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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by cefinkjr on Saturday, May 13, 2017 9:37 AM

re: Your window arrangement.  Why not go Full Confusion mode?  You can have the live Bailey Yard web cam as your background while you work in other windows. 

WARNING: This solution may reduce your productivity. Whistling

Seriously, I tried Bailey Yard as a background a couple of times and got nothing else done.  A slide show of 15 favorite locomotive photos as my background is bad enough.

Chuck
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Posted by xjqcf on Saturday, May 13, 2017 10:42 AM

Ballast train working UP No. 1 track across the diamond. Lots of rock dust.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Saturday, May 13, 2017 11:11 AM

xjqcf

Ballast train working UP No. 1 track across the diamond. Lots of rock dust.

 

Yeah and just as it was getting interesting, Spidy came on the scene to clean up her web and collect the morning catch.  Then the web cam froze.  I tried to restart it and had nothing but the rotating blue daisy for a while.  Now it's come back but I don't see Spidy or her lunch. Yes

Chuck
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Posted by xjqcf on Saturday, May 13, 2017 11:55 AM

Looks like they're unloading ballast to the side; There's now a big pile west of the diamonds around the eastbound signal bridge The train moved just east of the diamonds and is now unloading there. I assume this is for the diamond replacement project.

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, May 13, 2017 12:28 PM

Do those Herzog hopper cars have a method of transfering rock from one car to the next?  Looks like the last car in that train is some sort of lifting conveyor machine that is moving rock from the front, up to the middle and then discharging it to the side in the big piles.  I can't figure how it is getting the rock unless it is coming from all the cars in front of it.... but how?

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, May 13, 2017 12:44 PM

Inquiring minds want to know. That job sure would have tied up the streets if it had been brought in by truck.

Bruce

 

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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, May 13, 2017 1:43 PM

What you're describing, with the belt unloader(s) sounds more like the Georgetown Dump Train, not the Herzog ballast unoading system (which discharges ballast like ordinary hoppers, but much faster and more precisely).

The Dump Trains do have a belt that runs the length of the train, underneath the carbodies but above the couplers, leading to the conveyor unloader,  This makes it easy to pile stone, dirt, or whatever in a location off the track.

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 xjqcf on Saturday, May 13, 2017 2:28 PM

CShaveRR

What you're describing, with the belt unloader(s) sounds more like the Georgetown Dump Train, not the Herzog ballast unoading system (which discharges ballast like ordinary hoppers, but much faster and more precisely).

The Dump Trains do have a belt that runs the length of the train, underneath the carbodies but above the couplers, leading to the conveyor unloader,  This makes it easy to pile stone, dirt, or whatever in a location off the track.

 

 

I looked it up. It was Herzog's Automated Conveyor Train. A promotional video of it isfound at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGwc9gfHF9w .

 

From listening to the scanner feed they had about 6 carloads left which they took to DeKalb for unloading after which they were to tie up someplace yet further east.

 

 

 

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, May 13, 2017 3:40 PM

I knew it was "Herzog" because that is what was lettered on all of the cars!

But the final conveyor/discharge car I think was smaller than what was shown in that video and I could only see rock on the 1st conveyor, the last one was not being used as far as I could tell, and since it was all discharged on the other side of the track from the camera's viewpoint, I don't know how it was actually piled there.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, May 13, 2017 6:39 PM

xjqcf
It was Herzog's Automated Conveyor Train.

That was it. I started watching as soon as it pulled up by the warehouse. I saw them swing around to get under the far signal bridge and then reset on this side of the diamonds. They had to move that second belt S. V. mentioned several times. I even guessed that the car in the middle of the consist was the unit that powered the whole thing, even though I had never seen anything like when it passed by.

The one thing I got wrong was, I wasn't expecting belts under the cars. I was thinking it was going to be more like a 21st Century souped up version of steam engine coal stokers. They must have some pretty smart guys at Herzog.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

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Posted by xjqcf on Saturday, May 13, 2017 6:55 PM

Semper Vaporo

I knew it was "Herzog" because that is what was lettered on all of the cars!

But the final conveyor/discharge car I think was smaller than what was shown in that video and I could only see rock on the 1st conveyor, the last one was not being used as far as I could tell, and since it was all discharged on the other side of the track from the camera's viewpoint, I don't know how it was actually piled there.

 

 

The second conveyor was the one rotated to the side for depositing the stone, fed by the first conveyor. There appeared to be an inclined plane structure extending to the end cab which did not carry any stone; it might not be designed for that or is used to support the dumping conveyor when it is stowed for movement to a new site

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, May 13, 2017 7:28 PM

xjqcf
is used to support the dumping conveyor when it is stowed for movement to a new site

That is what it was for. It took a couple of attempts to exactly centre the second conveyor before the operator set it firmly down. Then it seemed like there were dozens of things he had to secure and levers to throw before he went back to his cab and they left.

That operators job would be a hard one to hire for. Having to find the right person to combine high tech knowledge with a willingness to do brute force labour.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, May 13, 2017 8:00 PM

I'm not sure the spider is winning; she has to respin her web after it gets wiped off. She just won't give up.

Johnny

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Posted by rdamon on Sunday, May 14, 2017 3:13 PM

At least they did not put a pile in our quadrant!! 

It is only a matter of time for the swap out ..  we may need to ask nicely for a spider cleaning before the work.

 

 

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Posted by AgentKid on Sunday, May 14, 2017 5:46 PM

First you bring in the ballast, then the rails. Yesterday I saw a loaded CWR train headed east, and just now, aprox. 1732 CDT, I saw an empty CWR train headed back west, trailed by two hoppers whose identity I couldn't make out because of the glare.

I can't say if it was the same equipment because the EB yesterday was trailed by a single, what had to be, ancient Southern Pacific hopper. In OCS service, as its' revenue earning days were long past. It was small and it was old. It would have been worth a photo in itself.

Bruce

 

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by gebass6 on Sunday, May 14, 2017 6:50 PM

A can of Raid.Or a broom should do the trick.Somebody.

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, May 14, 2017 8:18 PM

So far, when the web has been swept away, she returns and spins again.

Johnny

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Rochelle webcam
Posted by bedell on Sunday, May 14, 2017 8:18 PM

The spider is winning!

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Posted by blhanel on Sunday, May 14, 2017 9:09 PM

Re the spider, I would suggest a little application of Home Defense MAX could deter it for awhile...

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, May 15, 2017 6:51 AM

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.

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, May 15, 2017 10:04 AM

[quote user="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.[/quote]

Ballast pile in front  of the Del Monte facade as well as on the side of the port-a-pot.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by xjqcf on Monday, May 15, 2017 12:23 PM

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

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, May 15, 2017 3:08 PM

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.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by blhanel on Monday, May 15, 2017 6:51 PM

Another EB CWR train just went through on UP #1...

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

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

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