http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/180507.aspx?PageIndex=18Link back to the last edition (4Q 2010).
A New Year means time for a new thread. Hope it's safe and fun for everyone!
Dan
CNW 6000A New Year means time for a new thread. Hope it's safe and fun for everyone!
The new year, and the new thread, both, Dan! Thanks, and the same to you!
Brutal outside here, with strong wind and falling temperatures. I'll probably stay inside (not much would be running, anyway, I'd guess).
WMNB4THRTL, glad you came into the old Lounge, just before it closed out...hope you find your way here, too. Welcome, and be sure to share your railroading and travel experiences with us!
A happy 2011 to all who visit here--please come often, and make this thread interesting and useful!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Hi,
Here I am. Thanks again for the invite! I'm happy to share, yet eager to learn from everyone else, too.
In the 'travel dept,' this may sound obvious, but if any railfans have yet to travel on Amtrak, what are you waiting for? I took a round-trip recently between the northeast and the midwest. It was amazing how much I saw, train-wise!! You can also find passionate railfans among their crew members, so ask around a bit. I did and learned a lot!!
Happy New Year everyone! May it bring health, wealth, and happiness to each one of us! Be safe.
Nance-CCABW/LEI
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” --Will Rogers
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right! --unknown
Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve. I could hear some sirens outside my building early in the evening yesterday, but I can find no mention of what may have been going on in the news yet.
Not that I had a lot to do around the apartment, but productivity has really dropped as a result of the Space TV network running a Star Trek movie marathon. It started sometime yesterday morning and runs until 5 AM MST tomorrow morning.. I haven't seen those movies in years, and they are sucking me in like some kind of black hole.
I also realized this morning that I don't have a single 2011 calendar yet, so I am going to have to break away from the TV and go out and find a couple this afternoon. Fortunately the weather has gotten a grip on itself and warmed up somewhat, almost +10 F. and no wind.
Star Trek movie marathons don't come around that often, so I guess I will get back to it.
Happy New Year.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Those movies are sure fun to watch Bruce. What do you think of the newest "prequel" of Star Trek?
It's been shockingly cold the last day or so. I say that because we went from temps in the upper 40s to temps in the single digits and wind chill below zero in a span of several hours. Not so much fun...
Last night a friend and I caught a unique train in Neenah, WI. A pair of BCOL C40-8Ms leading a coal/coke train to Manitowoc, WI. I attempted to shoot some pictures of it but my camera is definately not nocturnal...at least not for moving targets. I'll see if I can find and link to some of his pictures. Stay warm today and enjoy the weekend!
Sounds like you're getting out a lot more than I am, Dan, in spite of your ankle (take it easy on that for a while, if you can!). Saw a couple of trains on UP on my way to and from church, but nothing to write home (or write Lounge) about.
This afternoon we have a late birthday luau for my Number One railfanning prospect, who turned six last week. I told her that if she doesn't behave this year her teeth will come loose and fall out (but she isn't buying into that logic). Until party time, I can go back to logging a few more old sightings. Just finished another old pad-full on Friday, and the next pad seems to be going very quickly and smoothly, with lots of stuff falling into place.
CNW 6000 Those movies are sure fun to watch Bruce. What do you think of the newest "prequel" of Star Trek?
Dan, that movie was on my list of things to do, but movies are in the theatre such a short time now that I never made it. And I hadn't thought of it until you mentioned it. The original "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is pretty old now. It would be as old as "The Maltese Falcon" or "Casablanca" would have been back when I was in high school.
Very interesting moment at my Mother's place this evening. I was looking through her latest CPR staff magazine, that is also mailed to pensioners. There was a section called Then & Now. There was one picture of someone hooping up orders to an FP7, 4033 I think, and beside it a computer tablet looking thing in a case that looked like it could be bullet proof, with a stylus attached. It said this thing could hold all of the waybills and train orders for a train and it could receive them anywhere in the system. I showed the pictures to her and she just stopped. Then she said she couldn't believe how dangerous it was for Dad to hoop trains in the middle of the night at Hatton, SK. No electricity there after they turned the generator off at bedtime, so all he had was a kerosene lamp. Even more exciting in a blizzard on the main line with an 80 MPH speed limit.
Station Agents posted hours were from 8 to 5, but where there were no operators you could be called anytime to copy an order. There was a bell in the bedroom that could be rung by the dispatcher. And you had to answer on the first ring or there was a serious talking to from the Chief Dispatcher the next morning. Amazingly, an Agent couldn't leave town on a weeknight or the weekend without notifying the Chief Dispatcher, so he could advise the affected dispatchers that you would be unavailable to take orders. Although they didn't say you couldn't leave town, it must have been a very different way of life then.
Bruce, I guess I was lucky--I don't think I ever caught or saw any train orders hooped up to crews in anything other than halfway decent weather (I did catch them at night, though).
Considering what was said in the February issue of Trains about the CN's ex-IC line through the western suburbs of Chicago, I was very fortunate today to catch the eastbound CN manifest going through Villa Park. Quite a lengthy affair, with a pair of DP units a little more than halfway back.
From the posts above, seems as if that cold front moved southeast into Dan's territory from Bruce's . . .
Carl's post above regarding the CN train with the DP units raises a question in my mind: Suppose there was a train with normal locomotives on the front, and DPU(s) on the rear, which had to reverse directions once or twice during its run, such as at junctions or interchanges with another railroad. How can we - at trackside - tell which end is the front, and which is the rear ? I presume that the Track Warrants issued by the DiSpatcher would list a different locomotive at each end for each direction. But I'm not sure how that designation would be handled in CTC or TCS territory, other than just a train number or symbol ?
- Paul North.
Paul_D_North_Jr From the posts above, seems as if that cold front moved southeast into Dan's territory from Bruce's . . . Carl's post above regarding the CN train with the DP units raises a question in my mind: Suppose there was a train with normal locomotives on the front, and DPU(s) on the rear, which had to reverse directions once or twice during its run, such as at junctions or interchanges with another railroad. How can we - at trackside - tell which end is the front, and which is the rear ? I presume that the Track Warrants issued by the DiSpatcher would list a different locomotive at each end for each direction. But I'm not sure how that designation would be handled in CTC or TCS territory, other than just a train number or symbol ? - Paul North.
CN's train 416 & counterpart 415 are a "push-pull" operation. 416 goes from Stevens Point, WI to Green Bay, WI (415 the reverse) with the train switching subdivisions & reversing directions at Neenah, WI. The train has one engine on each end of the train. On the Neenah Sub (CTC) the RTC/DS refers to the lead unit (ie CN 8864 South was the last one I saw) when speaking to/about the train over the radio. After the train is lined to the Fox River Sub (Track Warrant/Authority) at CP NEENAH NORTH the train keeps it's symbol (416) but is now referred to by the loco in the lead (ie CN 9437 North). The reverse is true for when the train is "southbound" from Green Bay to Stevens Point (415). Does that help Paul?
Speaking of DPU operations...a very reliable source informed me that CN has a new symbol on the books: U768 which is iron ore pellets from Duluth, MI to US Steel in Gary, IN. The first train ran a couple days back and was two units, 150 jennies (sorry Mook!), and two DPU at the rear. The next train will be 200 cars, then another train of 250, and finally a train of 300 cars! That will be something to see: two units at head end, two mid train, and two rear. I guess it's a good thing that those 13 IC SD70s got their DPU upgrades recently. According to another source CN now has around 420 DPU capable locomotives in the fleet. I even managed to see BCOL 4645 (Dash 9) as a single mid-train last night.
Now that's good news, Dan! I'm pretty sure they've moved ore by rail to Gary in the past (in the winter, when the Lakes were frozen). But now it'll be all one railroad! Makes things easier for them, I would hope. Are they using the new ore cars that they supposedly received (and I'm dying to see!)? If I had a heads-up on the moves (you might be too far away for that, Dan), I'd attempt to position myself in West Chicago...and Eola...and Normantown...and Plainfield...or maybe just Joliet!
CShaveRR Now that's good news, Dan! I'm pretty sure they've moved ore by rail to Gary in the past (in the winter, when the Lakes were frozen). But now it'll be all one railroad! Makes things easier for them, I would hope. Are they using the new ore cars that they supposedly received (and I'm dying to see!)? If I had a heads-up on the moves (you might be too far away for that, Dan), I'd attempt to position myself in West Chicago...and Eola...and Normantown...and Plainfield...or maybe just Joliet!
Thanks, Dan! I was just thinking that I'd have no idea how long it would take something like that to move from Neenah to our neck of the woods. Of course, I'd appreciate hearing about it, though!
(He sure takes a lot of pictures, doesn't he?)
______________________
Showing my prejudice here, but:
http://upexcursion.com/vote/the-tuscola-turn/
Seriously, Phase 2 of voting for UP's steam-train routing has begun. There are four routes in the running, and one that brings the train to Chicagoland is in the lead so far. These routes don't appear to be mutually exclusive (i.e., they could do them all on a major systemwide trip), so I'd better give all of the alternatives:
http://upexcursion.com/
CNW 6000 Paul_D_North_Jr: From the posts above, seems as if that cold front moved southeast into Dan's territory from Bruce's . . . Carl's post above regarding the CN train with the DP units raises a question in my mind: Suppose there was a train with normal locomotives on the front, and DPU(s) on the rear, which had to reverse directions once or twice during its run, such as at junctions or interchanges with another railroad. How can we - at trackside - tell which end is the front, and which is the rear ? I presume that the Track Warrants issued by the DiSpatcher would list a different locomotive at each end for each direction. But I'm not sure how that designation would be handled in CTC or TCS territory, other than just a train number or symbol ? - Paul North. Finally, a question I'm qualified to answer! CN's train 416 & counterpart 415 are a "push-pull" operation. 416 goes from Stevens Point, WI to Green Bay, WI (415 the reverse) with the train switching subdivisions & reversing directions at Neenah, WI. The train has one engine on each end of the train. On the Neenah Sub (CTC) the RTC/DS refers to the lead unit (ie CN 8864 South was the last one I saw) when speaking to/about the train over the radio. After the train is lined to the Fox River Sub (Track Warrant/Authority) at CP NEENAH NORTH the train keeps it's symbol (416) but is now referred to by the loco in the lead (ie CN 9437 North). The reverse is true for when the train is "southbound" from Green Bay to Stevens Point (415). Does that help Paul?
Paul_D_North_Jr: From the posts above, seems as if that cold front moved southeast into Dan's territory from Bruce's . . . Carl's post above regarding the CN train with the DP units raises a question in my mind: Suppose there was a train with normal locomotives on the front, and DPU(s) on the rear, which had to reverse directions once or twice during its run, such as at junctions or interchanges with another railroad. How can we - at trackside - tell which end is the front, and which is the rear ? I presume that the Track Warrants issued by the DiSpatcher would list a different locomotive at each end for each direction. But I'm not sure how that designation would be handled in CTC or TCS territory, other than just a train number or symbol ? - Paul North.
Although this would be harder in daylight, check the number boards. The engine authorized to lead will have it's number boards lit, all others should be dark. When they change authorized engines they should turn off the old engine's number boards and turn on the new leader's number boards.
I say should because I too have seen a train with more than one number board lit, or the DP's number board illuminated. Recently I've heard managers contact trains to let them know about the discrepancy.
A quick look also could be the headlight/ditch light arrangement. The DP will always have it's headlight on dim. The headend, except for certain circumstances, will have the headlight on bright and the ditch lights on. Even tied down and unattended on a signalled main track or on a siding clear of the main track, the DP will have it's headlight on dim, the headend should have it's headlight and ditch lights off.
If it's tied down and unttended on a main track without a signal system then both ends will have the headlight on dim. Then I would see which end is closest to a crossing. The leader will most likely be closest so the crew didn't have to walk a long way carrying their grips to the van.
Jeff
Interesting Jeff. I'll be keeping an eye to that in the evenings when I'm out and about. I can say offhand that I've seen many trains with DPU (mids) numberboards lit. I can't recall seeing a rear with numberboards lit. I did a quick search of my shots on Flickr and found this one:
That unit doesn't appear to have the numberboards lit...so thanks for pointing that out Jeff!
CShaveRR Thanks, Dan! I was just thinking that I'd have no idea how long it would take something like that to move from Neenah to our neck of the woods. Of course, I'd appreciate hearing about it, though!
I'll do what I can Jim, I promise!
In the mean time...for your drooling pleasure...some shots of the first train captured around the Byron Hill area.
http://flic.kr/p/96L4sF
http://flic.kr/p/96P5NA
Here's your cars, Carl:http://flic.kr/p/96L2A2
http://flic.kr/p/96L1Pa
Thanks for the shots, Dan! Still can't wait to see one of these ore cars for myself. They look like a new version of some very old technology, I would have expected something larger (more cubic capacity, 286K wheels), except that perhaps the docks in Duluth might be designed for that length.
I put the bug in my daughter's ear; maybe she'll let us borrow the middle grandchild for a brief train-watching trip to Eola this afternoon. (If she wants to!) We'll see what develops along those lines.
Howdy!
Carl, I hope you get to take your granddaughter train watching; what fun! Think of the wonderful memories she'll have for evermore!
Pretty quiet here; just had maybe an inch or two of snow yesterday. (yawn)
Well, just in time for all the planning that so many of us do this time of year, I've pulled the 'US Guest Engineer Programs' thread back up out of 'storage,' so to speak. It's under Gen. Disc's. Stop by and check it out! These programs are awesome for almost any railfan, especially if you've ever dreamed of getting your hand on the throttle!! Travel safely and I'll see you on the tracks!! Enjoy and make it a safe day!
No luck with Emily, so I didn't push it. Daughter says she was a bit cranky today, anyway, so a nap was probably a far better option. Instead, Pat and I did some necessary shopping before returning home (we gave the local tracks a chance, but they didn't take us up on it).
My poor grandson (2.5 years old) picked today to decide to order his own lunch. But wouldn't you know it, they didn't have eggnog at Five Guys! He was devastated...for all of three minutes!
Oh Carl, that makes me laugh!! Kids; aren't they amazing, at least most of the time?! Too bad those tracks didn't cooperate either but, I guess there's always next time! See ya later!
Well...saw some UP power for a change today. Seems that the UP coal contract has kicked in. C70191-05 was powered by UP 6565 & 6003 this evening.
UP Coal Train
I thought I was going to get lucky and catch the next ore train too...but the symbol turned out to be a potash extra...doh!
Would those be the WPSX hoppers, Dan?
(I'm assuming they leave UP at West Chicago and go north on the old EJ&E to the old WC.)
Yes they are Carl. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing the Weston trains any longer. They will be taking the Adams Sub north and going around the loop at Necedah to the CN there.
WMNB4THRTLOh Carl, that makes me laugh!! Kids; aren't they amazing, at least most of the time?!
Daughter related the other day that grandson (1.5+) went to DVD player (off limits to him, but read on), opened it, removed the DVD that was there, placed said DVD in the correct box, then found the DVD he wanted, put it into the player and closed the drawer.
Daughter wanted to call him on it, but was too busy being amazed...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Now that kid knows how to be observant! Wait until he picks up the remote...
Saw the summary of CREATE programs getting funding in last night's Newswire. It's nice to see a few things coming together. (All we're missing there now is grade separations at Argo and McCook...)
Hey Carl, have you taken a look at the Roanoke webcam in the last few minutes? Is that a Metra engine sitting there?
EDIT: Too late, they just headed off to the west.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
I tried, and couldn't bring the camera up (never attempted to use this camera before). I don't know of any reason a Metra engine would be down that way, but I guess nothing's impossible!
CShaveRRWait until he picks up the remote...
Oh, he understands remotes. Hasn't quite figured out how to make them do his bidding just yet, though...
Hey All,
Just heard some bad news. Jim Boyd, longtime editor of R&R and great railroad photographer passed away today. He'll certainly be missed. I remember reading many of his "Camera Bag" columns growing up, and I've always enjoyed his photographic endeavors. A sad day indeed.
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
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