(I'm HATING this new computer more and more with every passing day/hour, something!!! I'm better off with my old antique, even though some of its pieces and parts were from 1996!!! I just typed a fairly long reply and it erased it-- AGAIN!!! GGGRRR!!!!!) We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Hope that you folks traveling are having a wonderful time!
Today's questions are from reading "The Railroad-What It Is, What It Does," by J.H. Armstrong, Ch. 5 The Railroad Car.
1. Journal boxes: What should we look for when we check them? I think one thing is 'enough' oil, but how much is sufficient? What else do we check?
2. What is 'rail cant?'
3. Flat spots: Can these been seen easily just by walking by or do they require a close inspection, or? Would these be the culprit when one night my brakeman asked my engineer if he had square wheels on his side?
4. It talks about that cars often have at least one major overhaul in their life, perhaps being lengthened by 10 feet, from 40 to 50 feet. Would this car come back into service with identical reporting marks or do they change?
5. It says, "However, AAR regulations now prohibit the general acceptance in interchange of cars over 40 years old regardless of whether their current state meets all other requirements." Would this most likely be due to worries over metal fatigue, or?
6. It states, "The whole 9,000 lb. truck is held together only by gravity and the interlocking surfaces on the principal parts." Really?! What 'locks' them down on? Sounds kind of scary when you were to hit a big 'bump.'
7. I'm confused by what seems to me to be conflicting info. Under 'Load Limit' section, it says, "Both cars will use the same size wheels, roller bearings, axles, and other weight-related parts." (Prior to this sentence, it told about different types of cars.) Then, under "Wheels," it states that wheels are 33 in., 36 in., 38 in., or even 28 in. sometimes. (I'm sorry; I'm not too sure whether I'm allowed to quote the whole paragraph here, so I took 'the safest course' and did not for now.)
Thanks folks, as always, for all your help! Stay safe out there in all this warm spring weather!
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
Carl, being late out of Salt Lake did not diarrange anything, it simply meant that we had to wait much longer than we had thought we would. We did have a long wait for a taxi to get to the station yesterday (we gave up and took an ordinary taxi)--and we had an even longer wait today until one that could lift Ricki in her transport chair into the vehicle. Today's driver promised to be at the hotel in time tomorrow morning so we will not miss our train to Seattle (and we do have a close connection there). Our first connection in Chicago may be bothersome, but we shall see.
We are enjoying our trip, though not being able to go to the diner for every meal is different.
The Capitol Service trains in California have wonderful, powered lifts for wheelchairs; the Superliners have heavy ramps that almost require two people to lift and set in place.
Our car from San Joe to here was one that had been refurbished under the "Tiger" program, and even though it had LED reading lamps, it did not have enough support bars--and there were no coat hoks in our room.
Ricki's in bed, and complaining because I am sitting up late writing this.
Goodnight, all.
Johnny
Randy, I didn't see your message from yesterday until we got here to Charleston. We took Ohio 125 across the lower portion of southern Ohio (I don't think you'd want to do that one with a truck!), winding up on U.S. 52 near Portsmouth, then crossing over on U.S. 23 to be on the C&O side. The big bridge didn't show up like it used to...must be the undergrowth (I nearly missed it until I saw Limeville Junction).
I see the censors don't like the name of the pub we were in last night. Maybe if I had gone in a little tipsy I could have called it the anglecock and bull, and gotten away with it.
Not much movement on the old C&O, even around Russell, Ashland, Huntington, and environs. I've got a turnpike between myself and the tracks here in Charleston, but may do a little exploration later. The temperature is in the upper 80s out there.
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)
Johnny, I hope that late trains don't dramatically alter your plans. The trip might be no less interesting, but it would certainly be a lot more stressful.
Cincinnati was hit with a nice car-cleaning downpour today (the parking-garage-dwelling birds had decorated our car yesterday). We spent most of it inside the Cincinnati Union Terminal. Besides the obligatory trip up to Tower A, we also were given a free tour of some of the neat, out-of-the-way places in the building, including the offices of the C.U.T. president and the board room. If you thought cork flooring for sound deadening was a recent innovation, guess again! While at the library in Tower A I autographed (with permission, of course!) a few of "my" books that were there. I also added to my own library, thanks to the museum gift stores. There is nothing about this building that isn't impressive. The thing I found most amazing was the interior coloring. I can't recall having ever seen color photos of the inside before, so I had no idea how the rotunda ceiling would be painted...it's brighter than I thought. And the mosaic murals are fantastic!
(I also developed a bit more respect for Jerry Springer as a result of our tour. As Cincinnati's mayor, it was he who made the expensive decision to save the murals from the concourse when it was being demolished, and reuse them in the city's airport.)
It was still raining when we left, so we lingered at Winton Place only long enough to catch an Indiana & Ohio freight (something I didn't see there yesterday). We then went to a couple of quilt shops. The second one was in Glendale (I don't know how I missed spotting it yesterday), just a dogtrot away from the old B&O (CH&D) main line north. My browsing with Pat was interrupted twice by the train traffic. We had an early supper at the$1****$2and Bull, an English-style pub that fronts on the tracks. During our repast, four moves were made right outside (the fourth was a light-engine version of a returning local). Glendale is one of the most picturesque little villages you could ask for, and the old brick station (now a museum, among other things) fits right in, with a small town square intervening between it and the rest of the downtown. The little parks were particularly inviting at this time of year to those of us Northerners who have gotten a bit tired of winter. Plenty of greens, yellows, reds, whites, and lunar whites to welcome the season...oh, wait, those were the CPLs! (Lots of flowering trees, though!)
CShaveRR Randy--any advice on traveling 77 from Charleston to Charlotte, or 77/81 from Charlotte north as far as Hagerstown?
Randy--any advice on traveling 77 from Charleston to Charlotte, or 77/81 from Charlotte north as far as Hagerstown?
Pack some patience, 81 in VA can be hectic at times, especially if there's a race at Martinsville or Bristol. If you're going out of Cincinnati, take state road 32 over to US 35 east, and take 35 down to I-64 near Charleston. Nice and scenic, just pay attention when you are in the hills of West Virginia, need to be aware of which way you are headed at all times.....
Saw a flatbed load of a spring-frog switch in Bloomington, IL, yesterday, presumably for the UP's project between Chicago and St Louis. Was interesting in the fact that the frog and plates were pre-assembled, rest of the load was the rail needed to complete the switch.
Back to playing with Gators......
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
Modelcar ......Johnny, that sounds like real fun....Best wishes to you and Ricki to have that fun. {West bound...?}.
......Johnny, that sounds like real fun....Best wishes to you and Ricki to have that fun. {West bound...?}.
As it is, we will not see Carl and Pat this trip because they (or we)left at the wrong time to be in the same part of the country at the same time.
From here, we go down to San Jose to go north to Portland (coming through Sacramento at midnight; 8:43 pm in San Jose is a better time to board a train). Does anybody want to guess our travel from here to Jackson?
Laundry here this morning and in other places as needed. Hotel-owned coin laundries are wonderful when you are traveling by train (and by car).
The story I got was that it was supposed to connect with the Cincinnati & Lake Erie interurban line--I think it became a victim of the Depression.
Cincinnati has had a number of proposals for heavy-rail transit, and they're all regularly shot down. But, not knowing the details of the subway line myself, I suspect that it couldn't be utilized for anything that would be built today.
Recommendation: If anyone should stay in the Courtyards by Marriott in Covington because of its proximity to the old C&O bridge (which is why we stayed here), go for an even-numbered room: the higher the floor the better, and the higher the room number the better. The fifth and sixth floors are roughly at track level, and the ninth floor gives a pretty commanding view of the tracks, the river, and some of the Cincinnati skyline and other bridges.
Carl....I wonder....Wouldn't the subway be to any advantage today for the Cincinnati area.....if finished...? Don't remember if I ever heard anything of that aborted system.
Quentin
That's getting a running start, as it were, Quentin!
Today I was taken around Cincinnati by a knowledgeable railfan guide, while his wife and mine took in the International Quilt Festival. They spent money...we, on the other hand, watched trains! We first went to catch a southbound NS train climbing the grade out of the valley. He was crossing the river when we were, but we bet him up the hill by a substantial margin, even though it seemed to me to take a while.
After coming back down into Ohio again, we saw the portals of a tunnel once used by a PRR predecessor, the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern. We then went around to see a genuine hot spot: Winton Place. I swear, there was no time that this spot was without a train waiting to go through. The line was B&O's but NS added a third track, and all of them had trains at one time or another (they have a directional agreement, so most of the trains through here are northbound). Plenty of CPLs around here yet. We spent nearly three hours of time just watching stuff go through, and I have plenty of new and unusual cars to log. We then went further north to Glendale, where more CSX and NS trains came north on the old B&O trackage.
On the way back downtown to pick up the "girls" we saw the portals at the end of Cincinnati's subway tunnels (an aborted system--stations built, tunnels bored, but no track ever laid).
Tonight we dined at Skyline Chili...I hope you're proud of us, MC! I think we'd both do it again.
Tomorrow, it's time to visit a few highly-recommended quilt shops, hit Winton Place again, and make the pilgrimage to Cincinnati Union Terminal. I'm hoping Tower A will be available to look out from. Meanwhile, still seeing neat stuff going past the window on CSX's bridge here.
Anyone interested in a South Pennsylvania Railroad forum? I specialize in discovering where the remains of this route is. My forum is ...
http://southpennraiload.freeforums.org/test-forum-1-f2.html
If you travel the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Carlisle and Pittsburgh this might be of some interest.
Tracking the William Henry Vanderbilt South Pennsylvania Railroad right of way along the Historic Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Oh, yes. Ricki and I are leaving tonight on the westbound California Zephyr on our way to Jackson, Miss., where we we will rent a car and drive to Bristol, Tenn., and back and then come as directly as possible back home. Right now, the train is reported to be 2:20 late (out of Denver OT), but we will jsut sit in the station until she comes in.
CShaveRR Welcome in, Nance! One interesting detail: on this bridge over the Ohio River, right outside the hotel, the signal bridge that had held a couple of old C&O-style color light signals is now empty. Just to our south, though, is another signal bridge that has active B&O-style CPL (color-position-light) signals! This line is old C&O, and possibly used by old L&N. I suspect it got the CPLs as part of some form of terminal consolidation in connection with Queensgate Yard.
Welcome in, Nance!
Sounds like you're quite well on top of it, Carl. I took another look at Middleton's book tonight, and found 1 more that might be nearby: The NS/ CNO&TP/ Cincinnati Southern "High Bridge" at the little town of the same name, over the Kentucky River - and apparently since 2005 there's even a park from which to enjoy a view of it. It's about 15 miles southwest of Lexington, at these Lat./ Long. coords.: N 37.82417 W 84.71833
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bridge_of_Kentucky
Best wishes for a good time and lots of trains on the rest of your trip !
- Paul North.
Nothing in the way of pictures is too likely from here--Pat's my camera person, and she's still uncomfortable with the digital camera.
It's after dark and not easy to see the trains from here (one of the lights that shows the hotel in a positive light shines right up at me when I'm looking at the tracks). But in two hours we've had three more trains by us here. Certainly a busy enough line! I've seen some cars that don't get up in our neck of the woods, including some Tropicana reefers and some CSXT 604000-series flat cars. They look like they're intended for hot steel billets. Actually the best place to see the trains after dark might be the top level of the hotel's parking garage.
One interesting detail: on this bridge over the Ohio River, right outside the hotel, the signal bridge that had held a couple of old C&O-style color light signals is now empty. Just to our south, though, is another signal bridge that has active B&O-style CPL (color-position-light) signals! This line is old C&O, and possibly used by old L&N. I suspect it got the CPLs as part of some form of terminal consolidation in connection with Queensgate Yard.
Carl, Sounds like you're having a good time; that's great!! Hope you catch lots of good pics while you are at it!! Be safe and thanks for keeping us in the loop!! Take care; off to class for me. N.
Paul, we'll be headed east, so we'll pass the pass the Sciotoville Bridge (a.k.a. the Limeville Bridge, if you're on the Kentucky side). It's impossible to miss when you come at it from the west on the Kentucky side--it's a huge structure for a long time before you get even with it. One time I climbed the embankment up to track level on the Ohio side to get a look at the thing from that angle...paid dearly for it for the rest of the day because I had a violent itching reaction from something I brushed up against up there.
Third train was on the bridge when we crossed the highway bridge right next to it to go to the quilt show. Had a nice Italian dinner at Campanello's, which we're led to believe is another Cincinnati institution.
Carl, are you going to check out any of the big railroad bridges over the Ohio River on your travels ? There's at least 2 - Sciotoville, and Metropolis, both of which were written up in Middleton's Landmarks on the Iron Road. See:
http://www.kentuckyroads.com/images/ohio_river/
Sciotoville ("Sciotodale" on some maps) is about 90 miles east of you, and 5 miles east of Portsmouth, Ohio at: N 38.75813 W 82.89128
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?location=Sciotoville%20Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciotoville_Bridge
http://bridgehunter.com/oh/scioto/sciotoville
http://www.bridgemeister.com/pic.php?pid=109
http://www.historicbridges.org/ohio/sciotoville/
http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0001369
Metropolis is about 200 miles southwest of you, about 5 miles west of Paducah and 25 miles northeast of Cairo, at: N 37.26968 W 88.65417
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_Bridge
http://bridgehunter.com/il/massac/metropolis/
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=31608
Maybe I should watch the Roanoke camera once, just so I know where to stand. We should be able to be seen at Fostoria when we get there.
Here at Cincinnati (camping well upstream from the horses, thanks!), we've been treated very well by CSX, which has sent two trains over the river from the south in the hour we've been here. I know that when the C&OHS held a convention here in 1977, we were in a different hotel, but it couldn't have been far from this one--the Frisch's Big Boy we ate at then is still there! As for distinctive dining...MC, is Skyline Chili the place that you keep recommending? What's good there, besides chili? We've got one of those close by, too.
Carl; if you do get to Roanoke walk down the sidewalk at the hotel and wave at all of us watching. Maybe the cam will be working ~~ HEH HEH
Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Thanks! We don't plan on any night travel, so that's good. I'm hoping we can get down to Princeton/Bluefield for a lunch break between Charleston and Charlotte.
As for Roanoke, that'll be a two-night stay. We'd like to get to the museums, but we're also going to Clifton Forge on the intervening day to do some work at the C&O Historical Society's archives. I'm also hoping to see some newly-minted coal cars (or whatever) at the shops in Roanoke, now operated by Freight Car America.
(I tried to make reservations at the Hotel Roanoke, but they were sold out for our two days, according to their website.)
[quote user="CShaveRR"]
quote]
Carl: Great scenery. Allow plenty of time and definitely travel in the day time. From Charleston about 20 - 30 miles on the west side of the interstate you will see a lot of remanants of an old C&O track Rest stop can see more. Once off I-81 several points to look at if you have the time. I'll be driving down it some time next week. Plan on a stop in Roanoke which I have not done for a long time.
That sounds kind of nice, Dan! I'd join you, but we hope to be tooling around Cincinnati come Saturday.
Our traveling weather doesn't always look the greatest, at least through the next week, but maybe we'll be able to move between the raindrops.
Pat has a digital camera that we hope to take along--maybe I'll be able to add a few pictures. If not here, then on Facebook.
CN's been dragging lots of empty centerbeam cars north lately. I hope that means that the building industry is going to pick up (get busy Norris!). Word from some pretty reliable sources indicates that traffic levels are up in my area to the point that the frequency of most local runs is going from 2-3 days per week up to 5-6 days per week and they're adding extra jobs to the Board. Average train length & frequency seem to be up a tick from last year as well according to my notes.
One of CN's "new" C40-8W's from BNSF seemed to have some serious heat issues on it's maiden voyage north. The unit displayed significant thermal scarring on the engineer's side just below the radiator and semi-significant damage on the conductor's side. CN 2154 is reportedly heading back to Woodcrest for some TLC...probably with a BFH.
Planning a trip to Byron Hill (and maybe some other close areas) for Saturday. I've only caught two trains on the hill...so having some extended time available will be nice. Aedan will be at Grandma K's house for the weekend and my wife works...I'm calling it a mini-vacation!
Dan
I guess you win this one, Zug! I haven't seen anything quite like that. The word "crown" doesn't show at all in my TILX file. I found "blue" a few times, and even "are blue" once or twice (that gets rid of references to blue lettering). Grab a number if you can. Meanwhile, your report gave me occasion to check out a once-likely possibility, find out more about the lessee, and update a couple of files accordingly.
Meanwhile, my sighting and obtained information on the SMW stack cars has caused two of my freight-car-freak friends to anticipate the prospect of updating their books on the subjects (one on stack cars, one on Gunderson production). They have promised to retaliate for the joy and happiness I gave them, and I, of course, am looking forward to that!
I'm not anticipating much in the way of train-watching today. We have a couple of errands to run, and stuff to pull off the computer in anticipation of our trip. The game-changer will be if our car gets checked over in time for us to go visit grandchildren.
Saw a new blue TILX covered hopper in the yard today. Had a crown-type logo on the side. First time I've seen that (or noticed...)
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
My guess is that it has dreams of becoming another Northwestern Oklahoma. These SMW cars are numbered in the 210000 series, right above the NOKL single-well stack cars. That suggests that they're owned by First Union Rail, as is NOKL.
OK - but then, just what is St. Marys Railway West ? Doesn't seem to be a lot of info on it on-line - here's as much as I could find fairly quickly, a CSX short-line profile:
http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/other-services-partners/short-line-partners/short-line-directory/short-line-directory-profile/?i=2799
From another source - the 2004 STB decision allowing the purchase of this line after CSX abandoned it, at: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/archive/index.php/t-69891.html
34779SERVICE DATE - JUNE 4, 2004SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD DECISIONSTB Docket No. AB-55 (Sub-No. 640)CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC. —ABANDONMENT— IN ATKINSON AND WARE COUNTIES, GAIN THE MATTER OF AN OFFER OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE - Decided: June 4, 2004
The line is 23.25 miles long, so I suppose there's enough track to store all 600 cars . . .
The "net liquidation value" = purchase price was set at $261,203, which is about $11,235 per mile, or $2.13 per foot of line.
But who really 'is' the SMW - and what are they doing owning 600 cars ??? Dreams of becoming another TTX ?
We are getting reports here that the Cimmarron Valley Railroad got hurt badly over the weekend around Satanta, KS due to a massive range fire (news reports show the town being evacuated, not much on the railroad...heard but not confirmed is 18+ miles of R/W burned with multiple timber structures gone....forum member favuprailroadfan was working out there.
Locally, they talk about acres burned in forest fires. Out on the prairie its square miles, lots of square miles.
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