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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by MKT Dave on Wednesday, August 3, 2016 6:26 AM

east side verticle truss was just removed.... abouts 10-15 minutes, and it was gone. But the crossover is still there....

...
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Posted by xjqcf on Wednesday, August 3, 2016 5:57 AM
Now the westbound signal bridge is being dismantled... both were done early in the morning (less traffic?)
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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 9:13 PM

zugmann
 
BaltACD
I get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad.

 

Just think of what it's like for those on the head end.

 

I'm chuckling at this exchange but I probably shouldn't be.  It's been a long time since I've ridden the head end --- long enough for water-cooler-creases in my backside to fill out --- but I well remember some of the "thrills" you get when arriving first at the scene of a possible accident.  Nothing to do with signal changes but I'll never forget being EB in an E-8 cab with a WB freight just clearing a grade crossing before we would get there . . . and a school bus (unable to see us) waiting for the freight to clear.  Nothing happened but it was probably the longest 2 minutes of my life. 

Chuck
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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 3:51 PM

BaltACD
I get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad.

Just think of what it's like for those on the head end.

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


  

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 3:40 PM

zugmann
BaltACD

Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, doesn't it?

I get the cold shivers every time we have a signal suspension to install new signals on a portion of the railroad.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 3:37 PM

Check out the new UP westbound signals.  Has anyone ever before seen mainline home signals at an interlocking with only one head?  Guess that's all that's really necessary in this direction.  (The eastbound signals have two heads per track because the next signal east is a control point home signal for crossovers.)

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 zugmann on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 3:26 PM

BaltACD
more likely a function of signal designers/engineers having no knowledge or understanding of railroad operations and how their designs interact with the real world.

Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, doesn't it?

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


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 3:19 PM

It would be nice if audio from the road radio channels of each carrier were a part of the sites feed.

New signal installations rarely have the flexibility and ease of operation when compared to those they replaced.  Maybe a function of PTC, more likely a function of signal designers/engineers having no knowledge or understanding of railroad operations and how their designs interact with the real world.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by xjqcf on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 1:34 PM

tree68

The former fire pit caught my eye a day or two ago, but I didn't recognize what had happened.

And just now, BNSF came in from the west on the far track with four boxcars in tow.  They crossed the diamond and dropped a crewmember off at the switch.

After a few minutes, the train backed up a few feet, then again paused.  It then proceeded east, over the crossing adjacent to the park, and out of sight.  The crewmember is still at the switch...

And now, they're backing up to the switch again, as an eastbound on the near BNSF track passes.  Full train of light colored covered hoppers.

The local has backed into the siding and out of sight.

Wonder if they've held up any UP traffic - might be busy for a few more minutes!

 

 

Monitoring the scanner feed, last week I heard  a converstion between a BNSF maintainer and a train crew about some changes to the operation of the interlocking.

1) The old arrangement had a "reclear" feature which allowed a train for which a signal timed out to be recleared using a relatively simple procedure. This is no longer the case; if a train does not foul the interlocking within 15 minutes of a clear signal the signal will droip to stop, and the only way to proceed is to use the established procedure to go through the plant if a signal cannot be cleared, involving the conductor going to a trackside box and operating a control, then going to the diamonds to flag until the train goes to pick him up; I observed this once when UP's local out of cold storage (switch about a mile east on track 2) had to do this.

2) BNSF's 199 switch (the one dicussed above no requires the BNSF dispatcher to code in a request to unlock the switch (in addition to all the other procedures previously observed)

 

What you saw today was, for some reason, the switch failed to unlock despite the dispatcher repeatedly sending various commands (I guess there are several to choose from on the CAD screen). None worked until the local backed just past the home signal and tried again. Looks like this "upgrade" still has some rough edges.

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 11:55 AM

Dang - missed that.

BNSF coal empties west on the near track, and the local just came out with five cars.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 11:45 AM

UP just had a self propelled Crane shove a gon (cover for the crane boom) and pull 2 former Cabeese East.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 11:30 AM

The former fire pit caught my eye a day or two ago, but I didn't recognize what had happened.

And just now, BNSF came in from the west on the far track with four boxcars in tow.  They crossed the diamond and dropped a crewmember off at the switch.

After a few minutes, the train backed up a few feet, then again paused.  It then proceeded east, over the crossing adjacent to the park, and out of sight.  The crewmember is still at the switch...

And now, they're backing up to the switch again, as an eastbound on the near BNSF track passes.  Full train of light colored covered hoppers.

The local has backed into the siding and out of sight.

Wonder if they've held up any UP traffic - might be busy for a few more minutes!

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by rdamon on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 8:08 AM

Just noticed the fire pit was removed..

So votes on what is next ..

Rest of the Old Del Monte Building or the BNSF Pole Line?

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Posted by rdamon on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 7:21 AM

 I wonder if the RR Park will get one ...

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Posted by xjqcf on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 6:39 AM

Looks like UP is finally dismantling the old C&NW signal Bridges

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 12:25 AM

rdamon

The days of the acoustic coupler...

Didn't they play one show on "Unplugged"?

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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, August 1, 2016 6:15 PM

BaltACD
 
tree68
BaltACD

Or 60 WPM teletype....

 

 

Done them all.  Teletype was hard wire dedicated circuit.

 

Been there, done that.  Don't think I'll ever forget the NC telephone company checking a data line by listening to it with a patch-cord and a single ear phone.  "Yep, it's OK." every time.

Then there was the guy who asked if we were sure we could put data through a phone line that fast . . . when we were upgrading from 600 to 1200 bps modems.  Lots of laughs in those days. 

Chuck
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Posted by rdamon on Monday, August 1, 2016 3:55 PM

The days of the acoustic coupler...

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, August 1, 2016 3:27 PM

tree68
BaltACD

Or 60 WPM teletype....

Done them all.  Teletype was hard wire dedicated circuit.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, August 1, 2016 3:26 PM

BaltACD
You had the high speed stuff at 2400 BPS - try 300 BPS.

Or 60 WPM teletype....

LarryWhistling
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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 BaltACD on Monday, August 1, 2016 2:01 PM

cefinkjr
Passing thought: I'm glad I didn't have to do the programming to keep track of container loading, etc.  What a nightmare.  I recall a program for efficiently loading trucks with multiple LTL drop-offs at various customers.  I was very glad that someone else got to maintain that one; I had enough fun with managing transmissions between HQ and nine plants via 2400 BPS dial-up modems.  (Yes, kiddies, that's 2,400 BPS; not 2400 KBPS or MBPS.)

You had the high speed stuff at 2400 BPS - try 300 BPS.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, August 1, 2016 12:30 PM

rdamon

Was it one of these?

 

I think the lettering was different but that picture looks very similar to what I saw.

And UP just answered my questions.  I saw a similar tank-container EB a few minutes ago with a conventional box on top of it.

Passing thought: I'm glad I didn't have to do the programming to keep track of container loading, etc.  What a nightmare.  I recall a program for efficiently loading trucks with multiple LTL drop-offs at various customers.  I was very glad that someone else got to maintain that one; I had enough fun with managing transmissions between HQ and nine plants via 2400 BPS dial-up modems.  (Yes, kiddies, that's 2,400 BPS; not 2400 KBPS or MBPS.) 

Chuck
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Posted by rdamon on Monday, August 1, 2016 7:27 AM

Was it one of these?

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Posted by cefinkjr on Sunday, July 31, 2016 3:24 PM

Just saw an interesting container EB on UP.  It appeared to be a cylindrical tank with a platform on top of it.  Looked like you might be able to stack another container on top of it.  Is this possible?  Must it be another similar tank-container?

Chuck
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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, July 31, 2016 3:01 PM

Hmmm.  Fellow in an orange shirt and white hard hat walking eastbound on BNSF from the diamonds right now - paused briefly to look at the switch and now out of sight.  Didn't see if he arrived on a hi-rail or not.

Edit:  Hi-rail on left track just crossed the diamonds headed west.

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

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, July 30, 2016 9:18 PM

Found it!  Gear Icon in the upper right corner of IE-11... select "Safety  >", UNcheck the "Active X Filtering" item.  Of course, it is too dark to see anything right now, but at least I am getting video feed.  Thanks!  Geeked

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by rdamon on Saturday, July 30, 2016 7:02 PM

I have been running fine with W10 and Chrome. 

The camera uses Flash which is not supported on Edge.

IE11 has been known to have security turned pretty high.

 

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Posted by cefinkjr on Saturday, July 30, 2016 6:36 PM

Wish I could help Semper.  Your environment sounds very similar to mine so you just managed to make me very nervous.  (Gosh it's hard to type with my fingers crossed!)

Chuck
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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, July 30, 2016 6:13 PM

Semper Vaporo
I had no problems with the site until my computer went floozie and I had to, 1st reload Win 8.1, then re-upgrade to Win 10 (and reload all my files from a backup that didn't work the way it was supposed to and I LOST an awful lot of stuff!).

Now all I see on the Rochelle Webcam is a blank white area and no sound... I assume I am missing the specific browser add-on for the cam, but I have no rememberance of what it should be.  Doesn't work with either IE-11 or EDGE.

Help?

W10 & Firefox - no problems except when the site itself has problems.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, July 30, 2016 5:55 PM

I had no problems with the site until my computer went floozie and I had to, 1st reload Win 8.1, then re-upgrade to Win 10 (and reload all my files from a backup that didn't work the way it was supposed to and I LOST an awful lot of stuff!).

Now all I see on the Rochelle Webcam is a blank white area and no sound... I assume I am missing the specific browser add-on for the cam, but I have no rememberance of what it should be.  Doesn't work with either IE-11 or EDGE.

Help?

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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