Thanks for the compliment Quentin...but that was Zug's shot of the Gensets.
I'll "switch" gears here...Saturday afternoon there was a "local" that was to run with two engines & slug with 4 cars from Fond du Lac, WI to Powers, MI. Here's L528 in it's glory:
GP9RM, Slug, SW1500.
I liked the nice touch of the class lights being turned on.
Dan
I dream of CN slugification...
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
zugmann I dream of CN slugification...
A video of mine from 2008 with the same pair in action:http://youtu.be/W6oFVyuo5y8
Uh-oh! ^We just returned from supper with Willy and his mother, who probably didn't mind the relative lack of trains through Glen Ellyn as much as I did (they'd been to Chesterton and saw plenty there!). Of course, as soon as we'd gotten ready to leave, two eastbound freights were lined up. We saw one of them (a grain train, with DP), and I heard the other one as soon as I got out of the car at home.
Willy still reads us, but he lurks most of the time. We civil people here know better than to blame Will for the horrendous weather of the past few months, but some people knock meteorologists a little too harshly.
No word today from Nance...hope things are okay by her.
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)
Oh, Dan, Willy and his mother might go through your neck of the woods tomorrow, on their way to the Door Peninsula. I suggested that they stay on your side of Lake Winnebago.
Depending on the time they're driving through...the traffic from EAA could get quite nasty when combined with the ongoing road expansion of US41. That said...I hope he has a good time. I'm around after 1 PM and will be out and about.
CNW 6000 zugmann: I dream of CN slugification... Why's that?
zugmann: I dream of CN slugification...
Why's that?
Never mind.. a play on words of a song.
I've been going through some of my photos from some reason. This was just a quick grab shot after work, but it's one of my favorites. Taken two years ago. Funny, doesn't seem like two years ago.
CNW 6000 Always nice to welcome a new little one! We got rain overnight nearing an inch worth. Nice to start to catch up! I'd be fine with about a week straight of rain. Got a remote trigger for my dSLR and am having fun with that and a tripod. Here's a UP coalie heading north for Green Bay. Flickr Link It may not win any awards...but I like it.
Always nice to welcome a new little one!
We got rain overnight nearing an inch worth. Nice to start to catch up! I'd be fine with about a week straight of rain.
Got a remote trigger for my dSLR and am having fun with that and a tripod. Here's a UP coalie heading north for Green Bay.
Flickr Link
It may not win any awards...but I like it.
That I like!!
Beats a grab shot made as I was coming out of a quarry near Beachville ON....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Rebuilt from a GP 38, has a lot of the same parts as an MK1500D, cab and nose were built by Motive Power (Bosie Locomotive) now a part of Wabco...looks like it has a CAT dual prime mover...would have to research it some.
Great shot by the way, so beside a science fiction fan, hes a photographer too!
23 17 46 11
We had to visit our pioneer museum today (the Sheldon Peck Homestead), which has a fantastic view of the tracks (Sheldon Peck himself sold the necessary land to the Galena & Chicago Union for this right-of-way). In less than an hour, we were blessed with three westbounds (including one made up entirely of some apparently new or rebuilt NS coal gons), the eastbound scoot, an eastbound manifest, and the westbound scoot (where was all this action when Willy was around?).Pat and I then had lunch at a place where the trains could be observed when they went by. You guessed it--nothing, We got a bit of rain this morning, and a few blinks of the power grid. Some places in the area got hit far worse (Pat found that our library was without power). The rain and breeze kept it fairly tolerable today (we biked the aforementioned errands, as well as a couple of shopping trips), but tomorrow we're under a heat advisory again, with temperatures oozing toward the century mark.
edblysard Rebuilt from a GP 38, has a lot of the same parts as an MK1500D, cab and nose were built by Motive Power (Bosie Locomotive) now a part of Wabco...looks like it has a CAT dual prime mover...would have to research it some. Great shot by the way, so beside a science fiction fan, hes a photographer too!
The 101 I posted is a 3-engine Genset. The little lunchbox looking thing behind it is a 2-engine cabless Genset (equipped with RCO gear) rebuilt on a switcher frame.
Aren't bad little pullers - impressed me.
I'm not a photographer - just been playing around with cameras for longer than I care to admit. But the stars have to align just right for me to go out and actually take shots. Then the moon and sun have to further align with the stars for me to edit and post such shots.
zugmann The 101 I posted is a 3-engine Genset. The little lunchbox looking thing behind it is a 2-engine cabless Genset (equipped with RCO gear) rebuilt on a switcher frame. Aren't bad little pullers - impressed me. I'm not a photographer - just been playing around with cameras for longer than I care to admit. But the stars have to align just right for me to go out and actually take shots. Then the moon and sun have to further align with the stars for me to edit and post such shots.
I was wondering about the photographic details: how long of an exposure, what f-stop, what 'film (?) speed' setting, etc. ? Also, did you have to do anything special with filters or post-processing, etc. to keep the floodlights in the upper left background from bathing the locos in an odd-colored hue of light and distorting the color balance, etc. ?
- Paul North.
2120. Or as I called it, the "BeeGee" (B unit genset..)
I don't know details, I'd have to dig up the photo. I used the white balance setting for "ugly yellow lights roughly the color of urine from someone that drank way too much Tang". So in reality, that photo would have that magnificent orangeish hue, but I made this my new reality.
....Sorry, applied the praise to the wrong person {for the night shot}....So it was Z-man.
And of course I know the word "genset"....but couldn't think of it at the time.
Quentin
zugmann 2120. Or as I called it, the "BeeGee" (B unit genset..) I don't know details, I'd have to dig up the photo. I used the white balance setting for "ugly yellow lights roughly the color of urine from someone that drank way too much Tang". So in reality, that photo would have that magnificent orangeish hue, but I made this my new reality.
I'm going to try for a new technique this weekend if I can time things right: back curtain sync. Open exposure for a time, then a flash at the end to freeze the motion. I'd rather do that than set up flood lights at night to blind crews!
I remember my first experience of seeing sodium lights in widespread use. I was used to the blue-white light of mercury vapor lighting, and it was jarring and ugly. Not being a drinker of Tang, I couldn't have come up with Zug's description. However, I think that newer, more efficient lighting is taking us back to a much more natural color.
_____________
We had to go down to Urbana to deliver a daughter to dozens of admirers at the symposium on British music today; she'll be shipped back home on Sunday. We were in a hurry to get rid of her (not really), but on the way home we had time to explore the former IC "Main Line of Mid-America", from about Rantoul to Chebanse (south of Kankakee). We caught one CN freight in motion, a yard engine in Gilman, and saw several grain elevators along the way with their own switchers, including an EMD, an Alco, and a Trackmobile. There was also a Loram undercutting train at work on the main line, and some of CN's own surfacing equipment. It apparently needs work--places with muddy rails betraying pumping ballast were numerous, especially right by grade crossings.The neatest part for me (not so thrilling for Pat) was discovering a "road" that allowed us to get closer to some cars in a yard in Gilman (it was single-lane, stretched on forever, and looked like it was paved primarily with ballast...but in the city it carries a name, and nowhere did we encounter a "no trespassing" sign!). We saw some nice-looking aggregate hopper cars bearing reporting marks FRKX (Vulcan Materials Company). The cars had four-digit numbers, most of which were zero...we were fortunate enough to see FRKX 0001!Another series of aggregate hoppers might be interesting. These were PMRX cars in the 92000 series. They appear to be relettered only. They have aluminum sides, with yellow panels behind the reporting mark and number. I'm thinking that these were former coal hoppers, reduced in length for aggregate service (There are some PMRX coke cars reduced in length from woodchip hoppers, so this isn't entirely unprecedented.).
____________
Heard from Nance today. She's hoping to go home from the hospital tomorrow, but has a lot of rough going before this nasty internal infection is eradicated.
.....Trivia: First experience of seeing Sodium lights {hope that was the correct identity, they were of the orange color}, in operation, period....was on the opening {about a week later, thereof}, the Pennsy Turnpike...and that would be Oct. 1940.
Thought they looked so strange....and futuristic...
Couple of updates on the freight cars: I never would have expected to see that the FRKX cars were built in 2006; they looked much newer. They were originally owned by Florida Rock Industries.And yes, the PMRX hoppers are former UCEX coal cars, and they were shortened by 7 1/2 feet when rebuilt.
Carl: Navistar has a plant in Cherokee/Barton, AL, Used to be called National Alabama Corporation until several months ago. I had never seen anything sitting on their tracks or any kind of activity around that plant when I went to SCA next door, the plant was built in 2007-2008. Sorry for getting back so late, but I don't use the laptop out on the road much, and Trains doesn't have a mobile app for the forums yet......
Did a whirlwind run yesterday from Richfield, WI to Neenah, then Chilton, then to Black River Falls, then back to Richfield. The route I run follows the CN most of the way, saw a southbound stack at Neenah in the morning, then dry until coming back from Black River, a CN southbound and I topped Byron hill at about the same time, passed the head end at QuadGraphics (man, I just love this new Cummins engine, had 46,500 in the box, never dropped below 60MPH on US 41).
I have noticed that all the heat has put a damper on trackwork, the welded rail project on WSOR between Slinger and Milwaukee has been stalled for the past month, guessing due to the heat. I don't blame them, I don't like getting out of the truck during the heat either.......
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
.....Isn't it a fact the CWR must be put down when the temp. is within the normal heat bracket it will will find seasonally.....?
And this Summer season, certainly has been way above normal in some, {many}, places. Noted in our morning paper, Indy will record the current July temps there to be the warmest on record.
CShaveRR Couple of updates on the freight cars: I never would have expected to see that the FRKX cars were built in 2006; they looked much newer. They were originally owned by Florida Rock Industries.And yes, the PMRX hoppers are former UCEX coal cars, and they were shortened by 7 1/2 feet when rebuilt.
Basically, because aggregates are denser than coal. A shorter car fits the load better, eliminates some of the moving parts (these cars seem to still have their quick-dumping outlets), enables the remaining car to carry more load because of the weight reduction, and prevents damage resulting from overfilling the car. I'm a little surprised to see aluminum coal cars being cascaded to this service already, but these cars are 20 or 21 years old already (how time flies!).I think Quentin's right, Randy. If they were to lay the rail at these temperatures, it would pull apart in Wisconsin's arctic winters.
Based on a train trip I took into the city, it would appear that the forest of signals between Bellwood and Provo Junction is getting some accompanying trackage. Tracks and switches, all on concrete ties, are being laid in this area.The subgrade for the third track between Bellwood and Berkeley, and on west toward Park (Elmhurst) is in, for the most part. I'm thinking that the new track (which will become Track 1 through here) is also going to be laid on concrete ties, as there were many carloads of them sitting on a spur in the yard.
East of Bellwood, the alignment of all of the tracks will shift northward, so the low route off the main line to connect with the IHB (Provo Junction) will have an easier curve, and speed will be able to be increased.
On the way back home tonight, our scoot went under a moving westbound freight on the new flyover at Provo Junction. In the old days, the freight would have to come over the connecting track, then cross over--definitely wouldn't have been done at the same time as the scoot going by, as happened tonight.
Hey... this is post #3000.
Now what?
What a coincidence!This is a nice, round number for me, too!Congratulations to you!
CShaveRR What a coincidence!This is a nice, round number for me, too!Congratulations to you!
You have all your green bars.. top of the roster. I'm down quite a few pages.
Top of the roster, hmmm?Maybe I am holding out for a buyout.
CShaveRR Top of the roster, hmmm?Maybe I am holding out for a buyout.
I hear there's one coming in a few years.
In other news, I now have alittle bit of experience running an F7 that's three years older than me, courtesy of the Illinois Railway Museum, and my wife Joanie got a cab ride out of the deal as well. Five miles out and back, both forward and backward operation. I feel alittle less like a pure foamer. Videos taken by Joanie using her Fuji FinePix camera are being uploaded as I type- stay tuned. Other pictures from my camera from that event yesterday as well as some shots this morning at Aurora and Rochelle will follow.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
blhanel In other news, I now have alittle bit of experience running an F7 that's three years older than me, courtesy of the Illinois Railway Museum.....
In other news, I now have alittle bit of experience running an F7 that's three years older than me, courtesy of the Illinois Railway Museum.....
26L brake valve or the old 24RL?
With or without cars?
Backward? Using mirrors or head out the window?
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