(1) Probably a flanger sign (11594 is probably a bridge sign at MP 115.94 - would need to better see the sign)
(2) WTLR =West Texas & Lubbock Railroad (now WTLC), RailAmerica owned the line (ATSF's Lubbock Cluster of branchlines) from 1995-2002....Permain Basin (Ed Ellis) owns them now.
(3) Y721 is a Union Pacific "Yard" locomotive. UP started running out of locomotive #'s and started using "Y" for non-mainline switchers and RCL equipped engines...not that common to see letters, but it does happen... "B" has shown up fairly often in that regard, especially after some locomotives went to Mexico.(UP & N&W got back some locomotives that could no longer be used as lead locomotives and had become frankenstiens in a mecanical sense)
(4) Built August 1924....Rutland Railroad (New England, long dead and gone bancrupt railroad)= Route of the Whippet passenger Train (as in "not too whippy")....Rutland died circa 1962-63 (Two major parts of it survive as shortlines...biggest failure prior to fall of CRIP)
(5) GT= Grand Trunk Railroad (now part of CN)
(6) Locomotives paying off hours owed to other ralroads or leased..See CSX and NS locomotives here in Denver all the Time. NS doesn't get within 600 miles of here an CSX about 900 miles)
(7)MRL = Montana Rail Link (former BN,NP,GN Marias Pass lin & branches...BN's big mistake) WC= Wisconsin Central (now part of CN)
(8)BN (that sorry outfit) had about a half dozen variations of the basic Cascade Green & white plus the UGLY Grinsteen Green & Cream.... Red Stripe = 3M Stotchbrite reflective tape on the sidesill? Halloween get-up is merger colors showing GN heritage.
WMNB4THRTL 1. I just learned that DME is a shortline. Next to the track, there is a black metal 'flag' on a post numbered 11594. Is that a milepost marker? 3. I see a UP loco with an ID of "Y721." Is it common to see letters with their numbers like that? Does it mean something specific or just their system, or...? 7.MRL, another new one in my book.Oops, along with WC, I now see.
1. I just learned that DME is a shortline. Next to the track, there is a black metal 'flag' on a post numbered 11594. Is that a milepost marker?
3. I see a UP loco with an ID of "Y721." Is it common to see letters with their numbers like that? Does it mean something specific or just their system, or...?
7.MRL, another new one in my book.Oops, along with WC, I now see.
1. Might be a milepost; either mp 1159.4 or 115.94 (depending on the location and how exact the railroad measures).
3. The "Y" is a designation indicating a yard engine, although the loco is not restricted to the yard. The UP was running out of numbers a few years ago, and rather than go to a 5-digit system (or renumber the entire fleet in order to get rid of gaps in the numbering system), they adopted the letter designation.
7. Montana Rail Link and Wisconsin Central.
Happy Holidays.
Modelcar Carl, that's quite a lineup of complicated action you just layed out in your last post. Is it the Dispatcher that is responsible for this success...?
Carl, that's quite a lineup of complicated action you just layed out in your last post. Is it the Dispatcher that is responsible for this success...?
I would say that yes, most likely he is. That coal train move (2 to 1 in Lombard, into the yard from Track 1 at Elmhurst) had been lined up well in advance, witness that I saw the eastern part of the lineup before we left Elmhurst and it took a minimum of ten minutes to drive back to Lombard after that. The original plan was probably to have the coal train move right along and get off track 1 before the scoot got anything but clear signals. But (perhaps) because of the bad DP, he was moving slower than expected, so this crossover for the scoot was probably planned more or less on the spot (he could tell when the coal train cleared the crossovers at Lombard, and how close the scoot was). He would have had to be in touch with Metra to get in touch with passengers waiting at Villa Park and Elmhurst. I have no way of knowing how things evolved after the scoot left Lombard and crossed over, but that sure opened up the options for keeping things moving!
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)
We/I haven't abandoned the train!
So, Santa came to my house early this year and I just got my second railroad calendar for the new year WOOT WOOT!!!! We all know that BNSF was the generous giver of #1 (thanks to them!!) and relatives were thoughtful with gift #2!
Good, bad or indifferent, they have raised some questions in my little mind:
2. I have a loco marked WTLR (and I know who that is) but it's also marked "RailAmerica.' What is the relationship between the two, pls?
4. This one might be for you Carl, we'll see. The is a car shown, it appears to be "BLT 8-24" (lunch, anyone?) but above that it reads, "Route of the Whippet." Can you enlighten me, pls?
5. GT- I'm finding a bit of confusing info on them. This photo was shot in MI, if that means anything. (Gee, carl, maybe 2 in a row special for you?)
6.Here's a shot with the following locos hooked together: Bnsf; CSX; (poss. SF); NS; and (def.) SF. Really? How on earth could all of these get together in one train?
8. OK, next up we have a few BN. First is green with white (looks a lot like a gas station chain with Christmas toy trucks many of us know) but the next photo shows them with a black with white ans a stripe of red. How many different color schemes are out there? I know their best in their fall/Halloween get-up.
Thanks, as always. In case I don't make it back in, everyone have a very Merry Christmas (and/or a happy holiday season) and a happy and healthy new year!
PS No fair, I got so wrapped up that I forgot to say--neat stuff, Carl. I even saved the email to read again here in a bit.
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
Quentin
Sometimes the railroading around here seems like a giant strategy game that the dispatcher's playing. Last week (about three posts ago...where is everybody?), I noted a westbound manifest that they sent out on Track 2 so it would be out of the way of an eastbound manifest, and could get behind the westbound scoot at Lombard, thereby avoiding the eastbound on track 2 at Finley Road.
Today, things were hopping...we were in Elmhurst running a few errands ("That's okay, Pat...you go on into the store...I'll be standing right over here!"). An eastbound scoot had barely cleared the control point at park when the following train got a lunar signal (it was a little while before he got there, but a lunar signal is not an automatic thing, I don't think). Meanwhile, a westbound freight was going past, only a short distance behind the scoot on track 3.
When we were leaving Elmhurst (after seeing a number of freights and one more scoot...we were there for an hour total), I noticed that the eastbound signal for Track 1 at Park was lined up for a train to enter the yard (two reds over yellow). It wasn't approaching yet, and I was hoping we could catch it as we headed back to Lombard. When we got to Lombard, we hadn't seen the train yet, and Track 2 eastbound had a red-over-green. So that freight that had been lined up on Track 1 at Elmhurst would be crossing over from 2 to 1 at Lombard.
I decided to let Pat drive home without me so I could check this freight out. When she let me out of the car, it was about 20 minutes ahead of scoot time, so I figured I wouldn't have to wait too long for the freight. In about ten minutes it appeared: a Wisconsin Electric coal train with two GEs on the point and another one struggling at the hind end (see my separate post about that sick unit). He was moving at a decent speed as he started past me, but got progressively slower as he went by. When the PA system gave the five-minute announcement for the scoot, the coal train was still disappearing around the curve at Addison Road, with the DP unit still sending up smoke signals. I thought that the scoot would be getting approach signals all the way to Elmhurst, and might even be delayed, especially if the coal train were to stall with its underperforming power. But as soon as the coal train cleared the crossovers, the scoot got a lineup to cross over from Track 1 to track 2!
Theory has it that the scoot would still be behind the coal train all the way to Proviso. But it would have clear signals the entire way, and could make its stops at Villa Park and Elmhurst on Track 2, and probably pass the hind end of the coal train which would have otherwise possibly slowed it down around Elmhurst. An amazingly well-thought-out move, keeping the scoot close to schedule, and only inconveniencing Villa Park and Elmhurst passengers who'd have to get on and off the scoot at one spot on the middle track (in fact, Elmhurst commuters could have been warned about the train's arrival and been instructed to board from the south side of the tracks--using the pedestrian tunnel to get over to the other side--as the coal train limped by).
Very nice work--the scoot would have been late by only the amount of added time that it took to make station stops at other than a full platform. And the coal train was still moving the entire time--had it had to stop anywhere, it might not have been able to get moving again.
Thanks to an improperly-addressed Christmas card and some unseasonal weather (sunny and 45 right now), I'm going to hop on my bike and "participate in the hobby of full-size trains" on my way to the post office to mail the replacement. I hope the full-size railroad cooperates.
Meanwhile, freight-car research is progressing. I found some former CSXT and predecessor numbers for some BAEX box cars in a Surface Transportation Board recordation (wish it had more of them!).
My preceding post was adapted from something I put on Facebook (where, let's face it, not too many of my friends will understand the terminology). The husband of our church's Youth Director now wants a quick education on what the heck I'm talking about! I'm only too happy to oblige--he has a one-month-old potential future railfan in his family, and they live closer to the tracks than I do!
For anyone who has been missing my train-watching tales, the drought finally broke today. Pat and I made a trip into Chicago with Metra doing the driving. I dropped Pat off to buy tickets, at which time Track 1 had a high green, and track 2 had a Diverging Clear at the eastbound home signals for the crossovers. When I got back from parking the car, the Track 2 signal was all red: I'd missed the eastbound freight--a manifest, according to Pat.Our inbound scoot was led by the 8444! No, not that 8444 (the 4-8-4 has been renumbered back to 844), or even that 8444 (the SD70ACE could be almost anywhere)...this was the Metra cab car of that number, and I boarded it so I could look out the front from time to time.Once we got on the train, we caught an eastbound reefer train at Bellwood (that was a logical strategic possibility for the one I'd missed, but Pat didn't think that that was a reefer train).Also at Bellwood, we noticed that the old connecting track from Proviso to the main line at Provo Junction has now been shifted to connect to the new flyover, which should be in use. The mainline switch for the old connector hasn't been removed yet, but everything else has. It looks like some roadbed preparation (or roadbed-adjacent preparation) is being done between Berkeley and Bellwood for the third mainline track that will extend from Melrose Park to Elmhurst, around Proviso. Our station stop at Oak Park yielded two other stopped trains: a westbound manifest and an eastbound coal train. The westbound had been waiting on us so it could cross over at Vale or 25th and go into Proviso, but why was the eastbound coal train stopped? Because a second eastbound coal train was ahead of it, waiting at Kilbourn Avenue to go onto the Rockwell line (that second track on the Rockwell needs to be restored to mainline status, methinks!). We were met by a westbound scoot just as we were rounding the curve above Blommer Chocolate.It was about four hours later that we returned home. A dozen or more Metra F40s were sitting together at 40th Street, being readied for the evening "Fleet" (rush-hour scoots). Saw a cloud of soot as one of them was cranked up.
Our scoot met an eastbound manifest east of Oak Park. The westbound Roadrailer train for St. Paul was crossing above us on the IHB. The eastbound scoot met us just west of Elmhurst. After we got past Villa Park, I was surprised by a westbound manifest sitting on Track 2. It was long enough to be under the block signals (and on top of the grade crossing) at Addison Road, while its head end was at the crossover home signals in Lombard. The only thing I could figure was that it was waiting for us to get by so it could cross over from 2 to 3. (A good argument for a grade separation at Addison Road, don'cha think?) Pat went home without me after we got off the train.As soon as the scoot cleared the block, the freight started moving to follow it on a Diverging Approach. Before it could get past me, an eastbound manifest came by on Track 1. As I left, I noticed another train (eastbound dirty-dirt empties) sitting on Track 2--which explained why that westbound manifest couldn't stay on that track. Before the days of the crossover in Lombard, that westbound would have had to stay in Proviso until we had cleared, and--since that eastbound manifest was for points east of Proviso, one of the two probably would have wound up waiting for the other one.Hey, this is beginning to look a lot like a railroad out here!
zugmann switch7frg: Isn't the law of Physics a sticky mess at times ?? Only if you don't assume no friction...
switch7frg: Isn't the law of Physics a sticky mess at times ??
Isn't the law of Physics a sticky mess at times ??
Only if you don't assume no friction...
Johnny
Gee - Lots of birthdays here lately! Best wishes to all, of course!
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...
And I echo those good wishes to you, too! Hope it's a great one!
Hate to break in on the physics class again...
Today's the 16th birthday of "Bubba"Justin! Here's to many trains and expanding horizons for you, young fella! Happy birthday!
switch7frg Isn't the law of Physics a sticky mess at times ??
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
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Happy Birthday, Randy! Hope it brings lots of good things to you!
Happy two-to-the-fifth birthday to our roving reporter, Randy Vos! Have a great day, wherever it may find you.
Today I'm suffering a bit from cabin fever. Good thing the bike isn't put away--it might get a bit of use later on today!
Paul_D_North_Jr zug - I won't bore you with the physics of it all, but I'm kinda convinced that all the weight of a loaded car at slow speed, together with the friction between the rails*, tieplates, and solid ties, on tangent track with good surface, will keep the rail at correct gauge even without any spikes . . . Remove any of those favorable conditions, or add some other unfavorable ones, and that's when the rails start to move outward under traffic, with the usual results . . .
zug - I won't bore you with the physics of it all, but I'm kinda convinced that all the weight of a loaded car at slow speed, together with the friction between the rails*, tieplates, and solid ties, on tangent track with good surface, will keep the rail at correct gauge even without any spikes . . . Remove any of those favorable conditions, or add some other unfavorable ones, and that's when the rails start to move outward under traffic, with the usual results . . .
Makes perfect sense. I should have figured that one out myself. If I had a nickel for everything I forgot these past 5 years...
zugmann tree68: Not to mention the crew... Took me a couple years to have my first derailment (wasn't my fault!). Similar situation to yours. Old rail, wide gauge... you know the rest. Funny part is during the past couple of weeks prior I shoved probably close to 30 loaded tie cars over that track, ran the engines over it multiple times, but on our last move with 2 engines and 3 empties, well, that last empty was just too much for it.
Took me a couple years to have my first derailment (wasn't my fault!). Similar situation to yours. Old rail, wide gauge... you know the rest. Funny part is during the past couple of weeks prior I shoved probably close to 30 loaded tie cars over that track, ran the engines over it multiple times, but on our last move with 2 engines and 3 empties, well, that last empty was just too much for it.
*The 1:40 taper on the wheel tread and similar cant on the tieplate induces an outward vector of about 2.5% of the car's weight, but the friction is typically 25% of the weight, or 10 times as much, so the taper and cant are usually insignificant in causing the rails to spread.
- Paul North.
CNW 6000 ...and everyone got to go home.
...and everyone got to go home.
That is all that counts.
Keeping it on the rail and in one piece is just for bonus points...
tree68 zugmann: It happens. But those passengers had a trip they will never forget. Not to mention the crew...
zugmann: It happens. But those passengers had a trip they will never forget.
It happens. But those passengers had a trip they will never forget.
Not to mention the crew...
Dan
zugmann It happens. But those passengers had a trip they will never forget.
tree68 [snipped] I'm taking credit for one big factor that's been mentioned in several of the stories - Santa visited with each child while arrangements were being made for buses. Turns out that was "huge," as they say, and a number of the parents interviewed mentioned it. The Jolly Old Elf(s) had doffed their red suits in preparation for exiting the train when I asked them to suit back up and go visit the kids. . . . I'm sure some folks were frustrated, etc, but most saw it as an adventure. One little boy was thrilled to be taking his first ride in a bus, people posed with the firefighters for pictures (much to the amusement of the firefighters), and I encountered a family at the hotel this morning who was most complimentary about how the entire incident was handled.
. . . I'm sure some folks were frustrated, etc, but most saw it as an adventure. One little boy was thrilled to be taking his first ride in a bus, people posed with the firefighters for pictures (much to the amusement of the firefighters), and I encountered a family at the hotel this morning who was most complimentary about how the entire incident was handled.
Thanks also for the detailed responses to my questions.
Train-related Christmas lights. Starts at the 30 second mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGl4M4_QnvI&feature=related
Paul_D_North_Jr So am I right in thinking that the leading locomotive and some number of passenger cars did get over/ past the point of derailment without derailing themselves or any other problem ?
Some news reports I saw earlier today indicated that there was a switch at or near the point of derailment . . . ? I was also wondering if it might have been caused by ice in a grade crossing's flangeways, but I believe it hasn't been too cold or wet/ snowy up thataway yet, and the leading locomotive should have taken care of that anyhow.
The rail spread - what remains to be determined is why.
FRA and DOT are involved - we'll have to wait for their determination on cause, although I know of several considerations under study.
The track outside "Rule 98" (which calls for restricted speed and is not under control of the DS) is good for 30 MPH. The lead engine had just passed the sign denoting the border between the two, but the trailing engine had not yet passed the point, so we were well under the 20 MPH allowed in Rule 98.
I'm taking credit for one big factor that's been mentioned in several of the stories - Santa visited with each child while arrangements were being made for buses. Turns out that was "huge," as they say, and a number of the parents interviewed mentioned it. The Jolly Old Elf(s) had doffed their red suits in preparation for exiting the train when I asked them to suit back up and go visit the kids.
A local rail salvage company (like Hulcher, but not them) had the engine and all three cars back on the rails a hour and a half after they started. The track contractor went to work shortly thereafter, and the Saturday trips will be going off on schedule.
We were able to split the train in two, ferrying the half still on the tracks to an unloading point where the local VFD assisted passengers to the buses, then returning for the other half of the passengers to repeat the operation.
I'm sure some folks were frustrated, etc, but most saw it as an adventure. One little boy was thrilled to be taking his first ride in a bus, people posed with the firefighters for pictures (much to the amusement of the firefighters), and I encountered a family at the hotel this morning who was most complimentary about how the entire incident was handled.
I was curious about the coverage so I Googled it. Pages of hits....
CShaveRR Yup, they changed the order...those were the two I was thinking. Does V&S stand for vultures and scavengers? [snipped]
"Victoria Southern Railway, which acquired the ex-Missouri Pacific route between Avondale and Towner, Colo., in October, has let the state know it plans to savage [sic - emphasis added - probably should be "salvage" instead] the entire line."
And our local turkey buzzards want it to be known that they object to any mention of their kind in the same sentence as the "grave dancer" scrappers . . .
P.S. - Is this the same line that usually figures so prominently in the discussions about "What happened to the Tennessee Pass route ?", "Will it ever be used again ?", etc. ? - PDN.
"We're here for the finance - not the romance!"
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