Did you pay the park a personal visit today, Carl? I've talked Joanie into going over tomorrow.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
It was yesterday, Brian.I wish we could join you tomorrow, but we have to meet my sister coming in on Amtrak in the afternoon.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Attempting to post photos, and failing again.
At 9.25 BNSF still switching Rochelle Delmonte by hand ,not like the big lever.Seemed different,maybe electric control.
Red Flags and lots of crews out this morning ....
1120 CT
Rochelle switcher went East of diamond with about 20 cars (mix - gons, empty center beam flats, mechanical refers & box cars), as they were clearing the diamond you could hear the air brakes being applied. A minute or so after the braking sounds stopped (suspect movement was clear of the BNSF home signal for the interlocking) the movement could be heard to reverse West and shoved 1/2 car past the switch points of the connection switch. Movement was stopped and then went East 3/4 of a car and stopped for approximately 5 minutes and then shoved West again, this time onto the connection.
I suspect the connection switch has been changed to be either a power operated switch (which may not have thrown in this instance) or a dispatcher controlled electric lock switch.
I did not notice anyone riding the point of the shove (however, if they were they would have been on the far side from the camera and not visible) if they were on the point, they must have dismounted moving equipment at the Home signal, as the movement was not stopped long enough for a person to walk the 20 or so cars to get from the engine to the point.
After being on the connection for 10 or so minutes, the movement came off the connection, minus the 6 or so box cars that had been the West end of the movement while an Eastbound UP coal train was moving over the diamond. Brakeman was observed at the switch after the Switcher cleared the connection restoring the switch for Main Track movements and then walking toward the movment that stopped East of the home signal.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDreverse West and shoved 1/2 car past the switch points of the connection switch. Movement was stopped and then went East 3/4 of a car and stopped for approximately 5 minutes and then shoved West again, this time onto the connection. I suspect the connection switch has been changed to be either a power operated switch (which may not have thrown in this instance) or a dispatcher controlled electric lock switch.
I will get to that in a moment.
First, I just saw an all CSX train of locos and covered hoppers clear the diamond WB on BNSF at 1340 CT. Earlier, I saw a EB BNSF train of two units and a long string of ALL flatcars. Talk about a train with low wind resistance!
Now to Balt's post. I saw the same movement you did but I didn't have time to respond yesterday. I saw a similar incident late Thursday morning. The local, with only three cars, pushed west a half car lenght past the switch, before pulling ahead to allow the switch to be thrown. He then went up the spur. It seems like they have to get at least one truck west of the frog to complete a circuit or something before thay can throw the switch. I would be interested to hear if anybody knows what is actually happening there.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
AgentKidI saw a EB BNSF train of two units and a long string of ALL flatcars. Talk about a train with low wind resistance!
Nothing is ever where it needs to be.
At 0725 CT BNSF just ran a train WB with nothing but empty well cars. A repositioning move I guess. Not quite a slippery as an all flatcar train though.
So today at 0850 CT the local running light comes west up to the switch and stops short of it. The switch is thrown, but the engine still pulls east about 1-2 feet. Then he heads into the spur. He never did get west of the frog while on the mainline. So, I am back to square one as to what this new proceedure is.
And now for something completely different.
At 1232 CT an EB BNSF unit train of coal in bathtub gons cleared the diamonds. Couldn't quite make out any reporting marks.
I have never seen that before on BNSF there.
While I'm wishing for visibility of reporting marks, I probably could also go on record as missing the archived stills that used to accompany the site. I could have seen what you were talking about.Were they honest-to-Goodness Bathtubs? Aluminum Bethgons? What color were the rotary-coupler ends? We might be able to figure things out with that information. I couldn't help much, because by the time that train gets down here it's mixed in with all of the stuff coming across Iowa.
CShaveRRWere they honest-to-Goodness Bathtubs? Aluminum Bethgons? What color were the rotary-coupler ends?
What we had were black cars with ribs about half again as thick as what you see on the UP, with smooth rounded bottons between the trucks. No chutes or doors. All of the white paint was very faded or gone entirely. The markings for the rotary coupler ends in many cases were barely visible. About a dozen or so of the cars still had an old school company or road name centred on the side above the usual high water mark for grafitti.
The consist was all matched with the exception of, I think, about 3 cars. One of the three was a black version of the brown cars you often see on the UP. It stood maybe six inches to a foot taller, no more, than the rest of the train.
I don't know what you car them, but even the top horizontal pieces above the ribs were proportionaly bigger than what you see on the UP cars.
These cars reminded me of older pictures of the coal cars the CPR used to haul out of the Crowsnest Pass to Vacouver, say back in the eighties. That is about all I can say.
Just got my picture taken ...
rdamon Just got my picture taken ...
Welcome to Illinois! Hope you're keeping dry, and otherwise having a good time in this near-perfect weather (perfect except for the stuff that's been twenty-percenting over me whil I'm watching trains in Elmhurst and Lombard).
That's got to be some kind of selfie record.
ChuckAllen, TX
An Office car special just passed wesbound on BNSF with a glass-end inspection car on the rear at 7:56am
7.55, 16Jul2016, passenger Train, WB. Caught the last car as it crossed the diamonds.
It always makes me smile when I see, as I just did, a teenager photographing a freight train. If the web cam offered two-way audio, I'd say, "Hey, Kid, need another Grandfather?" Thanks for brightening my day.
AgentKidThe switch is thrown, but the engine still pulls east about 1-2 feet.
The local is back today at 0900 CT. He threw the switch and headed in with no extra motions whatsoever. Just like you would expect such a switch to work.
is the cam down? 4:20 CSDT. The EarthCam logo just spins? My computer or the cam? Thanks
Same problem with me. The webcam logo is only spinning, not loading.
No problem on my end .. AT&T Uverse
i've got uverse too. still spinning. I have internet connectivity (I'm posting this?). It was working earlier today. Using a chromebook - chrome browser.
The camera is working for me using Firefox on Windows 7.
Earlier today though, there was a moment when the screen turned a solid shade of blue for about 2-3 seconds. At the time I wondered if EarthCam was doing an upgrade on their system. It returned to normal, and then I left shortly afterward. Now I see these recent posts and wonder if it isn't related.
I got in earlier today; it was raining out there.But now, nothing except a whirling earth (Comcast, on a Mac).
It works fine on my windows pc running win 10 with a chrome browser.
My chromebook - using chrome browser - still has the spinning earth. Hello earthcam technical support? Is is the version of flash being used? I upgraded my chrome browser on the win pc yesterday. Chromebook upgrades itself when it wants.
Well, it doesn't seem to want to load on my Vista machine with Chrome, either...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
It probably gets funnier. On my machine (iMac running 10.11.5 with Firefox 47.0.1) the site gives me the
prompt -- even though I'm logged in correctly and posting in the community. Combined with the earlier fiasco with registration and login, and the problems with dancing-ad content loading on the MR site, this convinces me that whoever Kalmbach has overseeing their Web site architecture is asleep at the switch, at best.
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