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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, May 22, 2017 1:22 PM

Around noon I saw a pair of new SD70ACe-T4 units leading a coal train in full UP paint and markings (not the demo units)..  couldn't grab a screenshot or the numbers in time.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, May 22, 2017 12:23 PM

I saw what might have been the first UP traffic on #2 since that panel was replaced.  Both units did a very nice dosey-doe as they crossed the diamonds.  Might need a little more work there, Guys.  Whistling

My bet is that this work on adjacent BNSF panels is preparation for replacement of the diamonds next weekend.  I'm going to be tied up from Friday to Monday with VFW Memorial Day activities so I hope somebody gets a good video and posts a link to it here.

Chuck
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Posted by rdamon on Monday, May 22, 2017 10:05 AM

Crane took old track panel away .. new panel being put in place.

 

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, May 22, 2017 9:40 AM

Crane on site

 

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Monday, May 22, 2017 9:17 AM

Just a real "bee-hive" of activity!  One small "BobCat" type EndLoader and THREE larger articulated EndLoaders swarming all over the place... and a full set of "drones" standing around pretending to be garden statuary.

 

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by xjqcf on Monday, May 22, 2017 9:08 AM

xjqcf

Appears to be a fairly major project going on at the diamonds. It does not appear to be the main replacement, but more focused on replacing a track panel on BNSF 2 track (furthest away from the park) just west of the diamonds. This track is out of service; UP has a form B in effect.

 

 

Section has been removed; the subgrade has been removed and is being replaced. Workers have now started on the east side of the diamonds; looks like it's being prepped to be replaced also.

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Posted by xjqcf on Monday, May 22, 2017 8:18 AM

Appears to be a fairly major project going on at the diamonds. It does not appear to be the main replacement, but more focused on replacing a track panel on BNSF 2 track (furthest away from the park) just west of the diamonds. This track is out of service; UP has a form B in effect.

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, May 20, 2017 7:37 PM

Paul of Covington
cefinkjr
Even more homeowners don't take normal precautions when using dangerous tools. Some of us are just lucky.

   Ever notice on the woodworking shows on PBS that you'll occasionally see the caption on the bottom:  "Use caution when operating power tools"?   I'm glad they reminded me because I had been planning on using them with complete abandon.

If they didn't put those warnings up, some fool would sue, saying, "Theyth didnth tellth meeth noth tooth lickth theth bladeth whileth ith wath spinninth."

 

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by blhanel on Saturday, May 20, 2017 6:40 PM

Just watched a near-perfect meet between an EB UP coal train and a WB UP mixed manifest- engines passed each other about 25 feet east of the diamonds.

EDIT: And it just happened again, only better!  EB UP mixed and WB UP stacker met on the diamonds after an EB BNSF cleared.

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Saturday, May 20, 2017 12:12 AM

cefinkjr
Even more homeowners don't take normal precautions when using dangerous tools. Some of us are just lucky.

   Ever notice on the woodworking shows on PBS that you'll occasionally see the caption on the bottom:  "Use caution when operating power tools"?   I'm glad they reminded me because I had been planning on using them with complete abandon.

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, May 19, 2017 10:29 PM

tree68
 
cefinkjr
Bernz-O-Matic took care of the egg cases she left behind.

 

Ya know - more that one house has burned down due to homeowners using that "tool..."  Wink

Even more homeowners don't take normal precautions when using dangerous tools.  Some of us are just lucky.  Smile, Wink & Grin

Chuck
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Posted by tree68 on Friday, May 19, 2017 12:58 PM

cefinkjr
Bernz-O-Matic took care of the egg cases she left behind.

Ya know - more that one house has burned down due to homeowners using that "tool..."  Wink

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, May 18, 2017 9:54 PM

Ya gotta remember, spiders are NOT "insects" (8 legs, not 6) and as such, "Insecticides" are useless.  If they do work, it is not because it poisoned the spider to death, it is because it had an oil base that the spider could not shed fast enough and it suffocated.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, May 18, 2017 9:08 PM

writesong Ran accross a 3" long spider in a banana tree while I was on TDY with a ROK 25th Division rifle company (still wonder who I offended in 1/10 Cav to get that TDY).  Strange looking beast: It was 3" long but only about 1/2" wide with no taper and black and yellow stripes running the length of the body.  Completely ignored issue insecticide but couldn't ignore the ROK 1st Sergeant's .45 at close range.

Chuck
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Posted by writesong on Thursday, May 18, 2017 9:08 PM

When I first arrived at Dong Ha, Republic of Viet Nam (near the DMZ), the other guys told me not to kill any spiders, because their cobwebs trapped mosquitoes, which would give us malaria.

John Robert Mallernee, Ashley Valley Shadows, Vernal, Utah 84078
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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, May 18, 2017 8:36 PM

When I was in grammar school, we had a black widow in our outhouse. Her web was in a corner, in front of and to the left of the seat. We let her be so she would keep the flies down--I never noticed any flies inside.

The thing to really watch out for was the paper wasp nest outside, over the door.

Johnny

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Posted by writesong on Thursday, May 18, 2017 7:06 PM

When I was a Specialist Four, E-4, Field Radio Relay and Carrier Equipment Repairman (MOS 31L20) serving with the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) in the old Republic of Viet Nam, I was terrified of using our 501st Signal Battalion (Airmobile) privy at Camp Eagle (located West of Highway QL-1, between Hue and Phu Bai).

Black widow spiders made their home just below the toilet seat, and yes, there indeed were instances of guys being bitten on the family jewels.

Fortunately, that never happened to me!

One of the scariest things about being in the old Republic of Viet Nam, aside from being under fire and having people try to kill me, was all the multitude of venomous creepy crawlies.

During the Monsoon, when on perimeter guard duty, we were forced to share our sandbagged bunkers with those venomous creepy crawlies in the pitch black darkness, as every creature (including me) tried in vain to stay dry and warm (and yes, it did get cold during the Monsoon season in the Northern part of the old Republic of Viet Nam).

John Robert Mallernee, Ashley Valley Shadows, Vernal, Utah 84078
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Posted by schmaltz on Thursday, May 18, 2017 5:10 PM

Busy and healthy looking.

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Thursday, May 18, 2017 5:03 PM

Busy spidey this afternoon around five CDT.

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, May 18, 2017 1:57 PM

xjqcf

A private car train just went west on UP. Anyone know what this was?

 

http://www.aaprco.com/news/aaprco-midterm-meeting-at-kansas-city-and-special-train-may-18-20-2017/

Jeff

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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, May 18, 2017 12:04 PM

Brian: I do hope you're not taking our complaints about Spidey too seriously.  Yes, it's a nuisance but most folks on this thread know the relationship between Trains and the web cam.  We also know how difficult it is to deal with spiders; they are persistent little devils.

I just wish there were more web cams around the country (world?) with as much action 'up close and personal' as the one at Rochelle.  Of course, more individual control, wider view, another camera looking at this one from the other side of the diamonds, all signal aspects shown in the corners of the screen, ....   I could go on for quite a while with that wish list but I'm glad to have what we do.

Chuck
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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:53 AM

tree68
Knowing the constant battle my aunts fought with spiders at their lakeshore cottage, I can appreciate the challenge this arachnid poses.

Soon after moving into our house (which had been empty for a year since the builders left), I emptied a can of insect spray on a Black Widow spider in the garage.  I swear the #$%^&* was laughing at me so hard that she fell out of the web.  I finally managed to squash it with a shovel as it tried to get away.  Bernz-O-Matic took care of the egg cases she left behind.

Chuck
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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:45 AM

BaltACD
A service oriented company that is dinged by the railfan community constantly.

That's almost as bad as employees publicly "dinging" the company they work for.  And then wondering why it goes down the tubes.  Sad.  Grumpy

Chuck
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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:44 AM

Brian Schmidt
Folks, we are working with our partners in Rochelle to banish the spider this spring. Plese keep in mind that the Trains editorial offices are more than 100 miles away, so we can't just take off and handle this ourselves.

While the spider is mostly an annoyance - it's still fun to gripe about it....  

The camera isn't exactly in an easy-to-reach location.  That's great for the view, and for prevention of vandalism, but does make otherwise simple tasks like cleaning the lense (or dealing with spider webs) a bit of a job...

Knowing the constant battle my aunts fought with spiders at their lakeshore cottage, I can appreciate the challenge this arachnid poses.

LarryWhistling
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Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by trainmaster247 on Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:31 AM

5+ BNSF trucks out there now probably more measuring....

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:07 AM

Folks, we are working with our partners in Rochelle to banish the spider this spring. Plese keep in mind that the Trains editorial offices are more than 100 miles away, so we can't just take off and handle this ourselves.

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, May 18, 2017 8:16 AM

cefinkjr

BaltACD

The joys of working for a service-oriented company.  The alternative, of course, is working for a company on its way to bankruptcy and, take it from me, that ain't fun.  I (more or less) lived through three corporate bankruptcies; all were at least partly a result of providing poor service to customers.

A service oriented company that is dinged by the railfan community constantly.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by xjqcf on Thursday, May 18, 2017 7:15 AM

A private car train just went west on UP. Anyone know what this was?

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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, May 16, 2017 6:04 PM

alpinemike
My former employer always scheduled big projects that could cause service disruptions over holiday weekends when the effects would be less severe.

The joys of working for a service-oriented company.  The alternative, of course, is working for a company on its way to bankruptcy and, take it from me, that ain't fun.  I (more or less) lived through three corporate bankruptcies; all were at least partly a result of providing poor service to customers.

Chuck
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Posted by alpinemike on Monday, May 15, 2017 7:13 PM

BaltACD

 

 
xjqcf
rdamon

The new diamond is already here .. behind the "Del Monte Wall" .. Once we see the orange locate paint and flags show up we know things are getting ready.

Just saw a two man team walking around apparently taking measurements

 

My guess is that installation of the diamonds will take place over the Memorial Day weekend when volume is traditionally lighter.  My former employer always scheduled big projects that could cause service disruptions over holiday weekends when the effects would be less severe.

 

happy spring  spider web back  lol

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