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CSX loco stolen

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Saturday, February 28, 2009 8:07 PM

Do diesel-electric locomotives have "glow points", as some diesel cars do? 

 

al-in-chgo
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 28, 2009 7:34 PM

It is said that diesel engines are cold blooded.  They heat chunks of air by quickly squeezing them. When those chunks of air are as hot as they can be, they shoot fuel into them.  With too cold of a surrounding temperature, they cannot get their chunks of air hot enough to ignite the fuel.  So operators keep spinning them, so that even though each squeeze fails to raise the temperature high enough to ignite the fuel, the heat adds to the surrounding heat in the cylinders.  As the cylinders warm up, the maximum squeeze temperature rises.  Eventually it rises high enough to ignite the fuel and sustain ignition.  

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Posted by challenger3980 on Saturday, February 28, 2009 7:08 PM

Wow, you would beleive that they were either hidng a Steam Locomotive behind that thing, or it was an ALCO in disguiseSmile,Wink, & Grin

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 28, 2009 6:57 PM

Cold diesels are hard to start, but it depends on how cold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_cGG56QA4&feature=related

 

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Posted by coborn35 on Saturday, February 28, 2009 6:55 PM

wabash1

coburn I only have 1 question for you. what is the differance on starting these things cold from any other time?  Did they not show me where the choke cables are  maybe this is why every diesel i have ever been around snorts coughs farts til warmed up I never started them the correct way. Please exsplain it to me and keep it simple, old guys like Ed and myself suffer from CRS.   Hey ED wheres my MIRROR.

But these actions pose even bigger questions I know what the NS would do but the CSX guys need to chime in. Since he was acting as engineer do the conductors have a timeslip comming for not having a conductor on board? What punishment will he get for not having proper track athority to be there. On the ns its 60-90 days. I bet he didnt preform  the proper brake test before leaving.

 

I was referring to starting the engine/ starting it moving.

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Posted by edblysard on Saturday, February 28, 2009 6:40 PM

Wabash,

The mirror is still in my grip, I forgot to put it back, was too busy trying to find the "How to start a cold locomotive vs a hot locomotive" chapter in my timetable and special instructions...

I would time slip them, and see if the first guy out on the extra board wanted to slip 'em too, after all, his buddy was acting as switchman out in the field...Big Smile

wabash1

coburn I only have 1 question for you. what is the differance on starting these things cold from any other time?  Did they not show me where the choke cables are  maybe this is why every diesel i have ever been around snorts coughs farts til warmed up I never started them the correct way. Please exsplain it to me and keep it simple, old guys like Ed and myself suffer from CRS.   Hey ED wheres my MIRROR.

But these actions pose even bigger questions I know what the NS would do but the CSX guys need to chime in. Since he was acting as engineer do the conductors have a timeslip comming for not having a conductor on board? What punishment will he get for not having proper track athority to be there. On the ns its 60-90 days. I bet he didnt preform  the proper brake test before leaving.

23 17 46 11

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Posted by zugmann on Saturday, February 28, 2009 4:28 PM

RE: the WSOR lock photo:

You really expect that $10 Chineese/Mexican master lock to keep anything but a light breeze out of the cab???   Giving the door a good tug would probably be enough to snap that thing right off. 

 Other sources I've seen  ( http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-bn-0226traintheft,0,7779640.story ) said that the locomotive was locked (probably with a RR lock), but he pried it off.  I did hear rumblings somewhere that locomotives were going to be equipped with lock boxes for reversers, but we see how well those locks can last Sign - Oops

 

bnsfkline

You should submit this to FAILBLOG.org  Big Smile 

 

 

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Posted by wabash1 on Saturday, February 28, 2009 5:49 AM

coburn I only have 1 question for you. what is the differance on starting these things cold from any other time?  Did they not show me where the choke cables are  maybe this is why every diesel i have ever been around snorts coughs farts til warmed up I never started them the correct way. Please exsplain it to me and keep it simple, old guys like Ed and myself suffer from CRS.   Hey ED wheres my MIRROR.

But these actions pose even bigger questions I know what the NS would do but the CSX guys need to chime in. Since he was acting as engineer do the conductors have a timeslip comming for not having a conductor on board? What punishment will he get for not having proper track athority to be there. On the ns its 60-90 days. I bet he didnt preform  the proper brake test before leaving.

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Posted by bnsfkline on Saturday, February 28, 2009 4:09 AM

You should submit this to FAILBLOG.org  Big Smile 

WSOR 3801

 

Won't stop somebody real determined, but slows down most people. 

Also, wonder if it was shut down, or left running...I would think Florida would be warm enough to shut it down.  The event recorder might be neat to look at.  

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Posted by trainfan1221 on Friday, February 27, 2009 8:52 PM

Yes i got a good laugh out of it too. As for the locomotive thieves, If these guys did all that, they had the intentions of doing something wrong.  Not that taking the engine to begin with was right, but when you consider all that had to be done including unlocking things it shows it was planned.  When a group of kids sent a train into a building around here in the early 80s, they threw the switch after the train would have been warned by the nearby signal.  I don't feel bad for people like this, and i do agree that at 22 they should know better.

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Posted by ns3010 on Friday, February 27, 2009 8:40 PM

New locomotive: $1.7 million

Bail: $45,000

Grand Theft Loco: Priceless

;-)

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Friday, February 27, 2009 8:24 PM

CNW 6000
Casual Stealing eXpected...

Thumbs Up

Now, if later that same night he'd just returned the loco to where he started from -

would anyone have noticed ?  How would they have known ? 

Kind of like the proverbial tree falling in the woods if no one is around to hear it - does it make a noise ?

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Posted by coborn35 on Friday, February 27, 2009 8:17 PM

Ham549

I would like to hear the how this guy "stole" the locomotive since it never left the property.

 

Got a good laugh out of that Ham ol boy, and I dont mean the game.

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Posted by CNW 6000 on Friday, February 27, 2009 5:45 PM

Paul_D_North_Jr

Nice graphic for the box of the (fictional) video game version !

+1

Casual Stealing eXpected...

Dan

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Friday, February 27, 2009 5:27 PM

Nice graphic for the box of the (fictional) video game version !

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Posted by Kootenay Central on Friday, February 27, 2009 4:50 PM

.

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Posted by Ham549 on Friday, February 27, 2009 4:42 PM

I would like to hear the how this guy "stole" the locomotive since it never left the property.

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, February 27, 2009 4:27 PM

Must not have been able to master the 'reverser' to bring the engine back to where he found it.  In the words of Bugs Bunny - What a Maroooooon!

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, February 27, 2009 11:51 AM

Geez - I'm a train enthusiast, too.   I'd like to take a train for a ride.  I'll wait until I get my "learner's permit," though.

Like I said - that teenage inability to correlate actions and consquences - only a little older...

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Posted by NMRXfan on Friday, February 27, 2009 10:52 AM

2 Miami men charged with stealing locomotive 

MIAMI - Police arrested a train enthusiast and his friend, days after the pair took a CSX Railroad locomotive for a joy ride, according to an arrest report.

Brandon Dowdy, 22, and Alex Johnson-Self, 23, both of Miami, were arrested Tuesday, after detectives said they found Dowdy's fingerprints on the train stolen out of a Kendall area station late Sunday.

Dowdy told officers that he saw the train and "wanted to look at it," according to the report.

He ended up prying various locks and tampering with switches to move the train, police said, before he abandoned it about 7 miles south of where the locomotive was parked. [...]

Dowdy was being held in a Miami jail on $45,000 bond Thursday, charged with grand theft, burglary, Interference with railroad track and other equipment, and unauthorized persons interfering with railroads.

Johnson-Self, also charged with grand theft and railroad inference, was released Tuesday on $12,500 bond, a jail spokeswoman said.

Johnson told police Dowdy is a train enthusiast and "simply wanted to take the train for a ride," according to the report.

Morons.

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Posted by CNW 6000 on Friday, February 27, 2009 9:00 AM

coborn35
Woah, Woah, Woah. Slow your roll. We dont know this is a teenager. Knowing some of the ADULT railfans I have seen, my vote is for adult.

Where did Al say 'teenager'?  He said 'young person'.  Young being a relative term.

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, February 27, 2009 8:00 AM

So I guess personal responsibility doesn't matter anymore?  The guy was 22.  He is a full-fledged adult.  I hope this idiot gets a nice long stay at the state run bed and breakfast.   Yes he should be branded as a felon and criminal because HE IS ONE.   He could have very easily killed innocent people.  He could have smacked head on into another train, smacked into a PIH car, even go too fast so crossing protection devices weren't properly lowered.

There's plenty of ways you can see the cab of an locomotive, and even ways to operate one.   So yes, give the moron a fair trial, but when convicted, I hope his *** gets locked up for a good long time. 

 

 

al-in-chgo

This may sound a little too much like "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns," but I wonder, if this apparently young person was motivated by anything other than curiosity?  Thanks to Patriot Act and TSA, anything of this nature now carries with it -- literally -- the opportunity to become a "federal case" and haunt his record all his life.  Previously, my hunch is it would have been a matter for local law enforcement and RR administration. 

Deciding to "thumb his nose" after dark with that action was foolhardy--if that's how it came down--and I would think should be punished  (with a BUNCH of hours of community service, and not picking up trash on the ROW either).  Nonetheless, I will feel sorry for anyone whose record brands him as a felon or other kind of serious criminal all his life.  What would have been a serious prank now becomes practically an act of sedition, with many of the laws making it so written so broadly as to become unjust in and of themselves.

What a change from the not-so-long-ago era when a curious person (assuming that's all he is) might get tossed a used timetable, or be allowed inside a cab for a visit or even a ride, without too many infractions ensuing!  "If curiosity about transportation is oulawed, all the curious have can become outlaws"??  -  a.s.

 

 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, February 27, 2009 2:18 AM

coborn35

Woah, Woah, Woah. Slow your roll. We dont know this is a teenager. Knowing some of the ADULT railfans I have seen, my vote is for adult.

According to another news report he's 22 - Technically not a teenager, but based some early 20-somethings I've encountered, may still be using a teen-age decision process, ie, not quite thinking things through.

The fact that they were looking specifically for him indicates to me that he may be known to local law enforcement, or somebody blew him in.

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Posted by coborn35 on Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:45 PM

al-in-chgo

This may sound a little too much like "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns," but I wonder, if this apparently young person was motivated by anything other than curiosity?  Thanks to Patriot Act and TSA, anything of this nature now carries with it -- literally -- the opportunity to become a "federal case" and haunt his record all his life.  Previously, my hunch is it would have been a matter for local law enforcement and RR administration. 

Deciding to "thumb his nose" after dark with that action was foolhardy--if that's how it came down--and I would think should be punished  (with a BUNCH of hours of community service, and not picking up trash on the ROW either).  Nonetheless, I will feel sorry for anyone whose record brands him as a felon or other kind of serious criminal all his life.  What would have been a serious prank now becomes practically an act of sedition, with many of the laws making it so written so broadly as to become unjust in and of themselves.

What a change from the not-so-long-ago era when a curious person (assuming that's all he is) might get tossed a used timetable, or be allowed inside a cab for a visit or even a ride, without too many infractions ensuing!  "If curiosity about transportation is oulawed, all the curious have can become outlaws"??  -  a.s.

 

 

Woah, Woah, Woah. Slow your roll. We dont know this is a teenager. Knowing some of the ADULT railfans I have seen, my vote is for adult.

Mechanical Department  "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:18 PM

This may sound a little too much like "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns," but I wonder, if this apparently young person was motivated by anything other than curiosity?  Thanks to Patriot Act and TSA, anything of this nature now carries with it -- literally -- the opportunity to become a "federal case" and haunt his record all his life.  Previously, my hunch is it would have been a matter for local law enforcement and RR administration. 

Deciding to "thumb his nose" after dark with that action was foolhardy--if that's how it came down--and I would think should be punished  (with a BUNCH of hours of community service, and not picking up trash on the ROW either).  Nonetheless, I will feel sorry for anyone whose record brands him as a felon or other kind of serious criminal all his life.  What would have been a serious prank now becomes practically an act of sedition, with many of the laws making it so written so broadly as to become unjust in and of themselves.

What a change from the not-so-long-ago era when a curious person (assuming that's all he is) might get tossed a used timetable, or be allowed inside a cab for a visit or even a ride, without too many infractions ensuing!  "If curiosity about transportation is oulawed, all the curious have can become outlaws"??  -  a.s.

 

al-in-chgo
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Posted by trainfan1221 on Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:19 PM

Well that didn't take long....

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Posted by NMRXfan on Thursday, February 26, 2009 8:23 AM

Train Theft Suspect Arrested

 COLLIER COUNTY: A Miami man was arrested in Collier County for allegedly stealing a CSX train and taking it on a joyride.

A CSX diesel locomotive disappeared from the Kendall area late Sunday night. It was parked in storage awaiting assignment.

Following the track southward, railroad personnel and Miami-Dade police found the missing train Monday morning about seven miles away.

A BOLO, or Be On the LookOut was issued for a 1983 Ford F-250 pickup truck.

The truck was found traveling north on I-75 at mile marker 101 in Collier County.

The driver, Brandon Linwood Dowdy was arrested and charges are pending.

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, February 26, 2009 8:08 AM

True enough. 

We had an incident here lately involving a volunteer firefighter responding to a call in which the other driver was killed.  Some folks jumped to the conclusion that he was driving recklessly (don't all volunteer firefighters responding to calls drive recklessly?).  It appears that such may have not been the case - he may have been driving at appropriate speeds and the other driver may have made a turn in front of him.

The discussion about the recent truck-train collision in Michigan took a similar turn.  While it still appears that the driver may have been going too fast, it also appears to be happenstance that there was a train on the crossing when he arrived.  It could just as well have been an oncoming truck, in which case we wouldn't even be discussing it here.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Thursday, February 26, 2009 4:49 AM

EVERYBODY:  Just remember there has been more than one incident of a non flying teenager stealing a small plane for a joyride. Even a monkey can type shakespear if it tries enough times.

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Posted by trainfan1221 on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:28 PM

I am sure there are ways to figure it out, a lot of railfans probably possess the knowledge.  That doesn't mean its a good idea... This does seem to happen occasionally, I though there was a Reverse lever or something that the crew took out so only someone who had one gould get it running?

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