Weekend observations

[Mookie]

Was sittin' with Millie on the BNSF Ranch, chewin' on a straw and watching them new fangled trains go by - saw a tumbleweed goin' down the tracks. Just me, MIllie, the tumbleweed and the wind. Kinda spooky.

So do tumbleweeds get tangled up in those new fangled engines - or the old fangled engines and do any damage to the undersides of the engines?

Next, 2 sets of two engines each came down the tracks at separate times, one person in the cab stops and lets off 2nd person (hostlers?) both times. Each time, the 2nd person goes and stands right in front of a dwarf light while the two engines pull forward a short distance. They stand there for several minutes before they get on the rear of the second engine and then go back from whence they came.

Is it required that the 2nd person get off the engines and stand right in front of the dwarfs until they change? Could he get on the rear of the 2nd engine until the dwarf changed? Then radio the head-end to go back (They are changing from one set of tracks to another, ergo need to get past the dwarfs before they can back down the new set of tracks.

Holiday coming so will get to spend more time - just Millie and Me and maybe the driver at the BNSF Ranch - yup, yup!

Mookie

[JoeKoh]

they might be making sure the switch is thrown if they are electrical.
stay safe y'all
joe and matt

[mudchicken]

Mookie:

If you were out watchin' this weekend, how close were you in the ice fog and snow? I spent 30 minutes Sunday morning chipping ice off the glass on the truck in Omaha. Mookie most certainly wise to be a house-cat during the middle of the weekend. Chocolate cake got a little crunchy/frozen for desert on Saturday?

Biggest complaint I've heard has to do with stuff stuck in the track motor blowers intake screens on the older locomotives.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

Mookie:

If you were out watchin' this weekend, how close were you in the ice fog and snow? I spent 30 minutes Sunday morning chipping ice off the glass on the truck in Omaha. Mookie most certainly wise to be a house-cat during the middle of the weekend. Chocolate cake got a little crunchy/frozen for desert on Saturday?

Biggest complaint I've heard has to do with stuff stuck in the track motor blowers intake screens on the older locomotives.

Ah oh great wise Chicken - I was in Lincoln - that was the difference. I was there Saturday about noon and the weather was nice! Not gorgeous, but cloudy and nice. You got more than we did - we only got 1/2 inch of snow and that came overnite from Sunday to Monday! Just whitened the green grass! Omaha has a different weather pattern than Lincoln - You should choose wisely next time and come to Lincoln! Plus we don't have the icy hills that Omaha has!

Screens! Why didn't I think of that! Some of those tumble weeds are pretty good size and getting caught up in the wheels could be interesting!

Happy traveling!

Mookie

[wabash1]

Mookie the tumble weeds dont do anything to the engines we cru***hem and keep moving. and the guy probley got off the engine and stood in front of the signal to block the sun from shining on it so they could see it. regaurdless the perpose of this was to pull by and the track would be lined up for them to go back the other direction. and this guy who was on the ground is the guy who watches the shove back. ( eds job) .

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wabash1

Mookie the tumble weeds dont do anything to the engines we cru***hem and keep moving. and the guy probley got off the engine and stood in front of the signal to block the sun from shining on it so they could see it. regaurdless the perpose of this was to pull by and the track would be lined up for them to go back the other direction. and this guy who was on the ground is the guy who watches the shove back. ( eds job) .

Wabash - is this mandatory (getting off the engine)? They do it each and every time - I know they used to throw switches, but that is all automatic now. But they get off the same place each time and go stand in about the same spot each time. This means getting off a warm engine in freezing weather - this makes the Mookie think this is where that mirror would come in handy! Course, they ride back into the yard and would assume that they need to be on the backend or several engines to back into a set of cars and not crash and burn! There again - a good mirror would solve all those problems - just like a truck (oops, a dirty word was just spoken!)

Mookie