Traffic back to normal now . The freight that just went through had some more of those articulated epic cars . I know those guys are glad its over . The temp. is 14 degrees and the wind chill is 1 degree in roanoke . RON
Not quite "normal"... I think I have seen power on all 4 tracks now, but none at the speeds normally done through there.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Yes , everything is definitely on slow orders for now . RON
At 8:30am lot going on Hotel av. , 10 or 12 engines with mixed freight . ? Moving engines to where a shortage of power has occured . Then a scooper / Tie snatcher gathered 2 ties and headed to the signal bridge. This event was well covered by the Cam past 2 days .
Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Been watching it all morning. Yep, moving on slow orders. Can't see it on camera, but it seems obvious MOW still has a lot of work to do. Trains seem to be coming through in groups so MOW can have a work window.
Norm
WHOA! What was that in the gondolas in the EB just now? Was that SMOKE, DUST, POWDER, MIST, ????? ?
It looked like maybe ash in them, but I would think that today's EPA world, ash would be required to be covered and not allowed to disburse that way.
Maybe it was snow being hauled somewhere and blowing off?
There were times when it blew all the way to the camera on the Hotel walkway and was still opaque and dense enough to be seen wisping in front of it..
Tuesday evening, and all seems to be going smoothly. Trains seem to be moving at normal speed, and there aren't a bunch of MOW folks watching. Hopefully, things are back to normal.
What is happening? It looks like some workers are burning the midnight oil! There are plenty of trucks, and a parking lot floodlight. No markings seem to be on the trucks. Anybody know if this is railroad related? And, the view is in color, too!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
Here is a photo of what is presently going on ...
Yep, the camera switched to B&W rather early today, but after they put the light stand up an EB train with a couple of bright white hopper cars went right in front of the lights and the camera switched back to color.
There have been workmen working on that short black section of rail on the north side of the third track over... I think that is where the switch to the 2nd track starts (not sure). They stand around and look at it for a long time, then they all disperse to different trucks for a while and then wander back to the track. (and repeat the whole thing!) I have seen one person sit on the ground and move like he is turning a wrench, but it must be a really long bolt, considering how many times he moved. The others just stand there and watch. I also saw what looked like sparks as if one was using a grinder on the rail.
Sometimes when they all disperse, a few minutes later a train passes, other times they just seemed to have gone on break.
Often one will drive a short ways down that lane and double-park next to another vehicle and sit there, blocking the lane... then another vehicle will arrive and wait patiently behind it for many minutes, then they will all drive away, only to come back in a few minutes and start the whole sequence all over again.
From the long-distance silent video viewpoint it sure seems like an awful lot of wasted motion and idle wandering around, getting very little accomplished.
Here is where the work was being done... in the red circle.
There have been about 6 to 8 trucks in the area. I don't think the white car in this scene is a RR vehicle, but rather one that belongs to an office worker that left it there for some reason. The headlights to the west are some of the trucks that seem to come and go at random.
Looks like things are returning to normal this afternoon. MOW is picking up some of the scrap, but trains are still under slow orders.
Your regular programming may return early this evening.
2:10 a m and they are still working on the track at that same location . I can`t really tell what they are doing The rail and ballast is blackened in that area . Looks like they might have done some thermite welding of a rail joint. A train just now passed over that section , so apparently they have the repair completed . RON
They still seem to be playing in that area I circled in my previous post. I now know that the "Black line" is actually a "Pit" under the track. I saw a man step into it. I don't know if he then stooped down or was standing erect, but his chest was at rail level.
I have seen two trains run over that spot, both ever so slowly. 1st one was very short (10 cars), and the 2nd was much longer (at least 50 cars). The engines on the 2nd train crossed the black area at what seemed to me to be under 1 MPH, but certainly picked up speed after the engines were across.
Workmen are still wandering around the area, and standing around chatting. They are all keeping their hands in their pockets like it is a bit chilly there tonight.
I noticed that the train slowed to a crawl as it passed over that section . I didn`t get to see the guy down in the pit . Maybe they are going to set up an inspection cam there to try and detect problems so this doesn`t happen again. RON
Mixed freight just went through at 3:45 with 7 motive power units leading. 130 cars. RON
I have been listening to railroad radio.net roanoke. (The link is for windows media player)
The dispatcher keeps saying he has no control of some switches and they are lock to main by utility worker. I wonder if the controls for the switches are damaged. also the signals have not changed (that I have seen) and dispatcher also says to pass signals following local rules.
And its snowing in Roanoke.
Joe
I caught quite a few pretty pics of the cam this morning. Then this computer simply froze entirely, and I lost all of them. They couldn't be undeleted, either. Grr...lost nice snow pics with different trains. It also sucks that I missed such interesting action. Did you guys get any pics of the derailment itself on either cam, or was it out of view of both cams? And to the guy who posted a camera snapshot, it looks like you've got Windows 7-the Snipping Tool is actually best to use-better picture, and no camera required.
Speaking of derailments, one happened on the B&P line out near Kittanning, PA, with several cars tipped over. I heard a later report that they were coal hoppers, and there were some partial loads which may have caused it at a switch. Last week, a coal train at the Keystone plant had 75 partial loads due to coal frozen inside, and they were right in the way of the dumper, and they could not be dumped. It was a very long night for that crew. Not surprisingly, a dog-catch crew would be needed to finish the night's work.
Remember: Computers are neither smart nor dumb;
They are just plain MEAN!
I do believe computers were invented by Murphy and were programmed by his evil twin sister (during "that" time of the month).
Rich
Those that desire, find a way..... Those that don't, find an excuse.
Been wonderin' 'bout that meself.
I saw that train pull up to the pedestrian bridge (between the two webcams) and stop, then the couple of MOW people at the switch we've been watchin' moved off to the truck and the train started up slowly. Ran about 30 cars past that point and stopped. Then all the trucks began to show up.
Oh, fine, I'll get off to increase yoru chances of seeing the video feed without it dropping so much. besides, I have to go and listen for info about a more local derailment in a little bit. Let me know what happens with this NS coal thingy!
Several workmen were gathered at the west most parked truck. About 8:15 PM CST the train started moving and about 5 minutes later they all went to different trucks and got in. Train was gone by about 8:30 and so far one truck has left. Running lights on one of the others blinked on and then off, but they are still there.
Thanks NS for giving CSX a rest.
Russell
This has certainly been an interesting cam to look at these last couple of days. Things do seem to be getting closer to "normal" but there are still a lot of NS trucks around.
I did notice something interesting at 10:35 PM EST tonight. There was a EB with half a dozen or so of the largest double side door hi-cube boxcars I have ever seen. I swear there are Fortune 500 companies with head offices with less cubic feet that those boxcars have.
j610 I noticed that the train slowed to a crawl as it passed over that section . I didn`t get to see the guy down in the pit . Maybe they are going to set up an inspection cam there to try and detect problems so this doesn`t happen again. RON
I doubt that pit is anything new. It has probably been there since steam days. It would have been a pit for car-knockers to inspect the underside of passenger cars when they came into that station. You could inspect freight cars from the side but there was so much under a passenger car like electric generators and heating/coolong systems, that you had to have a man underneath the train to check it all out. I wouldn't want to know what was in that pit after all these years.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
I was kind of figureing the pit is where the switch motor is at. Often while 2 or 3 are at the pit, someone will cross the far tracks and go to the west end of a cabinet there and disappear behind it. I think the cabinet is the control panels for all those switches there. Given the previous post here about the 'spatchers having problems with switch indications, I am guessing they still have a problem with that switch not working after the derailment earlier in the week. Must have jerked/twisted the rail enough to interfere with proper operation and they are having problems finding what got warped.
Semper Vaporo I was kind of figureing the pit is where the switch motor is at. Often while 2 or 3 are at the pit, someone will cross the far tracks and go to the west end of a cabinet there and disappear behind it.
I was kind of figureing the pit is where the switch motor is at. Often while 2 or 3 are at the pit, someone will cross the far tracks and go to the west end of a cabinet there and disappear behind it.
I think you've got it. I yield the field.
P.S. I keep forgetting about all these new fangled electric devices!
Saw some more of those EPIC cars and decided to see if I could find info on the web about them... The only thing I found that makes any kind of sense in regard to the cars we are seeing is this:
Environmental Protection & Improvement Co. Inc. (EPIC) offers inter-modal rail transportation of non-hazardous waste. The company was founded in 1990 and is based in Denville, New Jersey. As of 06/15/2000, Environmental Protection & Improvement Co. Inc. is a subsidiary of Synagro Technologies Inc.
So I searched for Synagro Technologies Inc and found this site:
http://www.synagro.com/services/rail.html
Yep, that's the containers in the photo on that page!
I think you are correct about the switch mechanism being in there . Makes more sense than what i came up with .Finally glad to know what those epic cars are . Thanks. RON
I was told the epic cars are trash cars/containers.
If you model railroad Atlas is coming out with the containers and the flat car.
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