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Railroad History Quiz Game (Come on in and play) Locked

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Monday, October 27, 2008 10:26 PM

Western Pacific?

"The Feather River Canyon Route"??  -  a.s.

 

al-in-chgo
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Posted by Texas Zepher on Monday, October 27, 2008 10:12 PM

passengerfan
Not being much of a Colorado fan except for the NG I am only guessing. And I don't know all by any means probably not even one.

Denver & Salt Lake
Moffat Road
Denver & Rio Grande Western

Interesting guesses; however, none are correct.  The only standard gauge this railroad ran was it's last incarnation (the last name) and that was on shared trackage (3 rail) with the Colorado & Southern from Boulder to Denver.   The parent railroad was standard gauge, but none of the ones listed.

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Posted by passengerfan on Monday, October 27, 2008 8:27 PM

Texas Zepher

 From the Jersey Shores to the Great Rocky Mountains, and probably an easy one.

What were three of the four names for the railroad that headed west from Boulder Colorado into the mountains up Four-Mile Creek, and what class 1 railroad owned one of them?  (Hint, one of the names is a nick name not an official name for the RR). 

1.  ?           
Parent Railroad - ?
2.  ?
3.  ?
Nick Name - ?

 

Not being much of a Colorado fan except for the NG I am only guessing. And I don't know all by any means probably not even one.

Denver & Salt Lake

Moffat Road

Denver & Rio Grande Western

That's all I can guess.

Al - in - Stockton

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Monday, October 27, 2008 12:09 AM

 Not even any guesses?

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 11:42 PM

 From the Jersey Shores to the Great Rocky Mountains, and probably an easy one.

What were three of the four names for the railroad that headed west from Boulder Colorado into the mountains up Four-Mile Creek, and what class 1 railroad owned one of them?  (Hint, one of the names is a nick name not an official name for the RR). 

1.  ?           
Parent Railroad - ?
2.  ?
3.  ?
Nick Name - ?

 

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Posted by oltmannd on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 12:24 PM

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 9:41 PM

South Jersey RR (SRJJ for some reason)?,  Winslow Junction.

 

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Posted by oltmannd on Sunday, October 19, 2008 6:49 PM

The three 1930 roads were RDG, PRR and  Central RR of NJ aka Jersey Central (who was controlled by the B&O later in life).  The PRR owned the West Jersey and Seashore - West Jersey being the colonial name for the southern half of the state.  The RDG owned the Atlantic City RR.  They ran roughly parallel from Camden to this Junction and exactly parallel from there to AC.  After PRSL was formed the eastern portion of the RDG line was torn up. The Jersey Central line was built from down from the north to give the road a port on the Delaware Bay.  The line was cut back to Bridgeton (actually Dividing Creek) and mostly moved sand north for most of it's useful life.

The 2008 roads are NJT, who owns the old West Jersey and Seashore from Haddonfield to AC.  Conrail Shared Assets, who owns the Atlantic City RR from Camden to this juntion.  And a yet to be named short line that has a name almost idential to the Jersey Central.  The shortline operates a short piece of the old CNJ and has rights over NJT from the juncton to the shore.

I'll give a pass on the shortline name, but, you gotta name the juntion to get this one. 

 

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, October 18, 2008 10:16 PM

One of the roads was the Jersey Central, since it operated the Comet between New York CIty and Atlantic City.

According to SPV's Northeast atlas, the New York and Long Branch owned the track through the junction, and the Pennsy was the only other road to the junction.

Johnny

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Saturday, October 18, 2008 12:43 PM

Since I've already guessed Reading and PRR successfully, and it wouldn't be the southern terminus of the B&O, I can only guess that the missing railroad is the "Short Line."  I believe that's what the Monopoly board calls it.  --   a. s.

 

al-in-chgo
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Posted by oltmannd on Saturday, October 18, 2008 7:47 AM

PRR and Reading are two.  PRSL was formed from PRR (West Jersey and Seashore) and RDG (Atlantic City RR) assets in 1933

The third 1930 RR had port on the Delware Bay that was the southern terminus of this RR.  This RR's one time parent is the third class one on the Monopoly board.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Friday, October 17, 2008 11:03 PM

1930s:  PRSL, PRR, Reading??

al-in-chgo
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Posted by oltmannd on Friday, October 17, 2008 11:42 AM

Another hint.

In 1990, the three RRs that ran thru here were Shore Fast Line, Amtrak and Conrail.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by oltmannd on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 3:56 PM

Hints:

One RR ran a train called the Blue Comet thru here in the late 30s.

The other two are on the Monopoly Board.

In 2008, one road is shortline with a very similar name to one of the above.

Another is passenger only, but the above has frt rights on part of the line.

The other is the small version of the late-great NE giant.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Sunday, October 12, 2008 11:47 PM

Actually I'm not disappointed, my WAG was waggier than most. 

Surely there people reading this who know that there ain't no Trenton River in NJ and are better situated to answer the question??  -- a.s.

 

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Posted by oltmannd on Saturday, October 11, 2008 5:52 AM
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 oltmannd wrote:

In New Jersey, South of the Raritan River (the river and the railroad!), a junction between 3 railroads.

Name that junction!

Name the 3 Railroads in 1930 and the 3 in 2008. 

I'll be wrong, but I'll guess the Trenton River; and 1930 companies PRR, Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and Central of New Jersey; 2008 lines Conrail (Shared Assets), Amtrak and NS.  If Amtrak is wrong, I'll guess SEPTA.

Worse than a WAG, but someone's got to get the ball rolling Blush [:I]  !    - a.s.

 

I don't even think there is a Trenton River Jct.Question [?]

You have two of the 1930 companies and one of the 1980 companies. 

The 3 in 1930 are completely different from those in 2008.

The 1930 company you got right also operated a completely separate electrified line between the two principle NJ cities on the route. (The junction in question was along the principle route between these two cities for two of the 1930 roads.) The original name of one of the roads had one of these cities in it's name.  The original name of one of the other roads had the colonial name for this part of the state in it's name.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Friday, October 10, 2008 10:04 PM
 oltmannd wrote:

In New Jersey, South of the Raritan River (the river and the railroad!), a junction between 3 railroads.

Name that junction!

Name the 3 Railroads in 1930 and the 3 in 2008. 

I'll be wrong, but I'll guess the Trenton River; and 1930 companies PRR, Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and Central of New Jersey; 2008 lines Conrail (Shared Assets), Amtrak and NS.  If Amtrak is wrong, I'll guess SEPTA.

Worse than a WAG, but someone's got to get the ball rolling Blush [:I]  !    - a.s.

 

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Posted by oltmannd on Friday, October 10, 2008 6:18 PM

In New Jersey, South of the Raritan River (the river and the railroad!), a junction between 3 railroads.

Name that junction!

Name the 3 Railroads in 1930 and the 3 in 2008. 

 

 

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Friday, October 10, 2008 11:54 AM
 oltmannd wrote:

Duke Energy Indiana owns the cars and the power plant at Carol IN.  Coal comes from Black Beauty Coal mine at Francisco, IN.  Power plant and mine are about 25 miles apart - by rail.

 These are the cars in the JEPX xxx series - rapid discharg hoppers.

Mostly if not entirely right.  Duke in 2005 took ownership of the process, which previously went back to a company called Cinergy (sometimes CINergy) which itself was an amalgamation of PSI (Public Service Indiana) and Cincinnati Gas and Electric.

Here's the Wikipedia's take on that:

History

Cinergy was created on October 24, 1994, from the merger of the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company (CG&E) with Plainfield, Indiana-based PSI Energy (Public Service Indiana) and later included Union Light, Heat & Power (ULH&P) as well.

Cinergy headquarters in Cincinnati. Cinergy headquarters in Cincinnati.

In 1996, Riverfront Stadium in Downtown Cincinnati was renamed "Cinergy Field" in a sponsorship deal with Cinergy. The stadium was demolished by implosion in December 2002 to make way for Great American Ballpark.

In 2005, Cinergy was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[1] [2] [3]

In 2005, Cinergy announced a friendly acquisition by the larger Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy. The acquisition was completed on April 3, 2006. The combined company retains the Duke Energy name. Until the acquisition, Cinergy still operated under the names of the three local utilities (e.g., Cinergy/CG&E in Cincinnati); since the acquisition, the names of the three former Cinergy utilities and Duke Power, the former Duke Energy utility subsidiary, have been phased out,[4] although signs bearing the former logos still remain at some substations.

-end Wiki-

All the JEPX cars are indeed the modern bottom-sprung type.  JEPX is listed as the modern equivalent of what once was PSI.  This is from a site called mpageni.com that shows all four-letter alpha codes for this category (a useful research site!) :   

 

  • JECX - Western Resources, Inc.
  • JEFW - Jefferson Warrior Railroad
  • JEPX - PSI Energy, Inc.
  • JFDX - W. K. Horney
  • [emphasis added] 
  • -end mpageni.com-

     

    You got ahead of me on origin and final destination of the coal.  I believe you, but I'm sure readers here as well as I would like to see the cites for those.  I had assumed that the empty SB JEPX unit  train I saw, hauled over BNSF thru Galesburg, Illinois, was returning to the PRB.  If my assumptions were true, that would probably have put the power plant to the north (old CB&Q line running up toward Savannah IIRS or, of course, more easterly (the Transcon from Chicago area west to Galesburg).  Nowhere near Indiana IOW. 

    FWIW I guess any individual investor who wanted to buy shares in any of this would have to buy Duke Energy common stock.  The previous Cincy portion still has some bonds outstanding. 

    Thanks for the great answer, oltmannd, give us the remaining citations if you can, and the next question is yours!  - al

     

     

    al-in-chgo
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    Posted by oltmannd on Friday, October 10, 2008 9:30 AM

    Duke Energy Indiana owns the cars and the power plant at Carol IN.  Coal comes from Black Beauty Coal mine at Francisco, IN.  Power plant and mine are about 25 miles apart - by rail.

     These are the cars in the JEPX xxx series - rapid discharg hoppers.

    -Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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    Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, October 9, 2008 10:41 PM

     rrnut282 wrote:
    Just a wag:  since you hail from Chicagoland, is there such an entity as Joliet Electric Power Company?  Further speculation, since I don't remember seeing any cars with JEPX on them East of Chicago, the coal is most likely coming from the Powder River area.  As for car ownership, not all are owned by the railroad or power company.  Banks hold many rail cars and locomotives in trust. 

    No, it doesn't mean that, but you are right on target that it is the kind of code that indicates a power plant or company.  In the U.S.

    Since people aren't exactly beating down the door to offer WAG's and serious G's, I will (just this time) suspend the customary rule against online searching.  In this case I did my own on-line searching.  It wasn't an "I'm feeling lucky" type of one-click by any means, but I doubt it took me much over ten minutes.

    Some of you keyboard artists out there should do it in two or three.  Especially since you know (re-hint) the kind of thing you're looking for, ask: where would such information be on the Net?  Also, who owns or doesn't own the car (nice, gleaming, new-looking unit coal cars) isn't the issue.  Just what it means in a way that makes sense beyond the code.  IOW the people who buy or sell the coal in the cars needn't own the cars. 

    T'sawright!  - a.s.

     

    al-in-chgo
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    Posted by rrnut282 on Thursday, October 9, 2008 10:00 PM
    Just a wag:  since you hail from Chicagoland, is there such an entity as Joliet Electric Power Company?  Further speculation, since I don't remember seeing any cars with JEPX on them East of Chicago, the coal is most likely coming from the Powder River area.  As for car ownership, not all are owned by the railroad or power company.  Banks hold many rail cars and locomotives in trust. 
    Mike (2-8-2)
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    Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, October 9, 2008 6:36 PM

     arkansasrailfan wrote:
    another WAG. Japanese Electric Power Co.?

    That's one use of that pariticular four-letter code; think along the lines of the same industry here at home (hint). 

     

    al-in-chgo
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    Posted by arkansasrailfan on Thursday, October 9, 2008 3:37 PM
    another WAG. Japanese Electric Power Co.?
    -Michael It's baaaacccckkkk!!!!!! www.youtube.com/user/wyomingrailfan
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    Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, October 9, 2008 3:19 PM

    Re:  "Ding! Ding!  We have a winner!  Good guess Al!"  -- Thanks, and mostly a guess it was, with a little help from your hints.

    Here's a modern question:  think of a unit coal train whose every car is marked with "JEPX".  Who can tell me the most about those cars, where they come from and where they go, and whether third-party ownership is involved?  If you happen to know how unit-coal trains are named on the two big western Class I's, that's a bonus -- but don't look it up please.  - a. s.

     

     

    al-in-chgo
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    Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, October 9, 2008 3:08 PM
     al-in-chgo wrote:
     Murphy Siding wrote:

     oltmannd wrote:
    How about the Illinois Terminal?

        Sorry, no.  Did Illinois Terminal have passenger cars?

          The railroad in question, has a unique enough name, that even non-railfans might recognize it.  I can even remember learning a song about it in about 4th grade.

    WAG:  Wabash, as in Cannonball, bought by N&W a year or two later??  IIRC their main line was St. Louis to Detroit (a "diagonal" shaped route which, even today, has no Interstate directly linking the two cities). 

     

    Ding! Ding!  We have a winner!  Good guess Al!

    Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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    Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, October 9, 2008 2:32 PM
     oltmannd wrote:
     Murphy Siding wrote:

     oltmannd wrote:
    How about the Illinois Terminal?

        Sorry, no.  Did Illinois Terminal have passenger cars?

        

    Yeah, sure!

    http://www.illinoistractionsociety.org/1950.html

    So the car didn't come from the Wabash (which generated the folk song "Wabash Cannonball")?  - a.s.

     

    al-in-chgo
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    Posted by oltmannd on Thursday, October 9, 2008 2:17 PM
     Murphy Siding wrote:

     oltmannd wrote:
    How about the Illinois Terminal?

        Sorry, no.  Did Illinois Terminal have passenger cars?

        

    Yeah, sure!

    http://www.illinoistractionsociety.org/1950.html

    -Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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    Posted by arkansasrailfan on Thursday, October 9, 2008 2:07 PM
     Murphy Siding wrote:

     arkansasrailfan wrote:
     Murphy Siding wrote:
     arkansasrailfan wrote:
    NYC
      Oops!  'Missed that one.  No, not NYC.

    lookie at the quote. notice one huge differnce now about me.

      Um...no?Blush [:I]

         Are you saying, that you were able to change your screen name, yet retain your post count?  Surely, if you've figured out how to do that, there are others interested in knowing how....Roger...Over...Smile [:)]


    You send an email to customer service asking to be changed from and to. Course Bergie seems a little upset and I may want to change it back.(guilt trip now)
    -Michael It's baaaacccckkkk!!!!!! www.youtube.com/user/wyomingrailfan
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    Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, October 9, 2008 1:31 PM
     Murphy Siding wrote:

     oltmannd wrote:
    How about the Illinois Terminal?

        Sorry, no.  Did Illinois Terminal have passenger cars?

          The railroad in question, has a unique enough name, that even non-railfans might recognize it.  I can even remember learning a song about it in about 4th grade.

    WAG:  Wabash, as in Cannonball, bought by N&W a year or two later??  IIRC their main line was St. Louis to Detroit (a "diagonal" shaped route which, even today, has no Interstate directly linking the two cities). 

     

    al-in-chgo

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