ATWS?
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
I'm back. Customer service got me a new key(Thank you). Ns has been busy. Csx is very busy as well. work is busy busy busy. Ma nature is getting ready to open the freezer. Matt brought his papers home and he is dealing aces. Chores to do tonight. Errands to do tomorrow. Hope to see some csx action too.
stay safe
Joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
The train-watching gods must have been smiling on me today (trust me, any photographers wouldn't have seen it this way!). Pat booted me out of the house to deposit a check for her (she was too busy, and even if I'm busy on my research work and have a report to do, I'm always busy...sez she!), and that involves a trip to Elmhurst to go to that particular bank. So I grabbed my ticket to ride (after a frantic search for same--I won't tell you where I found it!), forgot my watch, and took off.Before I got to the crossing, the gates went down and a solo GP15-1 headed west. No cars that I could see (there's a rise in the street, so it may have had a flat car or two). As I got up to the platform, another westbound train (this one was empty coal gons) came through. It was then I found that my pens weren't in my shirt pocket. I'd have to get a new pen when I got to Elmhurst, because my train was arriving right then. (Fortunately that train, with a wide assortment of CEFX, NCUX, and other cars, didn't really have anything I needed.) The westbound scoot met us just before we arrived at Elmhurst. I got off...saw a headlight for another westbound, so I beat it to the nearest store where I could buy a pen. Bought the pen, the train still hadn't moved out, but an eastbound was lined into the yard (red-over-lunar) from Track 1. I got back to the station, decided to mail the bill that was in my pocket. By the time I crossed the tracks to do that, the westbound was coming at me. I got across the tracks, dropped the bill in the mailbox, and came back. The gates were down, so I was stuck on the "wrong" side of the tracks. It was a slow-moving stack train on Track 2. I went into my pocket to get the pen to unwrap...not in my left pocket. Checked the right pocket, found two pens that I'd had with me all along...grrr!
As the four units of the stacker went by me, I saw a reflection of light on one of the containers: another westbound! This one would be on Track 3. Five big units (not sure how many were on line), and it was a manifest. So I wasn't on the wrong side, after all. Took plenty of notes. He was moving quite a bit faster than the stack train (raised eyebrows at that), and got by while the stacker was still moving past. One unfamiliar reporting mark on a two-unit sludge-container car. No sooner did the stacker get clear and I got across the track than the gates went down again. It was the eastbound that was lined into the yard on Track 1. Lots of power again (seven units, not all on line, and one of which was a Southern Pacific). And it was another manifest. More notes, including a new series of covered hoppers built in September. Then, "Danger! Another train coming!" I couldn't see it, but the ATWS was sounding off. The eastbound manifest cleared me just as two SD70s went by on Track 2, pulling yet another manifest! More notes to take, though this train contained cars from series that were mostly familiar to me. This whole show took only about a half hour! I walked to the bank (about 1/3 mile), and had enough time to get back and across the tracks before my scoot came. We met the eastbound scoot-l'heure by the gravel pit. Nothing the rest of the way home, or while I was still in the vicinity of the tracks afterwards, but that was certainly a worthwhile trip for me.I was trying to get a sightings report out tonight. I was close, but I'll have to put in a few notes from today's haul before it goes out. Suppertime now, but I have at least this evening's activity taken care of!
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 heard something on one of the other forums about a derailment as well, but if there had been one, it didn't affect the main line. UP stopped the scoots at the first warning, and didn't turn 'em loose for about 90-100 minutes. Then they annulled the next pair departing (two hours later). But if there had been a mainline derailment anywhere east of Elburn it would have caused more of a disruption, I suspect. I also don't suspect a yard derailment that would have disrupted much, unless some stack cars blew over in the yard, clear of the main line. We had powerful winds and a bit of rain, but that was about it.No damage to speak of in our immediate area. My raked yard doesn't look raked any more. I was able to gather a couple of armloads of twigs and small branches out of our yard this morning, in time for the yard-waste pickup.
Had a small train coming home from Fremont today. Only 172 cars (99 loads-73 mtys -14000 tons) for 11,500 feet. Didn't run too bad and we never stopped once we left Fremont. Slowed down in a few places, but didn't stop. Which is probably a good thing, since we didn't fit in very many places.
When we arrived, we heard there was a derailment at or near West Chicago. Haven't heard any details, but a train behind us was told they weren't going to call them out because they weren't taking trains. About 15 mins later the dispatcher told them they were going to call them out, but it would be about 2 hours and they would be held out until then.
I see on the news there was some bad storms that way and wonder if the derailment was weather related. I hope that Carl and our other forum friends who might be in the path of the storm system are OK.
Jeff
We're too good for that, huh? I remember the use of the term "arrogant" when UP took CNW over, and yes, they were. There must have been some indoctrination that officers went through, because some ex-CNW guys soon became the worst of the bunch. You'd think they'd learn that some attitudes will drive even the big customers away. It will be harder to get them back than it will be to drive 'em off.
The UP still owns land over by Nevada. The other night at our monthly union meeting, the time line for double tracking the Spine was figured to be some time in the next 15 years. No mention of the east/west line or yard.
We were also informed that we're losing some auto traffic to the BNSF. (May not need that third main after all if this keeps up.) One customer has said when the current contract is up, they're going to move their business to the BNSF. The reason? The customer got tired of the treatment they get from the Sales/Marketing group. They said the BNSF people aren't as arrogant and easier to deal with. I guess are people haven't heard the last few CEO messages about how we need to start growing volumes.
I sometimes think that some in the glass palace have been lulled into a false sense of security since they've been able to claim record profits much of the last few years, even during the down economy and depressed car loadings. They've cut about all they can and are going to have to actually move freight if they want to keep up profits. I think the CEO mentioning that fact is a good thing, but maybe not everybody has got the memo.
Considering that they haven't done much on second-tracking the Blair Line lately, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a third track across Iowa.
I remember talk about a classification yard at Nevada right after CNW got the Spine Line. That kind of evaporated after CNW didn't get the Milwaukee Road.
No, I was out on the west end yesterday coming home. I've heard of them running some sand trains like that every now and then. I bet that threw a wrench in things. South out of Mason City to Nevada is TWC. One siding at Iowa Falls (called Argon) has dispatcher controlled switches, the control points are considered to be manual interlockings with the south one also including the CN (exIC) crossing. (The crossing itself is an automatic interlocking, so if you have to flag thru the CP, you still have to operate the time release after talking to the dispatcher.)
The other two sidings, Sheffield and Buckeye, are hand throws with a spring switch at the south end of both. Usually the plan is to have southbounds take the siding at meets. None of these, or the CTC sidings at South Nevada and Cambridge on towards Des Moines are long enough for a train of that size.
South of Des Moines, most traffic is southbound (northbounds mostly come up over the exMP to Omaha, then east over the exCNW to Nevada) so meets wouldn't be as much of a problem.
Talking with a couple of union Local Chairmen, they've said in the last couple of monthly meetings they have with the railroad, the railroad has said that long term they would still like to build a big yard over around Ames/Nevada, near the junction with the Spine. The yards at Marshalltown, Boone and Des Moines are all surrounded by city with no room to expand. A new yard could eliminate, at least for classification work, those existing yards. I'm sure some yard facility at each, especially DM, would remain to handle local industry work. Also still talking about a third track across Iowa east/west and double tracking the Spine. I probably won't see it all, but hope to see some of it.
Jeff, did you know about (or have anything to do with) that 241-car frac-sand train that departed Mason City for Texas yesterday? I guess it had seven units (3/2/2), and was over two miles long in spite of the fact that these were probably all short covered hoppers. Over 32,000 tons. I guess some of the cars were scheduled to be set out at Parsons.
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.
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 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.
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...
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.
Carl, can you send us a picture the traintopus?
Johnny
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.
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...
Dan
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
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.
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: 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.
Happy Kalmbach Day, everyone!I plan on celebrating by chasing trains in a hitherto-unexplored (by me/us) area.
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.).
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"
. . . __ . ______
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!).
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!
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
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...)
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...)
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...
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....
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