Trackside Lounge: 1Q 2010 Edition

[CShaveRR]

Plate F is essentially a clearance diagram. You saw a tall car, probably a box or an auto rack.

Cars with no clearance markings are generally Plate B. They can travel anywhere on American Railroads. Plate C is only slightly taller, and has a few differences toward the bottom; you'll see lots of Plate C cars around. Plate D has little to do with standard clearances--it simply shows that longer cars have to be narrower, to clear curves. Plate E has more height added, and Plate F still more, if I remember correctly. Plate G is the diagram for loaded double-stack cars, the excess-height auto racks (TTQX and a few others--becoming rare again).

If you saw a coal car with clearance markings on it, it's a quick-discharge hopper--when the contact shoe is out, it's wider than any clearance diagram. Normally, with that shoe where it belongs, the car would be a Plate B or Place C car.

I'm sure somebody can explain all of this more accurately and concisely.

[The Butler]

Hi, Carl, since you seem to be a freight car guru , what is meant by the term, "Plate F?"

[CShaveRR]

I am not sure what the layout of the yard at West Colton is, but those retarders in the foreground are not for slowing cars down during classification (you're right about the group retarders behind the EC-4, Paul--I'm more familiar with those). If the tracks in the foreground are part of the receiving yard, these retarders might be to hold cars in after they've been bled...saves the problem of applying--and neglecting to release--hand brakes. ut then, why not on every track?

I eagerly await a more authoritative answer.

I thought the yard at West Colton employed tangent-point retarders in each of the classification tracks (as well as the group retarders), so that cars could move down the leads more quickly and still be at the proper speed when they rolled into their track (that would increase humping capacity). However, I don't see anything that looks like that here. Another good idea with bad side effects?

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Carl - and others -

If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at the assemblage of retarders in Charles Freericks'/ Erie Lackawanna photo of the UP's hump power lash-up at West Colton yard - it's the 3rd one in his thread captioned as Some So Cal Railroading at - http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/167811.aspx  The unusual ones are all in a line in the foreground track just in front of the locos, and there appear to be some more typical 'group' retarders behind the EC-4 track inspection car in the background.  The hump power is noteworthy too, as he points out.

- Paul North.

[CShaveRR]

Not much railroading to report in yet today (I get to go to Elmhurst in an hour), so I thought I'd give you the latest words of wisdom from my eldest grandchild, Katelyn (5):

We were at a restaurant for lunch yesterday with daughter and grandchildren. Grandson Nico (19 months) was getting antsy after having eaten, so Pat took him for a walk around the place. Ellen took Emily (3) to the bathroom, leaving Katelyn alone with me.

"It's just you and me," she said. Then she added, "It will be just you when I go potty."

[CNW 6000]

Send one of those up to Green Bay via CN Carl, would ya?  LOL...sigh...

[CShaveRR]

UP 1995 (the CNW heritage unit) is probably close to Wallula by now. Meanwhile, we're getting another rare visitor from the same area. UP 1996, the SP Heritage unit, is on a train bound for Global 2 (Proviso, basically) from Seattle. Should arrive tomorrow afternoon. I can't tell whether it's leading, because I can't access the info from here--by the time I get back to work it will probably be headed elsewhere.

[zardoz]

Willy2

CShaveRR

Interesting weather we've been having, reportedly thanks to El Nino sending those storms at the Pacific Coast.

 

Willy, you can post your comments here without fear of persecution!

Thanks Carl! I appreciate it. Although, I have a feeling that the kitty is lurking, waiting to punish me, no matter where I go!

It's not just kitties that are lurking, waiting to pounce....

[zardoz]

CShaveRR

Willy, check out what Jim (Zardoz) said about cats in the thread about the poor running dog. I'd rather think of the kitty as sticking out her tongue at you from a safe--and warm!--distance!

(And welcome back, Jim! Let's hope that the events that precipitated your absence don't repeat themselves--or need to.)

Thank you very much, Carl.  I was quite surprised at the number of forum members that sent me messages regarding my departure.  Many thanks to you all. 

I hope I can be as successful in my return as Bret Favre was (?) in his.

T

[Modelcar]

Add my best wishes for those who have been thru some health issues lately and now back.

[CShaveRR]

Noah, thanks for that link. There's another thread here wondering what's happened to railroad snow plows--seeing something like this in action would answer all of his questions.

Dan, I wish I had your luck! I missed the first two of this week's three perishable trains, both of which came through today (within twelve hours of each other). One sneaked behind me while I was at work, and the other went past while I was at a church function.

[Noah Hofrichter]

The following link was posted to a yahoo group I'm on, and I thought some of the folks in the lounge might be as interested in it as I was. I don't recall seeing it posted around here before anyway. The UP has apparently recently rebuilt and modernized, from the frame up, some former SP Jordan Spreaders, presumable for use in Donner Pass. Apparently the UP is having a documentary produced on the whole processes, and a preview video is availible online:

http://www.vimeo.com/8586713

Kinda neat, since it's rare you see a full documentary style video done on such a railroad project. Plus I've always been interested in railroad snow fighting operations. The preview video works too - it makes me want to see/buy the whole thing!

While I haven't posted here much lately, I have been reading the posts when I can. School and family events seem to keep me busy most of the time (this college thing is a lot of work!). I'm glad to hear the several of the lounge's regular patrons are returning to full health again however.

Noah

[CNW 6000]

Went out trackside today.  Caught another potash movement (B786).  Unfortunately by the time light was poor for photography, CN decided to bless me with 2 SB movements followed by 2 NB movements.  Trains seem to be getting longer both directions, and there are definately more loads going both ways.

[CShaveRR]

Willy, check out what Jim (Zardoz) said about cats in the thread about the poor running dog. I'd rather think of the kitty as sticking out her tongue at you from a safe--and warm!--distance!

(And welcome back, Jim! Let's hope that the events that precipitated your absence don't repeat themselves--or need to.)

[Willy2]

CShaveRR

Interesting weather we've been having, reportedly thanks to El Nino sending those storms at the Pacific Coast.

 

Willy, you can post your comments here without fear of persecution!

Thanks Carl! I appreciate it. Although, I have a feeling that the kitty is lurking, waiting to punish me, no matter where I go!

[CShaveRR]

Good for you, Johnny! I live in fear of eventual GI work being necessary (mostly the G), so I hope your "new way of life" becomes comfortable if it's to last.

As for this recent episode of mine, I have to visit a Nurse Practitioner on February 2, then I'm clear until my regular cardiologist appointment, sometime in March. I wonder whether I can be done with those for now.

Got more good news from work today: I haven't made too many close friendships among my fellow CROs, but the CRO that's probably my closest friend is getting married in August! She doesn't know whether she can get some vacation time then, but I'm winding up my vacation about when she'd be wanting to start hers. So I can't trade her--but we ought to be able to go to her wedding!

[Deggesty]

CShaveRR

My return to work had little fanfare, but was a success, as far as I'm concerned. And we got good news today. All of the Chicago Service Unit yard employees who had been furloughed have been recalled. Can't tell whether they'll all be back, but they probably have to go through some class time (both rules and RCO) before they're actually back on the job. No permanent jobs reinstated yet, but they might be by the time these folks are ready again.

Carl, that's good news, both of your health, and of the recall. The UP seems to be taking steps to be prepared for an increase in traffic and not have to overstretch the qualified workforce when the increase does come.

I feel better today, after a night at home. It's easier to get out the bed here than it was in the hospital. A home care nurse is coming this afternoon to give me instruction in managing my new way of life, and there will be more visits (I do not know for how long).

I hope to catch up on all my email in two or three days.

Johnny

[Mookie]

CShaveRR

Willy, you can post your comments here without fear of persecution!

wanna bet?

[switch7frg]

Carl; thank you for your insight to my question. I have never worked in railroading, but just watching switching operations on the Pennsy yard in east Dayton Ohio 60+ yrs. past. For a few yrs. we lived in Kingston Ohio whare I saw more than a few N&W coal drags  up from Portsmouth with over 100 hoppers . There was no problem with the making that train. That is why I was curious  about the Dallas monster. This old hide did not mean " paper shufflers " as a snide remark . There was no computers back then. Just wondering if all the cars in the yard  was going to the long train.  The east Dayton yard  Lead  to switch8 with the creak and pop frog is how I got screen name. Respectfully , Cannonball  P.S. <how I got the nickname is another storyLOL

[CShaveRR]

Interesting weather we've been having, reportedly thanks to El Nino sending those storms at the Pacific Coast.

Willy, you can post your comments here without fear of persecution!

[CShaveRR]

Is there more business expected from up north? We sent MPRSS out today with ten units (three or four were -38s, though). Only three were under load.

[CShaveRR]

Well, it was built in Dallas, but I doubt that any humpers had anything to do with it. They probably just placed locomotives on the ends of several intermodal loading tracks, and tied the strings of cars together. I don't know anything about Dallas, having never been there, but I hope they had a 3.5-mile stretch of track without grade crossings when they conducted the brake test! I suspect that said brake test didn't take much longer than it would on an ordinary train, once the set and release were observed on all of the cars.

Paper shuffling? Not so much. You'd just be entering the data for 295 intermodal wells with one, two, or three boxes apiece in them. I doubt that it would be more than is usually done during the day, but it all pertained to just one train instead.

But Cannonball, I don't work with intermodal, and I never was a paper shuffler. Computers just put the paper in different places, taking it out of the hands of clerks. If my assessment of either of these situations is in error, I hope that somebody armed with facts will enlighten us all.

[switch7frg]

Carl;  the18000ft. train has caused much intrest. The web and newsprint has said much about its' travels. However , nothing was said about the " put together" . Do you have an idea how many humpers was needed and the hours to do this feat ??  Oh and dont' forget the (paper shufflers) headaches. 

                                                Respectfully, Cannonball

[CShaveRR]

They put a night hump on again last night. The regular second-shift conductor has been covering this, as well as working his days off. He should run up against the new rest-day regulations soon. In fact, they'll probably use my relief to run the hump again this afternoon (not sure how many agree with me, but she's the best they've got!)

Happy overtime, Dan!

[CNW 6000]

It's never good to get a phone call at 3 AM...one of my staff (opener) is in the hospital so I get to go in for an extra shift today.  Once again...Aedan gets more sleep than his dad does.  The only positive is it's OT for me as I hit 40 hours yesterday at 2 PM.  Hi ho....

[rvos1979]

Hey all....

Heard about the crossing incident on the Chicago traffic report today, Carl, as I was checking weather for the weekend, should either be screaming through downtown chicago, or running past the hump on 294 sometime tomorrow, on my way to our Richfield, WI, facility.

One of these years I need to make a vacation trip to the Roanoke area and into West Virginia, went past the NS Roanoke shops Thursday as a stack train was headed north, had to pay more attention to the road, though, as I was in the middle of an ice storm, with a heavy beer load.

When I was younger, I used to love sitting by the WC mainline at night, listening to the big V20-645Es in full song near Burlington.  I really miss that sound..... 

[CShaveRR]

It looks like potash is moving again, based on the last two CN trains you caught (CN used to hand that off to us at Itasca before they got the WC). Nice luck, Dan, and nice job documenting it.

Well, the potential is there for bringing jobs back. We humped everything that was in the receiving yard when we got there, as well as some trains that arrived later--and left the receiving yard with twice as many cars as we found in it! They might have to run the hump again tonight.

And I found out what caused the perishable train with UP 1995 to sit behind our yard for a couple of hours yesterday noon:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/comments/?id=352741 The grade crossing involved (a very busy one, particularly when you're trying to cross the street on a bike!) will be closed for gate repair until Monday.

[CNW 6000]

Trip report: 1.21.10

Started by getting a reliable tip that a loaded coal train with BNSF power was heading my way.  After packing up my son and finding batteries for the camera we managed to get ahead of the train just north of Oshkosh, WI at the Sherman Rd. crossing (MP 180.41).  Power was SD70MAC and an ES44AC.  Hogger put on quite a horn show!

I saw (via binocs) that this train had to take the siding at South Dixie...and that I could possibly catch a few meets so I was all set to scoot north to see what was coming down the main...then lo and behold...a DPU!  A very shiny SD70ACe.  Note to self: wait for the whole train to pass before packing up camera!

After jumping back in the truck I scooted north 2 crossings just in time to see the DPU head into the siding.  Seeing nothing heading SB (and dark approach-lit signals; Thanks CN!) I gamboled and decided to jump to North Dixie (south end of Neenah Yard.  When I got there the power was just rolling up to Kampo Rd. (near the Breezewood exit of US41) and the crew got out to stretch and inspect some soon-to-arrive trains.  Nice folks to chat with.  We didn't have to wait long.  CN 5727 (SD75I) came rolling by within about 20 minutes.  3 other engines online in the consist including another SD75I, one C44-9W, and one ES44DC.

About 30 minutes after that...here comes another one!  CN 5721 (SD75I) came south with two other engines in the consist including another BCOL C40-8M and a C44-9W.

The coal train then got clearance to head to the north end of the Neenah Controlled Siding where they could expect a light to head north "shortly".  I took that to mean no more meets...so I hopped back in the truck and proceeded to backtrack the way I came.  Nearing the crossing at South Dixie I looked right and yep, you guessed it...another train.  Due to my fumble fingers I pressed the power button instead of the shutter!  I was able to get one shot of the train (a potash extra) that's closer than I normally like.  It was led by CN 2564 (C44-9W) and had another -9W and an SD75I in the consist.  There's something neat about unit trains I think...

Not bad for about two hours worth of fun and another unplanned trip.  Hopefully the weather cooperates Sunday and I can go again.  3x in one week is the most I've done since Aedan was born!

[CShaveRR]

More good news--today we switched out a block of coil steel cars that had been in "surplus storage". They're going to destinations that are capable of loading them.

UP's net income and revenue may have fallen for 2009, but the stock went up smartly today, presumably after folks heard the report.

Those were the highlights of the day for me. Work itself wasn't exactly a highlight.

[tree68]

AgentKid

It is like moving without having to fill out change of address cards.

Or remembering where the bathroom is in the middle of the night, with the lights off....