I have found that it's usually best if I don't always see who or what goes into some of the things I've eaten out of cafeterias/mess halls. Trust my gut, I always say.
CN had a suicide by train NW of Neenah today. A guy apparently walked out of the woods immediately ahead of train L576 and laid down. There was no chance to stop. From the scanner reports I heard it happened at 15:10 and the train just moved about 5 minutes ago to get the power to Neenah Yard where it can be cleaned off. Condolences to the crew and the family of the guy.
Dan
CNW 6000 Paul_D_North_Jr: CShaveRR: I . . . had gust gotten word of a windmill blade train headed our way . . . Freudian slip there, Carl ? Green woodchips, maybe ? What about green eggs & ham?
Paul_D_North_Jr: CShaveRR: I . . . had gust gotten word of a windmill blade train headed our way . . . Freudian slip there, Carl ? Green woodchips, maybe ?
CShaveRR: I . . . had gust gotten word of a windmill blade train headed our way . . .
Green woodchips, maybe ?
Johnny
With that additional info from Carl, then I agree that the car being designated as the "green" bin makes sense.
I'll skip the "cullet" pun, but just note that anyone who knows the proper use of that word usch as this is pretty well-informed on glass recycling !
Have fun today, Carl, Willy, & families - and everyone else, too !
Yesterday I was able to pace 2 NS trains alongside for about 1/4 mile of Industrial Ave. As I turned in to head down to my usual lunch spot, an EB multi-level came over the crossing, running "wrong-main" on the normally WB track, right next to the street. I was able to drive right along about the middle of the lead locomotive at about 32 MPH until the hard curve at the northeastern end of the road. Since it's about 0.5% downgrade, the train was 'drifting" / coasting - no engine noise, mostly the whir/ hum of the wheels, with an occasional clatter or screech, was heard. Then about 1/2 hour later as I was leaving, a WB manifest came by on its proper track and started blowing the standard " _ _. _ " whistle signal for the 31st St. SW grade crossing at about MP 32. He was in 'Run 8' or pretty close to it, moving at about 25 MPH and really loud, so I hung back at about the tail end of the locomotive lash-up as I followed and just enjoyed the show from there - pretty impressive !
For me, Thursday looks like a couple of unusual 1-way train trips and some new mileage (for me), which was unexpected until a couple of weeks ago. It'll be bus to New York City, Amtrak electric to New Haven, change to Amtrak diesel shuttle to Hartford, then pick-up a 'new to us' car we purchased over the Internet. I'll have the camera, and see what photos I can take at New Haven and Hartford without getting into trouble. May stop at a rail museum or 2 on the way back, depending on timing and their schedules.
- Paul North.
Ah, so the best guess is...? I'm still curious.
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
My point, Paul, is that that particular hopper (I saw it in a video that Nance linked me to) was probably too old to be going anywhere, and that it was probably sitting at a recycling or processing plant somewhere. Looking at its construction, it was probably a very early 70-ton ribbed-side hopper. C&O's similar cars were built in the early and mid-1920s.
I have seen actual hoppers used in cullet service, and the glass is usually pretty well mixed, color-wise. You're right, Paul, in saying that a car wouldn't be restricted to a specific color in revenue service (especially not a hopper, which would be capable of being completely emptied).
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)
Oooo--I think you guys both/all got up before breakfast today! GEESCH!!
Yes, Paul that sounds very possible. NOW I can begin to see where Carl is coming from, in terms of cars; each one can hold its own little mystery! This one, although prob. can't be 'solved,' certainly is a bit interesting.
WMNB4THRTL Hey, what about for glass recycling--they do separate the colors of glass?
I'm still thinking that the "Green" designation was meant for an unprocessed raw material of some sort, rather than for the color of something (except maybe sod ??? )
Pat agrees with you, Paul--it must have been Freudian! And to think I'm usually the one jumping on stuff like that!
Nance, I think you're definitely on the right track with glass recycling. Sounds like a good use for an old hopper. Maybe, to add to the irony, it used to carry coke. I think that's irony--you can cullet what you will.
Today, Pat and I just had our schedule altered in the nicest possible way...Willy and his parents are picking us up, and we're going to be doing some railfanning and shopping. They've been doing the tourist thing in Chicago for the past few days...I don't think Willy's gotten to Blue Island, Dolton, or Porter yet, and we know of a nice antique mall in Chesterton...
Paul_D_North_Jr CShaveRR: I . . . had gust gotten word of a windmill blade train headed our way . . . Freudian slip there, Carl ? Green woodchips, maybe ?
CShaveRR I . . . had gust gotten word of a windmill blade train headed our way . . .
Maybe the car is in dedicated paint service, green only.
I was going to post this earlier, like a day or so, but never got around to it. I met the eastbound salad shooter (ZDLSKP) out in western Iowa. It had a TBOX car about the middle of the train. First time I have seen a car other than a white ARMN reefer in the train.
Jeff
Hey, what about for glass recycling--they do separate the colors of glass?
WMNB4THRTLI saw a car (possibly a hopper??) today that was marked "Green Only" along with an arrow pointing to the top of the car. It's no longer in service and looks fairly old. I only caught a fair glimpse of it but it is on display, so I can check on it again some time. Any idea(s) on what that means?! Thanks.
Nance, that's a strange one to me. Maybe the arrow was pointing to the fill line for paper currency! That's the railroad you should be working for! (Seriously, next time you see it, grab a reporting mark and number if they're still visible.)
There is something going on along the Amtrak-owned tracks in Porter, Indiana. We noticed it yesterday, on our way home: new rail alongside the track through downtown Porter, floodlights to illuminate the scene for night work, and lots of cleared land to the south of the Amtrak (ex-Michigan Central) track. None of the land-clearing looks like a realignment in the works yet, but it might be the prelude to eliminating that 10-m.p.h. curve at the very end of a track that's supposedly going to be able to handle 110-m.p.h. trains very shortly.
For the first time today, I was able to do some railfanning by signal indication in Lombard. I had errands to run downtown, and had gust gotten word of a windmill blade train headed our way (it had shown up on the Rochelle webcam, and had been reported on the webcam thread in this Forum). I was out there for most of an hour after my errands, but the train didn't show up. In the middle of the wait, I had to go home. I was able to wait until the westbound signal behind an eastbound train on Track 1 (at Finley Road) changed from red to green (indicating to me that nothing was following the train), and got home and back before anything changed. The blade train didn't make it through before the rainstorm did, but while I was there we had two scoots, one hopper train, two coal loads, a manifest, and a stack train.
WMNB4THRTL [snipped] I guess mostly I'm looking for: life in America, as it related to RR's in the 1930's and '40's; how RRing shaped America; baggage cars around that time (what they typically hauled, etc); caboose info; the importance of RRs in US today, and any other depot info that might be helpful or interesting. Probably there's some more 'stuff' I'm forgetting at the moment, but that will get this started for now. Thanks, as always, for any and all help!!
Thanks, as always, for any and all help!!
Paul_D_North_Jr That's the part of zardoz's event that seems unfair - having to deal with all the aspects of that incident. It would have made more sense for Mechanical Dept. personnel to do that, IMHO.
That's the part of zardoz's event that seems unfair - having to deal with all the aspects of that incident. It would have made more sense for Mechanical Dept. personnel to do that, IMHO.
It certainly wasn't something I wanted to do, but I couldn't expect uniformed personnel go crawling on the ballast and getting blood and dirt on their nice clothes (I wore grubbies due to the deplorable conditions in the engine rooms of those old F7s & E8s). Of course, if I didn't like the train crew, I might have insisted that it was my place in the cab; but they were good guys.
tree68 [snipped] We do usually have the advantage of not having been personally involved with the actual incident, arriving instead after the fact.
Larry, you and others may be interested in this book and interview by Kate Braestrup, who is a chaplain for Maine Game Warden service, and the victims and families of accidents, search-and-rescue missions, etc. She's not just a outside observer - some years ago her husband, a state trooper, died in the line of duty:
Here If You Need Me, by Kate Braestrup, Little, Brown & Co., 2007, ISBN-10: 9780316066303, ISBN-13: 978-0316066303 - http://www.amazon.com/Here-If-You-Need-Me/dp/0316066303
Excerpt: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2011/presence-in-the-wild/braestrup-chapter11.shtml
Interview titled "Presence in the Wild" & background info: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2011/presence-in-the-wild/
Used for animal hides prior to tanning ? (just about ruins the car for any other lading, but boxcars were more common- "green hides" is a term of art) Some other commodity that has a "green" or unfinished or unrefined state ?
Otherwise : Carrying sod ? Money from the U.S. Treasury ?
I saw a car (possibly a hopper??) today that was marked "Green Only" along with an arrow pointing to the top of the car. It's no longer in service and looks fairly old. I only caught a fair glimpse of it but it is on display, so I can check on it again some time. Any idea(s) on what that means?! Thanks.
On CISD - sometimes volunteer firefighters and EMT's attend to such a call and that's the last we ever see of them. I can still remember most of the fatals I've been to. Sometimes you can reconcile them to yourself, and sometimes you can't. We do usually have the advantage of not having been personally involved with the actual incident, arriving instead after the fact.
As a volunteer officer, I don't usually have the opportunity to see members right after such an incident, so I can't watch them for signs that they're having problems dealing with it.
It's a "wisdom" of fire and EMS that we all have "our" call - the straw that breaks the camel's back, if you will. Even if we can usually deal with such incidents, there's going to be one that strikes home for some reason (perhaps a resemblance to a family member). And that may be the call that causes us to hang up our helmet and stethoscope.
But that's enough of this gruesome stuff.
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...
CShaveRRAlso of interest to current and former Michiganders: There's an Arcadia book (you've no doubt seen these) devoted to Vernor's Ginger Ale!
Nectar of the gods, especially when combined with vanilla ice cream to make a Boston cooler....
One of our volunteers made a trip out that way late last winter and brought back several six packs for me. Alas, I've enjoyed the last of them. May have to head west this summer for more....
WMNB4THRTL THIS is the part that gives me pause, even now. How do you deal with it? Police/fire/EMS have stress debriefing; does the RR use it?
THIS is the part that gives me pause, even now. How do you deal with it? Police/fire/EMS have stress debriefing; does the RR use it?
Back "in my day", we just carried on with our assignment. There was no such thing as "debriefing" "grief counselling" or "time off due to stress". We just cleared the tracks, got permission from authorities to go, and we proceeded to our destination.
It would likely be different for each crewperson. Plus the degree of 'messiness' (for me, anyway) was a factor. If we hit a car, and it was pushed to the side, the trauma for me wasn't so bad. But when it was a pedestrian--well, those were much worse, especially if I saw the face of the person I was about to hit. But for me, it was after the day was over when the emotional impact manifest itself.
(Warning: graphic details follow) For instance, after hitting a suicide at 70mph with the cabcar of a suburban train, the body was a mangled mess (if you've ever seen the front of a cabcar, you'd understand why it makes such carnage--it is far worse than the front of a freight locomotive). Anyway, the Coroner wanted us to recover all of the body parts for their investigation. As engineer, it was my duty (the train crew were all in their uniforms) to go underneath the train to extract all of the body bits and pieces. Few of the body parts were recognizable. I had never seen a body in that condition. When we got in to Chicago, due to the lengthly delay, we only had about 20 minutes to make ready for our outbound trip. Due to my yukky extraction duties, I needed to seriously clean up before proceeding. During the outbound trip, (and as it was late in my day, it was my normal lunch time) I was able to eat lunch; when we arrived at Waukegan, I tied up, ending my day.
Or so I thought. As I relaxed at home (and the shock began to wear off), the images of the incident began to creep into my consciousness. Eventually, most of my thoughts were of what happened that day. Soon I could not get the images out of my mind. I was totally unable to get much sleep, due to the continual barrage of images.
(End of grossness)
That one was the worst of the 9 fatalaties I experienced as engineer. Now, more than 30 years after it happened, I can still recall the event in graphic detail.
Oops I was replying to zardoz
Well, Duh! I should have remembered that! (It's just Metra--no Amtrak involved.) I haven't heard of any recent developments in connection with this. Maybe I should hop on a scoot and check out the progress on the new connecting track for myself.
mudchicken - That's enough of a clue for me to remember it: Bellwood, Illinois.
The thread here was captioned "Passenger Service with Other Peoples' Money", was started by greyhounds on 04-05-2011 at this link:
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/190157/2076089.aspx#2076089
Consider this partial repayment for past favors !
Deggesty Nance, as Jeff says, there is not much you can do if someone or anything is on the track. There is the horn signal to warn things and people away from the track, but whoever/whatever is probably too startled or ignorant to know to get off/away.
Nance, as Jeff says, there is not much you can do if someone or anything is on the track. There is the horn signal to warn things and people away from the track, but whoever/whatever is probably too startled or ignorant to know to get off/away.
Carl: It was discussed on this forum, but I cannot find it. It was the case of the town fathers and a developer in cahoots and the railroad was never invited to the party, but all of a sudden expected to stop in this 'burg..... Lots of money changed hands without the desired end result.
ps - My head is still spinning over the NKCR incident out this way at Wallace, NE.
MC, I wish I could help you with that Illinois town. Mendota has a very good location to stop at now; I can't imagine why they'd want to change it. Is this some place that wants service and didn't have it before, or someplace that's moving within town and didn't do its homework?
Of course, Illinois is the location of the international airport that nobody uses (and I haven't heard anything about an airport at Peotone lately, but that'd be another one).
We are up in Michigan for a long weekend. Made an interesting discovery in Chesterton, Indiana, today: the old NYC freight house there has been converted into a Bed & Breakfast! If railfans were to stay there, we'd probably still be able to go out and meet you.
Also of interest to current and former Michiganders: There's an Arcadia book (you've no doubt seen these) devoted to Vernor's Ginger Ale!
At times, someone will deliberately put something on the track, expecting to be paid damages. Not long ago, there was an account in Trains about a man who parked his old, old car on the N&W a little west of Abingdon, with the expectation that he would get perhaps a down payment on a new car after the eastbound Tennessean hit it. (Paul North may be able to give you the reference). He and his very young son, of course, were well away from the car when #46 came barrelling through. However, after someone in the crew asked the little boy what they were going to do, it was agreed that the railroad owed the man nothing.
Several years ago, as I was waiting to take Amtrak #6 out of Sacramento, a man moved to the track side of the warning line on the plaform, the engineer of the oncomng train gave the proper signal--and the man did not know that he was in danger; the noise of the oncoming train was too great for me to call to him to get back.
Several more years back, I was riding the engine of IC #1 from Memphis to Grenada, having a great time as we went down the track at ninety miles an hour (ABS only). We came up on a dog on the track, and the poor thing tried to outrun the City of New Orleans. He could not, nor did he jump off the track. As I recall, the sun had gone down too much for me to tell whistle posts from mile posts (they were the same shape), so I had given the cord for the horn back to the engineer.
Last week, a girl was killed at a street crossing of TRAX in West Jordan, Utah, because she did not look both ways before starting across. One train had just gone by in one direction, and the girl thought it was safe to cross, even though the gate across one lane of traffic was still down (no gate across the other lane on that side of the track); she could not see anything coming until she was almost to the track because of a sound wall--and the area is a "quiet zone." The operator, of course could not see her until she was right in front of his train. The Utah Transit Authority is moving the sound walls back from the crossings on that line.
Try as they may, the railroads cannot keep everyone/everything offn the track, especially when a train is about to occupy it.
Son of dumb question:
Where was it in Illinois that the town fathers wanted to place a new depot and platform.....and Amtrak et al said they wouldn/t stop at that location? (poltical boondoggle) Mendota maybe?
Can't find the thread that links to it.
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