Trackside Lounge: 3Q 2010

[CShaveRR]

Bruce, I have to tell you...back in my days in the composing room of a small-town daily newspaper in the Dutch Midwest, there was an AP article about the Calgary Stampede. Each article was set on the Linotype, a proof made, and read by the proofreader or one of the interns (usually). When the proofs were read, new linotype lines had to be made and inserted into the article--inserting them was one of my favorite jobs. Anyway, this article came along, and I saw the corrections. Nancy (the cute intern in everyone else's mind--too old for me!) had changed all references about Calgary to "Calvary"! I called Nancy to the proofreaders' window and had her bring the atlas. She was sweet enough about it, and I didn't make those changes.

________________

It looked like we were in line for some weather last night, but our Lake Defense was holding it back. Lake Michigan is a wonderful weather-modifier around here. By the time we got anything--very late in the night--it only was about a tenth of an inch of rain. But places well to our west--Rochelle and DeKalb, for instance--got clobbered.

________________

The hi-wide loads I'd been checking on are carefully descending Cajon Pass about now.

[AgentKid]

I had way too much weather excitement here yesterday. Not long after I had made my last post here yesterday, I was in another part of my apartment(Ahem) and I could hear banging on the outside wall of the building. It was hail. I figured lightning would be next, so I went over to the computer, in the living room, to shut it down and all of a sudden hail started hitting the window harder than I have ever heard it in the twenty years I have lived here. I chickened out and left the computer running, and ran and hid behind some counters in the kitchen. After a couple of minutes the hail stopped and I shut the computer down.

I then had to leave, and on my way back home about supper time, I went to the Safeway up the street. The clerk was telling me that cars in the area parked away from buildings and out from under tree's had their windows broken. I saw on the news that house's in other areas of the city had their windows broken, but I haven't heard of any damage to our building. The news was talking about quarter sized hail, but I don't know about that. What astonished me, besides the noise, was how fast the hailstones were traveling. As I turned to run to the kitchen, I could see hailstones hitting my brick window sill on the second story here, and bouncing way out across the parking lot.

Before all this started yesterday it was about 70 degrees F, and when I turned on the computer now, the little weather box said it only about 48 F. And this is the week of the Calgary Stampede. Folks won't be happy down there. Now I have to go catch up on about 22 hours of e-mail.

Bruce

 

[CShaveRR]

Bob, there's another thread about these "bad" railroad crossings. I've often thought, "Where's a cop when you need one?" when I've seen some goofy stuff at these crossings, but for them a grade crossing is probably just another stretch of road (and idiot drivers don't confine themselves to grade crossings). There are lots of street/highway intersections that have far worse records than any of the grade crossings on the map, but where's the outrage there?

Chris, the scale shows us both things that we don't really want to see, too. We, unfortunately, don't make time for exercise in our schedules--if we were to bike this morning, we'd want a destination in mind, and a purpose (train-watching might work for me, but I couldn't be assured of a biking companion all the time!). Anyway, we both slept pretty well last night, and I, at least, am not suffering any bad consequences.

In railroad news, this gives a whole new definition to "smudge pot":

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=52477

[CopCarSS]

One of these days we'll make it back that way, Carl. Unfortunately her schedule has her tied down pretty thoroughly, so she doesn't have much of a chance to venture out of her neck of the woods right now. That just means that I get to travel east and spend time exploring new parts of the world and filling in some of the huge expanses of white on my Counties Visited Map.

Congrats to you and Pat on your bike adventure! Sadly, I have yet to get either of my bikes out and tuned up this year. This week is kind of booked solid at the moment, but hopefully next week I can actually get them out, fix them up and start riding again. The scale tells me that would be a really good idea for me.

[CShaveRR]

Bruce, times that things "slow down a bit" never seem to happen with these guys--they can't get through a train without problems, so having a break with cars still on the hump lead is a lot like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

_________________

Chris, good to see you here! Larry ("Tree") ought to be able to point out an Alco or two in his neck of the woods in New York. It would be nice if you had Sue with you when observing the finer points of locomotive construction and the differences between builders. And, speaking of that, I hope you bring her back this way sometime!

_________________

For those of you who know her, and those who don't, my wife is HOT!. The bike trip we took to Wheaton and back is the longest she's made in a long time. We mailed some important papers, did some important banking, and met a new friend at the bookstore in Glen Ellyn. Also had lunch trackside in Glen Ellyn. The neat thing though, was that in three hours of errand-running we bagged quite a few trains. The three-hour contingent (5) of scoots--last hour was the one without the inbound--five inbound manifests, one outbound manifest, stack trains in each direction, and a westbound train of empty ethanol tanks. One train (I won't be specific here) was made up mostly of flats with 20-foot containers placarded for explosives. Despite what Lionel used to show us, they don't have big targets painted on them!

The most spectacular sight of the day (in Pat's opinion it was the second-most spectacular, behind the scoop of chocolate ice cream she had in Wheaton) was looking to the east while crossing the tracks after lunch in Glen Ellyn. Three tracks, three headlights! Until you stopped to analyze it, anyway. On the north track was the rear light on the DPU of the eastbound manifest we had just had to wait for. The center track had another eastbound manifest, sitting at the staging area at Finley Road in Lombard, and we were seeing its DPU as well (that's nearly two miles' worth of train, where he was!). On the south track, however, were the westbound ethanol tanks, coming at us--we got across just in time!

Mornings are a great time for bike trips like this. Wait until after 9:00, if possible, unless you're interested in seeing a lot of scoots. But it's also cooler in the morning, and by the time we got home from all of our errands it was pretty warm out, in the low 80s. Of course, from Wheaton through Glen Ellyn and well toward Lombard, the Illinois Prairie Path (on the former Chicago, Aurora & Elgin right-of-way) is reasonably adjacent to the tracks.

[AgentKid]

CShaveRR

some of these guys hear what you say, but they sure don't listen to it

 

I found this when I was working as an accountant as well. I think it is the difference between knowing how to do a job and understanding why you do a job.

I realized early on that I could get all rev'ed up about it, but I think I found a better way to deal with it.. When things would slow down a bit, I would get them away to a quiet location and tell them anecdotes about why certain things got done in a certain way. I would use simple examples and then sort of lead them to the big problem that had just happened. If you could get the light bulb to just flicker it would get brighter later.

My father was a great story teller and I think that style worked well for me over the years.

Bruce

 

[CopCarSS]

Good Morning Gang,

Been awhile since I popped in here, so I thought I'd stop and say "Hi!"

I got out on Saturday and did a bit of railfanning. I even managed to bring out the film cameras. Since we've had a wet spring and early summer, it's actually on the greenish side around here. I decided that using some of my remaining Kodachrome could be invested in catching the "greens of summer."

Most of my remaining stash has been earmarked for other activities. I'm attending a yarn festival along the Hudson in October with my girlfriend, and so some of the Kodachrome will definitely be used for my first NE autumn. Additionally, one roll will be saved for the g/f herself. She's a redhead, and despite what Paul Simon said, Kodachrome is all about reds not greens.

I'd also like to use some of it in a vintage camera chasing ALCos. The original plan had been to shoot the A&M, but with trips to NYS in August and October, I don't think that'll be possible now. I did see that there are a lot of ALCos in NYS, though (see my other seperate post), so I'm hoping I can catch some of them. I really need to find an Argus C3 or a Kodak Retina or something along those lines soon, though!

Hope you all have a great week!

[spokyone]

 In this morning's Tribune, Jon Hilkevitch wrote a column about rail crossings around Chicago that have had multiple car-train accidents. He writes,about the Nagle/Norwest and Avondale crossing.

In only the first three minutes that your Getting Around reporter was on the scene Friday, vehicles were observed stopped on the tracks waiting for a red traffic signal ahead to change. The situation repeated a half-dozen times in an hour, occurring under a bent, rusty sign posted over the crossing that warns, "Do not stop on tracks.

Do the police ever stake out those dangerous crossings, or would their presence create more traffic jams?

Just wondering.

[CShaveRR]

Today was the perfect example of something I won't be missing after I retire...had to deal with two hump conductors for double the stupidity. I swear, some of these guys hear what you say, but they sure don't listen to it.

The big hi-wide loads are on the move again, toward California.

And I have a lawn that's long overdue for mowing. Weather hasn't been very cooperative, but right now is about the best I'll see for a while.

[AgentKid]

CNW 6000

My guess is it has something to do with mileage from a home terminal

 

Dan, I believe you got it. I got out my 1964 Alberta Division ETT and added things up. Irricana was 46.8 miles from Calgary and Beiseker was 52.1. So right in between you have that nice round 50.0 number.

What Jeff said got me thinking about terminals, division points, crew change points and home terminals. 1964 was the last full year that mixed trains roamed the grain branches of Alberta. That was a different world and definitely a different way to run a railway. And yet you would get fairly senior men on those jobs because they liked the regular work schedule and the same days off each week. I will give you an example

On Monday morning Mixed Train 712 left Calgary on the mainline for 10.2 miles before passing a Division Point at Shepard, left the mainline and went 10.4 miles to the next D.P. at Langdon, and on to Irricana. It continued up to East Coulee for a total of 114.9 miles of work that day. On Tuesday Mixed 714 left East Coulee, passed a D.P. at Rosemary and continued on to Bassano, back on the mainline, for a total of 70.9 miles. This looked like the shortest day of the crew's week but they had to switch a coal mine at East Coulee before they could hit the road. Wednesday they made a round trip from Bassano to Rainier, Mixed 716 & 715, traveling on the mainline to another D.P. at Cassils 24.1 miles east of Bassano, taking the Cassils Sub. to Rainier for a total of 94.6 miles.

Thursday Mixed 713 left Bassano up the Irricana Sub. to Irricana and then from there back to Calgary and home, for a total of 119.3 miles. Four days on the road, and with the exception of Drunheller (Monday) and Bassano with about a 1000 people each, they didn't go through another town of more than about 250 people.

Amazingly, with only a couple of several month breaks, the same man was conductor for the whole eight years we were at Irricana. It seemed the trainmen would stay on for several years at a time, with two of them working as conductors on this job as relief in later years. The engineers would rotate in and out for several months at a time. Only the firemen seemed to change regularly as they earned enough seniority to become engineers. One of those trainmen who became conductors would ask after my brother and me every time he saw my Dad until both of them retired in the mid-eighties.

In the 21st Century with the obvious exception of the two short mainline segments I mentioned, and a 36.5 mile portion of the Irricana Sub. from Bassano to Standard, every foot of CPR track that four day odyssey traveled is gone. And the Atlas Coal Mine at East Coulee is now a major tourist attraction.

It truly was another time.

Bruce

 

[rvos1979]

Carl, I have a slightly different mileage scale than you, but I figure I am either coming up on, or have passed, 400,000 miles driving truck.  Another four to five years, and I can join the "million mile club".

Was at MillerCoors in Trenton, OH, last night, saw some taggers had a ball with a CSX plug-door box, sadly, no camera in truck this trip.  Today, caught the back half of a southbound stack train headed for Cincy at Eaton, OH, then a few CSX jobs at Danville, IL.

Well, Uncle Milty is on the radio right now, so time to sit back and enjoy the comedy....... 

[CShaveRR]

Jeff, Having met your wife, I don't think I'd want to argue with her, either! And she definitely had a good idea!

It was a little hot to keep my wife outside watching trains, so we stayed inside the cool restaurant for a while. Interesting sight outside our window: a state legislator (whom I may not vote for ever again) drove up in his black Lincoln (license plate had his initials--no numerals), parked in a no-parking spot (yellow curb, street intersection, fire hydrant, all of the above), sat for several minutes there, then, when the scoot arrived, pulled out and blocked the parking-lot lane while waiting for his daughter to get off the train and walk to the car. The process took long enough that we could walk to our own car from the restaurant, get in, and still not be able to use that lane through the parking area as our turnaround!

Other than that little show, we saw some other scoots, an eastbound stack train holding the center track with high greens through town (DPU--two fore and two aft), and a westbound WEPX hopper train which had its DPU really leaning into it by the time it passed us. Spectacular!

[CNW 6000]

jeffhergert

PS.  I was going to write something else, but the wife wants to go see a train.  Gotta go, never argue with the wife.          

'scuse me Jeff...could you have your wife talk to my wife and tell her to do that once in a while?  LOL!

[jeffhergert]

How much extra pay was involved?  Since they were running thru a division point, it could be a penalty payment for doing it.  At Boone, we can change out anywhere within the Boone Switching limits.  If engineers go outside of those limits, which occurs every so often, it's a claim for an 8hr penalty pay.  It's one of those things that may not be paid right away, but eventually does get paid.

The conductors signed an agreement that allows them to go 25 miles out from the crew change point to get trains.  They get 4 extra hours pay, no matter how long it takes.

Either one is only good when you are ordered to do so by the dispatcher.  If you do it on your own, which happens once in a while, there is no claim.  (To be nice, sometimes we'll offer to go a couple miles east of town to get a crew off.  Usually it depends who the inbound crew is.  If one of the crewmembers have in the past refused to come get us off, they're going to sit until they make it in, unless ordered to go get them.) 

Jeff

PS.  I was going to write something else, but the wife wants to go see a train.  Gotta go, never argue with the wife.          

[CNW 6000]

Bruce,
My guess is it has something to do with mileage from a home terminal or something going back to the days of steam.  But that's just me.

Back from a written test a couple of hours ago.  Went pretty well...got "field trips" planned for at least two days this week, then maybe one more, then maybe a phone call...we'll see...

[CShaveRR]

Interesting tale, Bruce--and I have no clue.

Brian, I suspect that the first train will be too early for you tomorrow. It should be bearing down on Camp Willy about now. If things change by morning, I'll leave you a text early enough.

And, as for you, Dan, best of luck! I'm sure you'll keep us informed.

Like most modern roller bearings, Dan, "no field lubrication" needed here. One of my former co-workers once said (in his best W. C. Fields voice), "Carl, you're so slick I don't know how you stay on the chair!"

Had to tell Spokyone to get those strange plants out of the Diner--some people there won't appreciate them!

I'll have a special companion with me on my railfanning and shopping trip this evening, and she and I will dine at Two Brothers in Elmhurst.

[AgentKid]

CShaveRR

We have an archaic payment system of "miles", which seem to be documented more closely than days (or hours) worked, etc., for vacation eligibility. For what it's worth, today was the day that I passed one million lifetime miles.

 

Congratulations on the million mile mark.

That mile calculation system is both archaic and arcane. In Irricana there was a situation my Dad never could figure out, but he never asked anybody because he didn't want to look like he was causing anybody any trouble.

Irricana was a "Division Point" because it was the junction of the Langdon and Irricana Sub's. (mostly abandoned in the early seventies) This meant that the train crew received the equivalent of twenty minutes worth of miles the moment they arrived. Depending on the line up of the consist and how much they had to shuffle things around before they could spot cars at the elevator's, they got more miles if it took more than twenty minutes. If no switching was needed they still got the twenty minutes, and the train stood there. The crew and my Dad just had a nice chat.

Being a branch line, the NB trains arrived any time between 11:30 and 2:00 depending on how long it took them to get out of the yard in Calgary and how much switching they had to do before they got to Irricana. But here is where it got strange. It apparently was to the crew's advantage to leave Irricana and go 5 miles further to Beiseker to take beans, and earn even more miles. Dad never could figure out how being stopped in Irricana or Beiseker should make a difference.

Except for Irricana's Division Point status, both towns had two elevators, one back track and a manned station. And from the local residents we knew that one town had no advantage over the other from a culinary standpoint. This secret bit of knowledge seemed to be passed down from crew to crew as it never changed the whole time we were there. Very peculiar, and the reason probably lost to the annals of history.

Bruce

 

[blhanel]

 Ditto what Dan said- also, let me know if that perishable will be hitting CR during daylight hours this weekend.  I actually have some free time to get trackside for pictures.

//will be scrutinizing all posts by Dan, trying to figure out what he's up to...

[CNW 6000]

CShaveRR

We have an archaic payment system of "miles", which seem to be documented more closely than days (or hours) worked, etc., for vacation eligibility. For what it's worth, today was the day that I passed one million lifetime miles.

Pretty neat Carl.  That leads me to a couple of thoughts.
1) Congratulations.  Best wishes for the future and your impending "moment".
2) I think you're due for an oil change.

In the near future I may get the opportunity to start keeping track of my "mileage" starting at 1, I will know more by the next two weeks.

[CShaveRR]

Paul, I've read that one, but haven't thought about it in years. I know I have it down in the dungeon somewhere.

I posted that paragraph on my Facebook page, and my son-in-law asked if he could have some of my "frequent-fantasy miles"!

I'm hoping that the perishable train I'm "chasing" has made it to North Platte (or at least to Nebraska!) by this morning.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Carl, that reminds me very much of the short story, "A Little Action", by Harold Titus - which looked a a day in the life of a dispatcher. If you're not familiar with it, it appears in several anthologies - I'm sure you could find one in your area, as Titus was from Traverse City, Michigan, I believe. If you have no luck, PM me and we'll figure something out.

- Paul North.

[CShaveRR]

Deggesty

Say, Carl, how many miles do you travel in a day in your tower?

The railroad thinks I only travel 160 miles on a standard day, but my imagination travels to many places across the country. I was looking at a bunch of flat cars in North Platte, chasing down a perishable train headed my way between Ogden and Green River, riding with loads of tractors going to the east coast for export, and unloading sulfur tank cars in Virginia, effecting an interchange between the Paducah & Louisville and the Indiana Harbor Belt (don't ask how that happened!), and a few dozen other scenarios.

[Deggesty]

CShaveRR

We have an archaic payment system of "miles", which seem to be documented more closely than days (or hours) worked, etc., for vacation eligibility. For what it's worth, today was the day that I passed one million lifetime miles.

Say, Carl, how many miles do you travel in a day in your tower?

[CShaveRR]

I didn't see any embargo victims today, so things might already be improving down that way, or projected to improve.

Jeff, "your" tanks and "my" monstrosities were at North Platte this morning, awaiting further clearance. They'll depart westward on separate trains, as the tanks are going to Idaho somewhere.

Got some good advice from a guy who went through my tribulations last year; things are looking a little better.

We have an archaic payment system of "miles", which seem to be documented more closely than days (or hours) worked, etc., for vacation eligibility. For what it's worth, today was the day that I passed one million lifetime miles.

[Willy2]

CShaveRR

One thing we're seeing over the past couple of days is embargoed traffic with Mexico destinations. With the Rio Grande at historic flood levels, not much can get across the border. I guess a second tropical storm (Bonnie?) has hit Mexico after Alex dealt Texas and Mexico a good blow.

"Tropical Depression Two" never reached tropical storm strength, so the name Bonnie is still out there, waiting for the next tropical storm. If this hurricane season lives up to expectations, the wait shouldn't be long.

[CNW 6000]

One of IC's SW7RMs got loose and was found in Neenah, WI today by yours truly. 

Finally had a camera and time trackside.  CN cooperated and sent 5 trains my way in just over an hour.  Not too bad!  Most of the rest of the shots are engine roster type shots...so I won't bother to post them, but the switcher was different.  I wonder where it's going.

[CShaveRR]

Those Army vehicles must have been cleared in a hurry--I never got to see them. Thanks for the update, Jeff! (Our lawn needs it, too--hope tomorrow's a better day for that.)

One thing we're seeing over the past couple of days is embargoed traffic with Mexico destinations. With the Rio Grande at historic flood levels, not much can get across the border. I guess a second tropical storm (Bonnie?) has hit Mexico after Alex dealt Texas and Mexico a good blow.

[jeffhergert]

CShaveRR

 

Perhaps the biggest thrill was humping (halfway-humping, anyway, so power could handle them) a block of nine cars--five RBLs for spacers, and four depressed-center cars, each with at least ten axles and weighing at least 280 tons. The loads were huge engine/generator sets--probably slightly wider than the 10'8" clearance gauge and at least as tall as an auto rack, each shrink-wrapped in white opaque plastic. Once the Clearance Bureau okays them, they will head west out of here to San Diego. The UP will handle them as far as Barstow.

 

Carl, I saw your loads today going west.  I was off duty and we went over to Boone to get some groceries.  The train was stopped at the yard office for the crew change.

It wasn't the loads or the depressed center flats that first caught my attention.  It was the two flats (there were more, but I couldn't see them at the time) loaded with Abrams tanks right ahead of them that I saw first.  Then I saw the shrink-wrapped loads.

When we came out, it was still there and left town at the same time we did.  I didn't waste any time getting home, but didn't break any traffic laws.  With the new high bridge, it doesn't (usually) take very long for the westbounds to get to Ogden. 

We pulled up to the First Street crossing just as the gates came down.  Watched a local guy go around the gates before the train came.  When it went by it had four cars of Army vehicles, one armored recovery vehicle and seven tanks, then the nine car block.  Something you don't see every day.  Then we went home and I mowed the lawn.

Jeff        

[CShaveRR]

Quiet days since we got home...

The four hi-wide loads snuck out of town last night; should be in North Platte tonight, en route to Barstow and beyond (eventually).

Returned to work yesterday with one hump lead totally re-profiled. It looks good. Two of the once-missing tracks had been restored to service this morning--one got used by us, and is reported to roll very well.

Some more paperwork has arrived. We have stuff to think about.

Was surprised yesterday by a text message from my daughter's cell phone. She doesn't usually text me, and the message was unbelievably short: ".?" I called her and asked, but she hadn't sent the message. Apparently my two-year-old-grandson has a sometimes-accessible toy with buttons to push (his favorite thing!). It's amazing that the message wasn't total gibberish. And, considering what I go through to send a text message on my own phone, how he could write, close, and send me the message is totally unfathomable!

[CShaveRR]

We made it home safely today (no more deer). No trains, either--until we got back to some local business, at which time we caught a scoot and two freights in about 15 minutes. Back to work tomorrow.