and is back. I haven't been down to Utica for a while to see how the cosmetic restoration is going. The youngster was never charged, though I believe NYS&W now uses more robust means of securing cars there. And the lead to the station has been severed.
It's a good distance from the last regularly used track in the SuzyQ yard and the display location of the steamer. Taking a closer look - the station track was a safety valve for the switch to the mainiline, so probably was routinely thrown along with the mainline switch. I don't know as I've never worked that side.
What's amazing is that the hopper ran across numerous crossings (including one four lane that's pretty busy) and did six or seven blocks of street running (passing the FX Matt Brewery) and only clipped one automobile.
The car also managed to fine a clear track through the yard...
As far as the railroad was concerned, it was probably a "whodathunk" moment - everything lined up (Swiss cheese anyone?).
A single car won't activate crossing signals, right? What about block signals?
I temember that a short Amtrak train was required to pull extra, unneeded, cars, in order to trip something.
Lithonia OperatorA single car won't activate crossing signals, right? What about block signals? I temember that a short Amtrak train was required to pull extra, unneeded, cars, in order to trip something.
A single car MIGHT activate track circuits, signals and crossing protecti; then again it might not.
The B&O and subsequently CSX place a 30 MPH speed limit on single units operating by themselves. Signal Maintainers explained to me that with the relay supported signals sysems in operation through most of the 20th Century a single piece of equipment operating at speeds over 30 MPH could 'activate and then release' circuits faster than the relays could show the activation to the rest of the signal system so it could actually activate.
While I am not a signal engineer or maintainer, it does take multiple relays operating in the proper sequence to implement the proper action - be that changing a signal aspect or activating crossing protection.
I believe CN & UP are the ones currently requiring Amtrak to operate with 7 cars. While there may be some delays in the detection and operation of their signal systems. In my OPINION it is more about those companies fighting against Amtrak than it is about any technical failings of those companies signal systems. If their signals systems requrie approximately 600 feet of train to operate their circuits reliably they must not be using electrically activated relays - more likely agitated hamsters.
EuclidAs I recall, there was a derail in the path of the runaway covered hopper, but it was not set in the derail position.
I heard that there was a derail set in the derailing position, but the tie it was attached to had rotted and the car just pushed it aside.
After the incident, the siding from which the car began its journey was severed from the main on the downhill side.
BaltACDI believe CN & UP are the ones currently requiring Amtrak to operate with 7 cars. While there may be some delays in the detection and operation of their signal systems.
Senator Dick Durban (D-IL) is already onto that sham and promised to have it investigated because in his view if they are having that issue with passenger trains those railroads cannot be operating safely. Saw him say it on C-SPAN at an Amtrak hearing. That was about 3-4 months ago.
What exactly are CN and UP hoping to accomplish with this seven-car thing?
BaltACD Lithonia Operator A single car won't activate crossing signals, right? What about block signals? I temember that a short Amtrak train was required to pull extra, unneeded, cars, in order to trip something. A single car MIGHT activate track circuits, signals and crossing protecti; then again it might not.
Lithonia Operator
A single car won't activate crossing signals, right? What about block signals? I temember that a short Amtrak train was required to pull extra, unneeded, cars, in order to trip something.
From what I've read about signals, this is why speeders and hi-rail vehicles have insulated wheels - if it doesn't reliably activate the track circuit then make sure is doesn't do it at all.
From what I've read about track circuits is that light cars don't reliably shunt the rails, especially when there is a bit of rust on the rail surface. BART had that problem when the service started up, the signal system didn't work reliably until after the first train of the morning passed over the section of track.
Probably the biggest PITA with track circuits is that the ties and roadbed contribute to current leaking between the rails and the track circuits which mimic the effects of wheelsets shunting the rails. What makes this problem even worse is that the leakage current varies, so that adjusting the track circuit to not trigger on a high leakage day may lead to a short train not triggering the track circuit on a low leakage day.
A further problem is with standard DC track circuits where the track relay needs substantially less current to drop out than to pick up (this is true of almost all electromechanical relays).
Lithonia OperatorWhat exactly are CN and UP hoping to accomplish with this seven-car thing?
Piss off Amtrak in the hopes that they will terminate service because of the excessive costs.
Isn't there also the Amtrak profile of the wheeels are different than freight cars ? That profile has been stated wlsewhere that is causes less of an electricla path ?
I could be wrong, but my recollection is this involves one Amtrak train a day each way. I don't see how that could be so disruptive to the railroads.
Is is primarily because it runs so much faster than freights? And while there's only one of it, it needs to pass lots of freights, and that chess game gets dicey as it's such a moving target? I can't remember if this route was double-tracked much; so I'm not clear on how many opposing-train meets there are, also.
I'm going to google and see if I can figure out which train it is.
Lithonia OperatorIs is primarily because it runs so much faster than freights?
That's a primary reason. When I watch trains at Utica, NY, the traffic "bubble" around Amtrak trains is quite obvious.
Lithonia OperatorI could be wrong, but my recollection is this involves one Amtrak train a day each way. I don't see how that could be so disruptive to the railroads. Is is primarily because it runs so much faster than freights? And while there's only one of it, it needs to pass lots of freights, and that chess game gets dicey as it's such a moving target? I can't remember if this route was double-tracked much; so I'm not clear on how many opposing-train meets there are, also. I'm going to google and see if I can figure out which train it is.
The one thing to remember - the throughput of a line segment gets set by slowest regular traffic. Remember all your grade schoold math problems about a train leaving Chicago and a train leaving Cleveland. That problem gets played out with every train that enters a Train Dispatchers territory - be it single track or multiple track. Unlike model railroads, you can't just pick up a train because it is 'in the way'. Every train has run the territory to the train's destination. Faster trains overtake slower trains and still have to meet opposing trains.
The second thing that has to be thought about for the faster trains - how far in advance of the faster train must the slower train get in the clear so the faster train doesn't get other than Clear signals. With today's nominal 3 mile signal spacing, the leading train must be more than 6 miles ahead of the overtaking train so that the overtaking train doesn't get signals that will restrict its speed.
Before a Dispatcher lines ANY signal for a train he needs to have a defined move for that train in his plan of his railroad. Just lining signals because at train is looking at a STOP signal is fast way to Codlock the entire railroad.
You know, there seems to be an awful lot of online videos of train derailments and other accidents that were shot in just the last few years.
Are train derailments increasing again? I've wondered about the safety of CSX et al running 170+ car trains. Would that possibly lead to more derailments?
Back when I was a kid there was still a rear-end crew in a caboose. Often times (but not always) they could spot dragging equipment up ahead and dump the air before everything piled up.
I don't see how the head-end crew could possibly keep an eagle eye on the whole train when it's that long.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
This is the John Cage of rail videos, the Jackson Pollock of rail videos, the Philip Glass of rail videos.
It is the essence of the Minimimalist School of rail videos, where the rail video has been reduced to its underlying substance.
One hopper car appears out of nowhere in the initial frames of the video, a lone hopper car, no locomotive, but that rail car is in motion, propelled by gravity along Sand Patch, the iconic railroad grade.
We see it for but a fleeting moment and it is out of view. Gone. No more train action although we long for more.
As we stare at the screen seeking what happens next, we hear the unmistakable steel-wheel-on-steel-rail sound fade, fade, slowly, into silence.
And we are left wondering. Why?
See this video for answers
P. D. Q. Bach: Prelude to "Einstein on the Fritz" - Bing video
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul Milenkovic... One hopper car appears out of nowhere in the initial frames of the video, a lone hopper car, no locomotive, but that rail car is in motion, propelled by gravity along Sand Patch, the iconic railroad grade. ...
...
Look close - it is a intermodal car.
Does that make it the Ridley Scott of rail videos, the Oliver Stone of rail videos, the Michael Moore of rail videos?
BaltACDLook close - it is a intermodal car.
So there is one TOFC shipper that CSX could have charged a premium for expediting their shipment. I'll bet that short train did a lot better than the schedule between the two points it traveled (heh-heh).
CMStPnP BaltACD Look close - it is a intermodal car. So there is one TOFC shipper that CSX could have charged a premium for expediting their shipment. I'll bet that short train did a lot better than the schedule between the two points it traveled (heh-heh).
BaltACD Look close - it is a intermodal car.
I'm wondering how they finally stopped the car. Did it finally derail on a curve? Or, did it eventually come to an upgrade, slow down, stop, then start rolling back the other way?
Or, did CSX intentionally derail it somewhere to prevent it from doing even more damage?
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/42031.aspx
This may work better: https://tinyurl.com/yyx2d7mb
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