CNW Heritage Unit leading 15:13 Eastern
1120 CST
BNSF Tamper & Ballast Regulator in plant on Near TrackBNSF High rail truck in plant on far track.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Tamper working on the BNSF track near the park.
gonna be more work on diamonds today see a red stop board on the near up track
BN Tamper and Ballast Regulator and about 8 supervisors are now gone.
UP slow order (red placard) on the near UP track is also gone. Perhaps the level of the BN track was causing the diamond maintenance issues?Bob
Is that the "Breast Cancer Awareness" Track sweeper there? Lovely shade of "safety pink"?
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
BaltACD 1220 CST - BN Tamper working near track in camera rage while UP stack train is occupying UP near track. Both within limits of the interlocking.
1220 CST -
BN Tamper working near track in camera rage while UP stack train is occupying UP near track.
Both within limits of the interlocking.
Saw a couple of trackmen closely examing a section of rail about 15 yards north of the BNSF signal housing box about 10 AM CST - wonder if there is a problem with the rail? That might explain why BNSF trains on the north track have been crawling through the junction for the past week or so while those on the south track seem to be moving at track speed.
UP Westbound passing over diamond on far track at track speed.
Some MofW personnel still on hand.
Slow Order in effect on UP near track
Just logged in (c 10 AM Eastern) and see a whole pile of trucks there: I count five!
Anyone know what's up?
/Mr Lynn
9 AM CST 1/19 - large contingent of MofW trucks and a Red Board up on the UP
EB BNSF stacker on near track - slow & making noised approaching crossing.
if this is a duplicate - I apologize - thought I sent this yesterday but it wasn't posted? rejected by the moderator?
After much searching of google images I believe that the truck that was out on the diamond yesterday was an RPM Tech AF1 Cold air blower mounted on hi-rails - see http://www.grouperpmtech.com/en/rail-and-metro-equipment.aspx
Blows air at an awesome pressure.
There's a youtube video on that site showing a unit having the same colors, etc.
Perhaps they were blowing ice/snow out of the diamonds to avoid using tools? From my view of the cam the near side BNSF track has more snow on it than the far track. Could ice build up in the special work on the diamond be a problem that was being worked on?
Bob
Some years ago a truck carrying fresh fruits and vegetables overturned in the median of the Interstate near here. The highway folks figured they'd just leave it there to "return to the earth" in a natural manner. It was far enough from any residences that any resultant odor wouldn't be a problem.
They eventually went back and cleaned it all up. The local wildlife loved the smorgasbord and car-animal collisions went through the roof there.
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...
Did a lot of searching on google images for rail maintenance of way equipment. The unit that was out there is/was a RPM Tech Hi-Rail Snow Blower - probably getting ice out of the flanges in the diamond? The manufacturer represents that it removes ice, etc. and a video shows use on switches, etc. Spec sheet that's viewable also shows a red vehicle like the one on the diamond today.
See http://www.grouperpmtech.com/en/rail-and-metro-equipment.aspx
The youtube video on the site shows a unit - painted similarly (white/red) to the unit that was at Rochelle today. Sounded like a pretty high pressure cleaning. From the coloration of the tracks - both UP tracks and the far BNSF track looked like they were heavily used. The near BNSF track - where they were working where it crosses the near UP track still had subtantial snow between the rails.
CShaveRRAs for grain, Larry, that's kind of what I had in mind. After that stuff ripens (what the wildlife doesn't get) nobody wants to catch a whiff!
Day before Thanksgiving last year, saw something along those lines after a BNSF grain train came through. That post is at the top of page 9 of this thread. As soon as the train had cleared, squirrels were out scavenging. Haven't seen that after other types of trains have cleared.
Coal dust is plausible--we know what it did to the heavily-used trackage at the Powder River Basin after a while.As for grain, Larry, that's kind of what I had in mind. After that stuff ripens (what the wildlife doesn't get) nobody wants to catch a whiff!
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)
It looked like they were possibly blowing coal off the two BNSF crossings of the closest UP track. There was a pretty big black cloud, but it could have been exhaust from the truck.
CShaveRRThere may have been spillage of something by the diamond--no reclamation value, just hazard removal, or something the neighbors might not wish to be downwind of after a while.
Some guys get all the luck...I went in to check out that interesting-sounding "suck truck", and all I got was trains...three of them! (Two estbound BNSF, with an eastbound UP waiting for them.)There may have been spillage of something by the diamond--no reclamation value, just hazard removal, or something the neighbors might not wish to be downwind of after a while.
P.S. The left side of the lens (in particular) could use some serious wiping off. That isn't all just smoke!
I thought that thing looked like a giant vacuum cleaner. Does anyone know what it does?
Jim in Costa Rica
Modeling freelance Northern California late 1930s
lots of mow action on the diamonds today.
No speed restrictions on the UP today - Just watched a WB tank train (both the buffer cars were on the head end) and a EB Coal train on the other track - both running track speed.
BaltACDReplacing diamonds - especially at a location such as Rochelle is a highly involved undertaking and requires a tremendous amount of coordination between the carierrs at multiple level throughout each carriers organization. Not to mention having the tracks of both carriers being out of service at the location for 8 to 16 hours or more if something goes wrong.
Especially in the depths of winter, I would guess, when the roads have other problems to contend with. Even the maintenance and repairs must not be any fun in the 7-degree weather they've had in Rochelle the last few days.
ChuckCobleigh BtrainBob A crew is out today - welding on the west near track. When was the diamond at Rochelle last replaced? At what point does replacement become economical rather than what really seems to be a full time repair crew? Repair I assume limits track usage for both the UP and BNSF. If the diamond was replaced would it continue to need daily repairs? Would track use efficiency increase? Funny you should ask; the current edition of the magazine has a nice article on diamonds. It's been several years since the assembly in Rochelle was replaced, so it may about be due. On the other hand, diamonds are high maintenance trackwork in the best of times. Yesterday a few of the many MOW workers on scene were bolting something up on the northeast corner of the northeast diamond. Lots of sledge and impact driver work going on. Oh, and at five pm CST a WB UP manifest is trundling through the diamonds.
BtrainBob A crew is out today - welding on the west near track. When was the diamond at Rochelle last replaced? At what point does replacement become economical rather than what really seems to be a full time repair crew? Repair I assume limits track usage for both the UP and BNSF. If the diamond was replaced would it continue to need daily repairs? Would track use efficiency increase?
A crew is out today - welding on the west near track. When was the diamond at Rochelle last replaced? At what point does replacement become economical rather than what really seems to be a full time repair crew? Repair I assume limits track usage for both the UP and BNSF. If the diamond was replaced would it continue to need daily repairs? Would track use efficiency increase?
Funny you should ask; the current edition of the magazine has a nice article on diamonds. It's been several years since the assembly in Rochelle was replaced, so it may about be due. On the other hand, diamonds are high maintenance trackwork in the best of times. Yesterday a few of the many MOW workers on scene were bolting something up on the northeast corner of the northeast diamond. Lots of sledge and impact driver work going on.
Oh, and at five pm CST a WB UP manifest is trundling through the diamonds.
Replacing diamonds - especially at a location such as Rochelle is a highly involved undertaking and requires a tremendous amount of coordination between the carierrs at multiple level throughout each carriers organization. Not to mention having the tracks of both carriers being out of service at the location for 8 to 16 hours or more if something goes wrong.
OK, for my next trick, I'll take my foot out of my mouth. I'm still getting white-out conditions on my new Windows 8.1 IE 11 machine and just discovered that replying in this forum doesn't work there now either. Both the web cam and the forum were working just fine as recently as a week ago. I may have made some changes to IE in the meantime but everything else that I use frequently is happy. Back to the drawing boards.
The web cam and the forum seem to be working OK on my old Windows 7 IE 11 machine although I sense a change here, too. Starting with the login, something just looks and feels different.
But, as I logged on to this machine to check this out, an eastbound BNSF container train hit the diamonds. His horn sounded like he has a cold as bad as mine and because of the lighting right now, I could hardly see the train. All I really saw was shadows racing across the snow; looked kind of weird.
ChuckAllen, TX
Works for me in IE and Firefox as of 2:30 pm Central time. Both of them have occasional 'hiccups', and the Firefox version continues to crash the plugin if you scroll the frame by mistake, but that's nothing unusual.
Perhaps they've fixed whatever it was.
internet explorerer doesn't work today. anyone else getting an x ?
fire fox works but it goes then stops and goes then stops.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.