Happy New Year to everyone and their families.
It has warmed up to positive temperature values here for the first time in over a week at 8ºF. The windchill is still -4º though.
I have had real trouble with the site in the last couple of days. I am now going to pass on a bit of information to freight car watchers like Carl that I tried to post when I saw it on the news last week.
The long process of merging the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium Inc. will be effective Jan. 2. The new company will be called Nutrien. I have no information on the new logo or any changes in reporting marks. This won't affect any of the Canpotex hoppers.
Once again, Happy New Year everyone, if this post works.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Went to work this morning at Fremont. Temperature was -18 on the outskirts to -12 closer to downtown, according to bank displays. One manifest train, 12000 ft long, had air problems on the DP, enough that the first crew didn't leave North Platte. Instead of replacing the DP or shortening up the train, they let it out after (I guess) "fixing" it. The DP was a SD70ACe, their air compressors have a hard time keeping up in good weather, I can't imagine in sub zero weather. More problems enroute, so I heard. Second crew didn't look like it was going to make it in, so a third (dog catch) crew was called. The train ahead of it, a Z train, also had engine problems. Enough that it wasn't going to make it's scheduled long pool crew change and was going to the short pool instead. Another intermodal train sounded like it was having DP air problems too, but would make it without a dog catch. I was lucky, I got a coal train that went around all that mess and didn't have problems. Main cab heater even worked, sort of.
On the way, I saw a couple of places where new rail had been spliced in. In another place I saw a pull-apart waiting for attention. My neighbor is a signal maintainer and I heard his name mentioned, that he was coming out about 50 miles off his normal territory to help out. He got home just after I did and he said on his way out they had him stop at almost every control point to get switches to work right. He said today there were 7 broken rails between Missouri Valley and Nevada, IA. (The two repaired locations that I saw were west of Missouri Valley and aren't part of the 7. The pull-apart would be.) Yes sir, 2018 is off to a great start.
Jeff
Thank you for that information about the merger, Bruce! I usually see covered hoppers from one company or the other when I'm watching trains on either CN or CP, but rarely anywhere else. I'm not familiar with any cars that Agrium owns, just leased cars (but lots of them!). Conversely, it's been a long time since I've seen any Potash Corporation leased cars. Something's going to change with this merger, I expect--and this will help me make sense of what I see.
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)
(duplicate reply deleted...sorry!)
-11 in Peru, Indiana, right now, have been fiddling with my heater controls in the semi for the last four hours to get it comfortable in here. Forecast is -19 for the low, the run to Lafayette tomorrow morning should be interesting........
Stay warm, my friends..........
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
All of -7.8F here at the homestead right now, which is an improvement over last night. It's supposed to be a little milder coming up, but we may see some weather from that system coming up the coast.
Oswego County is currently getting lake effect, upwards of a foot so far. Just a little light "dust" here right now.
We'll see what the winds do later this week. Could be interesting.
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...
We're enduring that part of winter where it's -20 at night and we question our sanity about why we live here. Our only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr. But we know, in no time at all it will be +90 degrees and 90% humidity and we'll be questioning our sanity about why we live here. Out of curiosity, I checked the weather in the area where I was born, Chugiak, Alaska. It's currently about 45 degrees warmer there. I wish Canada would just send us cold, Canadian beer and not cold, Canadian air.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Coldest in three years here. Weather guessers blew it last as this morning already 5 degrees lower than forecast ( 14 F ) . When we saw the dew point at 5 F called it probably going to 11 F .Guessers be dammed. Moon looks even more beautiful in crisp cold.
Our worry is that last week of Jan - 1st Feb is usually coldest time around here.
Heard run on anti-freeze here. You in the north may have to put in concentrate to lower the -34 of 50 / 50 mixes. have fired up our block heaters for first time in couple years. Makes going out so much better especially mrs Streak.
Warm streak here - only down to -22F overnight.
Kinda looking forward to that winter storm that'll be making its way up the coast. Might bring some warmer weather with it.
Of course, we could be in Florida, which is seeing temperatures in the 30's, with wind chills into the 20's...
Murphy SidingOur only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr.
That would be Upper Freezistan, then?
Having grown up in Illinois, and then rescuing a lovely young lady from Wisconsin by marrying her, and then living in W. MI (Gr. Rapids) for 9 years of Lake Effect, I finally got smart, and 30 years ago moved us to Marietta, GA to escape all that. Or so I thought. An unexpected foot of snow 2 weeks ago, and this morning it was 12 degrees as I left for work. Feels like I never left the frozen north!
-ScottM
ChuckCobleigh Murphy Siding Our only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr. That would be Upper Freezistan, then?
Murphy Siding Our only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr.
Canuckistan is the real Upper Freezistan!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Well, up to +21F - but the wind has arrived, with a 25 MPH gust just making its way through. So the wind chill is still in single digits or less
Neighboring emergency services are currently dealing with an ice fisherman somehow stranded on the ice. Can't work out all the details from what I'm hearing on the scanner, so I don't know the exact situation. Wind (this is on a bay off Lake Ontario) seems to be a factor.
While the ice should be fairly stable after our prolonged cold snap, the wind could be a destabilizing factor. A few years ago a couple of ice fisherman were stranded when the ice sheet they were on broke away from shore... The were saved. Their equipment wasn't, as there wasn't room in the airboat to carry them and their gear.
Larry,
I'm sure you, being raised in Michigan you've heard many stories about fishermen getting stranded on both Saginaw Bay and Lake Saint Clair. Seems to be a common occurence on both ponds.
The ones that are amusing as long as no life is lost are those who drive their pickups to their preferred fishing hole, and soon realize they are not only stranded on an ice floe but their insurance will not cover their losses when their truck sinks simply because they did something stupid.
Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma.
Norm
Norm48327Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma.
Ah, yes, Lake St. Clair...
An uncle was a diver with the Oakland County Sheriff's dive team years ago. One recovery they did was a Corvair. All the occupants (four teens) got out just fine, but the ice turned into a bowl under the car, with the only way out being uphill, clearly a non-starter traction-wise. The car ended up on the bottom.
I remember seeing cars/trucks on the ice on Kent Lake, where they oftimes used a tractor to clear the ice for the skating rink at the marina. The vehicles were usually parked next to a shanty, dragged out onto the lake and left there for the season.
For a good number of years a car was placed on the ice of the St Lawrence River and a pool was run when it would go through. It was secured with chain/cable, so it could be recovered.
Today that would get you a daily fine for every day it was in the water.
Today's incident included not only the stranded ice fisherman, but his tent and snowmobile. The fisherman is now safely on-shore, but USCG expressed an interest regarding whether anything was left on the ice, so now they're working on bringing the rest of his stuff in.
tree68 Norm48327 Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma. Ah, yes, Lake St. Clair... An uncle was a diver with the Oakland County Sheriff's dive team years ago. One recovery they did was a Corvair. All the occupants (four teens) got out just fine, but the ice turned into a bowl under the car, with the only way out being uphill, clearly a non-starter traction-wise. The car ended up on the bottom. I remember seeing cars/trucks on the ice on Kent Lake, where they oftimes used a tractor to clear the ice for the skating rink at the marina. The vehicles were usually parked next to a shanty, dragged out onto the lake and left there for the season. For a good number of years a car was placed on the ice of the St Lawrence River and a pool was run when it would go through. It was secured with chain/cable, so it could be recovered. Today that would get you a daily fine for every day it was in the water. Today's incident included not only the stranded ice fisherman, but his tent and snowmobile. The fisherman is now safely on-shore, but USCG expressed an interest regarding whether anything was left on the ice, so now they're working on bringing the rest of his stuff in.
Norm48327 Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma.
When I was a kid and our family transferred to Garrett, IN from Baltimore. I remember we were driving down US 27 from the Indinana Turnpike and went past a lake that had a car in the middle of it with a sign on it to guess the date and time it would go through the ice. I don't know what the cost was to 'play'. Had never seen anything like it in Maryland.
evening
Back to work.Work busy.Ns was clear when I left work.Matt was off from school today.Seems the ice has a problem coming off the backroads for the school buses.Going to get colder.Might need to borrow Mookies mittens soon.
stay safe
Joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
For what its worth, it's warmer on Mars than many of our posters are experiencing.
As of writing, Weather.com lists the temperature as -2 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill making it feel like -18 degrees Fahrenheit outside the XRT studios in Chicao..
The latest readings from NASA’s Mars Rover Environmental Monitoring Station indicates the ground temperature on Mars at -6 degrees Celsius (21.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and the air temperature at -19 degrees Celsius (-2.2 degrees Fahrenheit).Yikes!
If you’re looking for a silver lining, just know it won’t get nearly as cold in Chicago as it can get on the Red Planet. According to NASA, the temperature on Mars can drop to as low as -225 degrees Fahrenheit.
However you measure it, it's COLD here.
JoeKohMight need to borrow Mookies mittens soon.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Welcome Back El Heffe Gato All hail the cat (chocolate paw prints and all)
I seriously doubt any more than 4 people even noticed. But thank you!
MookieI seriously doubt any more than 4 people even noticed.
We notice, but we're discreet about it...
We still put the car on the lake, but everything hazardous has been stripped out, and a long cable is run to shore. Lake isn't even four feet deep..........
Haven't shut off the truck since Sunday, and the way the forecast looks for where I'm going, might not shut it off until Friday night, when it gets plugged in at the drop yard..........
I got a bit of surpise when looking at weather forecasts at various places, my birth town of Tallahassee is forecast for a high of 41F tomorrow and 27F for tomorrow night, while Brian Head Resort's forecast is a high of 41F and a low of 29F. (BHR is about 8,000 or so feet above msl and ~15 miles NE of Cedar City UT).
OTOH, it was a nice 76F at work today.
Had enough? We have giga tons of cold in Canada all along your border.
Here you go....ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...and some more ...hoooweeee...plenty more to come.
Give us back the Stanley Cup or more to come!
Miningman Give us back the Stanley Cup or more to come!
You can have the Cup back. Hockey is about as boring as watching paint dry.
PS: Your Maple Syrup isn't as good as Vermont's either.
This space reserved for SpaceMouse's future presidential candidacy advertisements
There may be some concern about the electric grid. this prolonged cold could put a strain that will break some where ? Noted is that there is a small 20% spike in natural gas prices. Some one may get his coal wish ?
BTW for some reason cannot delete any mistakes on original posts. Have to post then use edit function .
GraniteRailroader You can have the Cup back. Hockey is about as boring as watching paint dry.
I would hardly call hockey boring. American football can be boring with about 10 seconds of action with 25+ seconds getting ready for the next play, even longer if one of the seven officials indicates an infraction.
Anyway, the Black Hawks will take home the Cup this year.
CSSHEGEWISCHAmerican football can be boring with about 10 seconds of action with 25+ seconds getting ready for the next play, even longer if one of the seven officials indicates an infraction.
Can't forget "television time-outs." Wait - that's basketball.
Don't watch a lot of football, but I do know that it seems like the last two minutes take a half hour of "real" time...
Baseball is another "slow" game, especially if the pitchers are sharp and hits are hard to come by.
I think I'd prefer a hockey game to soccer - especially the pro version of soccer. Lots of running around and kicking the ball, with the final score of 1-0 determined by a shootout.
All sports are boring when you don't understand the game and don't want to understand it.
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