Having lived in Houston all my life, I have only railfanned the same areas over and over again which are a couple of large yards. Recently I have wanted to see more industry switching so I looked through google maps and then proceeded to head to the areas that looked promising. Of course this was on a Saturday morning so there probably wasn't much going on but I wanted to find some good locations and hey you never know. I was following some old track that looked abandoned and was about to turn around when I caught an armor yellow sight through some trees. There was a UP GP-38-2 at the end of this little industrial run to nowhere and it was serving a steel plant. The plant is closed on weekends and the engine was just outside of their gate.
It was just sitting there idling. I hung around for a little bit as I was taking pictures up and down that short line for modeling but I never saw anyone around. I left to go search for other areas. Sunday evening I was near there again and decided to pass by one more time. The GP was still sitting there idling away like it was the day before. No one around. I'm pretty sure it stayed there until Monday at some point and it probably got there Friday.
Why would you let an engine idle away for an entire weekend? Why wouldn't you just shut it off to save fuel? We aren't talking icy weather with a fuel solidifying concern. The temperatures are in the 90's. There were also other switchers sitting nearby but they were all powered down. I don't see the logic in leaving this one running. How much fuel do they use idling? Let's say it sat there like that for 72 hours. How much fuel is that and why waste it? Does anyone have any insight into why they'd do this?
Most EMD engines when you shut them down they leak water into the Crank clyinders and then you risk major damage if you do not follow the right procedure to restart the Prime Mover. Also the GP38 in Question could have had a set of Bad Batteries or if it was hooked up to a car to prevent the brakes from bleeding off air and rolling away.
Fred,
Where in Houston was this at?
Ed Benton has the most likely answer, the batteries may be less than good, cheaper to let it idle than risk it not starting and having to send a crew and "rescue" motor after it.
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It was sitting alone. The coil cars were inside the fence.
This was off of a small industrial spur a few blocks to the north of Eureka yard. It was sitting off of Hurst St. at Maxroy if you want to see where it was on a map. I don't remember the name of the steel company but Schill steel is the next block west against the tracks.
Edblysard, do you know of any good industrial switching locations to railfan without risking getting arrested like you would near the port side of town?
Sadly, most of the industrial switching is on the east side, and most happens in areas where you couldn't get to.
What happens in areas where you could see it also happen in areas where you really don't want to go un armed.
I used to stop by Tower 13 at Eureka, you could see a lot of stack trains, mixed merchandise, rock train and Amtrak right there, lots headed out to Hearn and San Antonio, and the Sunset Route brings in a lot of traffic down the ball park , but the yuppie developers have pretty much taken over there.
Try some of the industries along Hempstead highway, several steel companies, pipe yards and such.
One of the pipe yards has a Plymouth switcher, you can see it where Magnum road intersects Hempstead.
Most of the work comes out of Englewood and is set off in sidings the night before, and the local crew show up about 8 am and pulls/spots most of the customers between 8 and noonish...they stay pretty busy up and down the main, and you can see almost all of it from Hempstead Highway, with a lot of places to park and shoot from.
Thanks Ed. That's pretty much what I had figured. I am not the type of person who is willing to trespass just to watch a train. I stay only on public land and if I am asked to leave a place I don't argue about it. That has only happened once though and it wasn't a mean encounter but rather just a little bit of insecurity by a small business owner. No big deal. He was polite. I just want to find the easiest places to watch from public land that minimize the risk of harassment from any security or law enforcement. I don't want to intrude on rr right of way or interrupt any train crew. At the same time, I don't want to get mugged!
Tower 13 is pretty easy to watch and that part of town is much safer than it used to be due to the new development. I still find the Spring/Westfield area to be the safest place to go as I feel safe there even at night. I grew up there though so know what the area is like. I just don't go near Englewood or Settegast unless just passing through and I definitely don't get out of the car down there. I will briefly hang around Belt Jct but again not out of the car. The Hempstead corridor seems fine for most of it. Sadly I work during the week so I won't catch much. I stay well clear of the ship channel and refinery areas. After 9/11, it just isn't good to hang around anywhere near those locations.
fredswain Having lived in Houston all my life, I have only railfanned the same areas over and over again which are a couple of large yards. Recently I have wanted to see more industry switching so I looked through google maps and then proceeded to head to the areas that looked promising. Of course this was on a Saturday morning so there probably wasn't much going on but I wanted to find some good locations and hey you never know. I was following some old track that looked abandoned and was about to turn around when I caught an armor yellow sight through some trees. There was a UP GP-38-2 at the end of this little industrial run to nowhere and it was serving a steel plant. The plant is closed on weekends and the engine was just outside of their gate. It was just sitting there idling. I hung around for a little bit as I was taking pictures up and down that short line for modeling but I never saw anyone around. I left to go search for other areas. Sunday evening I was near there again and decided to pass by one more time. The GP was still sitting there idling away like it was the day before. No one around. I'm pretty sure it stayed there until Monday at some point and it probably got there Friday. Why would you let an engine idle away for an entire weekend? Why wouldn't you just shut it off to save fuel? We aren't talking icy weather with a fuel solidifying concern. The temperatures are in the 90's. There were also other switchers sitting nearby but they were all powered down. I don't see the logic in leaving this one running. How much fuel do they use idling? Let's say it sat there like that for 72 hours. How much fuel is that and why waste it? Does anyone have any insight into why they'd do this?
Railroads certainly seem to be more concerned about fuel consumption by idling locomotives. Many newer units are being equipped with systems such as auxiliary power units which provide heat to keep systems running in cold tempertures or "smartstart" systems which will automatically turn the prime mover on and off depending on climatic conditions..
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
fredswainWhy would you let an engine idle away for an entire weekend? Why wouldn't you just shut it off to save fuel? We aren't talking icy weather with a fuel solidifying concern. The temperatures are in the 90's. There were also other switchers sitting nearby but they were all powered down. I don't see the logic in leaving this one running. How much fuel do they use idling? Let's say it sat there like that for 72 hours. How much fuel is that and why waste it? Does anyone have any insight into why they'd do this?
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
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