After going to an arts and crafts show at my former high school west of Bucyrus, Ohio, I was heading south on McCracken Road and saw headlights heading west out of town. I stopped to get a video of the train, which turned out to be a Wheeling & Lake Erie freight running on what is the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern, formerly Conrail/Penn Central/Pennsylvania.
I posted the video on Facebook, and a discussion started about the tragedy that occurred at this crossing 34 years ago, something that I remember very well.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
I enjoyed the first video. Will have to watch your second one later, since I'm unfamiliar with that tragedy.
I hope all is well with the Wheeling & Lake Erie. I noticed yesterday that a fair number of their SD40-2's are stored per the roster that Chris Toth maintains, which I don't recall seeing before when checking his W&LE roster page. Sadly with how important the steel industry was for them, I imagine it's probably indeed a sign that traffic isn't what it was back in the mid 2000's.
I wonder if the Brewster Shops got repaired after the big fire a few years ago.
I don't think that much has changed with the W&LE locomotive roster in the last few years. I've made several trips to railfan them in the last 20 months. I've seen 62 of their 89 locomotives. I've never seen one of the 14 that they have marked as OOS or Stored. They must have been OOS for quite some time. I think that they just found an insider who could give them a complete rundown. Yet, they just released a new rebuild, the #7026.
It seems like the regionals that I'm familiar with all have 10-20% of their roster OOS. They are either stored because they aren't needed, need repairs, are cannibalized or are undergoing rebuilding. The Lake State has 6 of 38, Reading & Northern 9 of 60 and Wheeling & Lake Erie 14 of 89. Don't even get me going on the Great Lakes Central. They seem to use large quantities of baling twine and duct tape.
BackshopIt seems like the regionals that I'm familiar with all have 10-20% of their roster OOS. They are either stored because they aren't needed, need repairs, are cannibalized or are undergoing rebuilding. The Lake State has 6 of 38, Reading & Northern 9 of 60 and Wheeling & Lake Erie 14 of 89. Don't even get me going on the Great Lakes Central. They seem to use large quantities of baling twine and duct tape.
Remember Locomotives for all carriers are required to undergo Quarterly (92 day) inspection/maintenance.
My understanding was on CSX that it was a 2-3 day process for each locomotive each period of 92 days for THAT individual locomotive. Q dates are distributed throughout the calendar. On top of engines out of service for Q inspection you also have the run of the mill mechanical/electrical failures that befall all locomotives during their lifetime.
At one point in time the CSX Mechanical Department had a 'Infant Mortality' e-mail folder. Engines, by number, would end up in this folder when they had some sort of mechanical/electrical failure within 10 days of being released from the engine's Q inspection. This was in the middle 1990's; subsequently CSX changed its e-mail system and such folders were eliminated.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Wasn't there a fire at the W&LE shops a few years back?
BaltACD Remember Locomotives for all carriers are required to undergo Quarterly (92 day) inspection/maintenance.
Memory fails but did some Amtrak report say that the ALCs were going to have 184 day intervals?
blue streak 1Memory fails but did some Amtrak report say that the ALCs were going to have 184 day intervals?
A lot of newer engines have 184 day MIs (mechanical inspections).
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Leo_Ames I enjoyed the first video. Will have to watch your second one later, since I'm unfamiliar with that tragedy.
Unless you're from the Bucyrus area back then, you probably never heard of what happened at this crossing, something that still affects many of us to this day.
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