Just saw an interesting container EB on UP. It appeared to be a cylindrical tank with a platform on top of it. Looked like you might be able to stack another container on top of it. Is this possible? Must it be another similar tank-container?
ChuckAllen, TX
Was it one of these?
rdamon Was it one of these?
I think the lettering was different but that picture looks very similar to what I saw.
And UP just answered my questions. I saw a similar tank-container EB a few minutes ago with a conventional box on top of it.
Passing thought: I'm glad I didn't have to do the programming to keep track of container loading, etc. What a nightmare. I recall a program for efficiently loading trucks with multiple LTL drop-offs at various customers. I was very glad that someone else got to maintain that one; I had enough fun with managing transmissions between HQ and nine plants via 2400 BPS dial-up modems. (Yes, kiddies, that's 2,400 BPS; not 2400 KBPS or MBPS.)
cefinkjrPassing thought: I'm glad I didn't have to do the programming to keep track of container loading, etc. What a nightmare. I recall a program for efficiently loading trucks with multiple LTL drop-offs at various customers. I was very glad that someone else got to maintain that one; I had enough fun with managing transmissions between HQ and nine plants via 2400 BPS dial-up modems. (Yes, kiddies, that's 2,400 BPS; not 2400 KBPS or MBPS.)
You had the high speed stuff at 2400 BPS - try 300 BPS.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDYou had the high speed stuff at 2400 BPS - try 300 BPS.
Or 60 WPM teletype....
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...
tree68 BaltACD Or 60 WPM teletype....
BaltACD
Done them all. Teletype was hard wire dedicated circuit.
The days of the acoustic coupler...
BaltACD tree68 BaltACD Or 60 WPM teletype.... Done them all. Teletype was hard wire dedicated circuit.
Been there, done that. Don't think I'll ever forget the NC telephone company checking a data line by listening to it with a patch-cord and a single ear phone. "Yep, it's OK." every time.
Then there was the guy who asked if we were sure we could put data through a phone line that fast . . . when we were upgrading from 600 to 1200 bps modems. Lots of laughs in those days.
rdamon The days of the acoustic coupler...
Didn't they play one show on "Unplugged"?
Looks like UP is finally dismantling the old C&NW signal Bridges
I wonder if the RR Park will get one ...
Just noticed the fire pit was removed..
So votes on what is next ..
Rest of the Old Del Monte Building or the BNSF Pole Line?
The former fire pit caught my eye a day or two ago, but I didn't recognize what had happened.
And just now, BNSF came in from the west on the far track with four boxcars in tow. They crossed the diamond and dropped a crewmember off at the switch.
After a few minutes, the train backed up a few feet, then again paused. It then proceeded east, over the crossing adjacent to the park, and out of sight. The crewmember is still at the switch...
And now, they're backing up to the switch again, as an eastbound on the near BNSF track passes. Full train of light colored covered hoppers.
The local has backed into the siding and out of sight.
Wonder if they've held up any UP traffic - might be busy for a few more minutes!
UP just had a self propelled Crane shove a gon (cover for the crane boom) and pull 2 former Cabeese East.
Dang - missed that.
BNSF coal empties west on the near track, and the local just came out with five cars.
tree68 The former fire pit caught my eye a day or two ago, but I didn't recognize what had happened. And just now, BNSF came in from the west on the far track with four boxcars in tow. They crossed the diamond and dropped a crewmember off at the switch. After a few minutes, the train backed up a few feet, then again paused. It then proceeded east, over the crossing adjacent to the park, and out of sight. The crewmember is still at the switch... And now, they're backing up to the switch again, as an eastbound on the near BNSF track passes. Full train of light colored covered hoppers. The local has backed into the siding and out of sight. Wonder if they've held up any UP traffic - might be busy for a few more minutes!
Monitoring the scanner feed, last week I heard a converstion between a BNSF maintainer and a train crew about some changes to the operation of the interlocking.
1) The old arrangement had a "reclear" feature which allowed a train for which a signal timed out to be recleared using a relatively simple procedure. This is no longer the case; if a train does not foul the interlocking within 15 minutes of a clear signal the signal will droip to stop, and the only way to proceed is to use the established procedure to go through the plant if a signal cannot be cleared, involving the conductor going to a trackside box and operating a control, then going to the diamonds to flag until the train goes to pick him up; I observed this once when UP's local out of cold storage (switch about a mile east on track 2) had to do this.
2) BNSF's 199 switch (the one dicussed above no requires the BNSF dispatcher to code in a request to unlock the switch (in addition to all the other procedures previously observed)
What you saw today was, for some reason, the switch failed to unlock despite the dispatcher repeatedly sending various commands (I guess there are several to choose from on the CAD screen). None worked until the local backed just past the home signal and tried again. Looks like this "upgrade" still has some rough edges.
It would be nice if audio from the road radio channels of each carrier were a part of the sites feed.
New signal installations rarely have the flexibility and ease of operation when compared to those they replaced. Maybe a function of PTC, more likely a function of signal designers/engineers having no knowledge or understanding of railroad operations and how their designs interact with the real world.
BaltACD more likely a function of signal designers/engineers having no knowledge or understanding of railroad operations and how their designs interact with the real world.
Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, doesn't it?
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Check out the new UP westbound signals. Has anyone ever before seen mainline home signals at an interlocking with only one head? Guess that's all that's really necessary in this direction. (The eastbound signals have two heads per track because the next signal east is a control point home signal for crossovers.)
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)
zugmann BaltACD Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, doesn't it?
I get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad.
BaltACDI get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad.
Just think of what it's like for those on the head end.
zugmann BaltACD I get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad. Just think of what it's like for those on the head end.
BaltACD I get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad.
I'm chuckling at this exchange but I probably shouldn't be. It's been a long time since I've ridden the head end --- long enough for water-cooler-creases in my backside to fill out --- but I well remember some of the "thrills" you get when arriving first at the scene of a possible accident. Nothing to do with signal changes but I'll never forget being EB in an E-8 cab with a WB freight just clearing a grade crossing before we would get there . . . and a school bus (unable to see us) waiting for the freight to clear. Nothing happened but it was probably the longest 2 minutes of my life.
east side verticle truss was just removed.... abouts 10-15 minutes, and it was gone. But the crossover is still there....
Horizontal piece gone, and we can't see the other side.
Edit - Most of the support vehicles have left, by the looks of it. And an eastbound coal (patched SP unit trailing) and a westbound stack just came through.
The crane is still in place, just realized the fly over is part of the new structure.
Hard to see the west signal bridge being silver or aluminum.
Hey trains, I've tried removing my signature a couple times now and it just keeps returning.
Looks so 'open' with the CNW signal bridges gone.
Looks deceptively less important.
rdamon I wonder if the RR Park will get one ...
I don't think there's room in the park at least from an aesthetic standpoint. The park has one of the three-headed masts from an eastbound UP searchlight signal lying on the ground; not sure what they'll do with that.I doubt whether the bridges were dismantled in any way that would permit preservation. The CNW structures, though, were distinctive, and I hope one of them is preserved somewhere (IRM, perhaps?) before they all vanish.
We also need some of those distinctively-CNW horizontal color-light signals...there are a couple visible east of Oak Park.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.