Yawn

[Mookie]

Cool weekend. BNSF kind of quiet.

Saw a CSX moving around the yard - #753 - SD70. Only visitor I saw.

For Brother Carl - there were 2 former CNW covered hoppers - 753036 and 753554.

Saw a covered Quail.....well, the driver doesn't hear the engineer too well, and thought she said "covered Quail car". It was a covered Coil car - and you don't see too many of the covered ones.

Saw a tainer train with the second motor a GP60B power unit # 346. Very interesting!

And my question: Saw a tainer train with one container on a spine car. Then at the rear they had pigs and they were also mounted on spine cars.

As opposed to well cars or flat cars - why on spine cars? The spine cars work because they have plates that come out from the sides and they put the feet of the pigs on these plates. Looks really different, but seems to work just fine.

La Mook

[tree68]

The railroads are watching their weight, too...

[JoeKoh]

Mookie
saw 2 norange engines delivering coal for detroit edison go by work when I went in, with the surge in intermodal traffic(especially with Santa getting busy) raillroads will use what they can to get the goods to market.
stay safe
Joe

[Mookie]

Kind of my thinking, Joe. Figured grab what they have available and get it going.

Tree......Aarrrgh, it's almost too early....

[Modelcar]

Jen, we had a white back yard yesterday morning with 32 degrees here in cental Indiana....Frost..., way too early. Normal about Oct. 15th. A Freeze tomorrow morning is forecast and mid 60's during the day now but into the 70's later in the week. How do we compare with you folks a bit farther west...?

[Anonymous]

Gee and I thought I would never get to see the sunrise again. Here early due to schedule adjustment. Looks to me like you folks had a much more interesting weekend than I did. Priming the dry wall in the basement (honey do is a great list) kept me from viewfinding on the old Southern Mainline in Greensboro. Glad to see you got one that was a good bit more fun, I'm envious. By the way any good ideas for stronger coffee[zzz]

[Anonymous]

Are spine cars the ones with a center beam and small platforms sticking out to the sides just big enough for trailer wheels? If so I've been seeing a lot of those with containers lately. This weekend I saw a single BNSF Dash-8 40 something with 4 wheel trucks pulling a really long string of empty ones. They were probably serviced recently as there wasn't a flat-wheel on the train.

About a week ago I saw a brand new Unit Coal train on the BNSF with NORX reporting marks on it. The aluminum was so shiney it looked like a streamliner and there was still white paint on all the levers, grab-irons, etc. Trucks where all new with blue-painted roller bearings. No flat wheels on that one either.

[Anonymous]

What's a coil car?

~Ra'akone

[Mookie]

QM - we are "predicted" to be in the 60's today and 70's for rest of week. In the low 40's rest of week. I quote predicted, cuz we can never seem to get it really right.

The frost we got was not a hard freeze yet - only 34 - we had one of our biggest snowstorms of all time a few years back the first week of October - broke all our beautiful trees since they hadn't even started to change color.

Jen

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by raakone

What's a coil car?

~Ra'akone

It is a car for carrying coils of sheet metal, usually steel.

http://archive.trainpix.com/BNSF/RAILCARS/COILCAR/534533.HTM

http://archive.trainpix.com/BNSF/RAILCARS/COILCAR/529805.HTM

Enjoy!
Dennis

[CShaveRR]

Sis,

Up here we have more quail-containment cars (covered ones) than free-range quail cars.

I think it has to do with the type of steel being carried, maybe that some of the higher-grade stuff needs protection from moisture and other things. Some of those covers have extensive insulation and moisture-control elements in their construction.

Spine cars will carry the trailers or containers closer together than ordinary intermodal flat cars, reducing train length and aerodynamic drag. I'm not sure why COSC (containers on spine cars) would be preferred to CIWC (containers in well cars), unless there are still areas where clearances won't permit the double stacks. That used to be a real problem around here, but not so much nowadays.

I've had to break out the hooded sweatshirt for the trips home from work lately--from the sound of things, I might need regular gloves (as opposed to biking gloves) for tonight's freeze.

BC

[tree68]

Quail Cars, mystery holes. What's the world coming to?

[Mookie]

At least they didn't laugh me off the forum about the Quail cars and actually knew what I was talking about. They will all be sorry when I finally find my mystery holes!

Moo

[Mookie]

Addendum: for anyone even remotely interested - I also saw 2 GP 35's - becoming a bit of a rarity even here.

Ok - back to your reading enjoyment!

[corwinda]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR
Spine cars will carry the trailers or containers closer together than ordinary intermodal flat cars, reducing train length and aerodynamic drag. I'm not sure why COSC (containers on spine cars) would be preferred to CIWC (containers in well cars), unless there are still areas where clearances won't permit the double stacks. That used to be a real problem around here, but not so much nowadays.

There are still routes which can't take doube stacked containers (or can't double stack higher containers) due to clearance issues. UPs north/south line from Portland to Sacramento is one. (Due to tunnels.)

Sometimes I suspect the COFC on spine cars is because the containers are too heavy to fully use the space of a double stack car.

[edblysard]

32 degrees?
60 and 70s?

Jeeze, it got all the way down to 89 in the swamp today...I guess I need to break out the overcoat?

Ed[8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard

32 degrees?
60 and 70s?

Jeeze, it got all the way down to 89 in the swamp today...I guess I need to break out the overcoat?

Ed[8D]

If I were Mr. Freeze....

[Modelcar]

....Now Ed, next you'll be installing antlers on the Jeep to simulate some Winter.....

[Kozzie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

....Now Ed, next you'll be installing antlers on the Jeep to simulate some Winter.....

Ed, if it's any consolation at all, [;)] [:)] down here in south-east Queensland we are getting warmer than usual weather for Spring. Maximums are high twenties and low thrities..ooops!..thats Celsius heh heh [:I]...that's um...lessee...high eighties..low nineties...heh heh [:)]

Dave
(Kozzie)

[Modelcar]

...Yea, Kozzie...you lucky dog, we're getting ready to go to Winter and you are sheding it fast......

[Kozzie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

...Yea, Kozzie...you lucky dog, we're getting ready to go to Winter and you are sheding it fast......

hee hee hee

Quentin, talking seriously now, I'm not looking forward to the humidity [xx(] yuk!
At least this Summer we have air-con at home so that we can sleep at night...

I can't expect to get much sympathy [;)] when so many of you folk get such cold temps in Winter...brr...[:0]

Quentin - do you get much snow where you are Indiana?

hmmmmm...I wonder...who on the Forum would cop the most snow on the average....but I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean the coldest place....???
Boy am I sliding off topic!! [:0] hee hee.....[:D]

Dave
(Kozzie)

[Modelcar]

Dave...You are correct...The deepest snow may not occur where temps. get the coldest. My home is over in Pennsylvania and there we got a fair amount of snow. Elevation at my home area is about 2000'.....Here in Indiana we're only 937' in elevation and our average snow fall for the season is about 27"...Not bad but January can get quite cold here.....But last season we did not get down to "0"....Generally we do reach that several times in a Winter season. But last season we only had 8" of snow here in Muncie too....so, that wasn't too bad. Have no idea what this one will bring. Winter doesn't start until Dec. 21th. Right now it's cool in the morning...{had our first frost yesterday morning}, at 32 degrees....but that was a bit early. Normally that should occur about the 15th of this month. It wil be in mid 60's to low 70's during the afternoon's now....and we've had nothing but sunshine for a month plus....Very dry..
Hope that gives you a bit of an idea what we might expect here.
I understand you do not get very cold in your area...Is that correct....?
PS...I've seen 188" of snow in a Pennsylvania Winter...Specifically in 1958...!

[Kozzie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

Dave...You are correct...The deepest snow may not occur where temps. get the coldest. My home is over in Pennsylvania and there we got a fair amount of snow. Elevation at my home area is about 2000'.....Here in Indiana we're only 937' in elevation and our average snow fall for the season is about 27"...Not bad but January can get quite cold here.....But last season we did not get down to "0"....Generally we do reach that several times in a Winter season. But last season we only had 8" of snow here in Muncie too....so, that wasn't too bad. Have no idea what this one will bring. Winter doesn't start until Dec. 21th. Right now it's cool in the morning...{had our first frost yesterday morning}, at 32 degrees....but that was a bit early. Normally that should occur about the 15th of this month. It wil be in mid 60's to low 70's during the afternoon's now....and we've had nothing but sunshine for a month plus....Very dry..
Hope that gives you a bit of an idea what we might expect here.
I understand you do not get very cold in your area...Is that correct....?
PS...I've seen 188" of snow in a Pennsylvania Winter...Specifically in 1958...!

Quentin, you're right, Winter in Queensland, even down ehre int he south east is a bit of a joke. We do get some cold nights, but our maximums in Winter here in Brisbane are still in the low twenties C - high sixties F...
It's the Summer that can be a real bake - especially when we get really humid days...I think our climate is similar to Florida...After peering at a mapp of the States, Brisbane would be a bit farther north than Miami - but not much...

Dave

[Modelcar]

....Sounds like a good comparison...as that area of Florida for sure, is hot and humid through the long extended Summer of weather...and it can be in the 80's F even in the Winter. But cold snaps do occur...Way back some years when I was still on the job I saw it down to the mid 40's in Miami and that really felt cold there. Florida can be and generally is very humid in the Summer period. We Wintered in Florida for 8 years and that was in the central part..{Lake County} and the temps. were moderate...even getting up to 70 and 80's but even there I have many pictures of orange trees loaded with ice from the sprinklers in an effort to keep the fruit from freezing in a cold snap.
Right here we're in a bit of a cold snap for a few days now....it was 28 F this morning but sun is out bright and it will be warming up and probably will get in the 70's yet this week...Weird stuff. It sounds like you really have high humidity along with your very warm Summer season...a nasty combination. Two very different areas...Interesting stuff Dave....Interesting to me.

[CShaveRR]

SJ, I forgot to note (with thanks for the report) that the two CNW covered hoppers you saw would be former Rock Island cars.

According to my weather bug, we got down to 30 degrees locally last night. I think the official low (taken at O'Hare) was 33. Frost was gone by the time I got up.

[tree68]

Snow - Let me tell you about snow. Living adjacent to one of the two major lake effect areas in NY, I've seen plenty. 70"+ in 24 hours, 51" in an evening. Yep we get it. Of course, there are times when the sun is out at my house and 10 miles south you can't see the end of your hood...

[Modelcar]

...Yes, I understand the lake effect snow can be devastating. Have a niece living in Meadville, Pa. and gets lake effect snow from Lake Erie...Bad stuff. Most I ever saw coming down in a 24 hr. period in south western Pa. was 30".....and that was March, 1959. Right after Thanksgiving in 1950 was really a traffic stopping mess for weeks....That's probably the most I witnessed in my lifetime.

[Kozzie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

...Yes, I understand the lake effect snow can be devastating. Have a niece living in Meadville, Pa. and gets lake effect snow from Lake Erie...Bad stuff. Most I ever saw coming down in a 24 hr. period in south western Pa. was 30".....and that was March, 1959. Right after Thanksgiving in 1950 was really a traffic stopping mess for weeks....That's probably the most I witnessed in my lifetime.

ok you lot..heh heh..[;)]..you've got me again...what's lake effect snow? A greater amount of snow due to water being nearby? [:I] Or is it snow that's not caused by the usual type of weather pattern? [:)]

Dave