December 03, the issue to remember

[adrianspeeder]

I just got and read the December issue of Trains. Wow!, lots of good stuff.
The Vermont Railway Geep rolling through the snow was the coolist pic ever. I thought that the tower operators detailed "report" was laugh out loud funny, the car knockers brew story brought back a memory of a story at our house, and the story of a GE shreading it self to pieces with its own radiator fan was poetic justice.
Now the questions, the pic of the Santa Fe Alco PA had a table looking thing on the roof above the cab. The trailing unit didn't seem to have one, so what was it for? So the crew could play cards at stations?[:)]
Darn, I had another question, but temporarily forgot it for the moment[:(]

Adrianspeeder

[JoeKoh]

my guess would be to serve as an atenna for their radio.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

A radio antenna

[Anonymous]

Adrian [:D] [:)] [8D]

Your much too young to be forgetful. [;)]

How is the SPL working now? And the snowblower? lol [:D] [:D] [:D]

[Mookie]

I brought some things to work with me this morning - one is the December 03 Trains Magazine - I am working thru the Engineer article and I also brought a copy of GCOR!
Thanx to an anonymous donor. Now I will work on some questions to ask.

But one for now - The Almost Home picture of the Rio Grande Zephyr - the Budd type cars fascinate me - but they always look like something from outer space. Where did the engineer sit? Go to the picture and tell me what is at this particular end....

Mookie

[Anonymous]

Mookie:

You're looking at the rear of the train in that photo -- the observation car. The locomotives up front are ordinary F units.

You'll have fun reading GCOR -- like most rule books, it appears to be written inside-out. Rather than telling you WHAT to do, it tells you WHAT NOT to do. Most people find this very confusing.

[adrianspeeder]

Mook, the pic is of the trailing end of the train, with regular locos up front pulling, I guess that some lucky passenger gets to sit there for the trip. That photo intrests me because some of it is colored and some of it isn't. What gives?
Jean and Joe, a radio antenna makes sense, but is there one on the trailing A unit?
Jim, the Super Speed Lawn Mower will be featured in my senior yearbook at school. It seems that in addition to the normal picture, seniors could add a "normal" picture. I thought that since i couldn't get into an SD-90, the tractor had to do.
Ok, I remembered my other question. The story about the new global III yard by UP had a photo taken from above, the tracks that go to the far right seem to be a tight turn, is this a trick of the camera, or will trains have a tough time going around that turn?

Adrianspeeder

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mark W. Hemphill

Mookie:

You're looking at the rear of the train in that photo -- the observation car. The locomotives up front are ordinary F units.

You'll have fun reading GCOR -- like most rule books, it appears to be written inside-out. Rather than telling you WHAT to do, it tells you WHAT NOT to do. Most people find this very confusing.

Thanx Mark - I grew up in that era, but I am more used to seeing the old shovel-nose engines - never got to the back of them!

Been thru GCOR once, but going to dive into it again! May find some more questions in there!

Mookie

[mudchicken]

Mooks:

The darn rulebooks are cause & effect driven. The rules usually are not written until something goes terribly wrong or common sense (THAT word again) fails.

Mudchicken

[jchnhtfd]

Hey! This ain't fair! I don't have my copy yet!

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jchnhtfd

Hey! This ain't fair! I don't have my copy yet!

[8D] I'll share!

Mook

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by jchnhtfd

Hey! This ain't fair! I don't have my copy yet!

[8D] I'll share!

Mook

I just got my copy today. Also received the Classic Trains issue too. Since this topic started I have been on the lookout for it so you know that means the postman has been running late all week. Today he was over 2 hours late. Now I don't have time to look at it. It is time to get ready for work, boooooooo. But early tomorrow morning I can look at it and see what everyone has been talking about. I can't wait ! [V]

[edblysard]

You will note that most of what you find in the GCOR are rules written in response to something going terribly wrong.
It is a cause and effect set of rules, written in such ambigious language that most of the rules can be interpeted in several different manners, depending on what the carrier choses.
Becuase the GCOR is written by a committie of representives from the carriers, not a single labor person involved.
But, in all fairness, if you follow the rules, and everyone else does the same, they do work.
Note the photo I sent to a few of you, where a switchman in dark territory lined his sideing for the main, without calling the dispatcher, and found out how far a loaded grain train can shove a switch engine and six cars.
Had he followed the rules, he never would have lined the switch in the first place.
But in a hurry, this experienced, 30 years plus, switchman destroyed a million dollar switch motor, and did about a half million dollars damage to five SD70MACs, along with assorted track damage, and five tank and flat cars destroyed.
Luck was riding with them all, everyone walked away, but...
The rules, if followed, would have prevented this from happening.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[jchnhtfd]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by jchnhtfd

Hey! This ain't fair! I don't have my copy yet!

[8D] I'll share!

Mook

That's OK now, thanks anyway -- mine just came and now I see what the fuss is about![:)]. Yeah -- nice issue! Grew up in Minneapolis, just a few blocks from the Wilmar sub -- I still remember watching trains there. And that phot in Vermont is wonderful!

[Modelcar]

...This month's [Dec.], TRAINS mag. seems to be drawing quite a bit of attention. I finally received my copy yesterday and have just started to get into it. After just flipping through and taking a quick look, this issue sure looks like a really good one. So I'll just say well done to Editor Mark Hemphill. I know I'll have to check each and every page so I don't miss any of the...what looks like, lots of " good stuff".