Yes, there can be an increased risk of stringlining when a light cut of autoracks is at the front of a long consist. Yes, they can be aerodynamically unstable in high winds when unloaded.
No, they don't have anywhere near the same tare-weight issues; there's a lot of structure in those cars. They are made low to increase interior space, not to save weight. And they do not have the amazing drag issues that centerbeam, bulkheaded cars do at any angle to relative wind -- the aerodynamic analogue to a corner reflector.
oltmannd https://youtu.be/FsE9mOohSB8 Beyond stupid.
Would the men cleaning up the mess caused by the derailment be Norfolk Southern employees or would they be contractor employees?
What about the supervisors?
Do the freight train crews run from Enola to Pittsburgh or do they change crews in Altoona?
It appears from the videos that the equipment used to lift and re-rail the downed cars crosses over the rails for positioning purposes. Do they do any damage to the rail in doing so?
Who will ultimately be held responsible for the derailments?
What disciplinary action, if any, is likely to be taken?
JPS1 oltmannd https://youtu.be/FsE9mOohSB8 Beyond stupid. Would the men cleaning up the mess caused by the derailment be Norfolk Southern employees or would they be contractor employees? What about the supervisors? Do the freight train crews run from Enola to Pittsburgh or do they change crews in Altoona? It appears from the videos that the equipment used to lift and re-rail the downed cars cross over the rails for positioning purposes. Do they do any damage to the rail in doing so? Who will ultimately be held responsible for the derailments? What disciplinary action, if any, is likely to be taken?
It appears from the videos that the equipment used to lift and re-rail the downed cars cross over the rails for positioning purposes. Do they do any damage to the rail in doing so?
In my experience - derailment contractors are Supervised by a Senior Division Level official. The contractors suggest moves they intend to make and they are given a up or down decision by the Senior Carrier official on the scene. NS procedures may be different.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I wonder if Wile E. Coyote got a new job as an operations official at NS..........
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
JPS1Do the freight train crews run from Enola to Pittsburgh or do they change crews in Altoona?
Change in Altoona. Back in Conrail days, a train from Harrisburg/Enola to Conway with no intermediate work (most trains) would run a long pool crew between terminals. NS reconfigured things so that the long pool for merchandise is Allentown to Altoona and all the merchandise trains use the Altoona to Conway pool. Why NS did this? I have no idea.
The intermodal trains still use the Conrail crew change points. A NJ to Chicago train would change in Harrisburg, Conway and Elkhart. Four crews. 900 miles.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
rvos1979I wonder if Wile E. Coyote got a new job as an operations official at NS..........
Wylie would have purchased it from Acme!
Acme actually made the hockey whistle that I used when I officiated rugby matches. The words "Acme Thunderer" were embossed on the mouthpiece. It was a pretty good whistle, too.
oltmannd JPS1 Do the freight train crews run from Enola to Pittsburgh or do they change crews in Altoona? Change in Altoona. Back in Conrail days, a train from Harrisburg/Enola to Conway with no intermediate work (most trains) would run a long pool crew between terminals. NS reconfigured things so that the long pool for merchandise is Allentown to Altoona and all the merchandise trains use the Altoona to Conway pool. Why NS did this? I have no idea. The intermodal trains still use the Conrail crew change points. A NJ to Chicago train would change in Harrisburg, Conway and Elkhart. Four crews. 900 miles.
Thank you.
CSSHEGEWISCHIt was a pretty good whistle, too.
The problem with Wile E's ACME was not that the stuff was defective; it ws that he used it wrong. Now, I'll freely grant you that it's difficult, sometimes extremely so, to figure out how some of them could be used right -- nuclear rocket-propelled roller skates being one theoretical example -- but it's not really more a 'failure' when the Coyote finds he can't steer around curves at Mach 4 than it is when someone picks up his running lawnmower by curling his fingers around the edges of the deck in order to cleverly trim his hedge and finds his grip abruptly compromised.
OvermodThe problem with Wile E's ACME was not that the stuff was defective; it ws that he used it wrong.
Indeed. Acme, defined: the point at which someone or something is best, perfect, or most successful.
Which makes Wile E's use of the products rather an oxymoron.
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...
tree68Indeed. Acme, defined: the point at which someone or something is best, perfect, or most successful.
But also one of the silliest-sounding words in the English language. Which is why Chuck et al. used it.
Another one is 'amalgamated' (even if one ignores the implied connection to tooth decay).
The thing is that ACME commonly gets lambasted as if their products are always defective, the contrapositive to things made by the Ideal Systems company in Cambridge (they make among other things the frictionless surfaces and ideal-gas demonstrations used to accompany Ivy League physics classes). That's a fun trope, and one does suspect the Coyote, super-genius though he be, would run out of money or credit fairly quickly if he were not returning the products 'as defective' nearly as fast as he receives them. But they ALWAYS seem to work when it comes karma time. It's gravity that's defective for him.
ACME and other "A" words are used as business names because the alphbetical ranking of the letter "A" puts them first in the phone book. It seems like a trivial objective, but perhaps not to a company that has little to offer in the way of useful products that sell on their own merits.
Also the desire to use an "A" word with a good meaning causes words like ACME to be overused, and thus trite or cheap sounding. With that, it would attract people like Wile.
Gravity was working for NS, though!
More accurately, the forces as predicted by physics (see oltmannd's previous analysis on the thread about the 1st such derailment).
- PDN.
Paul_D_North_JrGravity was working for NS, though!
Au contraire, mon frere, it was working against NS ...
... it would seem, much as it does for the Coyote: CSX does PSR blocking and doesn't derail ... UP does PSR blocking and doesn't derail ... NS watches this and does PSR blocking ... and down to the floor of the canyon they go...
Acme, from the ancient Greek, meaning a mountain summit. Thus, the summit or highest attainable in semi-modern usage. But it has been corrupted in current usage. I worked a summer job in college at a plastics blow-molding factory next door to Acme Screw (no jokes, please).
charlie hebdoI worked a summer job in college at a plastics blow-molding factory next door to Acme Screw (no jokes, please).
Why laugh? They are as I recall the source of the industry-standard Acme thread (the improved-to-machine trapezoidal-thread replacement for a 'square' thread).
Although it is, as you expected, very difficult to hold my tongue respecting the nature of employment you might be expected to undertake in those circumstances...
Although I must admit that it reminds me of what the nativist said when he saw the sign put up by an Irishman who had succeeded in business: "Murphy's Tool Works: Superior Screws and Notable Nuts"
Overmod... it would seem, much as it does for the Coyote: CSX does PSR blocking and doesn't derail ..
Well, I'm pretty sure they've all had stringlines. They just haven't been featured live on railfan railcams.
Don't forget why CSX had to buy the baltimore streetcar museum a new substation building.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Don't forget Acme Supermarkets. Pretty popular in the Northeast.
Although not a popular as Shop-Rite is in New Jersey!
Flintlock76Don't forget Acme Supermarkets.
Or ... perhaps most importantly ... if you spell ACME backward with a little ambiguity in your handwriting it's the basis of the Theory of Relativity!
zugmann Overmod ... it would seem, much as it does for the Coyote: CSX does PSR blocking and doesn't derail .. Well, I'm pretty sure they've all had stringlines. They just haven't been featured live on railfan railcams. Don't forget why CSX had to buy the baltimore streetcar museum a new substation building.
Overmod ... it would seem, much as it does for the Coyote: CSX does PSR blocking and doesn't derail ..
My sources said that was a stringline derailment caused when the mid-train DPU quit loading. Live by the DPU, die by the DPU.
Was this before or after ACME was taken over by Brute Force Cybernetics* (The company that creates the need and then fills it.)
(*) Radio schtick used in Cincinnati FM Radio for decades. (WEBN)
Never leave Hulcher or any of the Yellow Machine Cowboys, with side-boom CATS, to their own devices. Your reportable FRA costs will skyrocket. Bad enough the infighting between the Mechanical and Track supervisors. What "team" approach?
Overmod Flintlock76 Don't forget Acme Supermarkets. Or ... perhaps most importantly ... if you spell ACME backward with a little ambiguity in your handwriting it's the basis of the Theory of Relativity!
Flintlock76 Don't forget Acme Supermarkets.
Well damn! I never thought of that! Leave it to an engineer!
You know it reminds me of the old legend in the south of Ireland as to why the Titanic sunk, it was the "Hand of God."
Why? Well, according to legend, the Titanic's hull construction number was 3909 04, which when held up to a mirror becomes "No Pope." Well, if you "fudge" the 4 a bit it does.
So because of that insult to "Holy Mother The Church" God struck down the ship and humbled those Belfast heretics!
The thing is, it isn't true. "Titanic's" construction number was 401.
Got the story straight from my mother's father, a Mayo man and proud Sein Feiner.
BaltACDMy sources said that was a stringline derailment caused when the mid-train DPU quit loading. Live by the DPU, die by the DPU.
If it did so abruptly, I can see where that would lead to a near-instant stringline. Kinda like snapping a whip.
Flintlock76Well damn! I never thought of that! Leave it to an engineer!
It would be fun to string this along a bit and make myself look more Super-inGenious .. but of course it was a cultural reference. From a fairly familiar ACME-aware source...
At least Sweeney et al. can't say it isn't family-friendly!
Thanks, that has relativity.
Electroliner 1935 Thanks, that has relativity.
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