fire in the tunnel in the Cascades....

[highballer1]

My Great Uncle helped to "bore" those tunnels on the Cascade Line and even suffered a concussion to his head when a fellow worker dropped a 16 pound sledge hammer from above on a scaffold in one of those tunnels. He talked about "voids" caused by rock splitting off or cracking ahead of blasting and drills and thus, in that time period and given the availability of timber, those voids were filled with cut and split cord wood and then rough lumber with bents placed to the inner facing of the tunnels. Eventually, the SP tried guniting the linings and it's my understanding that UP was going to. But for now, let's hope they learned their lesson well, cut down on the number of GE "belchers," and continue guniting and covering the lining of those tunnels. This line is the most exceptional engineering feat for a mountain pass crossing. It was one of the fastest done for that time and given the materials and machinery they had to work with, and is most "modern" by anyone's standards. My uncle also stated that when they brought the two ends together, they were only inches off!

For that many twists, turns and the terrain they had to conquer, it was an engineering feat many would be very proud of. It is for you folks not in the Northwest, one of the most pictuesque and beautiful areas I've seen and I've lived in Oregon all my life. About 16 years ago I often took day road trips down there and came into areas from Forest Service roads and picnicked as well as photographed the tracks, trains and the surroundings. I also collected some of the small gravel and dirt from the cuts for my model railroad.

[Junctionfan]

What kind of damage is UP figuring they will have to face? Do they believe it was caused by a locomotive?

[Anonymous]

UP reports fire out and tunnel returning to service tomorrow.

[Modelcar]

dblstack....That is astounding....! After all the speculation with many on here I believe the consensus is there would be damage...How can it return to service without repair of some magnitude....This will be interesting.

[Modelcar]

....Just checked "news wire" and sure enough, it has the full story of reopening the number 7 tunnel...in fact trains have already moved through it...!

[jeaton]

I suppose we may have been the source of the rumors of collapse, especially if the post weren't read with care. There was a lot of discussion about what would be done in a worst case scenario, but I think that came from posters knowing that a long period closing would have some pretty serious consequences for the UP, Amtrak and freight shippers that use that route. It is good to hear that operation is back up.

Bergie and crew certainly did a good job of reporting this on the newswire.

Jay

[Junctionfan]

I was concerned about the track mostly. I though the tie might catch on fire and the rail slightly warped from the heat.

[Anonymous]

I am glad to see the tunnel re-opened. My first job out of engineering school was with the UP Bridge Department, 33 years ago. Out of that job, I had bought UP stock which I still own. If the tunnel needed to be rebuilt, there would be a good chance I would be selling my precious stock from which I get a beautiful annual report and calendar.

Thank heavens that did not happen.

[Anonymous]

By any chance are you related to Jim Hemphill who worked in the UP Bridge Department office in Omaha around 1971?

Thanks.

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Clemente

Book smart or street smart. How many months were you at that KCS DS job? I'll try to keep all of this in mind next time I visit my favorite ABS mainline and a bunch of westbounds go roaring by me doing better than 50mph on roughly 20 minute headways, each crew clutching track warrants that were called out by the dispatcher in one move while the fleet was approaching the end of CTC. Can't run 'em like that in dark territory. Dems da facts, out where the flange meets the rail.

I can imagine that if all trains are moving in the same direction, and the dispatcher is too busy to grant/release TWC or DTC blocks individually, then ABS would be beneficial. Otherwise, I do not see how in 'dark territory' more than one train can be given authority for a section of track, unless the second train is granted "after" permission, such as:
"UP 4321 South is authorized in the Alpha block AFTER the UP1234 South has passed your location. UP4321 shall operate at restricted speed to the next block". That second train better not be doing 50 mph under that authority.

Regarding "cramming more trains per mile with ABS", I think that would be a generalization, for I know of a few locations where switch engines and way freights operate on the main, and the dispatcher can do more 'creative' railroading in dark territory, without worrying about "direction of traffic" on a particular track, or about "running against the current of traffic" which causes any conflicting movement to be stopped at a controlled point awaiting the conflicting traffic, instead of just going to the next DTC/TWC block limit.

[Anonymous]

While he catches his breath, let me point out that nobody has suggested that ABS "grants or modifies authority." Let me also point out that, after previously saying ABS has virtually no impact on capacity, he now is willing to say it does increase capacity "if it enables higher train speeds." That was precisely my point from the get-go. I'm not nit-picking him. I just want to clear up any confusion you all may have had about my earlier posts.