CShaveRR Time flies, Buddy...those concrete ties between Rochelle and Elburn on Track 1 have been there since 200?, before I retired.
Time flies, Buddy...those concrete ties between Rochelle and Elburn on Track 1 have been there since 200?, before I retired.
watching the tie removal as i type, then a horn squawked, everyone stopped, got off the tracks and a couple minutes later a EB coal UP on track #1.
Lots of work on the close track today .. looks like they are grabbing the ties and taking them away.
A week after the cam was upgraded last year, stacks of concrete ties were placed along side Track #1, When i got back online a few days later, they were mostly a few were still stacked, and you could see the concrete ties on 1, BUT I can't verifie the ties were already in place then, Wished i'd been able to watch them being replaced If they did a few days later. I watched the cat with the pickers running around and watched it line the ties between the rails. Hence i asked the question, 'why are the ties lined up between the rails. It was really rocking up and down as it went back and forth over the rails of tracks #1 and #2.
And I didn't even notice the people running around at the center. Guess fair is fair.
I can hear a NB on the Cherokee Sub of the UP here in east central Oklahoma, and watch the trains on the Rochelle Cam. Can't hear the SB very well, have to go outside to hear them. I'm about a mile west of the tracks.
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)
CShaveRRThe fact that the ties are there at all suggests that a replacement program is imminent. I'm pretty sure that it will be on Track 2 (the near track), because Track 1 is concrete ties up to the diamonds. If you were at the park, you could probably see marks on the ties that are set to be replaced.
I seem to reall that the concrete ties went in about a year ago. Didn't see the tie work but did get to see a Plasser tamper coming through this side of the diamonds. Interesting machine to watch move up the track. Found some videos on the Plasser site of the same type of machine in action.
Good stuff to be seen from time to time on the web cam.
The work is already in progress out of the scene to the right (East)... or at least the day that the question was asked, I saw a caterpiller tracked digger vehicle (I think it is the vehicle that is presently partialy visible on the other side of the tracks at the right) come into the scene between the park fence and the tracks. It drove past the signal support structure and up onto the ballast on the west side. It threaded itself between the signal structure and the post to the west of it quite nicely. It swung the arm out over the tracks and, with the jaws on the end, gingerly picked up one tie and managed to swivel around without hitting the signal structure and drive back down onto the grass and off screen to the right from whence it came.
At that time there was family of 2 adults and 2 children in the park. The adults were wandering around and the kids were running up and down the stairs, but none of them paid any attention to the vehicle or what it was doing... like it wasn't even there. (Must like trains only, with no penchant for small mobile construction equipment!)
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
MKT DaveAnyone know why the ties are lined up between the two tracks of the UP?
There's a bunch (looks like five) of MOW guys doing something with the switch on the BNSF track. Yesterday I saw the local switcher stop and a brakeman get off to open the switch for the siding, and close it on return, so apparently it is not yet remote-controlled. Must be some problem requiring a big crew in to work on it today.
Lots of rockin' and rollin' as the locos and double-stack cars cross the diamonds on the near UP track.
/Mr Lynn
MKT Dave Anyone know why the ties are lined up between the two tracks of the UP?
Anyone know why the ties are lined up between the two tracks of the UP?
21:59
Appeared to be one vehicle with the lights on, couldn't tell if it was a patrol or a MOW truck. It left just as a EB BNSF came through.
21:05
Pair of blinkey lights, Right side of the diamonds, nothing else i can say, been there for about fifteen minutes.
21:45
still there, someone walking around with a flashlight.
blhanel Not sure what was going on tonight, but a westbound BNSF stack crossed the diamonds very slowly about 15 minutes ago and stopped with the engines just beyond the next grade crossing to the west. They then proceeded to back up a few car lengths, move ahead about the same distance, and then back up all the way past the diamonds to where you can't see things illuminated by their headlight anymore. Power problems?
Not sure what was going on tonight, but a westbound BNSF stack crossed the diamonds very slowly about 15 minutes ago and stopped with the engines just beyond the next grade crossing to the west. They then proceeded to back up a few car lengths, move ahead about the same distance, and then back up all the way past the diamonds to where you can't see things illuminated by their headlight anymore. Power problems?
Maybe setting out a BO somewhere back, maybe near Main street? There doesn't appear to be any convenience stores, so I don't think the crew was picking up a Slurpee or a Slim-Jim.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Dakguy201 MrLynn Bunch of guys standing in the woods on the far side of the BNSF tracks. Can't see what they're doing--maybe something with the ballast? /Mr Lynn I think what they might have done is converted the siding switch there from locally thrown to remotely operated from Ft. Worth. The reason I think so is that the past two days the switcher has pulled up to the switch, waited five to ten minutes and then proceeded into the siding. No one was visible getting off the locomotive. I had never seen that before. Unfortunately, on neither day did I wait around to see what occurs when they leave the siding.
MrLynn Bunch of guys standing in the woods on the far side of the BNSF tracks. Can't see what they're doing--maybe something with the ballast? /Mr Lynn
Bunch of guys standing in the woods on the far side of the BNSF tracks. Can't see what they're doing--maybe something with the ballast?
I think what they might have done is converted the siding switch there from locally thrown to remotely operated from Ft. Worth.
The reason I think so is that the past two days the switcher has pulled up to the switch, waited five to ten minutes and then proceeded into the siding. No one was visible getting off the locomotive. I had never seen that before. Unfortunately, on neither day did I wait around to see what occurs when they leave the siding.
To me, that sounds more like a power switch that can be lined via the radio key pad by the train crew.
Jeff
Dakguy201 I think what they might have done is converted the siding switch there from locally thrown to remotely operated from Ft. Worth.
What's the gain from this? I noticed that the local crew always left the switch lined for siding while they performed their switching. I would guess that the lack of inclusion of the switch in the CTC system meant that the DS had to tie up the entire south track over the double-track segment while the local was in the block. Would it be safe to assume that by being able to "see" and control the switch, the dispatcher regains the ability to use the south track while the crew is working the yard?
denveroutlaws06 is there a new Cantilever bridge going up near the west bound signal (UP)?
is there a new Cantilever bridge going up near the west bound signal (UP)?
It would appear that new bridges are going up for both UP directions at the diamonds. Carl had noted some weeks ago that there was a cantilever section on the ground near the new upright that's been visible for a while near the EB signal bridge. This week, a cantilever section was on the ground going west from the WB signal for a while as lots of folks in orange vests were working in the area. Now it appears that that bridge section is in place and visible at the upper right corner of the webcam frame.
It's hard to actually tell about the EB signals, but there were a lot of folks down at that end this week as well.
SP patched unit as DPU eastbound at 10:45 am, for those interested.
They are digging something over there, Maybe getting ready to run conduit or trying to find existing conduit. .I just saw a cop outside the fence on the U.P. side. Could be something to do with folks walking up to the diamonds? Or the report of a family putting pennies on the rails?
There's a lot of activity today with quite a few folks in the orange vests. It looks like the structure that was on the ground earlier at the right of the picture is now over the UP tracks just west of the existing signal bridge. Also, lot of folks down at the signal bridge west of the diamonds, perhaps to put the cantilever signal bridge Carl spotted a while back up on the support that has been there for quite a while west of the existing signal bridge.
Now a train is blowing for one of the nearby crossings...eastbound BNSF oil train on the near track, which I guessed because there was no movement of the workers on the UP tracks west of the diamonds. This all at 1:00 PM CDT.
The camera got moved! It is no longer aimed as it was. I thought at first that the signal bridge support on the right had been removed and that just seemed to have been an awfully fast operation for me to have missed it.
But I have a screen capture of the scene from a year ago and can tell that the camera has been rotated to the left and now I realize that I can still see that the tower is right at the edge of the new scene view.
EDIT: Maybe it has been "Zoomed-in" a bit. Maybe both.
EDIT! NEVER MIND... my stupid computer changed the zoom level (or maybe my stupid mouse did it... I won't take the blame myself!!!!!
CatFoodFlambeI've looked at some signal stands and wondered about acrophobic signal maintainers...
Or acrobatic, maybe?
rdamon It appears that the new structures have more safety features for maintainers to climb and work on the structures.
Hey! I just saw a PASSENGER TRAIN!! It was an all-yellow UP eastbound, headed by a couple of modern EMD locomotives (no E units), maybe 10 cars, with a dome car (!) and an observation car (!).
Is this a new development? Private-livery passenger trains making a comeback?
I know, probably an executive train. But doggone it, I can wish, can't I? I'd like to ride that one, for sure.
PS Didn't think to grab a screen shot, darn it!
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...
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