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Updates on my life, YES I'M WASTING FORUM SPACE FOR THE PURE FUN OF IT!!!
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Ed and others, <br /> <br /> The poor condition of the yard concerned me so much that I met with my trainmaster in person and discussed all the problems I had witnessed. He told me he and the roadmaster had met and were planning out a schedule on when to fix the yard. He said they need to shut down the entire south end of the yard to replace several of the switches. I had recently shut down switching during my shift several times because one time the switch latch completely came ouf the rotted tie and another time I saw that the track was beginning to gap at a switch. I have been reassured that plans are underway to fix the problem, but my trainmaster has a dilema on when he can shut down the yard to fix it. With so many cars waiting to be switched for local customers, and yes we do block cars for interchange with the UP at Watseka, Chicago, Evansville, Terre Haute, and Nashville. Most of the Nashville bound cars are loaded grain that come from the north local and Bunge Milling in Danville. Switching and making up the destination blocks is a pain when each track is already filled to capacity with cars giving us very little leeway for switching. We've had to handle very large cuts of cars with the remotes, which is a major pain because we end up crossing over a road crossing that one of us RCO's must ride the head end to protect while the other guy was to do all the switching; it makes for a very long and tiring night. <br /> Ed, I believe that the VVR (Vermilion Valley RR) will soon purchase the former Conrail ***ests in Danville from CSX. This would include the Pekin secondary from Hillery Yard east through Danville that would join up with what they already own in Indiana. Also, they would take over the former Conrail line that runs south from Danville through Westville where we service CCL, Lebanon, and Royster Clark. That is a fun job to work and I'd hate to see it go. <br /> All RR's are notorious for being short sighted when it comes to spending money. The main problem in my opinion is that number crunchers run the RR's, not actual Operations people. Plus there is always the stockholders to answer to. However, it is necessary to make capital improvements to benefit overall performance. It's kinda like when one of our yard jobs gets laid in a few days, the company wants to cut the job off. Then a week later the yard is such a mess the job has to be reposted. I thought serving our customers was supposed to be #1, but apparently the bottom line is. <br /> MJV, I may indeed run into you at Crestline as I will be qualifying that way soon. Just look for a guy with a mild Chicago accent wearing either a Bears hat or a White Sox cap. <br /> Rick, LOL you always crack me up man! I think momma is going to win just because she gets to spend more time with our boy, but that's okay. He'll be crying for me when he gets sick of momma!!! Well, thanks everyone for the well wishes. I must go enjoy the rest of my "weekend" with my wife before I have to go back to work tonight. Talk to you all later. <br /> <br />Nathan
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