jeffhergert [snipped] I don't know if it's related, but there is a new computer system that has replaced the CAD system. It cost quite a bit ($30 to $50 million depending on who you ask) but has bugs in it. It was picked by someone high up, and no one wants to say it has problems.
I hope it 'failed safe". Even if it did, that big of a failure may attract the attention of the FRA enough to investigate compliance with the FRA's dispatching, safety, and operating system rules, which will be fun for no one and only compound the grief and aggravation . . .
- Paul North.
tree68 [snipped] For reasons that have yet to be determined, we ended up with three of our cars and the front truck of the trailing locomotive on the ground tonight, prematurely ending a trip to the north pole. . . . And it wasn't even on our own track.
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.
Wonder what FRA Class that track is supposed to be (since it's carrying occupied passenger cars, it can't be "Excepted Track" = no Class, or "Class 0" - it has to be Class 1 or greater), when it was last inspected, and whether it still met the requirements for that Class at the time and place of the derailment . . . ?
It made our evening news tonight. Doesn't sound like you got too far out of Utica.
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)
tree68 News of our own, unfortunately. For reasons that have yet to be determined, we ended up with three of our cars and the front truck of the trailing locomotive on the ground tonight, prematurely ending a trip to the north pole. Tomorrow's trips are iffy, depending on whether the track can be repaired. We have some cars we can use in a pinch, if those involved won't pass muster. Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result of the derailment, although two elves managed to come up with a stubbed to and banged elbow shortly thereafter. First such incident in 20 years. And it wasn't even on our own track.
News of our own, unfortunately.
For reasons that have yet to be determined, we ended up with three of our cars and the front truck of the trailing locomotive on the ground tonight, prematurely ending a trip to the north pole.
Tomorrow's trips are iffy, depending on whether the track can be repaired. We have some cars we can use in a pinch, if those involved won't pass muster.
Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result of the derailment, although two elves managed to come up with a stubbed to and banged elbow shortly thereafter.
First such incident in 20 years. And it wasn't even on our own track.
So, my apologies to Larry and anyone else who was annoyed by my initial reply asking about the cause! I now see, after re-reading it, he already said cause yet to be determined. Oops; anyone have a towel so I can wipe the egg off my face?
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, There was a CTC problem last night. The dispatcher that handles East Mo Valley to Fairfax had his entire territory affected. I was deadheading by train west when it happened. We were turned into a dog catch and relieved an eastward manifest and returned to Boone. When we arrived the outbound crew said the failure had went all the way to Chicago. I know I heard our dispatcher calling a lot of trains and ask them where their head end was.
I don't know if it's related, but there is a new computer system that has replaced the CAD system. It cost quite a bit ($30 to $50 million depending on who you ask) but has bugs in it. It was picked by someone high up, and no one wants to say it has problems.
Jeff
You made headlines! http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/09/9329441-polar-express-train-jumps-tracks-with-100-children-on-board?ocid=twitter Looks like the situation was handled well.
Jay
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
Yup, they changed the order...those were the two I was thinking. Does V&S stand for vultures and scavengers?
There must have been a signal problem on Metra's UP West line last night, just before midnight. Three scoots that were on the line were stopped at West Chicago, Lombard, and Kedzie (the signal problem was probably more widespread; that just happens to be where the scoots were caught). Things were restored after a little more than an hour.
Carl: Top & bottom as it sits now. The one at the top has already started a ruckus.
Thanks, Carl. I am up and about today, though yesterday was spent in bed, for the majority of time. It is getting better, swelling and pain are decreasing somewhat.
Good thing, too bc all the microferroequinologists come out of the woodwork this weekend and have a big meet up. Gotta get ready to roll to that, esp. since it's my initiation into such events!
MC, would you be talking about the middle two of the four articles?
Larry, I think I heard from someone that your track was in better shape than the joint trackage. Sorry to hear about the wreck, but on the bright side, there are some folks for whom that will be more memorable than the visit to see Santa at Llanfair................gogogoch. (We saw the sign on our trip; it's on the west side of the tracks.)
Nance, how are you doing today--able to be up and about?
We got our first measurable snow today; it didn't even cover the top of our well-manicured lawn (I can say that...we just mowed it last week!). Even though it's cold out there, the sun has taken care of most of it now. It looked nice this morning, though, when I had to run errands. Nothing railroady on that trip out, unfortunately...the drought continues for me.
Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it all works out so you can operate today. Any idea on the cause? Good luck.
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...
Two news articles in today's Newswire have a common link and it's a tad scary ... hope somebody else sees it.
Paul_D_North_Jr mudchicken: Carl: Did railroad safety training with some of our folks. Amazing what some understand and scarilly what some do not (assumed to be true).... Which is why it - and similar OSHA training, etc. - is often required annually. Between what some people never understood rightly before, did know but forgot or just now mis-remember, new situations, new rules, new territories, new responsibilities, new hires/ promotions, new equipment/ procedures, etc. - annual refreshers are none too often. And even if you and I know it cold and could teach it - well, it's an opportunity to help do that, too, and as here - remind ourselves that not everyone is as well-informed or sharp, and we need to look out for them, too. - Paul North.
mudchicken: Carl: Did railroad safety training with some of our folks. Amazing what some understand and scarilly what some do not (assumed to be true)....
Which is why it - and similar OSHA training, etc. - is often required annually. Between what some people never understood rightly before, did know but forgot or just now mis-remember, new situations, new rules, new territories, new responsibilities, new hires/ promotions, new equipment/ procedures, etc. - annual refreshers are none too often. And even if you and I know it cold and could teach it - well, it's an opportunity to help do that, too, and as here - remind ourselves that not everyone is as well-informed or sharp, and we need to look out for them, too.
Thx IGN
Happy birthday, Mookie! Hope it was a great one for ya! (Sorry I am late--had a bit of an [non-RR] accident tonight.)
Thanks much guys, for the info on the switches--it really helps!!
Some links pertaining to the radio-controlled track switches:
"UP radio-controlled switches" from Jan. 2010 at: (note: "Northe" isn't me !) http://forums.radioreference.com/railroad-railfan-monitoring-forum/170160-up-radio-controlled-switches.html
Vossloh's "Global Rail Systems" Model TS-4500 Switch - see the "methods of operation" 2. and 3. under "Switch Machine" at: http://www.globalrailsystems.com/ts4500.html or
http://www.vossloh-usa.com/cms/en/rail_infrastructure/signal_switch_control_systems/ts_4500/ts_4500.html
There are others, too . . .
Dan - Happiness is that I haven't had to dust it, cook it, scour it, or wash it.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Happy Birthday Mookie. I hope it's a good one!
Dan
CShaveRR I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Sister Jen (a.k.a. Mookie) on her birthday. One hopes that she will stay warm and comfortable on her special day, or that perhaps some train-watching at Camp Mookie would not be out of the question. Later today we will hoist a mug of hot chocolate in your honor, SJ!
I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Sister Jen (a.k.a. Mookie) on her birthday. One hopes that she will stay warm and comfortable on her special day, or that perhaps some train-watching at Camp Mookie would not be out of the question.
Later today we will hoist a mug of hot chocolate in your honor, SJ!
At last count, the PTRA has 5 radio controlled switched, all 5 control access from single track to double track mains.
They all operate on a single, separate frequency from train traffic, in our case, channel 5 which is our MOW/car department channel.
You go to channel 5 , hit digital frequency button and dial a number, oddly just like a phone number,7 digits, followed by the # sign, the switch will line, the last digit in the number determines which way the switch lines, and because we operate at restricted speed, we can get away with switch point position indicators, red for diverging, green for tangent, or normal.
Each switch has its own set of “phone numbers” used only for that particular switch.
The ones down here on UP have a tone back response, they “answer” the radio request to line with a steady tone if successful, and a interrupted or pulsing tone if they don’t or won’t line.
I would guess that most railroads have a little used frequency they assign to their radio lined switches.
23 17 46 11
mudchicken Carl: Did railroad safety training with some of our folks. Amazing what some understand and scarilly what some do not (assumed to be true)....
Carl: Did railroad safety training with some of our folks. Amazing what some understand and scarilly what some do not (assumed to be true)....
We have that here, too. Some people 'get it,' some don't.
In NY we're required to have an annual OSHA refresher (8 hours). It's like pulling teeth to get people to attend.
We have been finding here that our local news has been covering more and more events after the fact and very few of up-and-coming; therefore, we have been missing out on a lot. One very important, recent example was a collection of electronic waste, such as old computers, TV's etc--very important stuff to keep out of the landfills, but we can't if we don't know about such events. UGH--it's very frustrating!!!
OK, off my soapbox now. Thanks.
Just saw a report on the local TV news about the CP's Christmas train, and how it stopped to perform a concert and raise money for charities, complete with comments on how neat that was. Problem is, the train was in Minnesota, presumably headed away from Chicago. Wouldn't it have been neater to have publicity before the train had come here?
MC, I was actually making more fun of the way that was worded in the ad. I never had to study these things, beyond how they translated into operating rules. I hope the training sessions left your folks better off than they had (apparently) been.
It's shaping up to be another day of no trains but plenty of research for me. Since the weekend I've been working on transcribing information about UTCX covered hoppers relettered PLCX in 1988. One of the affected PLCX files was expanded by over 3000 words (from four pages to 14). So far, three brand-new UTCX files have been generated, and two others updated, with probably a dozen to go.
I just got an e-mail advising me to Order my FRA Regulations Today!
Oh, goody! Can I pick out the ones I like?
tree68 We try to use hand signals where possible for our run-arounds, etc. Frustrates the dickens out of the folks who like to hear themselves talk on the radio...
We try to use hand signals where possible for our run-arounds, etc. Frustrates the dickens out of the folks who like to hear themselves talk on the radio...
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