DeggestyThe maintenance workers just had a brief rest--a train of empty flats went by. Some of the flats had a cradle close to each end; most of them were simply flats. It seemed to me that the truck on one end of these was closer to the end of the car than the truck on the other end was.
I think those are flats for hauling the towers of electric generating Windmills. I had not noticed the displacement of the trucks, but I did notice the regularity of the flats with cradles and the empty flats on each end. I think the empties are to handle the overhang of the tower segments, since they are longer than the flat they are on.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Semper Vaporo Deggesty The maintenance workers just had a brief rest--a train of empty flats went by. Some of the flats had a cradle close to each end; most of them were simply flats. It seemed to me that the truck on one end of these was closer to the end of the car than the truck on the other end was. I think those are flats for hauling the towers of electric generating Windmills. I had not noticed the displacement of the trucks, but I did notice the regularity of the flats with cradles and the empty flats on each end. I think the empties are to handle the overhang of the tower segments, since they are longer than the flat they are on.
Deggesty The maintenance workers just had a brief rest--a train of empty flats went by. Some of the flats had a cradle close to each end; most of them were simply flats. It seemed to me that the truck on one end of these was closer to the end of the car than the truck on the other end was.
Johnny
DeggestySemper Vaporo Deggesty The maintenance workers just had a brief rest--a train of empty flats went by. Some of the flats had a cradle close to each end; most of them were simply flats. It seemed to me that the truck on one end of these was closer to the end of the car than the truck on the other end was. I think those are flats for hauling the towers of electric generating Windmills. I had not noticed the displacement of the trucks, but I did notice the regularity of the flats with cradles and the empty flats on each end. I think the empties are to handle the overhang of the tower segments, since they are longer than the flat they are on. That's what I thought. There were many more plain flats than there were flats with cradles, though.
Deggesty The maintenance workers just had a brief rest--a train of empty flats went by. Some of the flats had a cradle close to each end; most of them were simply flats. It seemed to me that the truck on one end of these was closer to the end of the car than the truck on the other end was. I think those are flats for hauling the towers of electric generating Windmills. I had not noticed the displacement of the trucks, but I did notice the regularity of the flats with cradles and the empty flats on each end. I think the empties are to handle the overhang of the tower segments, since they are longer than the flat they are on.
Deggesty
The maintenance workers just had a brief rest--a train of empty flats went by. Some of the flats had a cradle close to each end; most of them were simply flats. It seemed to me that the truck on one end of these was closer to the end of the car than the truck on the other end was.
That's what I thought. There were many more plain flats than there were flats with cradles, though.
With a plain flat on each end of a cradle flat, that would be a 2 to 1 ratio. But I think I saw some plain flats that seemed to be shared between two cradle flats. Still there were many more plain ones. I also noticed that some of the plain ones had some sort of box or panel on the side near one end. And others had some sort of "X" tiedown in the middle... I suppose they may have been for the other parts of the towers.
The train I saw was a coupleo of days ago, but I have not seen a loaded train going the other way.
I'm not sure when the local came EB over the spur switch and stopped. I saw the trainmen take out his trusty broom and sweep out the points. The rear of three cars was an empty centre beam flat, so I could see the trainmen working the switch through the steelwork of the car. He tried for 10-15 minutes to get the switch to throw, with no success. At 1139 CST the local left heading EB with never having been able to get in to switch the customers.
EDIT: he has returned to try again at 1147.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Success! He just cleared the switch into the spur at 1149. That tied up the main track for most of 20 minutes.
Winter railroading always comes down to broom proficiency!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I missed twilight today but here are some later images.
Dusk at Rochelle:
A Pass in the Dark:
Enjoy !!!
Jim in Costa Rica
Modeling freelance Northern California late 1930s
Looks like a creative use of a weed-burner as a snow-blower on the UP.
NYC had some jet engines - recycled from scrapped aircraft? the jet-assisted RDC? - mounted in old wood cabooses as snow-blowers on steroids. A Diesel unit would push a tank car of fuel and the caboose/snow-blower around a yard blowing out switches. It did a great job, blowing 6' chunks of ice out of the way, but had to have a man on the ground to extinquish burning ties if the operator wasn't real careful.
ChuckAllen, TX
cefinkjr Looks like a creative use of a weed-burner as a snow-blower on the UP. NYC had some jet engines - recycled from scrapped aircraft? the jet-assisted RDC? - mounted in old wood cabooses as snow-blowers on steroids. A Diesel unit would push a tank car of fuel and the caboose/snow-blower around a yard blowing out switches. It did a great job, blowing 6' chunks of ice out of the way, but had to have a man on the ground to extinquish burning ties if the operator wasn't real careful.
Shame view isn't better:
And now the shovels are out guess the weed burner can't do it all.
cefinkjr JimInCR Rochelle Twilight: Beautiful, Jim. I just opened the web cam page ... just in time to see a WB UP FRED disappearing. I don't think a screen grab of that would have had quite the impact of yours. Thanks for sharing.
JimInCR Rochelle Twilight:
Rochelle Twilight:
Returned to my computer a minute ago just in time to see this scene repeated ... in motion, of course ... on BNSF #1. The lighting and everything was very near the same but it wasn't quite as impressive; I think because, being on #1 instead of #2, the overhead trees weren't lit as well by the headlight.
2:15 -Entire long train of nothing but boxcars..not a hopper, gon, bulkhead flat,tanker, or double stack anywhere..to be fair long cuts of Cryogenic and Refrigerators among the boxcars but box cars nonetheless.
Quite the wall of graffiti.
Some folks like the "artwork" but not me. Railroads looked far better before that nonsense took hold.
Miningman 2:15 -Entire long train of nothing but boxcars..not a hopper, gon, bulkhead flat,tanker, or double stack anywhere..to be fair long cuts of Cryogenic and Refrigerators among the boxcars but box cars nonetheless. Quite the wall of graffiti. Some folks like the "artwork" but not me. Railroads looked far better before that nonsense took hold.
Probably the fairly new Z train. It was just recently added to the list of speed restricted trains across Iowa when over 6000 ft. and 10000 tons. I guess they were getting tired of it breaking in two, including a couple of wrong end drawbars.
Jeff
jeffhergert Miningman 2:15 -Entire long train of nothing but boxcars..not a hopper, gon, bulkhead flat,tanker, or double stack anywhere..to be fair long cuts of Cryogenic and Refrigerators among the boxcars but box cars nonetheless. Quite the wall of graffiti. Some folks like the "artwork" but not me. Railroads looked far better before that nonsense took hold. Probably the fairly new Z train. It was just recently added to the list of speed restricted trains across Iowa when over 6000 ft. and 10000 tons. I guess they were getting tired of it breaking in two, including a couple of wrong end drawbars. Jeff
Thinking it could be this one..
http://www.capitalpress.com/Business/20160906/union-pacific-starts-express-food-trains-in-northwest-california
Have heard dispatchers talking about a ZG3 something, maybe SK, train on Saturdays in the past. Has had at least 100 boxcars when I've seen it before.
Not enough length or tonnage - 20K tons 14K feet and 2 AC units - thats the ticket! Don't have to put out any speed restrictions!
Quote BaltACD Not enough length or tonnage - 20K tons 14K feet and 2 AC units - thats the ticket! Don't have to put out any speed restrictions!
While Engineers and Conductors get decent pay, do the railroads really save that much when you consider all the issues involved in getting these huge trains over the road. The costs and delays due to couplers breaking; not having sidings long enough to allow meets; Cutting the train to get it into the yard; and all the other problems. Etc. If the train runs through five crew districts, they save the cost of five crews. If I assume the train crew day costs about $700.00 (Eng 270 + con 220, two days pay plus benefits & overhead) the RR saves $3,500.00 by eliminating a train. The RR's seem to believe the savings are there or they wouldn't be doing it. How many extra long trains make it without issues? Or am I missing something?
Electroliner 1935 Quote BaltACD Not enough length or tonnage - 20K tons 14K feet and 2 AC units - thats the ticket! Don't have to put out any speed restrictions! While Engineers and Conductors get decent pay, do the railroads really save that much when you consider all the issues involved in getting these huge trains over the road. The costs and delays due to couplers breaking; not having sidings long enough to allow meets; Cutting the train to get it into the yard; and all the other problems. Etc. If the train runs through five crew districts, they save the cost of five crews. If I assume the train crew day costs about $700.00 (Eng 270 + con 220, two days pay plus benefits & overhead) the RR saves $3,500.00 by eliminating a train. The RR's seem to believe the savings are there or they wouldn't be doing it. How many extra long trains make it without issues? Or am I missing something?
They aren't all having trouble, so like the bombing raids against Germany in WW II enough are getting through to make the trouble of the others in the whole a profitable operation.
Sounds like the "salad shooter" we see along the CSX "Chicago Line" on a regular basis. The "artists" do like those nice white "canvases."
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...
UP unit coal train EB by at 1444 CST.
Merry Christmas to all.
AgentKid UP unit coal train EB by at 1444 CST. Merry Christmas to all. Bruce
I've seen this train a lot; 100++ cars with two units on the point and another pushing. Saw the WB empties a little later than the EB train you saw and it made me wonder: Is this a turn from somewhere to the west with the same crew passing through Rochelle in both directions or is it really two jobs with different crews?
cefinkjr AgentKid UP unit coal train EB by at 1444 CST. Merry Christmas to all. Bruce I've seen this train a lot; 100++ cars with two units on the point and another pushing. Saw the WB empties a little later than the EB train you saw and it made me wonder: Is this a turn from somewhere to the west with the same crew passing through Rochelle in both directions or is it really two jobs with different crews?
Different trains. There are multiple coal train symbols and their empty counter parts that run this way. Some are almost daily, while others have become intermittant. Coal is still important across this corridor, but nothing like what it used to be.
As in Mark Twain's famous quote as it pertains to coal. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
There is still coal moving on the railroads - not at record levels of the past, but still moving in quantities.
Over the years, changes within the railroads have to some degree made it seem like coal is decreasing more than it actually is. In 1990 on CSX most company owned cars were in the 80 ton capacity with steel cars. Train sizes were nominally 90 cars - a train that 2 Dash-8's could handle over most of the railroad without helpers. The trains of today have mostly aluminum constructed hoppers and are loaded to a full 286K (and maybe a little more), the standard train size has become 130 cars hauled by 2 AC engines and in some territories a DPU engine assisting. Each train today hauls signifigantly more tonnage than the trains of 1990, and thus we see fewer trains but more tonnage is hauled.
BaltACDThere is still coal moving on the railroads - not at record levels of the past, but still moving in quantities.
Another part of the nature of how coal moves is that single car movements are a thing of the past.
Used to be virtually every town had a coal siding, where several sizes of coal were available. Images of trains from "back in the day" often show individual hoppers, and top views evidence several different sizes of coal.
Thus people aren't as aware that coal is moving at all...
I watch the cam at Bailey Yard in North Platte while watching and listening to the Rochelle cam while I'm working. Just saw a pair of loaded coal trains on the run through, going side by side. And at the same speed right now. both had a pair of engines front and back.
tree68... virtually every town had a coal siding ...
I do recall a fairly unique coal dealer along Rt 51 as you approached Pittsburgh from the south in the early '50s. His customers were no doubt apartment buildings, hospitals, churches, etc. What made this one unique was the fact that coal was dumped from hoppers into the tops of 3 (4?) round silos about 50' above street level where it was loaded into dump trucks for delivery. Those silos stood against a very steep embankment with a very short trestle leading to the silos. I was very young (10?) when I saw this so I'm not sure whether Pgh Rys, P&WV, or ??? spotted hoppers atop those silos.
They love it when a plan comes together.
At 1415 CST the local cleared the main track down the spur after a delay of at most, two minutes on the main line. That included some of that mysterious short back and forth jiggling we discussed here a few months ago.
If I don't get back before then, I would like to wish everyone here a Happy New Year.
Watching the UP Bailey Yard Cam, I caught this loaded coal gondola in a consist on the yards run through line, wondered is it is a commemorative car or just unique graffiti?
https://flic.kr/p/QD6haR
It looks like the commemorative 1776-1976 Bi-Centennial Hopper from days gone by but that would make it 40 years old ...And thats just since the paint job. Good eye though.
Have a new W10 laptop - trying to fire up Rochelle and the recieved screen says I need a plug in - but doesn't offer up the option to download it.
MiningmanIt looks like the commemorative 1776-1976 Bi-Centennial Hopper from days gone by but that would make it 40 years old ...And thats just since the paint job. Good eye, though.
I assume you're talking about CNW 135799, their Bicentennial hopper. It was delivered that way from the plant, and is still in service, though it's been modified a little bit (but the paint job is original).Having said that, the car in the webcam shot is not the CNW car. The paint is in much better shape, and the size is more in keeping with the modern cars on the same train (the CNW car, even with its recently-added height, would stand out like a very sore thumb in that train!). I suspect that the car in the webcam shot is fairly recent, and of aluminum construction.And, having now said all of that, I have to confess that I have no idea what it might be. I suspect that loaded cars on that train make a right at Gibbon Junction, and don't come our way.
EDIT: Found it! It's UCEX 2015, in honor of U.S. veterans.http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4197718 The pink car next to it in the shot is UCEX 2014, "On Track for The Cure". Since the pictures I saw of these cars shows them separately, I assume somebody somewhere worked very hard to get the two of them next to each other.
The pink car next to it in the shot is UCEX 2014, "On Track for The Cure". Since the pictures I saw of these cars shows them separately, I assume somebody somewhere worked very hard to get the two of them next to each other.
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)
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