COOL; real nice catch!!!
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
UP gave me a genuine thrill this afternoon. I walked down to the tracks after church, while Pat had some church-related business to finish up. The home signal at the new control point showed red-over-green on Track 1, so I walked toward the control point, hoping to shoot video of the train going through the crossover. The video didn't turn out well, but it did show that the train was moving as he went through there. There was no reduction in speed for the crossover, this was a well-powered stack train, and he was doing every bit of the 50 m.p.h. he was allowed for the crossover move. I didn't see so much as a wobble, or hear a flange squeal.
Gray day today, with a strong northerly wind blowing leaves everywhere. But it's still a balmy 55, so I will see whether I can get another bag of leaves out of our front yard before the weather moves in tonight.
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)
This came from Railway Age this morning:
UP—and only UP—earns its cost of capital The Surface Transportation Board announced Thursday that among all U.S. Class I railroads, it found that only Union Pacific was revenue adequate for the year 2010—meaning that it achieved a rate of return equal to or greater than the board’s calculation of the average cost of capital to the freight rail industry.
The agency determined that the railroad cost of capital for 2010 was 11.3%. UP’s rate of return was 11.54%. Falling short of a return equaling the cost of capital were: BNSF Railway, 9.22%; CSX Transportation, Inc., 10.85%; Grand Trunk Corp. Consolidated (including all Canadian National U.S. affiliates), 9.21%; Kansas City Southern Railway Co., 9.77%; Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 10.96%; and Soo Line Railroad Co. (including all Canadian Pacific U.S. affiliates), 8.01%.
Somebody with a finer ability with figures (slightly different from "numbers", which I can do ) will have to explain to me why return on investment and operating ratio don't correlate. We keep hearing about this amazingly low operating ratio that CN has all the time, yet under this metric they don't look too hot.
zugmannThat time of year again - vacation bid time. I hate trying to decide when I want off a year ahead of time. What time of year would be good to visit your neck of the woods, Carl? (I'm going to try and shoot for it this year... see what happens).
I hate trying to decide when I want off a year ahead of time. What time of year would be good to visit your neck of the woods, Carl? (I'm going to try and shoot for it this year... see what happens).
I remember it well...trying to explain to well-meaning relatives, etc., that we couldn't change our vacations to suit everything we wanted to do, and having to struggle for years to be able to get one in the summer. I was lucky in my choices...I'd go for the weeks around my kids' spring breaks in school; by the time they graduated I could do summer. And the one or two weeks of flexible vacation days were also helpful in the last few years.
Tom, just about any time is train time around here. I'd avoid winter and the hottest months, though. And if there are considerations other than railroads you'd like to have accommodated, let us know and we could be more specific.
CP Hudson 2816, which suffered a cracked rear driving axle last summer, is back up and running. They took it out for a test run yesterday within the city limits to shake things out. No word yet on when to expect a road trip out of town. Great news.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
That time of year again - vacation bid time.
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
The news reports I'd seen (up until the one posted in the other thread) said that hazmat was not involved. One said there was hazmat on the train, but that it was contained.
One piece of footage shows persistent flames coming from underneath the ADMX covered hopper that was in the vicinity of the diamonds, but that car or its contents would not be hazardous.
This is not an area I'm familiar with at all, so I don't know the orientation of the film, but there was quite a pileup of cars just one side of the diamond. Someone's already said that Metra service would be curtailed into the weekend, but I doubt that it will take that long to get something opened up.
Yea, we all have those moments, whether we admit them or not.
Have a good day.
EDIT: Hhmmm, as per the thread up that's dedicated to this wreck, it was/is a haz-mat carrying train. Curious. Guess it'll come out in the wash as to which is correct.
Ahhhh- uhhh , some days it is harder to get out of 1st. gear and into 5th overdrive.
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Carl ; any news about the wreck near you. Just caught a snip before a commercial , then the fine folk forgot to tellthe story. Hazmat involved???
Cannonball
Had a wreck this morning on CN's old EJ&E line at Spaulding, Illinois (Bartlett or Elgin, roughly). It disrupted service on Metra's Milwaukee West line (which hosts CP/DM&E/ICE trains as well); no idea when the line(s) will be reopened. One report says two freights; another says eight cars off one CN train. No hazmat, they say, but something was burning pretty good. Metra was caught with most of its trains on that line west of the derailment site; there are buses to ferry commuters to Roselle, where a couple of trainsets are doing their best to bring people in to Chicago.
Nance - how about this:
That's actually a very telephoto-enhanced shot - the train is around three eighths of a mile away. We do 15 MPH there, tops.
We found a pull-apart this summer - the bolts on one side of a track joint sheared off, but the joint bars were both still in place and holding the rail in alignment. Since it was less than 100 yards from "Rule 98" (Restricted Speed), MOW didn't even put a restriction on it before they fixed it. They had to wait until a nice warm day to fix it, though.
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...
Nance -
1. . . . Until the mud freezes - then it might derail some rolling stock, esp. something light-weight such as an empty flat car or caboose, etc. Definitely don't want that mud in anything other than low-speed track - not that you'd want it there, either, because it will accelerate the rot of wooden ties; corrosion of anything metal; foul the ballast and ruin the drainage so that the track might become unstable and start to pump and get out of cross-level and good surface; and makes it impossible as a practical matter for a track inspector to examine anything but the gage and cross-level, and wonder what's going on underneath the mud if those parameters are not good or show signs of dynamically moving to adverse conditions/ values under traffic, etc. Other than these, no - no big impact . . .
2. A gap between the rails at a joint of more than about 5/16" or 3/8" indicates that something is wrong with the one or more of either: the bolts, bolt hole drilling in the rail, bolt hole punching in the joint bar, and/ or the joint bar used for the rail, etc. That's about the maximum amount of opening designed and 'built in' the rail and joint bars between the bolt hole diameter and the bolt's shaft for thermal expansion and contraction before the bolts contact the sides of the hole and start to bend or break, etc. Somewhat surprisingly, I can't find anything in the FRA Track Safety Standards (2007) that states a specific dimension for this. In certain applications such as car dumpers, weigh scales, movable bridges, etc., the gaps can get to be from 1/2" to 1" or so, which is about the maximum I'd want to see for a low-speed (10 MPH) operation. Although, I have seen low-speed industrial operations over gaps in the 2" - 3" range on tangent track (at broken-out rail ends) that evidently had no problems with it - but curves would be much more sensitive to such as gap, as I'm sure you can imagine . . .
3. Depends on the speed, and other conditions, such as cross-level, gage, etc. As a guide, the FRA Track Safety Standards' Table 4 at Sec. 213.55 - Alinement. allows up to a 5" deviation at the midpoint of a 62-ft. long chord for Class 1 track, 3" for Class 2, but only 1-1/2" for Class 4, etc. A bit of waviness is not a problem except for high speeds.
- Paul North.
None of these sounds like a condition I'd want built in to my track! I'm no expert, but all of these conditions, though harmless by themselves (at a slow speed) suggests that there may be deeper (figuratively and literally) problems. For example, if I couldn't see ties or ballast under a mud-filled roadbed, I'd wonder whether they could hold the weight of anything going over them...particularly if I had no clue how the mud got there in the first place (for example, was this a sand loading site?).
Hello,
I have a few ?? about track.
1. Does it impact anything if the gauge is FULL of mud, right up to the rails? I'm thinking no, but...
2. How big of a gap in the rails, at a joint, would cause a problem? Any idea in inches?
3. How much of a kink in the rails would be problematic? If you can see a bit of waviness, is that a problem or does it have to be really bad, or...
Thanks, as always! Make it a safe day.
never mind.
This is a follow-up report on a couple of construction projects around here.
First, Pat and I saw a westbound UP freight leave Elmhurst on Track 1, which is normally the track for eastbound scoots, and rarely gets any use in the westbound direction. We thought we'd chase it home to Lombard. We didn't see it actually go through the new crossovers, but saw the train's hind end disappear around the curve on Track 2.
Second, the town of Bensenville as we used to know it looks like Ground Zero of some sort of catastrophe. North of the MILW tracks and east of York Road, everything--yes, everything--is leveled in connection with the O'Hare expansion. But today we were surprised to see the shopping area at York and Green, south of the MILW tracks, also gone.
The UP's new bridge over Irving Park Road (one long girder span that covers at least five lanes of traffic) appears to be done, and the trackage (concrete ties and all) is laid up on top of it. Trains are still using the old route as of today, though. So far, the CP tracks have not been raised to go over Irving Park; this would be done with a bridge just a short distance west of the new UP bridge...unless a new connection is built so both railroads use the UP bridge (that would seem to deprive CP of the room to hold out a couple of trains waiting for entry into Bensenville Yard or the UP's trackage, something that's often done now).
I also was talking with a retired CP (MILW...who's anyone kidding?) employee this morning (he attends our church); he was told by a CP Road Foreman that when CP goes over Irving Park Road on a new grade separation, the climb from the yard to the overpass will be the steepest grade anywhere on the CP system!
zugmannAll these night shots posted lately have made me order a new tripod this morning. I've done a little night work before, but never had a decent tripod. So maybe I can get out of my rut.
Go for it! Getting out of the ruts can't hurt!
There may be something to that "because they could" thing. I went down trackside again this morning before church, and the same scenario repeated itself...after the eastbound scoot disappeared around the curve, the signal on Track 1 went to red-over-green. I couldn't wait around to see the train that crossed over this time.
I could see the logic of crossing over the stack train yesterday. Even if he couldn't have gotten past the scoot before getting to Elmhurst, he could keep moving without being given approaches all the way in (which would still translate to Restricting on account of the ATC). If, for some reason, the stack train were going to the IHB, it just made half of its crossover move in Lombard, rather than having to cross over two tracks east of Elmhurst. Whether it did this ahead of, alongside, or behind the scoot would be immaterial.
Sure, why not? Just like "cleaning the rust" off the switches/track.
Snow is melting here... got at least half a foot. Hard to tell since there was some sleet/rain/melting while it was snowing. But the borough was out plowing,
All these night shots posted lately have made me order a new tripod this morning. I've done a little night work before, but never had a decent tripod. So maybe I can get out of my rut.
tree68 CShaveRR: I was told that they had only recently unclamped the switches and given control of the control point to the dispatcher. One might wonder whether, situation permitting, a DS would route a train through the new crossovers "because he could..."
CShaveRR: I was told that they had only recently unclamped the switches and given control of the control point to the dispatcher.
One might wonder whether, situation permitting, a DS would route a train through the new crossovers "because he could..."
After weaving back and forth between mains 1 and 2 across western Iowa one trip for no apparent reason, I said to the conductor, "They must be testing the crossovers today."
Jeff
CShaveRRI was told that they had only recently unclamped the switches and given control of the control point to the dispatcher.
CShaveRR Erie: A couple of new 8900-series Canadian Pacific units on the GE test track.
Erie: A couple of new 8900-series Canadian Pacific units on the GE test track.
From a post made Oct. 18th. Carl, you must have seen almost the last units from that order. They have up to the 8940's in service now, and there are only 60 units in the order. There has been an amazing amount written about the original 8900 series, considering there were only 21 FM/CLC H-24-66 Trainmasters.
I received a copy of the Morning Sun published book "Canadian Pacific in Color: Volume 2, Western Lines" earlier today. On page 59 there is a photo of NB Train 67 at Keoma, AB, taken in August 1968. Keoma is the next Station south of Irricana, and this would have been 3 years after we left Irricana and two years after the Mixed Train service had been discontinued. Unbelievably, to me at least, the water car we received our drinking water from is hooked up behind the GP9. I have seen a number of photo's of CP water cars used as Auxiliary Water Car's behind branchline steam locos, or Water Cars used in MOW Service, but this is the ONLY photo I have ever seen where the hose that ran from the tank car into the stations is intact and riding on the side of the car. I had pretty much resigned myself to never seeing a picture of that again. And I do not know why that car would still be there after all of the stations had closed on that line. I will be taking that book with me the next time I go visit my Mother. A very moving experience for me today.
EDIT @ 8:45 PM MDT: After I wrote this I realized there must still have been a Section Man's house or two that still needed tanked in drinking water.
Might have seen the first train use one of the crossovers at Lombard this afternoon--an eastbound stack train went from Track 1 past the station to Track 2 across Grace Street. I was told that they had only recently unclamped the switches and given control of the control point to the dispatcher. The signals were first lit either last night or this morning, and with that, train-watching will become more predictable, if not more interesting, at Elizabeth Street.
My December issue of Trains came today. Now, I am torn between it and Southeastern Conference football. (Ricki puts up with my watching the football games, knowing that this will pass, come January).
Johnny
We received a rather unhappy surprise today. The 2Toots railroad-themed restaurant in Downers Grove has disappeared. We'd planned on lunch there this noon on our way to babysitting Nico, but no such luck. They have a competitor that it much larger and more child-friendly on the other side of town, but you couldn't beat the view of the "Racetrack" from their windows.
Fortunately, the 2Toots by the tracks in Glen Ellyn is still going strong.
CShaveRR ....I know that Chris was expecting to get dumped on today, and it looks like it's happening with a vengeance.
....I know that Chris was expecting to get dumped on today, and it looks like it's happening with a vengeance.
Denver's high temperature Monday was a record of 81.Wednesday they got 8+' of snow.Saturday's highs expected to be near 60.Wow.
If you're in train service, when called for work over the Moffat line, how do you dress? Get called to work when it's hot, and come home in a blizzard! Although, I suppose in Colorado during much of the year, even in summer, the crews have to take cold-weather clothing along.
I remember one July day it was sunny 90+ degrees in Denver as I left on a cross-mountain trip in my shorts and t-shirt driving my soft-top Jeep. I was going to try to cross at Rollins Pass, but there was so much snow still on the ground, I couldn't even get as far as Needle Tunnel. By the time I decided to make the crossing thru the Eisenhower Tunnel, the weather had turned cloudy, and the temp at the tunnel was only 45.
Today is Kalmbach Day!
(Angela says she remembers why...but I think she's a trifle young to remember the old offices, or the fascination David P. Morgan and his staff had with the number 1027.)
Did you know that the current Waukesha address should have been 21025 Crossroads Circle, but they moved heaven and earth to make it 21027 (or second 1027)?
It used to be fun to watch for locomotives and freight cars numbered 1027. And one evening, many years ago, I saw a tank car, CALX 1027, on 10/27. It wasn't far from 10:27 p.m., either!
Nowadays one can't match locomotives to Kalmbach's Waukesha address, and even freight cars aren't easy. But I did note WPSX 1027 on one of the trains going by me a couple of days ago.
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