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The Trackside Lounge: 1Q 2014

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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 12:56 PM

Our mail service has been lousy this winter.

I can't fault Kalmbach; the problem isn't there.  You see, I received my issue of Classic Trains about a week ago,  And normally, all of my Kalmbach magazines come on the same date.  But so far, no Trains or Model Railroader (which I get purely for prototype information).

We are at the end (or one street end, anyway) of our carrier's route.  Last night the mail (sans magazines, of course) came at about 9:15 p.m.  Since then, we've had another six inches of snow.  We're shoveled out, including a path across the neighbor's yard between our front doors, but there's no guarantee that everyone does that for our poor gal.

Time to tromp outside to the Historical Society and banks.  Maybe I'll become immobilized trackside for a bit, though Metra seems to be having a few problems on our line as well.

I hope it's not wrong to put RailPictures.net shots on this site.  Credit is given.  Heck, it might even fit in the "anticipation" category.  And look at all of those doomed signal styles:  Pennsy position lights, CNW searchlight signals (their backs to the camera), and CNW horizontal color lights, all in one shot.  Johnny, do you recognize the location?

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/468663/ 

Carl

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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 10:24 AM

Why should I, who live 1608 miles from Chicago via the CZ, receive (last week) my issue of Trains before Carl, who lives just down the road from the publisher?

I don't know how many of you remember receiving the month's issue towards the end of the month, but this was the custom for a while in the sixties. Kwitcherbellaking. Smile

We had more snow Monday night-Tuesday morning, and it was powder. Katie was able to use my snowblower (put the power cord on, choke, prime, and push the button--Vroom!). Mine clogs up with wet snow, and hers does not--but hers is hard to start, with its Armstrong starter. We are still short on snow this winter, and there is the threat of having to let grass die this summer--MC, how is your snow supply? Can you send some back across the mountains between us?

Johnny

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 1:39 AM

Zug - Nice shot.  Right place, right time.

Carl - It'll be in tomorrow's mail...

I got a digital subscription to Trains on my tablet.  Now that shows up well before the print version.  If I'm ambitious, I can read most of the magazine before it shows up in my mailbox.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 10:31 PM
Our little stretch of railroad has been humming all day.  I had some payday errands, so I took a little trip by train to Elmhurst, then to Oak Park, before returning to Lombard.  In 4 1/2 hours, besides the regular contingent of scoots, I had four stack trains, one coal train, an auto train, an ethanol train, a frac sand train, a set of light engines...and five manifests, all but one of which I was out of position for. Story of my life...not much information written down.

All of the stack trains I saw today had DP units on the hind end...so did the auto train. Is this in consideration of the weather, I wonder? It would charge up the train line more quickly.

I missed half of one manifest while coming out of the hobby shop...frustrating, because I could see it on their ATCS monitor while I was paying for my purchase.   My purchase was the current issue of Trains, which, so far, has not arrived in the mail (no, sweetheart, my subscription doesn't expire until I do).   But I just got on the next eastbound scoot, passed it at 25th Avenue, and waited for it to come by me at Oak Park!

I encountered another scoot and another stacker before I could even get away from the platform. And this stacker did NOT have a DP unit at the end, probably because it was going through to NS (three UP units and two NS units on the point).
It was interesting to note how much NS stuff figured into the trains I saw...this stacker, the inbound manifest I saw twice, a westbound at Oak Park, and an eastbound move getting ready to leave Proviso. I'm beginning to believe how messed up CSX is, because I saw nothing from them (or for them) today.

Carl

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CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 10:12 PM

Very nice!  Heaven was smiling on you!

Carl

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 6:06 PM

Shot this on the way home last night.  I kind of like it.  I didn't have my tripod with me, and hte moon disppeared behind clouds a minute later - just sort of lucked out.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 10:25 AM

Changes, some good and some bad...

I've lost the ability to communicate with this Forum using Firefox.  I can bring it up, and it allows me to type a reply, but not to post it.  So for the past few days I've moved over to Entourage for postings.

Also, has anyone tried looking at the Rochelle Webcam at night?  I'm getting back-and-white images...not very great ones, but they show a lot more than the webcam used to.  I guess we should be grateful for small favors...  Infrared lighting somewhere?

Off to Elmhurst later today to run payday errands.  Then back home before the snow flies yet again.

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)

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Saturday, February 1, 2014 3:06 PM

zardoz

Urbanized
Foraging
Oppossums?

My previous post may have seemed out of context by itself; THIS (in response to the MOOK) is where my reply should have been. Sorry about the confusion, and also about the further confusion this post may be causing, and also for the further confusion my next post will likely create....

 

  Confused?  You won't be after this next episode of Soap.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 1, 2014 2:21 PM

Bow

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Posted by Mookie on Saturday, February 1, 2014 1:02 PM

Tongue Tied

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by zardoz on Saturday, February 1, 2014 12:08 PM

Urbanized
Foraging
Oppossums?

My previous post may have seemed out of context by itself; THIS (in response to the MOOK) is where my reply should have been. Sorry about the confusion, and also about the further confusion this post may be causing, and also for the further confusion my next post will likely create....

 

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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, January 31, 2014 8:20 PM

Back from a "kill-the-cabin-fever" day in Indiana. A quilt store in Michigan City was holding a "sit and sew" session--just brig your own projects, work on them, and hang out in a fabric store. I figured that I could put some of the time to good use on my hobby. We went to our favorite restaurant in Gary for breakfast, and got to the quilt shop by about 10:30. We parked the car in front of the store, went in, got to meet Henry the Dog and Eddie the Baby (3 months), and I left Pat there among new friends. I began the trudge back to the South Shore's spur by the power plant, where a coal train of antiquated (steel, not aluminum) hoppers and gons was sitting, I walked the length of that train (somewhere around 100 cars, roughly a mile), and got prior numbers off most of the cars that had them. Included were a few surprises and a few frustrations (who took the ACI labels off those old Chicago & Illinois Midland hoppers?). But after walking a half mile to the train and a mile along the train, I had to get back to the store. It was about another mile, because I could make it the third side of a triangle. The whole episode took about two hours. Found lots of neat old houses in Michigan City (some reminded me of Muskegon...they were both ports of sorts), but they need a lot more TLC than the ones in Muskegon.

When I got back, Pat figured she'd need another couple of hours at the store, so I took the car and went to Chesterton. No trains in sight, so I went to one of my favorite fast-food chains for a late, but light lunch. Unfortunately, this one didn't have wi-fi, so I was limited to working on my own files. Checked out a lot of what I'd seen, and eliminated a dozen or so cars that I'd seen before. I have a few things to dig into now that I'm back on the Internet, and an e-mail full of information for a couple of other files I'd been working on.

So the cabin fever has been treated...but the forecast for tonight and tomorrow pretty well ensures that we'll have another case on our hands soon!  They're calling for 7-10 inches in the next 21 hours, and on Tuesday, here comes another one, just like the other one.

I'm getting out pork chops and the meat grinder to prepare Sunday dinner.  I'll serve the Ground Hog on buns with barbecue sauce. 

Carl

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Posted by Mookie on Friday, January 31, 2014 6:51 PM

Deggesty

Awful offal?

They are so efficient and fast - you never have to worry about any of that!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by Deggesty on Friday, January 31, 2014 4:54 PM

Awful offal?

Johnny

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Posted by Mookie on Friday, January 31, 2014 4:37 PM

UFR just doesn't have the same ring as UFO.  And don't forget UFD and UFC.  Deer and Crows - lots of crows to keep the offal cleaned up. 

 

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 31, 2014 2:01 PM

Coolholy rambling raccoons BATMAN!!!Laugh

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Posted by zardoz on Friday, January 31, 2014 1:46 PM

Urbanized 
Foraging
Opossums?

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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 7:43 PM

CShaveRR
It's downright balmy out there (14 above), and I may linger trackside for a bit, if the signals are favorable.

One was, and I got lucky.  As I began my last bank errand, the outbound scoot came into town on Track 3.  Tracks 1 and 2 were going to have some crossover action at Grace from an eastbound of sorts.

I had to cross the tracks again to return from the bank.  The crossover move was still lined up, but another westbound was coming on 3!  Turned out to be a light engine.  It went by, the bells at the depot stopped ringing, and I decided to leave for the museum.  I heard the bells at the Elizabeth Street crossing stop ringing, too.  Five seconds later, they started again...time to turn around!

The eastbound train appeared to be a single UP locomotive pulling two scoot cars.  Then I noticed the flat cars at both ends of the "passenger consist".  What we had were two brand-new cars for Metra Electric being delivered from the Nippon Sharyo U.S.A. plant in Rochelle (numbers 1295 and 1296, if anyone's keeping tra ck).  The flat cars are needed because these electric cars have their own coupling system.  I wish I could have seen how the adaptation was made, whether these cars have some sort of convertible coupler or a permanent electric coupler on one end.  Maybe I'll get the chance again...or maybe I should get out to Rochelle!

I was really ready for some train-watching, in that I'd brought along my tickets.  So I took the next eastbound scoot into Elmhurst, and on arrival was immediately rewarded with the westbound scoot, and  a manifest freight leaving the yard, following it on on track 3.  It seemed like just a few minutes later (I was absorbed in a newspaper) when the gates went down again.  Another westbound on Track 2, this one an empty EDGX coal-gon train.  Back to the paper, but who-o-o-o-sh! Another train was really moving on track 3.  Turned out to be a train of empty NORX coal gons, coming from around the yard with plenty of momentum.  He was there and gone before the EDGX train had picked up much speed.  The EDGX train had an unusual array of motive power:  one unit on the point and two DPs on the hind end (they usually run with one and one).

After those two trains disappeared, I noticed that the eastbound scoot was lined up (about 15 minutes ahead of the fact).  There was a headlight from another westbound ready to leave the yard, but with that lineup he wasn't going to go anywhere.  So I went to the hobby shop, bought a magazine (thought about buying a spare February issue of Trains for propaganda purposes--really liked that issue!--but decided not to).  I walked over to the far platform to catch my westbound scoot.  The eastbound pulled in and left, the freight was ready to go out of the yard, and the westbound scoot made a 2-to-3 crossover ahead of him.

Frustration on the way home...an eastbound manifest came through as we left Villa Park.  I hope he didn't have too many good cars on him; the ones that I could see might have given me something to look up had I been able to read numbers, but the opposing speed was well over 100 (and the range less than 20 feet), so fugiddabahdit!  That manifest had a DP unit on the rear.

I got off the train and headed for home.  At Finley Road, an eastbound auto-rack train was staging on Track 2.  I wondered whether he was waiting for that westbound to come out of the yard.  Track 3 had a flashing yellow at Finley by this time.  Before I got a block away from the tracks, the gates went down, and the westbound--intermodal...double-stacked containers and some UPS trailers, among others--came through.  I decided to head home...didn't especially need to see the auto racks.  But things were moving fairly well.  Maybe I'll go back before the snow tomorrow.

Carl

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CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 12:16 PM

Getting ready to trudge through my weekly errand.  It's downright balmy out there (14 above), and I may linger trackside for a bit, if the signals are favorable.

An article appeared in Crain's Chicago Business, a weekly paper that I seldom look at.  Maybe I should start...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140125/ISSUE01/301259979/this-brew-crew-keeps-trainloads-of-beer-from-freezing#|

I know both of those guys...Billy Diamond didn't work the hump much, but Matt Groesch used to come up there from time to time.  I'm pretty sure that the job they're on is a remote job.

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)

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Posted by rvos1979 on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 5:15 AM
Dispatch, in their infinite wisdom, decided to send me towards Atlanta yesterday. Sitting in Tennessee, waiting for the sun and the interstate to reopen. Might be a bit late getting home this weekend........

Randy Vos

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Posted by floridad on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 11:26 PM
I am all for letting the big cats eat the vest pocket dogs.
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Posted by blhanel on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:57 PM

Still lurking- tried to post a picture of a mountain lion that was taken by a trail camera near Winterset, IA back in October, but somehow messed it up, and then couldn't delete the post.  Grrr...

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Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:23 PM

Tin Shoes! - How Ya been?

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by blhanel on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:00 PM

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Posted by Mookie on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 4:22 PM

We are looking up for UFO's and we should be looking all around us!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by Norm48327 on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 2:23 PM

I had a Cougar cross the road in front of me near Grayling, MI. At first thought it was a deer, but deer don't have three foot long tails. Wink Thats probably the only one I'll ever see in Michigan.

Norm


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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 11:52 AM

floridad

Coolwe are down 2 less than 100 florida cougers. a very limited gene pool. on the verge of extiction.Crying

Nobody in an official capacity wants to confirm or deny the existance of such cats in the Adirondacks - and it's the same with the wolves.  Most folks are pretty sure that both are roaming the woods, but with as many city slickers as frequent the forest (along with their vest pocket dogs), there would probably be a great hue and cry to get rid of them...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 11:45 AM

So apparently CSX scrapped a 80mac that had wreck damage. 

Ya know, I am a railfan, buff, foamer, what have you - but still.  I can't believe the people practically crying on a certain facebook page.   Seriously people - it is a machine.  Get a life.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 10:30 AM

So, you don't feel chipper about chipping? I would always wait until it was warmer to begin playing Indian.

Speaking of having your cleaned driveway re-covered, one morning as we were going to church, I saw a man blowing snow off his sidewalk--and a snowplow came up behind him and threw snow on him.

Johnny

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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 10:12 AM

AgentKid

Carl, I hadn't read before that Potash Corp. had cars with GACX reporting marks. Thank you for that info.

Cars in GACX series 31500-31935 should all be in pink.  Or, as it is actually identified on some of the cars, "Sour Cherry".

AgentKid
You folks in the Chicago area that are experiencing this most recent cold snap, be careful out there.

The official low here this morning was 11 below; I think our mileage may have varied.  We are showing 8 below in Lombard right now, after the sun's been up for three hours.  We have nowhere to go, and plenty to do.  Our house is quite chilly, so we're moving slowly.  It took only one of me to change two light bulbs, so I've accomplished something today, anyway.

So far, nothing drastic or dramatic on Metra, either yesterday or today.  Maybe they learned a thing or two last time.

I don't know how, or why, but the village's plows managed to find some ice/snow to put at the foot of our driveway.  I'd cleaned that stuff yesterday after they'd been through, and the streets looked fine.  Since it would probably require a chipper to remove anyway, I'll wait and use said chipper when it's warmer out...maybe this weekend.

Carl

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CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

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