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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by GORDON BAILEY on Friday, March 6, 2015 11:07 AM

Here they go again! 3 guys out there on the diamonds, sounds like they are using grinders, possibly having built up some worn parts with weld. Better them than me, it shows 9 degrees F and with quite a wind. Time about 11.10am. I think 6 hrs behind time here in UK. Stopping now, train coming!

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Posted by MKT Dave on Sunday, March 8, 2015 10:32 AM

Friday afternoon, 03.30pm, caught two UP engines, pulling three or four european style passenger coaches. Was on track 2 EB.

they were not going slow, the sound of them crossing the diamonds were like a zipper.

was watching on my Samsung S5, no way to get a picture like i can from the brower.

I'm one of those that can do two or three things at the same time. Cam on the phone, reading manga (japanese comics) and listening to the TV.

dave

 

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Posted by MKT Dave on Sunday, March 8, 2015 10:47 AM

GORDON BAILEY

Here they go again! 3 guys out there on the diamonds, sounds like they are using grinders, possibly having built up some worn parts with weld. Better them than me, it shows 9 degrees F and with quite a wind. Time about 11.10am. I think 6 hrs behind time here in UK. Stopping now, train coming!

 

I watched them most of the day myself, one time they got of the tracks just as a UP EB on tk 2 just came into view!

snowing right now, my wife wants to move up there to a small town. but doesn't do cold very well!!

Here in Oklahoma, three days ago temps stayed below freezing with six inches of snow, today a high of 65F, with a low of 40F and the ground has gone to mush.

Dave

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Monday, March 9, 2015 10:48 AM

MKT Dave
Friday afternoon, 03.30pm, caught two UP engines, pulling three or four european style passenger coaches. Was on track 2 EB.

Did they look like these:

 CDOT6916RochelleIL6-29-14 by railohio, on Flickr

If so they are new Kawasaki-built commuter cars for Metro-North.

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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Posted by MKT Dave on Monday, March 9, 2015 11:21 AM

yes!

thanks a lot!

dave

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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, March 9, 2015 3:53 PM

I see our "favorite" arachnid (or one of her off-spring) is trying again.  There's a little white piece of something caught in the web and fluttering in the breeze.  Given the temperature in Rochelle, that is one desperate, starving spider!

Chuck
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Posted by rdettmer on Monday, March 9, 2015 3:53 PM

mow finally done.

lookslike the spider woke up today

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 8:43 AM

Heavy fog today.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 11:56 AM

Three hours later and it's still pretty foggy, Balt.  Just saw a lone BNSF unit come east and back into the industrial track.  Heard another train blow but haven't seen anything of it.  Kinda creepy.

Reminds me of switching along the river in Charleston, WV one time.  Only one ground guy could see the engine and the engineer couldn't see anybody else.  That was scary.

Chuck
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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 12:15 PM

cefinkjr

Three hours later and it's still pretty foggy, Balt.  Just saw a lone BNSF unit come east and back into the industrial track.  Heard another train blow but haven't seen anything of it.  Kinda creepy.

Reminds me of switching along the river in Charleston, WV one time.  Only one ground guy could see the engine and the engineer couldn't see anybody else.  That was scary.

Nothing quite like 'River Fogs' that happen in the early Fall where the air temp is quite a bit lower than the river temperatures and the fog is held in the river valley by the hills on each side.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 12:59 PM

BaltACD
Nothing quite like 'River Fogs' that happen in the early Fall where the air temp is quite a bit lower than the river temperatures and the fog is held in the river valley by the hills on each side.

Nailed that one, Balt.  This was along the Kanawha River in early September (I remember because I was "asked" to work over Labor Day weekend).  To make matters worse, I had arrived in Charleston after dark and went to work at 11 pm.

Growing up along the Monogahela River somewhat prepared me for the fog though.  Some of my earliest memories are of a rowboat coming out of the fog to take my steamboat engineer Dad to work.

Chuck
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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 3:33 PM

If it's foggy at Rochelle, that's no "river fog"!  There may be small rivers near there, but the high point of the entire UP line across Illinois comes near Malta, between DeKalb and Rochelle.  West of Rochelle is the start of the descent into the Rock River valley, but it's a good 30 miles before the railroad crosses the Rock River itself.  East of Rochelle, the biggest river is the Fox River, a good 40 miles away.

We woke up to fog here, too--it's simply warm temperatures that are evaporating a solid layer of snow.  (We're going to lose most of ours today.)

Carl

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Posted by rdettmer on Thursday, March 12, 2015 1:42 PM

mow is there again working on the diamonds

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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, March 12, 2015 11:08 PM
Still there at 2310 CST. Rakin' in the OT!

Chuck
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Posted by MKT Dave on Friday, March 13, 2015 10:21 PM

Had a wow moment, two UP's east and west nearly met on the diamonds, right after two BNSF's did the same exact thing, both met on the diamonds, the EB didn't dim his headlights, also an ouch moment.

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Posted by MKT Dave on Sunday, March 15, 2015 10:31 AM

sunday 0315 10.29 am UP EB covered hoppers, engineer blew shave and a haircut twice, as he pasted the train park. i was a rolling.

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Posted by rdettmer on Sunday, March 15, 2015 8:50 PM

i hear that today too. it ws kinda awesome

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Posted by BtrainBob on Monday, March 16, 2015 11:31 AM

Does anyone know what the redish "things" being craned next to the signal boxes on the far side are?

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Posted by CatFoodFlambe on Monday, March 16, 2015 12:15 PM

Is BNSF doing away with their pole line?   On Friday, there were a couple of what I assume to be signal maintainers working in the control cabin next to the park, and see markings from an underground utility search on the ballast paralleling the tracks (along with some marker flags).   This morning, I see a ginourmous reel of cable conduit standing along the north side of the UP main.  

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, March 16, 2015 12:48 PM

CatFoodFlambe

Is BNSF doing away with their pole line?   On Friday, there were a couple of what I assume to be signal maintainers working in the control cabin next to the park, and see markings from an underground utility search on the ballast paralleling the tracks (along with some marker flags).   This morning, I see a ginourmous reel of cable conduit standing along the north side of the UP main.  

 

 

Railroads (at least mine) have been actively working for the past two decades to remove pole lines and line wire installations and replacing them with 'radio code line' installations.  Like anything else, it all can't get done at once and each year brings new installations - the pace of new installations has increased with the PTC mandate.

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Monday, March 16, 2015 3:03 PM

The red objects appear to be reels of some kind of cabling.

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, March 16, 2015 4:13 PM

The stuff on the reels is likely "innerduct" or simply direct bury conduit.  Oftimes that is put in, then the actual cable is pulled through it.  Innerduct is actually run through existing larger conduits to further protect the cables.

This also allows additional cables to be added without digging again.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, March 16, 2015 5:48 PM

BaltACD
 
CatFoodFlambe

Is BNSF doing away with their pole line?   On Friday, there were a couple of what I assume to be signal maintainers working in the control cabin next to the park, and see markings from an underground utility search on the ballast paralleling the tracks (along with some marker flags).   This morning, I see a ginourmous reel of cable conduit standing along the north side of the UP main.  

 

 

 

 

Railroads (at least mine) have been actively working for the past two decades to remove pole lines and line wire installations and replacing them with 'radio code line' installations.  Like anything else, it all can't get done at once and each year brings new installations - the pace of new installations has increased with the PTC mandate.

 

It is quite common to see unused pole lines along rail lines. The wire and poles still belong to the railroads, and the cost of removing them far outweighs the scrap value.

Johnny

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 4:39 PM

Welder's working on the diamond this afternoon!

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 6:31 PM

6:30 CDT, ribbon rail train heading EB on UP, MOW truck at the diamonds still.  Ribbon rail train seemed to be half-full, i.e., top racks were empty.  Haven't seen a rail train since Tehachapi Pass got new iron a few years ago.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 7:14 PM

Past sunset and still welding.

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, March 20, 2015 5:15 PM

Drag Race!

Two UP EB's came into view at the same time.  On the near track, three units, with the lead unit long hood forward, were apparently a local, as they only had 810 cars in tow.

On the far track, a coal train, which was handily defeated in the "drag..."  Not that I was surprised by the outcome.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, March 20, 2015 7:13 PM

tree68

Drag Race!

Two UP EB's came into view at the same time.  On the near track, three units, with the lead unit long hood forward, were apparently a local, as they only had 810 cars in tow.

On the far track, a coal train, which was handily defeated in the "drag..."  Not that I was surprised by the outcome.

 

Only 810 cars - sounds like a big train to me, especially for a local!

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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, March 20, 2015 7:30 PM

Don't you wish your railroad had revenue comin' in like that?  WinkDevil

Carl

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, March 20, 2015 8:32 PM

Oops - that was supposed to be 8 to 10 cars....

If it had been 810, I'd have never seen the coal train...  

Spel-czech wouldn't have helped me there.....

Right around that time I did see an intermodal head east across the diamonds with about 6 locomotives on the head end.  Probably a power move, but it was a pretty sizable train.

LarryWhistling
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Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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