Got a couple more birthdays to mention today. Happy birthday to Larry! Pat would have loved to have been a Tree-hugger today, but we kind of had to hang around here.We took the Senior Friends church group (I'm still a junior in that bunch!) to the Peck Homestead for a tour. Nothing much happened during the tour itself, but a couple of good freights went through beforehand. Pat and I contributed most of the refreshments: an edible fruit arrangement (it didn't get "eded" quite enough), pumpkin bread, cider (plain and spiced), and coffee...oh, and birthday cake.
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)
Had a normal day on the railroad yesterday.
While waiting outside at the motel for the van to take us to the yard office, a conductor came out and joined me. He was wearing coveralls, went across the drive and laid down on the ground and started squirming around, working dirt into his coveralls. Then he got up and started pouring fake blood onto them. He was working on a costume for: 1 an up coming party, and 2 to give his daughter nightmares for the next few years. He also had a hockey mask and fake machete, which also was soon covered with blood stains.
After pouring the blood on his coveralls, then he says to me (and a couple others who came to watch), "I wonder if this stuff will "bleed" through the coveralls to his regular clothes and if it might make permanent stains?" It did and it can. Luckily for him, the clothes he had on underneath were work clothes, nothing really important.
We deadheaded by van down to Omaha to pick up a train. While on the way I watched a woman in a car with a cell phone in one hand and gesturing in the air with the other. (Also posted on the Driverless Trucks thread.) All this while going down a busy highway on the western edge of Omaha. Riding in the van really gives one a chance to see how many people are on or using some kind of device while driving.
Also while riding in the van, there's a stretch of I-80 that parallels the UP main line. The tracks here are on a high embankment with a couple of tall bridges over creeks and streets. I noticed on one of these bridges, 3 deer going across the bridge. While it's not unusual to see deer and other wild life in an otherwise urban area, you don't often see deer going across a tall bridge. I thought about calling in the "trespassers," but didn't.
Our trip was otherwise uneventful. However, a westbound reported that their EOT had went to 0 pressure on the train line but they weren't in emergency on the head end. We had met them but by then we were about 10 miles away from him and I didn't hear any details like unusual air flow. It sounded like it was just an EOT failure rather than something more serious.
As I said, just another normal day on the railroad.
Jeff
Jeff: I love your reporting. Dad used to tell us all kinds of things from the railroad. Like the engineer that bought a new 1 carat diamond ring, but had to wear gloves while at work and couldn't show it off. So he cut a hole in the glove. Everyone got to admire it!
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
I'm sure that gave him extra incentive to keep the ring bright and shiny, too!Hey, Mookie, I just saw a new thread asking about some "yellow thingies"!
BC - this won't be as fun since they have photos to work from....
Ughh! Heavy research tonight...I'm finally at a breaking point (in more ways than one!). Report sent out, new requests for info sent out, and I'd better get to bed. There may be a train ride in my future tomorrow.
This would appear to be "Stack-train Saturday" out in due-west-of-Chicagoland. I took a scoot into Elmhurst five hours ago to pay bills, and was skunked, train-wise. Two hours later (give or take) I was headed back west. I didn't get off at home, but stayed on to the end of the line at Elburn. We met one stack train west of Lombard, and while we were at Elburn (same train-set, just changing ends), stack trains went by in each direction, We passed that eastbound stack train again before we got to Geneva (he was waiting for us to get through the station, I guess), and met a westbound stacker at West Chicago. I got off the train at Lombard, but didn't go home. In fact, I'm sitting out of the cold breeze here at the deli. And we've had three freights through--all stackers!The crossovers at Wheaton have not yet been placed in service, nor does it look like much has been done at the pedestrian underpass at Chase Street (of course, this is the untrained eye observing there). However, steel has been placed over the tracks on about half of the Route 38 overpass being built between West Chicago and Geneva. More girders are ready to be put in position soon.Guess it's time to give up and go home...it's not going to get any warmer out there.
Interesting day today...lots of SD60s, EJE SD38s plus BCOL Dash 9 & 8s with a little WSOR in the mix...including an SD40-2 and E8A/B set. Details tomorrow...I'm beat!
Dan
oh OH! So THIS is how you reply to a topic on these boards. Ah-HA! Now if I could just get my other topic merged into this one as per my original intention...
*COUGH* where was I?! Ahem, so I thought I'd share some pics of Altoona's recent goings-on with y'all here. Things in my neck of the woods have...well....changed.
It all started at a crossing on Centre Street in Eau Claire. Thanks to the sand boom, this once-near-dead line thrived once again. And of all the units to see on this line, I find this rare little gem.
A few days later, I drove through Altoona. Well lo and behold, that number sure looked familiar!
Sometimes when I hear a train rolling by my apartment, I'd drive out to catch it. One night about a month later, look what I saw!
Why, even as I was headed out on my trip to Stevens Point last May, look what was just sitting in Altoona, waiting to be photographed again!
Oh sure, I've seen other SPs on sand trains in Eau Claire...some even leading!
Others trailing as well
But never has one kept coming back to often, so frequently, that it rose to becoming my favorite SP of all time. In fact, as I type this, I can almost guarantee SP 177 is either sitting in Altoona right now, or running a sand job and will soon be returning to the yard.
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
Hey, as long as they keep it in your neck of the woods, it isn't likely to get patched or painted. Hang onto it!
I'm gripping with all my might!
But I'm also eager to see SP 266 come back. Only saw it once. It was moving and at night...pictures couldn't happen...Nor was I able to shoot the consist that both both 177 AND 144 in it....
Looks like I need to go west. Not sure if I've ever seen an unpatched SP. At least not that I've been able to photograph. Of a similar note, I did catch CN A446 with three BCOL units (in BCOL paint) Sunday...
CNW 6000Not sure if I've ever seen an unpatched SP.
And when I think of all the SP stuff I saw in CA "back in the day..."
Wish I'd been as interested then as now (and had a decent camera, to boot...)
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...
tree68 CNW 6000Not sure if I've ever seen an unpatched SP. And when I think of all the SP stuff I saw in CA "back in the day..." Wish I'd been as interested then as now (and had a decent camera, to boot...)
Definitely head over here, Dan. I'm pretty sure SP 177 is assigned to the area. 144, 107, and 266 should be as well. But they....don't visit as much...
I have literally hundreds of pictures to share here since I disappeared (Working full time and living on your own sure can eat up a lot of a person's time!)
What's up, Janesville? Glad I decided to check to check this place out on my way to Chicago last year!
UP sand power is not limited to raw SP AC44s. A nice few SD60s can also be found here now!
Even the ACEs make it out here now.
And not just UP ones, mind you!
My personal famine is over. It had been ten days since I'd seen anything in the way of freight cars to document (quite a few freight trains, but usually they were stack cars, auto racks, or the usual coal gons--all stuff I'd seen before).Pat needed to buy stuff at a particular chain of fabric stores. So, in spite of the fact that it's not the nearest store to us, I decided that we should go to the outlet in Bedford Park, south of Midway Airport and Clearing Yard. I was able to dig out and select material for an altar-cloth at church, a new shirt for Pat, and part of a Victorian-era costume for one of our historical society volunteers.Then, coming home, we encountered not one, but two BNSF freights on the west side of Clearing Yard. The most interesting sight of the day for me was a GLSX hopper car--I couldn't see its whole number due to graffiti, but it was one of only three that they own. These hopper cars ate divided into four compartments, prominently marked on the car sides (too high for the graffiti), and evidently intended to handle different types of landscaping material.There was also an assortment of tank cars, older and brand-new, stencilled for the transportation of "Tar Oil" (is that what comes from the tar sands?). A new series of EQUX covered hoppers built by Trinity Industries, and some Mexican-built fourth-hand gondolas now operated by the Mahoning Valley Railway (MVRY). There were other less unusual cars sighted, but that should keep me busy for a while. We tried to continue the streak by dining in downtown LaGrange, with good sight lines of the BNSF main line (it grates on some people to have it called the "Racetrack"). We got to see two dinkies, but nothing else. Tomorrow we're headed out to Ladd and environs; I hope the "feast" continues (and I'm not referring to the fried chicken!).
CShaveRRThere was also an assortment of tank cars, older and brand-new, stencilled for the transportation of "Tar Oil" (is that what comes from the tar sands?).
Hi Carl,
I've been meaning to drop by the lounge for awhile now and this gives me a good reason to.
Oil from the Alberta Oil Sands is normally referred to as Synthetic Crude or Syncrude. "Tar Oil" sounds like the oil component of asphalt. Two notes; first, Oil Sands is a name developed in the last twenty years or so to make the product more eco-friendly sounding than Tar Sands, and secondly, Synthetic Crude is not to be confused with synthetic oil sold as Mobile 1 and other similar brands.
Now to jump into your wheelhouse. Procor (PROX) are far and away the biggest handler of Canadian Petroleum products of every description. Procor is the Canadian affiliate/partner of Union Tank Car. Procor handles all UTLX related business in Canada, but is a separate company from Union Tank. Unfortunately, from your perspective there are also plenty of GATX and UTLX cars operating up here. I am curious as to what reporting mark was on that "Tar Oil" car.
Going to the "Images" section of either Google or Yahoo and typing in "Procor PROX" will bring up pictures of some of the most bizarre looking tank cars you ever saw, some of which are quite old. There are many types of cars I have never seen, which must have been built for very specialized purposes, in very small numbers.
I have another post I think will be of interest to you and Jeff which I hope to put up here in the next few days.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
PROX cars were not in the mix of "Tar oil" cars that I saw today: I had NATX (many different series), SHPX, GAMX, and PLCX. It was the SHPX tank cars that were built this past June and July.I did see a couple of PROX cars for liquefied petroleum gas on those trains. PROX cars aren't too uncommon around here. They have been getting brand-new cars recently, but they used to seem about a step behind the U.S. equivalent (Union Tank Car) all the time, just like CN and CP were always a little behind on freight equipment (slower to retire 40-foot box cars, to adopt center-beam flat cars, etc.).
Happy Kalmbach Day, everyone!I plan on celebrating by chasing trains in a hitherto-unexplored (by me/us) area.
Carl: Just when I thought my project in your backyard was over, it has acquired a new mystery (second screw-up on ex PRR by PC/CR) and on top of that I get handed a CB&Q mystery at Ottawa. Appropriate week for this corned-fusion with PC/CR playing the part of Ichabod Crane.
Same area in Gary?I was just through Ottawa today. The old CB&Q is operated by a shortline now (Illinois Railnet? I think Eolafan knows for sure), and they have an engine facility not far off U.S. 6 west of Illinois 23 there.Disastrous trip out west. Rip's Chicken was worth the trek, and we were able to buy gas for about 40 cents a gallon cheaper. I got a bunch of good sightings at Ladd...then lost the pad I'd written them on. Got a few consolation sightings at Creston (just east of Rochelle) and DeKalb, though.
Randy, I passed up a truck from your company on I-55 headed south between I-355 and I-80 at about 10:00 this morning. Driver looked kind of youngish and had glasses...wasn't you, was it?
Carl:
(1) Yep - the west site. (seems even the county isn't quite sure who owns a certain parcel [and their tax income might be less than what it should have been]) Getting weird - the answers I came up with weeks ago suddenly have an unexplained asterisk attached.
(2) It's Illinois Railway now (OmniTrax) and the site is just north of US6 in sight of the enginehouse. Just south of the old Rock main now run by CSX with IAIS overhead rights. Big jigsaw puzzle with locals modifying parts to suit their needs whether they fit or not. City and county records are a mess.
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
I heard that CN cancelled their order or new SD70ACe units recently. I wonder if they will see if GE can get a few more ES44ACs heading their way. Lots of fog today...and I think I need to seek out some C30-7s "up nort" fairly soon...
Going to where the locomotives and the pines are both green, huh?Never had much luck in getting close to the yard up there, but there were always some neat cars close to roads in the Ishpeming and Negaunee area. And it's fun to see the chutes lower and a carload of pellets slide into the hold of a freighter.
I'm swamped with freight-car information today. My report was "due" yesterday; I hope to finish it today.
Oh--I'm very proud of my grandson Nico. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to be a train or an octopus for Halloween today. So he came up with a "traintopus". His idea...but his mother and her friend seem to have nailed it, from the pictures I've seen.
Carl, can you send us a picture the traintopus?
Johnny
I can try (but I doubt that the "https" at the beginning will permit its being seen unless you're on Facebook):
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201496667032177&set=a.1076232339645.13364.1041319112&type=1&theater
Many long-time readers of Trains will recognize the name Robert LeMassena, as an author and an authority on steam propulsion.He passed away on October 1; a memorial service for him will be held on November 13 at the Colorado Railroad Museum.I met him for the first (and only) time at the Museum in 2007. Another bastion of knowledge now gone, save for his writings.
CShaveRR I can try (but I doubt that the "https" at the beginning will permit its being seen unless you're on Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201496667032177&set=a.1076232339645.13364.1041319112&type=1&theater
I'm signed into FB, but it says "not available." I tried taking the "s" out, and it didn't help.
Just got a file from a research correspondent, showing a couple of covered hopper cars (UP or MP origin) that are now on their eighth distinct reporting mark. There are over 100 cars in the file, and most of them have had considerably fewer operators, but all have had at least four, and most five or more.
Of course, this will mean updating files at this end...and that means tinkering with around 20 different files here (one for each company involved)!Maybe it's a good thing that I don't see so much trackside any more.
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