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String Lining

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 8:14 PM

Miningman

These powerful winches were used by railways and contractors to build and maintain tracks. They were powered by steam from the locomotive and were quite powerful dragging a plow through several gondolas of ballast. They were always simply called a "Lidgerwood" since the manufacturer's name was painted on the side and it was an easier way to identify it.

The gondolas had fold-down end doors to allow the plow to slide from car to car, and side doors hinged at the top, which would be pushed open by the gravel as the plow moved along.  CN still has some in work service for hauling track materials, but they are no longer used for hauling ballast/fill/rip-rap.  Some pictures of current work service cars:

https://blog.traingeek.ca/2016/03/?m=1

We have a original wood-sided Hart gondola in our collection, unfortunately it is in long-term storage out back and is not likely to be restored anytime soon.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, May 3, 2018 3:23 AM

Just as a note, "lidgerwooding" was a common term for cutting driver tires on steam locomotives on some roads in the East - presumably either too poor or having too much common sense to take the driver sets off and machine HAWPs on them, etc.

Cutters were applied to the independent brake beams and then adjusted, and the locomotive was winched down a stretch of track until the flats and scars were out of the  tire profile and all the diameters were reasonably common and concentric.  This did not even require taking valve gear down and, while not quite as high-quality as an underfloor wheel lathe, was quite a bit cheaper (and used something already capitalized in another department!)

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, May 3, 2018 7:22 AM

Overmod

Cutters were applied to the independent brake beams... 

I recall a story, I believe in Trains, a while back about a rookie engineer who had somehow slightly flattened the nearly new tires on a steam locomotive.  It was a night shift and the crew got the "red slippers" on the locomotive in an attempt to smooth out the flat spot before anybody noticed.  Someone noticed, as the cutters were still on the loco when the bosses arrived that morning.

LarryWhistling
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...

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Thursday, May 3, 2018 10:26 AM

Thank You.

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, May 7, 2018 9:12 PM

A shortline here in Saskatchewan. These leased units used to belong to a former major system but I'll be darned if I can fiqure it out!

Startup power was three GE B23-7 units leased April 2009 from NREX 4221, 4227 and 4254. 
Leader, SK June 9/2009 Gordon Strathdee 

Great Sandhills 

Leader, SK

Formerly owned by Canadian Wheat Board

G3 Global Grain Group 

G3 Canada Ltd. including Bunge Canada. 

Operates former CPR Burstall Subdivision 27 miles and McNeill Sub. 5.4 miles. 
Also, Empress Subdivision 89.3 miles and Hazlet Spur 5 miles.
Effective March 2009

 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, May 7, 2018 9:58 PM

Miningman
These leased units used to belong to a former major system but I'll be darned if I can fiqure it out!

Same here - it's right on the tip of my tongue...

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 7:15 AM

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 7:16 AM

tree68
Miningman
These leased units used to belong to a former major system but I'll be darned if I can fiqure it out!

Same here - it's right on the tip of my tongue...

This would be a good question for the quiz!

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 7:32 AM

SD70Dude
More leasers (who's railroad is this, anyway?):

I often have the YouTube live video from Deshler up on the computer.  Both lines are CSX, but sometimes I have to wonder which railroad it is, as it seems you can see power from every Class 1, and a few leasers, in the course of a day.

It would be easy for a newcomer to be confused...

LarryWhistling
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...

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 8:42 AM
 

Thank You.

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 7:51 PM

Well best of luck with the U turn. 

Why does this make me a bit uneasy?

Is my uneasiness unfounded? Perhaps it is.

Regarding those ex Sante Fe units on the Great Sand Hills:

Announced July 31, 2015 sale completed to for 50.1% to G3 Global Grain Group of Saudi Arabia. 
Balance to be held in trust for farmers with option for further sale to G3. 

G3 is a partnership between:
Majority partner Bunge Canada, a subsidiary of Bunge Limited, 
an agribusiness and food company operating in 40 countries worldwide.
SALIC Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Riyadh-based 
Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, Saudi Arabia's main agriculture investment vehicle.

G3 Canada says that, with the sale, it now controls assets from Leader, Sask., to Quebec City 
that include inland grain and port terminals, grain hopper rail cars and a fleet of Great Lake grain transport ships.

Through G3’s strategic investments, G3 Canada Limited’s assets presently include a network of seven grain elevators in Western Canada, four grain elevators in Québec, port terminals in Québec City, Québec; Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Trois-Rivières, Québec, two Equinox Class Lakers (Great Lake grain transport ships), nearly 200 kms. of short-line rail track in Saskatchewan, and SML Stevedoring Services at Les Élévateurs des Trois-Rivières. In addition to this, G3 Canada Limited also owns four state-of-the-art grain handling facilities under development in Bloom and St. Adolphe, Manitoba, and Colonsay and Pasqua, Saskatchewan, as well as one of Canada’s largest private fleets of grain hopper cars. At the date of the transaction close (July 31), the inland terminal at Bloom has opened, and the terminal at Colonsay is scheduled to open in August, 2015.

 

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 12:09 AM

R I P.

 

Thank You.

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Posted by SD70Dude on Sunday, June 17, 2018 2:34 PM

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by SD70Dude on Sunday, June 17, 2018 2:42 PM

More PGE/BCOL:

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/bcr/two.htm

The BCOL C40-8M's retain their Locotrol-II displays and equipment, but it is not used and appears to have been unplugged.  I suspect they would still work if the equipment were plugged back in, but have never had the opportunity to try.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Miningman on Sunday, June 17, 2018 3:20 PM

Dude-- Nothing is off topic on String Lining. Thats the beauty of it. 

NDG-- RIP?? ...what?  Also why take down and remove all your posts shortly after making them? The String Lining thread comes to my email, as do some other selected threads, almost all the ones that I started and those remain intact so it's not a loss for me at all, but, it is puzzling and many Forum Members miss out. 

String Lining was one of the best threads going for a long time with terrific contributions, pictures, great info, you name it. Its anniversary was even celebrated by Member Emeritus 'Wanswheel' with a card and a cake. It has been greatly damaged and diminshed by the removal and withdrawal of a great many postings, even though as mentioned, I still have them all!

As I was typing this I just heard Paul Gigot on the 'Journal Editorial Report' close out the show by saying " yes, a wall on the Canadian Border is to keep out people from Saskatchewan" !!! Oh dear.

Good thing I did my sweep across America last summer...maybe I'll have to move to Alberta as it was not mentioned. 

Of course Paul Gigot was being facetious in response to Dept. Of Homeland Security stepping up and stopping 'things' from entering the USA from Canada. Whatever that means!...we do not illegally emigrate or have a robust illegal drug trade with you, so what the heck... Kinder Chocolate?...illegal in the USA! That must be it, a national security threat from Kinder Chocolate with the toy inside. Good grief.

Actually I wonder how all this nonsense and big dust up will affect railroad operations between us... that is fairly substantial and could escalate into something very unappealing and damaging. 

We may see CN renaming themselves Grand Trunk and painting everything and CP rebranded to Soo line and doing likewise. 

Nothing wrong with that....actually it would be swell if they did. 

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Monday, June 25, 2018 6:36 PM
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Posted by SD70Dude on Monday, June 25, 2018 6:48 PM

NDG

I'd warm up to anyone with Vienna sausages too!

Glad to see you have returned and are ok, thanks for posting.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Thursday, June 28, 2018 2:33 AM

 

Thank You.

 

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Thursday, June 28, 2018 3:42 AM

Miningman
Through G3’s strategic investments, G3 Canada Limited’s assets presently include a network of seven grain elevators in Western Canada, four grain elevators in Québec, port terminals in Québec City, Québec; Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Trois-Rivières, Québec, two Equinox Class Lakers (Great Lake grain transport ships), nearly 200 kms. of short-line rail track in Saskatchewan, and SML Stevedoring Services at Les Élévateurs des Trois-Rivières.

Not that it matters, but this write up must be a bit outdated, since they only ended up buying one Equinox class laker.

They originally contracted for two vessels when it was still the Canadian Wheat Board. One was called the CWB Marquis and was delivered in early 2015, and renamed to G3 Marquis before the start of the next season when CWB became the Global Grain Group. Algoma Central operates her today under charter for her owner, G3 Canada Limited.

But the other hull to be named the CWB Strongfield wasn't finished before the Natong shipyard went bankrupt. In early 2017, Algoma Central bought her when the yard's assets were liquidated and had the ship completed. She sails today as the Algoma Strongfield and is registered as belonging to Algoma Central Corp according to the Transport Canada website.

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, June 30, 2018 11:39 AM

Leo Ames-- Thanks for that update. It is important. 

The original reason for the posting on this article was to point out foriegn ownership and control of sovereign resources such as farming, shipping and mining. It is kind of alarming when you dig down into some of these things. 

Formerly International Nickel Co (Inco) was a Canadian and US owned company which mined, milled, smelted and refined a finished metal ( many of them, notably Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Cobalt, but others) with extensive research and development for their products. Now it is Vale', Brazilian owned and controlled and is a shadow of what it once was. same goes for Falconbridge and Noranda, which became Swiss owned Xstrata, now Glencore, essentially a global hedge fund. 

Point being we no longer have a say in the price of these things and have succeded control and operations to foreign countries. I find that uneasy. 

Discovering that a portion of growing wheat, shipment of it by rail and boat, the elevators, the control and the ownership of all that,  has been sold to the Saudis makes me feel uneasy. Perhaps it is unfounded in this global world we find ourselves in but for me I draw the line at natural resources. 

A great many jobs and wages, dividends and investment, control of markets, have been handed over essentially to societies that do not value Western laws and democratic process and could care less about them. Maybe it all works out but it's dangerous and could really backfire one day. 

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Posted by Miningman on Saturday, June 30, 2018 12:50 PM

Back in the day, not that long ago, when we controlled the process from start to finish.

Repainted 055 at ONR Cochrane enroute back to Timmins from repairs. March 2003 Mike Robin

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Saturday, June 30, 2018 1:08 PM

 

Brand New From Schenectady.
 
N. R. Crump looks on.
 
 
Note ' sock ' over horn, flag bracket below side window, lack of nose grabirons, marker lamp brackets, snow plow headlight receptacle.
 
CPR later added their own cast iron Class Plate under builders plates, the Spans the Worlds Nose crest and a kitbashed illuminated roof numberboard.
 
 

Thank You.

 

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Sunday, July 1, 2018 11:53 PM
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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 12:12 AM

A shame how some people have to learn the hard way just how dangerous trains really are.  I wonder if they were inspired by a video such as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VU6ERy3ZsM

Or this fellow, who has since been banned from Canada:

https://www.youtube.com/user/bravedaveempire

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 12:40 AM

There was a fellow here on the forum who claimed to be a rider.  I'm pretty sure he got banned.

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 12:49 AM

Don't the forum rules ban all discussion of trainhopping?

I'd better tread lightly here, would hate to get this thread locked.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by M636C on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 12:50 AM

NDG

 

Brand New From Schenectady.
 
N. R. Crump looks on.
 
 
Note ' sock ' over horn, flag bracket below side window, lack of nose grabirons, marker lamp brackets, snow plow headlight receptacle.
 
CPR later added their own cast iron Class Plate under builders plates, the Spans the Worlds Nose crest and a kitbashed illuminated roof numberboard.
 
 

Thank You.

They also moved the lettering from the grey stripe to the maroon lower body, something I hadn't realised before. I assume the lettering remained yellow. The lettering looks better on the grey stripe to my eyes.

Peter

 

 

NDG
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Posted by NDG on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 4:03 AM

 

The Alco-GE 4000s went by the end of our street the day they arrived from Alco, then daily when in service to USA out of Newport, Vermont, and, finally, on their last trip to MLW and thence to Saint Lawrence Iron and Metal where the truckless hulks were cut up.
 
We followed them there by City Brill Bus, and, later, by car.
 
Builders plates; two dollars, Bronze or Cast Iron.
 
CPR took the Power Assemblies for their remaining 244, MLW took other parts for the CP 4200s to follow.
 
 
Headlight moved to nose, by CPR and when new on later units.
 
 
Anyway.
 
Here is a colour photo. The pilots soon became Black. Other mods re paint before CP decided on their final plan. Flag brackets moved, horns standardized and so on.
 
 
 
 
 
FWIW.
 
Alco-GE.  No MU.
 
 
 

Thank You.

 

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Wednesday, July 4, 2018 6:50 AM

Good stuff as always, NDG.  Thanks for sharing. 

Maybe my best contribution to this thread this year is this:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/train-yard-photos-1960s 

The Dangers of Train Yards, Through the Eyes of Railroad Employees

A collection of photos from the 1960s tried to show

why locomotives need two people in the cab.

The article is a good introduction/ explanation of the project, and has a sampling of 9 photos (some of them are of professional quality) from the 1,655+ (!) at this site:

https://digital.library.cornell.edu/collections/railroad 

which is "U.S. President's Railroad Commission Photographs". 

At the bottom of the page the photos are organized into about 34 groups by railroad and location, with a 'thumbnail' that typifies them.  

Kind of like the Shorpy photos a few months back.  

Enjoy!

- PDN.

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, July 5, 2018 7:16 AM

I remember that the whole diesel fireman issue became a public relations disaster for the Brotherhoods in particular and union labor as a whole.  They appeared to the public to be trying to protect outdated jobs that no longer provided a useful function.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul

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