MKT Dave (ex sonar tech, us navy here -spent hours listening to sounds of the ocean
(ex sonar tech, us navy here -spent hours listening to sounds of the ocean
Or, as my ex-USN sonar tech buddy puts it, "listening to the fish [flatuate]". :)
I've seen more of the NS Heritage units on this camera than I have on the NS in person - and I live a few hundred yards away from the Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati mainline.
14.55 eb UP auto racks, they really start swaying to and fro just before crossing the diamonds. A stack yesterday at speed, they were really swaying badly.
Is there any way for someone at the Rochelle R. R. Park to swish away some of the spider webs, from time to time? When the sun is low in the west, it is fuzzy with webs. If I was closer, I'd be glad to do it. Thank you so much for having it going for us. I look at it just about everyday!
1004CST Just heard a long blast on a siren at Rochelle. Here in Texas that would mean:
1. At noon on a nice day, we're testing the tornado warning siren, or
2. Get under cover NOW!
What's with this in Illinois (at 36 degrees and overcast) ?
ChuckAllen, TX
Severe weather testing at 10am on the first Tuesday of each month.
http://www.cityofrochelle.net/component/k2/item/739-severe-weather-siren-testing-moved-to-1st-tuesday-monthly.html
Bob
It's an Illinois thing. Around 10:00 a.m. (translation: as soon as they think about it afterwards, I think) on the first Tuesday of every month the sirens go off. There should not be any quiet zones involved.The Emergency Alert System on the radio has a test that's a little longer and more involved than the daily test on that day as well.I'll have to poke my head in at Rochelle with the cam...I'm getting homesick.
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)
CShaveRR It's an Illinois thing. Around 10:00 a.m. (translation: as soon as they think about it afterwards, I think) on the first Tuesday of every month the sirens go off. There should not be any quiet zones involved.
It's an Illinois thing. Around 10:00 a.m. (translation: as soon as they think about it afterwards, I think) on the first Tuesday of every month the sirens go off. There should not be any quiet zones involved.
So it is a tornado alert test? Ours is noonish on the first Wednesday during tornado season IF it's a clear day (wouldn't want to unnecessarily alarm the folks). OTOH, there was a test last Saturday so maybe they've changed the day for some reason.
That goes far beyond Illinois. Pretty much any place in tornado alley has a public alert system - most generally a siren. And those systems get tested fairly regularly. It wouldn't do for them to fail when needed.
Some rural communities use the fire siren, but with a different pattern.
Back before TV stations started going 24 hours, I heard of one who advised their listeners to leave their TV on, with the volume turned up, after the station went off the air (usually midnight, or after the 11 o'clock news). In reality they stayed on the air, but didn't broadcast any sound (so no "white noise"). If there was a tornado alert, they would come on the air with plenty of sound so people would wake up and take shelter.
Nowadays, weather alert radios are inexpensive, and most can be set to alert only for your county.
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 Nowadays, weather alert radios are inexpensive, and most can be set to alert only for your county.
(Just slightly off topic)
That may be the case for you, but in our area the zone is at least 100 miles in each direction and covers portions of 20 counties in 3 states. Alerts are issued for "severe" thunderstorms several times a week in the season. As a result the system suffers from a cry wolf problem. My own weather radio is gathering dust in a closet somewhere; I've been awoken far too many times for the report of a routine T-boomer already many miles east of me.
The people who control the sirens for the local town are far more selective in their use.
Here in Muskogee ok, it goes off at 11.00 am every Thursday....
just watched the BNSF track inspector go by on #2 track. (track nearest the cam) 07.40am 0408
cefinkjr CShaveRR It's an Illinois thing. Around 10:00 a.m. (translation: as soon as they think about it afterwards, I think) on the first Tuesday of every month the sirens go off. There should not be any quiet zones involved. So it is a tornado alert test? Ours is noonish on the first Wednesday during tornado season IF it's a clear day (wouldn't want to unnecessarily alarm the folks). OTOH, there was a test last Saturday so maybe they've changed the day for some reason.
Dakguy201That may be the case for you, but in our area the zone is at least 100 miles in each direction and covers portions of 20 counties in 3 states.
If you have a SAME capable weather radio, you can set it for just your county. Each county in SD has it's own SAME code. If you are listening to the general coverage of a given transmitter site, you're right - you'll get everything for the entire coverage area of that transmitter.
We occasionally run into over-notification problems even with single county coverage, especially in the winter when lake effect snows are common. Lake effect usually is concentrated in the souther part of the county, but further north skies may be clear, but we still get the alerts.
If your weather radio isn't capable of SAME, the closet sounds like the best place for it. In the meantime, see if you can find a SAME capable radio. They usually run under $100. With some higher end products, you can even select the types of alerts you want to receive (or not receive).
Back hoe operating just West of the observation area.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Haven't looked in for a while. Looks like some of that orange conduit found it's way under the roadbed.
BaltACD Back hoe operating just West of the observation area.
They dug a hole, and they're working across the tracks as well. What's the plan? Just watched a couple of guys put a warning ribbon around the near hole.
Earlier this evening, saw a UP short auto-rack eastbound with 12 locomotives! Might have miscounted, but it was a lot; deadheading, I assume.
Also saw a BNSF westbound with a bright blue loco that had no markings I could see. What road was that from?
Nice to see the grass is green in Rochelle. Here in eastern Massachusetts, the snow has finally melted, but the ground is still brown. What a winter!
/Mr Lynn
MrLynnThey dug a hole, and they're working across the tracks as well. What's the plan?
tree68 MrLynn They dug a hole, and they're working across the tracks as well. What's the plan? Odds are they're using a directional boring machine to get that conduit under the tracks. That generally requires a couple of holes - one for each end. The actual hole it bores is just big enough for that conduit.
MrLynn They dug a hole, and they're working across the tracks as well. What's the plan?
Odds are they're using a directional boring machine to get that conduit under the tracks. That generally requires a couple of holes - one for each end. The actual hole it bores is just big enough for that conduit.
The MOW workers had a cherry picker on the far side, next to the lights (still hanging, but not being used.) too far to see what was being done. I do know that over the easter weekend, work was being done in the two far boxes, and on occasion orange vested person would walk to the trailor and fetch something.
Saturday abouts 15.00, was a funny moment, at least twenty people were in site of the camera, a lot of kids, a they were all milling about smartly.
A horn, and everyone froze. EB UP stack, #1 track, at speed. they went to yelling and cameras came out rushing to the right side if they dilly dallied, they missed it, and I was really amused by it all.
MrLynnNice to see the grass is green in Rochelle. Here in eastern Massachusetts, the snow has finally melted, but the ground is still brown. What a winter!
Thanks to Tree68 for updating me on weather radio technology. I didn't realize things had changed. There were tornados yesterday across the southern plains; I got on Amazon this morning and ordered a SAME capable unit.
Dakguy201 Thanks to Tree68 for updating me on weather radio technology. I didn't realize things had changed. There were tornados yesterday across the southern plains; I got on Amazon this morning and ordered a SAME capable unit.
Many weather radios will allow you to enter multiple SAME codes. Thus, if you are close to a border of your county (especially on the west/south), you can also enter the SAME codes for those counties. It will slightly increase your "false alarm" rate, but will give you a little extra notice if weather is coming your way but your county hasn't been warned yet.
Many will also differentiate between different types of alerts. I have one that gives the time remaining for a given watch/warning.
If you have a scanner, consider finding out what frequency the local ham radio Skywarn net is on. That may provide you with real-time spotter reports, and just that much more warning.
A bit off the weather topic, but I saw a loco on the rear of a train on the BNSF side heading on the nearer track towards Clinton in a livery that I have not seen before. (Thursday April 9th at about 12.50 - 7.50pm UK time). It looked like dark blue horizontal bands both sides of a central white section. The definition of the camera not being too good it looked like GTRAIL or something similar. Can anyone tell me what it was that a saw?
Men working a trenching machine to lay cable duct whilst trains in all directions!
Thanks,
GORDON BAILEYA bit off the weather topic,
Sorry for the digression - but hopefully some folks will find the information useful. With the technology that exists today for warnings (right down to "phones"), one shouldn't be caught unawares by severe weather.
Westbound pigs and stacks on BNSF as I peek in, but it looks like the workers have mostly gone home for the day. One fellow in a hard hat walked along the side of the park as a UP stacker started rolling west with a CSX loco trailing.
Watching the live Rochelle webcam right now and you can hear the tornado warning sirens very clearly in the background...saw three UP guys in reflective vests and hard hats walking slowly to their truck...guess they could care less about a tornado somewhere in the vicinity. TV channel 5 (NBC) in Chicago just told of a tornado on the ground very close to Rochelle RR park.
eolafan Watching the live Rochelle webcam right now and you can hear the tornado warning sirens very clearly in the background...saw three UP guys in reflective vests and hard hats walking slowly to their truck...guess they could care less about a tornado somewhere in the vicinity. TV channel 5 (NBC) in Chicago just told of a tornado on the ground very close to Rochelle RR park.
Looks like most of it went north of Rochelle. I can hear thunder, though.
Looks like the storm cell headed NNE and just missed Rochelle to the west. I can see a headlight out west on the UP, but it's not moving.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
The current radar summary on Intellicast is showing a TVS (tornado vortex signature) around Rockford. Looks like Rochelle dodged the bullet this time.
Unfortunately - The front page of chicagotribune.com right now has the following headline:
Tornado causes considerable damage in Rochelle, authorities say
Quite a big bullet, too, judging from all the videos surfacing. One shows it spinning up near Ashton- that eastbound UP that came through afterwards was very lucky.
BNSF high-rail track inspector WB on left track through the diamonds at about 9:25 PM CDT. Movin' kind of slow.
Very breezy in the audio.
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