Trackside Lounge

[CNW 6000]

It'll be nice to get to Madison for the show tomorrow.  Looking forward to seeing some faces behind some names!  Maybe (luck involved!) some fanning on Sunday!

One unit I saw recently that I thought was cool is CN 2457: all blue ex IC (ex CR?) C40-8W.  It's a nice break from CaNoodle red/white/black!

So it was snowing a bit (read 11"!) and I was 'fanning...so?  That puppy even has classification lights!

[nanaimo73]

 One unit I saw recently that I thought was cool is CN 2457: all blue ex IC (ex CR?) C40-8W. 

Those were LMS lease units that went to CN for 6 months of the year and CR for the other 6 months.

[CNW 6000]

So is it "all CN" now or something else?

[nanaimo73]

Max, I hope when that happens you won't have my luck for today and hear about it nine hours AFTER it passed by you.

Have you ever seen it Brian?

[nanaimo73]

So is it "all CN" now or something else?

12 of them 2455-2466 are now on long term lease to CN/IC.

[blhanel]

Max, I hope when that happens you won't have my luck for today and hear about it nine hours AFTER it passed by you.

Have you ever seen it Brian?

Nope, not that particular DDAX40.  I've seen the one stuffed and mounted on the hill at Omaha from a distance.

[nanaimo73]

Not quite the same, is it. At least your chances are better than mine.

[Murphy Siding]

Max, I hope when that happens you won't have my luck for today and hear about it nine hours AFTER it passed by you.

Have you ever seen it Brian?

Nope, not that particular DDAX40.  I've seen the one stuffed and mounted on the hill at Omaha from a distance.

I saw that one a little closer, when it was "stuffed and mounted" at the Durham Museum in Omaha some years back.  I  have also seen the one on the Dakota Southern at Chamberlain, S.D.  That one looks like they've been robbing parts off of it.  I don't know if it's still operable.  They re-opened the line past Chamberlain this year, but in the back of my mind, I always wonder if a bridge or something major will go out east of Chamberlain, and the DDAX40 there will become a museum piece by default.

[Lord Atmo]

i havent seen a single one ever

[CShaveRR]

Max, I hope when that happens you won't have my luck for today and hear about it nine hours AFTER it passed by you.

I feel your pain--I discovered it after the fact as well, within two hours of the time it would have gone through here.  And I should have been able to track it, had I paid attention!

No, I haven't seen that one, either.  I think that when they were active, they were pretty much kept west of North Platte, which was as far west as I ever got while they were active.  Didn't see any in the shop, either on that trip in 1975--but did see a lot of the U50Cs.  Saw the stuffed ones at St. Louis and Omaha on recent trips.

[CShaveRR]

Quentin, the Cardinal Trail is featured in the current issue (Spring 2008--only the second sign of spring around here!) of Rails to Trails Magazine.  Nice map, illustrations, and directions.  Now I've got to get back there!

(The first sign of spring in Lombard comes on about the first weekend in February, when the Dairy Queen reopens!)

[nanaimo73]

Carl, could you put a trace on the DDA40X Monday morning, just in case it is coming back to Chicago ?

[CShaveRR]

Best I could do would be tomorrow (Sunday) early afternoon--can't trace locomotives from home.  I don't expect that it will come back this way--Mr. Wimmer likes to maximize his system coverage on those inspection trips (he likes the DDA40X because it has a way of detecting bad track--who knew?).

You aren't in the area, are you, Dale?

[CopCarSS]

--but did see a lot of the U50Cs. 

Oh how I wish there was at least one of those, and one of the C855s left. The DDA40X is cool, but I always the the U50s looked more imposing and hearing a dual engine ALCo must have been quite a treat.

I got to see 6936 on the Frontier Days Train a couple years back. Of course, I was kind of downhearted that she was only there because of the mech. failure (was it a bearing, maybe?) of #3985. I did see 844 and 3985 running together briefly, and have heard rumors that I'll get to witness that again this July. No offense to the 6936, but I think I'd rather have double headed steam over a dual engined diesel any day of the week!

[nanaimo73]

 You aren't in the area, are you, Dale?

I was just wondering where it would be Monday.

Anyhow, your area is too cold for me, I don't even have a block heater in my car. And seasonal Dairy Queens?

I may "go Stateside" this year, but it is not likely.

[blhanel]

//keeps fingers crossed that it will return on the route it took east, and that I'll get advance notice of it coming from someone somewhere

[CShaveRR]

The 6936 went from Pine Bluff to Avondale (New Orleans) today.  It's headed to Texas for several days (big place, you know!), then back up to Kansas City.

I was also checking progress on ZWASKP today.  Fruits and veggies weren't the only thing it was haulin' on the former CNW!  It appeared to be making up a bit of the time lost in Oregon and Idaho (due, I suspect, mostly to congestion from coast-line detour moves).

Rain and snowmelt contributed to flooding problems today, at the yard (a few switches underwater) and elsewhere.  I saw one bolt of lightning, about ten minutes before we received a tremendous downpour.  The roads on the hump were like skating rinks when we got there--a liberal coating of salt helped temperatures in the upper 40s to do their stuff.  We're now below freezing again, so I hope the rest of the ice disappeared.  Any ice that's left will be covered by a coating of snow come tomorrow.

[Modelcar]

.....Hi Carl:

We've received a Spring and Summer catalog....That should count for upcoming Spring....Hopefully.

Boy today seems like March.  It is warm....Mid  50's and much wind....

Thanks for heads up on article.   And we sure hope you will find the time and circumstances for a revisit this coming season where you can take advantage of our Trail.

[JSGreen]

We've received a Spring and Summer catalog....That should count for upcoming Spring....Hopefully.

 

I'd like to order some of that spring..... 

[CShaveRR]

Dale, the local DQ has no indoor public space--you order through one window and are served through another.  Kind of uninviting in the winter.

Thanks to recent changes in the local "skyline" it's now possible to view the UP main line, a long block away, from a bench while enjoying your Misty or Dilly bar.

[Modelcar]

....J S:

They would probably send it C O D.....

[blhanel]

We've received a Spring and Summer catalog....That should count for upcoming Spring....Hopefully.

 

I'd like to order some of that spring..... 

I just did the next best thing- I ordered parts for my snowblower.  Sears indicates that I will receive them a week from tomorrow.  That is when we'll quit getting snowstorms and spring will move in.

[Modelcar]

....Brian:

If doing that is that effective....maybe if you would purchase a brand new unit for next season, we'd actually see no Winter stuff at all.....Maybe not though.

[Murphy Siding]

We've received a Spring and Summer catalog....That should count for upcoming Spring....Hopefully.

 

I'd like to order some of that spring..... 

I just did the next best thing- I ordered parts for my snowblower.  Sears indicates that I will receive them a week from tomorrow.  That is when we'll quit getting snowstorms and spring will move in.

     That reminds me, of the first year my dad got a snowblower.  No matter how much he wanted to use it, that winter it just didn't snow.  In about March, there was a storm that dumped a couple inches of white stuff.  He was so excited to finally use the snow blower, that he went out and blew all the lawn, as well as the driveway.

[blhanel]

[CShaveRR]

A snowblower wouldn't do much to what we have at the moment--our freely-flowing runoff froze overnight, making the street downhill from us a mass of ice with sharp ridges.  They spread some salt, but it really needs some serious scraping.  No warmup in sight for much of the coming week, and the temperature has dropped about five more degrees in the past hour.

[CNW 6000]

Just pour some gas on the ice and then light it.  That'll melt it!    Maybe that would be a tad bit dangerous...

[nanaimo73]

Carl, are all of the switches in your yard heated? Is there a rule of thumb that says the heaters will not do any good under a certain temperature?

[Lord Atmo]

//keeps fingers crossed that it will return on the route it took east, and that I'll get advance notice of it coming from someone somewhere

aw cmon. no love for us deprived railfans up in Altoona?

[CShaveRR]

On the hump end, all of the switches are electrically heated.  I don't think there's a minimum temperature below which the calrods don't provide some help, though there's no point in having them on if there's no snow or ice to clear from the points.

Some switches elsewhere in the yard also have calrods to keep the points open; out on the main line things get a little more political, with hot air blown on the points.

I hope the water level went down a bit in the yard before last night, otherwise there will be quite a bit of difficulty in keeping things moving.  Current temperature here is 10 degrees.