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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, November 30, 2015 2:22 PM

rdamon

Chatter is that the CSX was to wait for the NS.

I bet a few small cups got filled up in the bathroom.

 

http://reviewtimes.com/local-news/2015/11/30/close-call/

Since the discription in the Review Times reports that NS was operating the CSX engines and CSX was operating the UP engines - Let's wait for some real evidence.

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, November 30, 2015 3:24 PM

True ... the chatter was on another forum.

Would the NTSB be involved in this or would it be handled internally?
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Posted by tree68 on Monday, November 30, 2015 4:18 PM

rdamon
Would the NTSB be involved in this or would it be handled internally?

If any fed is involved, it'd be the FRA, but since it's essentially "traffic infractions," most likely it'll be handled internally.  As has been suggested, maybe some time off...

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Posted by CShaveRR on Monday, November 30, 2015 9:23 PM

The picture with the article makes a liar out of the caption--the UP power as on the NS track, and CSX was on its own track.  NS would have had nothing to do with the CSX move.

Signals will be checked, and both crews will fill their respective sample bottles.  S.O.P.  

I'd be inclined to believe that the CSX crew was at fault since the picture shows him well beyond the last signal he would have encountered.  Had there still been a tower at the plant, the radio chatter would have occurred a lot more quickly, and probably wouldn't have involved the NS train at all.

P.S.  A while back somebody mentioned a "safety sandwich".  Nothing at all sinister about that--every so often the railroad will put on a small feed for crews, when a safety goal is met or exceeded (I was a safety captain once), and Savanna was (is?) a crew-change point.

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Posted by rdamon on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 9:39 AM

A little more detail ...

https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/csx-ns-trains-nearly-collide-in-fostoria/

Norfolk Southern spokesman David Pidgeon confirmed the incident.

“An eastbound NS train approached the diamond at Fostoria with a clear signal and when the crew spotted a northbound CSX train approaching the diamond, the NS crew put their train into an emergency brake (application),” Pidgeon told Trains.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 6:45 PM

Will the loco cameras tell the story ?

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Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 7:20 PM

You have to have them first and second - they have to work. You're asking a lot out of a small group of mechanical and an even smaller group of communications employees.

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 ChuckCobleigh on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 11:23 PM

Movable point diamond installation.

This short time-lapse video is pretty entertaining.

From BNSF.

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Posted by Norm48327 on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 5:44 AM

ChuckCobleigh

Movable point diamond installation.

This short time-lapse video is pretty entertaining.

From BNSF.

 

Those guys sure work fast. LOL

Norm


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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 9:21 AM

Norm48327

 

 
ChuckCobleigh

Movable point diamond installation.

This short time-lapse video is pretty entertaining.

From BNSF.

 

 

 

Those guys sure work fast. LOL

 

They have to--look how fast the equipment is moved. Smile

I didn't see any track crossing another track; I had thought that diamonds were only at crossings.

That junction is somewhat familiar to me--I have been both ways on all three tracks--in to/out of Portland, from/to Pasco, and to/from Seattle.

 

Johnny

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Posted by phkmn2000 on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 9:29 AM
Great video! Snowing this morning! there was some discussion a while back on why the last snow disappeared more quickly on the UP tracks. I think at least part of the reason is that the BNSF tracks lie more in shadow from the trees. You can see that the ground is cooler on the BNSF side this morning as the snow accumulates there first. Even bare trees throw enough shadow to make a difference.
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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 10:50 AM

Deggesty
They have to--look how fast the equipment is moved.

Looks almost like someone building a model railroad layout - lots of "snap track..."

In fact, given the model MOW equipment, I can just about see someone doing a similar video of such a project on their model railroad.

That was quite the speedboat, too...

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Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 11:39 AM

Are those powered derails in the foreground?

 

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 12:32 PM

Deggesty
I didn't see any track crossing another track; I had thought that diamonds were only at crossings.

   Right in the middle-- aren't those two tracks crossing with no provision to switch from one to the other?   The angle is so acute that movable frogs would be used.   (My guess, anyway.)

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 1:09 PM

Paul of Covington
   Right in the middle-- aren't those two tracks crossing with no provision to switch from one to the other?   The angle is so acute that movable frogs would be used.   (My guess, anyway.)

Notice that starting at about 30 seconds into the video, the south end of the Amtrak platform can be seen in the lower left of the frame for a while.

From the description below the video:

BNSF trains operating through a crossover at the Columbia River Bridge between the Fallbridge and Seattle subdivisions used to be limited to no more than 10 mph. However, the recent installation of a rare “movable-point diamond” has allowed for higher efficiency through this stretch of track near the Amtrak Station in Vancouver.

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 1:17 PM

Looks that way to me.  For a brief time, the camera is a little further back and shows them much better.  

LarryWhistling
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CBT
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Posted by CBT on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 2:02 PM

What is that thing that looks like an uncompleted switch to the right of the speed limit sign? It has a switch box but i dont know what it is.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 6:50 PM

ChuckCobleigh

Movable point diamond installation.

This short time-lapse video is pretty entertaining.

From BNSF.

Wow!  That's so quick, I'm going to have to watch it a few more times to soak it all in.  Thanks for the link, Chuck. Bow
 
I was hoping, though, to see the movable point diamond in action as it is being lined for one route or the other.
 
Still impressive,  though.  My non-rail buds are going to get this one. 

Chuck
Allen, TX

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 7:01 PM

On thing I find amazing, the drawbridge was only opened 1 time for water traffic during the entire installation.

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Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 8:54 PM

CBT

What is that thing that looks like an uncompleted switch to the right of the speed limit sign? It has a switch box but i dont know what it is.

 

 Google Map Link

 

If you look at 0:27 in the video the camera moves back. They look like derails, maybe they are engaged when the bridge rotates.

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Thursday, December 3, 2015 6:25 PM

cefinkjr
I was hoping, though, to see the movable point diamond in action as it is being lined for one route or the other.

   It changed several times from about 0:55 to 1:28, but it was quick.   At about 1:03 was the longest that it was switched.  

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, December 3, 2015 6:50 PM

Watch it on YouTube (click the YouTube link at the bottom of the embedded video window in this thread) and then click the "Full screen" icon in the lower right corner of the video on the YouTube page.  This will make the image fill the screen and be big enough to really see the crossover near the middle of the image.  Watch starting about 1:20... you will see both "wings" switch several times (and not necessarily at the same time!).

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by rdamon on Thursday, December 3, 2015 7:05 PM

Right at the end around 3:25 there is a good shot as well

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Posted by SushiLover on Friday, December 4, 2015 10:56 PM

For those that haven't seen it yet, here's the 2015 CP Holiday Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jWaScptQ4

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, December 5, 2015 7:55 AM

Wow! two EB intermodals on the UP at the same time with one passing the other.

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, December 5, 2015 8:11 AM

I think this mornings wow moment ocurred about 20 minutes ago. There was an EB doublestack and autorack train on the BNSF. The first car behind the engine was a damaged autorack. It looked like one of the end doors had been ripped off, as well as some other body damage. I presume it was being taken to wherever they build them for major repairs. It was just the one car, followed by the well cars, and then many more autoracks.

That was the first time I had ever seen anything like that.

Bruce

 

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Posted by rdamon on Saturday, December 5, 2015 8:34 AM

SushiLover

For those that haven't seen it yet, here's the 2015 CP Holiday Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jWaScptQ4

 

Very cool!

I would bet that someone down here in Atlanta would still not see that at a grade crossing.

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Posted by SushiLover on Saturday, December 5, 2015 8:57 AM

rdamon

 

 
SushiLover

For those that haven't seen it yet, here's the 2015 CP Holiday Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jWaScptQ4

 

 

 

Very cool!

I would bet that someone down here in Atlanta would still not see that at a grade crossing.

 

 

 Yeah it sucks, the farthest south they went was here in Northern IL and looks like I missed them by a day Sad

 

http://www.cpr.ca/holiday-train/schedule-united-states

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Posted by junior yardmaster on Sunday, December 6, 2015 12:01 PM
I was watching your 24-minute video of BNSF train traffic; a lot of flat wheel cars, especially on that one consist. Junior Yardmaster
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Posted by cefinkjr on Sunday, December 6, 2015 8:48 PM

AgentKid
...The first car behind the engine was a damaged autorack. It looked like one of the end doors had been ripped off, as well as some other body damage. I presume it was being taken to wherever they build them for major repairs. ...

That was the first time I had ever seen anything like that.

Bruce

Used to see badly damaged freight cars loaded on flats or low sided gons EB on PRR/PC through Pittsburgh until I left the area in the late 80's.  Assumed they were the product of derailments somewhere west of Pittsburgh headed to Hollidaysburg (south of Altoona) for repair or salvaging.  Seldom saw any moving on their own wheels though.  I imagine they were repaired at some car shop closer to the scene of the derailment.

Chuck
Allen, TX

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