As soon as my wife brings the car home, we are off to the Land of Ice and Snow (and no trains) for a couple of days. We've had one disappointment already; our lunch date for tomorrow, with a distinguished West Michigan artist and historian, was canceled. We're still going to see the opening of his exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
On the way up, we plan to stop at the Great Lakes Cafe in Gary, and hope for trains during lunch. I'll check out my spots for freight cars at Michigan City. And on the way back, we'll stop at another art exhibit (at the welcome center, off 80/94 in Hammond), one by Mitch Markovitz, who's responsible for the book Moonlight in Duneland, detailing the historic South Shore Line advertising posters. His style is very similar to those posters. And if his book is available, I'm pretty sure one will come home with me this time.
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)
I called it...ice, snow, and no trains here in the land along the shores of Lake Effect.The visit to the Cafe was a good one...blocked by a NORX unit train while attempting to get into the place (it was coming off CSX and onto the South Shore), and saw four moves on NS while we were there (eastbound farm implements, westbound stack, westbound ethanol tanks, and eastbound light engines. Heading out past Burns Harbor, saw half of a westbound NS manifest...second half was obscured by the same coal train that had blocked us earlier, waiting to head into the Bailly power plant (one UP unit on the front, two more on the hind end).
Carl: I'll remember to check that place out on the trip back (when it happens, more glitches)
Keep us informed, MC--maybe things will be going smoothly (both here and there) by the time you return.
Coming home from the North Country with a crust of salt caked on our car from the wet roads, we managed to see a couple of good trains. At Porter, we caught an eastbound ethanol train with CP power. I would have thought that by now I had seen about as many different tank cars with the Renewable Products Marketing Group logo on them, but--considering that the train was moving too fast for me to write everything down--I got a surprising number of new ones (to me), better defining a few series.We went through Gary and checked out progress on the new CN line bypassing the Gary Airport. It's coming along--rail has been laid on a good portion of it, save for the crossing of Old 312, which we were driving on. The existing line is still in use; we saw two CN trains standing on it; one had one of the old EJ&E SD38s, still in orange.Going further west, our way was blocked by a northbound NS at Calumet Tower (this is the last active interlocking tower in Indiana, soon to be automated out of existence...the IHB and CN both cross CSX's main line here; the NS train was on the IHB). The NS train had nothing but auto racks. Rather than wait for it to cross, we turned to run alongside it. It finally cleared going past us to reveal another auto-track train in the opposite direction! There is an amazing layout of trackage that is passed over by Kennedy Avenue near the IHB headquarters building (I will have to go this way more often...looks like something I should be familiar with!).We took Kennedy Avenue down to the Indiana Welcome center, to see the exhibit by Mitch Markovitz. It turns out that he wasn't than involved with the Moonlight in Duneland book...I wish he were, so they would have had it in stock. But both of us enjoyed the posters, portraits, and other artistic displays there, and we saw another NS train sitting on the track a short distance behind the center.Naturally, we had to check that one out...and as soon as we found a way to get close to the tracks (and find a parallel bike-trail that will have to be investigated more later), it began to move. Two cars of interest on this train were some aluminum coal gons, built as recently as 1995 and 1996 for Detroit Edison, that had been relettered for leasing companies. It was startling to see these cars from the current generation of gons (286K rating, over 4400 cubic feet capacity) being disposed of by the power company and going to the secondhand-lessor market. Yesterday was our church's annual auction, and my offer of a train-hunting trip sold for a small amount above the minimum bid set by the people who ran the auction. A friend of mine is asking a friend of his to go along, and they may each be bringing one of their kids. I'll have to talk to him to see when they'd like to go, and in which direction.
Former Canadian Federal Agriculture Minister, Liberal Eugene Whelan, died Tuesday at age 88 of a stoke. He was the government minister in charge of the original program to purchase what eventually became the 13,000+ unit fleet of Canadian Wheat Board covered hoppers.
You could always spot Whelan in a sea of men wearing suits, as the man wearing a suit and a cowboy hat.
It is not often you see a government program work as well as that one did.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Carl:
If you were on old 312/ Chicago Ave and were near the new overpass over B&OCT, then you were awful close to the west site I was working on. The cafe appears to be about 6 blocks from the other site.
If I'm not mistaken, the new CN line will use that underpass as well (which probably helps explain the pile of dirt across your right-of-way at Clarke Junction)._________
As a railfan, I have to love seeing as many trains as I saw this afternoon. I even like how slowly they were moving, in case there were some good cars for me on them. But it can't be enjoyable to the crews, following each other on approach aspects.Still, it was almost like I needed an appointment to get across the tracks today. Let's see...I missed the 1320-1325 time slot after the westbound scoot that started the parade (Track 3), so I got caught behind a string of WEPX empties (one unit on each end), also on 3. As I crossed the tracks to go to the bank, I could see the westbound manifest following--again on track 3. It went past while I was in the bank.After I finished my chore for the Historical Society, I went to the drug store for Pat. My appointment this time was in the 1405-1410 slot, behind the eastbound scoot (Track 1). When I crossed, I saw a flashing yellow for Track 1 at Grace, so something else was coming east, probably sooner than the next hour's scoot. As it turns out, it was a coal train, and it snuck through while I was at the pharmacy counter. I caught the light of the DPU going around the curve, and managed to get across ahead of the westbound scoot, an hour later than the whole thing started.I noticed that Track 2 was not used during the whole thing...wonder if there's track work being done at the new crossovers in Wheaton.Tomorrow, despite the fact that the weather is to be frightful (sleet on top of a good snowfall), Pat and I will be at the Peck House (our Historical Society's nationally-recognized Underground Railroad site), and I hope to have a tab of the trains that go by in the hour or two that we're there. I'm not one of the tour guides, just the whistle-blower who keeps things moving in a timely fashion (yes, I can definitely be a whistle-blower without fear of reprisal for these folks!).
As alluded to yesterday, I was trackside for this morning and early afternoon. The really nasty weather won't hit for a few hours yet, but it was raw out there (even though actual temperatures are warmer than yesterday). Fortunately, I spent very little of my time outside, and was able to perform my job at the museum while looking out the window, for the most part. Here's a summary of what came through.
0915: Eastbound manifest, crossing over from Track 1 to Track 2.
0921: Westbound scoot on Track 3.
0928: Eastbound stack train (three units on the point, plus a DP on the hind end). Crossed over from Track 1 to Track 3.
(When I saw that crossover move, I figured that this stack train was headed around the yard and into the city. Crossing over here would give a westbound freight a chance to leave Proviso without waiting for this guy. And, sure enough...)0948: Westbound manifest, on Track 2.
1005: Eastbound scoot, on Track 1. (No westbound scoot this hour.)
1033: Local train LPJ-02 westbound on Track 2, with CNW Dash 9s 8646 and 8701...the last two units in CNW paint and numbers.
1046: CWEX empties westbound on Track 3. Three units on the point, no DP unit.
1109: Eastbound scoot (eight coaches) on Track 1.
1118: Westbound scoot (five coaches) on Track 3.1127: Eastbound stack train on Track 1. Three units on the point.
1140: Westbound manifest, Track 3. Two units.
1146: Westbound stack train on Track 2. Sounded horn for the grade crossing, because...
1146: Eastbound repo train on Track 1. ("Repo" in this instance referring to empty stack cars being repositioned for their next load)
1218: Westbound scoot on Track 3, four coaches (no eastbound scoot this hour).
At this point we changed venues for lunch.
1252: Westbound auto racks--track unknown, but definitely not Track 1!
1304: Eastbound scoot, Track 1; four coaches.
1320: Westbound scoot, Track 3, six coaches.
So we had 17 trains go through in a little over four hours. Roughly four trains per hour. If you take away the scoots, that's ten freights. Another freight was staging at Finley Road when we left; it would eventually head east on Track 2.Just a thought...it didn't seem like it at the time, but this passage of trains probably meant that the gates at the nearby grade crossing were lowered between 20 and 25 percent of the time we were there. (That doesn't count a couple of false activations that occurred around noon.)
Yesterday (finally!) ground was broken for the grade-separation project in Bensenville, which will take CP's two tracks over Irving Park Road (AKA Illinois Highway 19). This bridge will be sandwiched between UP's new bridge over this highway and York Road, a busy street parallel to the tracks at this point. From the conceptual illustration, it appears that this bridge will be longer than UP's, requiring a center pier in the median (it probably will accommodate turn lanes that UP's bridge doesn't have to). Reports name all of the governmental agencies involved in this project (part of the CREATE program), and mention that Metra and CP are both involved...interesting, because Metra doesn't use this route. It's possible, I guess, that the sharp curve that takes this line into Bensenville Yard might be alleviated by taking this line over Metra's track in the area, a move that would also eliminate a conflict between these trains and the Metra route. Stay tuned...we might get out that way from time to time.
It's the small things.
What's with these spring loaded anglecocks? The old ones too simple, thus had to be modernized?
These things seem more trouble than they're worth...
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
You talking about the ones that look a little like clothespins?I didn't have problems with the old ones, either.
zugmann It's the small things. What's with these spring loaded anglecocks? The old ones too simple, thus had to be modernized? These things seem more trouble than they're worth...
zardoz zugmann It's the small things. What's with these spring loaded anglecocks? The old ones too simple, thus had to be modernized? These things seem more trouble than they're worth... Progress is always change, but change is not always progress.
Rgds IGN
Anybody got a close-up photo of one ?
Is there any operational benefit to them ? Otherwise, it seems that they're just one more thing to go wrong, one more set of parts that the car inspector will have to look at and the storekeeper or car shop will have to stock (and not have when needed). Or, the parts manufacturer(s) needed a new proprietary part to increase their revenues and profits ?!?
- Paul North.
Similar design to a lot of the A&R, MU, and actuating hose anglecocks that the locomotives have. Guess it's some sort of self locking thing. They seem susceptible to dust and ice, though. At least in my experience and opinion. Around here, they first started popping up on certain flat cars and boxcars with the anglecock located directly under the drawbar (another design favorite of mine!).
Won't let me directly link to the NYAB page, though. Search for 1 1/4" Ball Type End Cock with Locking Handle - Brass Body. Gives you an idea of what I'm babbling about.
PS: it actually let me type anglecock? Color me surprised.
I've used them other places, as Zug mentions, but never on the brake line. The handles we have seem to lock positively enough (lift, turn, drop) - never had one change.
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...
The freight cars that I've seen them mostly on are the newer coal hoppers/gons.
A few months back we did have a short (just under 1 mile) manifest that had an anglecock turn partially while we moving about 2/3rds back in the train. It didn't close completely, but enough that the rear end pressure started dropping, without showing any air flow on the head end. Only time I've had that happen.
Jeff
We're hunkering down today, and it seems like the railroad might have beaten us to it. Last Thursday I had 17 trains in about four hours; today it was only seven trains in 2 1/2 hours: four scoots (four different train sets), a stack train in each direction, and a loaded EDGX coal train for Sheboygan, Wisconsin (two units on the point, and one DPU).
The snow started falling (as graupel) at about 10:30 this morning; by noon we had had several inches of very heavy stuff down. It hasn't let up at all, and we are currently expecting about seven inches. We didn't get any rain in the mix, but I suspect that this snow is considerably heavier than the 10:1 ratio you commonly hear about. This is probably the heaviest (in more ways than one!) snowfall of the winter for us.
Our old pal Colin ("MetraKid2") was very lucky a couple of days ago...in one day he caught (and got videos) of two separate moves featuring NS heritage units on the point...the Illinois Terminal unit was leading a string of tank cars west on BNSF (someone else caught it at Rochelle), and the Erie unit on a WEPX train coming in on UP and bound for Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
The architect has posted his sign in front of our house...that's the first indication that something's going to happen.
Happy post-hunker-down day!We spent a bit more than an hour shoveling about four inches of snow off surfaces that needed it (Pat did the short walk to the front door and the driveway; I did the driveway apron to remove what the plow had left, our front sidewalk, most of the neighbor's front walk, and the walk to our patio). Then, because it was warm enough, we did our errands on foot. Both of us went to the Historical Society, Pat went to the library while I went to a bank, we met up for lunch, then Pat went to the drug store while I went to the other bank. And that's when things began to get interesting on the UP!While we were eating lunch, an eastbound stack train passed through...short one, with only one unit. That was the only freight train we saw while we were having lunch. We then walked toward the bank and the drug store. After I finished with the banking, I heard the crossing-gate bells at Elizabeth Street. Coming at me was an eastbound manifest (I'd guess MDMPR, but I've been away too long to be sure), moving very slowly. A CN EMD 8900-series EMD unit was the second of three. The freight crawled a few carlengths across the street, then stopped short of activating the bell for the depot walkway. This train, by the way, was on Track 1, where I would have expected to see the next eastbound scoot in about five minutes.Pat got done at the drug store, and we walked back toward the station, since we couldn't cross the tracks at the street any more. As we got up to the engines and could see around them (the lead GE startled Pat with an air-compressor "whoooop"), we noted that the passengers were waiting on Track 3 to board. And about then the scoot arrived and left with all of the riders (except for one who didn't make it to the other side). I expected the scoot to cross over at Grace, but he had a high green, and continued down Track 3. It was then that I noticed a couple of other things: the freight train, which was still strung out across two grade crossings and stopped short of the depot walkway, had a stop signal at Grace on Track 1. And just beyond Grace on Track 2 was the hind end of the stack train we'd seen at lunch. I didn't know why the signal wasn't lined for the freight. A lady waiting for the next outbound scoot, due in about ten minutes, was confused by the eastbound on Track 3, and wondered which side she'd need to use to catch the westbound. We told her that it would be on the same side (Track 3), because Track 1 was already taken. I figured that the westbound scoot would have to wait east of Elmhurst for the eastbound to get out of its way, which would probably make it a few minutes late. So I was surprised when a five-minute warning came at close to the scheduled time.And when the scoot's headlight showed up around the curve, it was on Track 1. The prospective lady passenger panicked again, and asked what side she should be on. "Stay right here," I told her. And I made sure she was watching when the scoot crossed over at Grace and stopped with one door right in front of her.As soon as the scoot got out of the way, I noticed two things again: the stack train on Track 2 had moved on, and the signal for Track 1 was now lined up for the freight. Just then, he whistled off and moved through.
So why all of the strange routings? (Keep in mind that in Elmhurst and Villa Park, the trains in both directions would have been on the "wrong" side.) The eastbound scoot was on Track 3 because MDMPR was on Track 1--that was simple enough. But why didn't the westbound come all the way out on 3, and the eastbound cross over at Grace ahead of MDMPR? The stack train on Track 2 probably was part of the equation--apparently it had to go into Global 2. By putting the westbound on Track 1, it gave him a chance to get in more quickly than he otherwise would have if he had to wait for the eastbound, and the eastbound on Track 3 was completely out of the way of both of the Proviso-bound freights. It looked strange, but was probably the slickest move possible under the circumstances. However, the people waiting for the freight and two scoots at Elizabeth and Finley Road may not have appreciated it so much. (Why MDMPR didn't stay stopped west of Finley I don't know, but it would have made things a lot less interesting for us!)
When the freight finally cleared, we headed home. A westbound stack train blew through before we got back to the crossing. So we had five trains in sight in about a half hour. And I have a few more freight-car sightings to check out.
Holy cow, Chi-cago!
Greetings from E. Wacker Drive in Downtown Chicago. I managed to catch a few SB CN and WSOR trains on my trip south through the snow/drifts/slush. I'll be in town for a few days for the Livestrong National Assembly. Might have a chance to see some sights tomorrow or Friday evening. All in all...not a bad trip down. I walked downtown tonight to get some local food (pizza) and then decided to head back here due to the rain.
Off to upload to Flickr...
Dan
Welcome to our humble little city, Dan! (I'm only a day early for Sarcastics Awareness Month.)
Today we had 15 movements in four hours past my observation point in the Sheldon Peck Homestead Museum by the Grace Control Point in Lombard. It takes at least four scoot sets to run the midday service on the UP West Line; I caught seven Metra movements while there, missing the numbers on the last one. Of the four sets I noted, each had a different number of cars (4, 5, 7, and 8). It appears that the same train has the same number of cars from day to day (for example, the train due in Lombard at 12:20 will always have four coaches, and that train probably would return at 2:04 (or maybe 3:04).Two of the moves noted today were light-engine movements: three units westbound at 10:42 and two units eastbound at 1:15.
The most interesting move was a nearly-solid train of Case and New Holland combines, headed east with only one unit, at 11:16.
There were three stack trains in this time (two west, one east). The eastbound had three units on the point and one DP in the middle. One of the westbounds had three units, the other only two (but more than half of his train was empty tubs).
There was also a westbound manifest (one UP and one NS unit), and a westbound auto-rack train with three units.Oh...I was also doing volunteer work at the museum. We had 385 guests from inner-city schools taking tours today.
Not much to report today, except a couple of casual observations:
Serendipity is when the ATWS system goes off and nothing is showing...yet! (Both trains hit at about the same time, and I was on the right side!)Two eastbound freights within about 20 minutes of each other...both loads of ethanol. How unusual is that?
Carl,
Next time I come down I'll visit for sure. I had to fly north sooner than expected due to work. I have to say I did enjoy the limited sightseeing I did.
Off to bed!
hey... we survived another week.
I missed a good one up here...right by us, too.
CN and CP going right by each other by the Denfield Rd....
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/
Zug, you get weekends off? With your seniority (sorry!)?I retired being unable to hold weekends off (Monday and Tuesday were my days off, but it was on the day shift.).
One thing I'd forgotten to report about my little trip to Elmhurst yesterday was the mad dash made through town by the two CNW Dash 9s, 8646 and 8701. Instead of taking a block of cars to West Chicago, they were running light. Not sure why.
CShaveRR Zug, you get weekends off? With your seniority (sorry!)?I retired being unable to hold weekends off (Monday and Tuesday were my days off, but it was on the day shift.). One thing I'd forgotten to report about my little trip to Elmhurst yesterday was the mad dash made through town by the two CNW Dash 9s, 8646 and 8701. Instead of taking a block of cars to West Chicago, they were running light. Not sure why.
We have guys with 2 years holding regular locals.
I hold the midnight yard job, weekends off. I know how lucky I am.
When did that light power move go Carl? I've always been amused by the term "light power"...as the units are pretty heavy.
Not "light" power, but "lite" power. Unless it's a power company's engine.
I got bored one day and looked up "light" and "lite". Sorta kinda makes sense.
OK, zug - what's up with the "Protected by Lebanon Levi" tag line ?!? I presume it relates to the nearby city of Lebanon, PA (which had some pretty heavy rail action back in the day). Or are you "channeling" the 1985 Harrison Ford movie Witness ? (see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090329/ )
Unrelated, while out your way last week I got some interesting shots of the junction just south of the Harrisburg Amtrak station, coal hopper TILX 48941 (and mates) at PPL's Brunner Island Power Plant (equipped with both Rapid Discharge bottom doors and rotary couplers for that method, too), and the Chemetron rail welding plant just south of Steelton rail mill. As soon as I reactivate one of my on-line photo accounts and upload them, I'll post the links here for anyone who's interested. (Carl - interested in some detail shots of the deck modifications to MTTX 930150 for 78 - 80 +/- ft. long rail service from the mill to the welding plant ?)
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