There are also a smattering of engines still running around in their actual predecessor paint, a few of which even still carry their old reporting marks. Fans keep close tabs on these. Around here, CNW 8646 and 8701 are popular (and usually kept close to home so the paint shop won't get ahold of them).

Ah yes CNW 8646



Seen a couple of weeks ago

Definitely not see a paint shop recently!!

And we all hope it doesn't for a long time to come.

Southern?

NS 8099 heritage loco painted in Southern green

Southern Railway was a large system in the southeast US that had already gobbled up a number of other lines when it merged in 1983 with Norfolk & Western, which had done the same with various lines from Virginia to Kansas City. The green and white was actually Southern's passenger scheme (which they kept using until 1977, declining to join Amtrak when it started in 1971). The unit they did as Savanna & Atlanta, 1065, is the typical Southern freight scheme.

PS The song "She caught The Katy" probably best remembered from the Blues Brothers does actually refer to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad, ie The Katy.

Indeed.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

David. Your post about Champaign and Kankakee, Brought back a lot of memorys to me. After I had finsished my Air Force basic training I was sent to Chanute AFB in Rantoule IL. It was where at the time All firefighting training was done.
I well remeber sitting in my room doing my homew ork and seeing trains going both ways down the line.
The best menories I have is at sunset with the train being framed by a setting sun. Or just lying in bed at night and hearing them pass. It seemed like home to me. And as a young homesick lad of 18 It made me feel a lot better. Most of my young life I lived with in seeing and or hearing distance of a rail road.
Thanks for bringing that particluar rail line up. You made me feel 43 years younger:)

Rantoul is a stop for the 390s, but not for 58/59. Glad to bring you fond memories.

Vic wrote:

UP, seems to have been like Pac-Man for a bit, gobbling up the Ghosts..

We have referred to it as Borg Rail.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

David. Your post about Champaign and Kankakee, Brought back a lot of memorys to me. After I had finsished my Air Force basic training I was sent to Chanute AFB in Rantoule IL. It was where at the time All firefighting training was done.
I well remember sitting in my room doing my homework and seeing trains going both ways down the line.
The best memories I have is at sunset with the train being framed by a setting sun. Or just lying in bed at night and hearing them pass. It seemed like home to me. And as a young homesick lad of 18 It made me feel a lot better. Most of my young life I lived with in seeing and or hearing distance of a rail road.
Thanks for bringing that particular rail line up. You made me feel 43 years younger:)

Rantoul is a stop for the 390s, but not for 58/59. Glad to bring you fond memories.

Vic wrote:

UP, seems to have been like Pac-Man for a bit, gobbling up the Ghosts..

We have referred to it as Borg Rail.

Ah yes, the drones. Still Pac-Man came to mind easy, since that was something I knew of, as to the Borg, I never thought of that. After all Pac-Man gobbled up dots, then with a power berry, gobbled up Ghosts, one after another, until there were no more or the berry's effect wore off, whichever happened first. If the berry's effect wore off it's back to running away from any surviving Ghosts, since if one catches you, it could be Game Over, if you have no extra lives left.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

If we can get back from computer games to trains, has anyone got a link for these USA webcam photos please?

They are screenshots I have taken over the past 3 months from a site called

Ralistream.net

If you just want to look at some of the screenshots I have got over the past 3 months I have a Flickr album HERE

If you want to view the cameras you only get 3 cameras for free, Chesterton West (which is where I get a lot of pics from) Chesterton East and Cresson PA, also they are only low res unless you pay.

If you join you get 7 more cameras including Chicago where I get most of the other shots some cameras are available in HD including Chesterton West and Chicago.

You do have to create an account to watch the free ones but no money is required.

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Looking at the Chicago camera a few minutes ago and I notice the sky was very ominous looking.

I wanted a train in the pic and was hoping the Southwest Chief wouldn't be late.

It wasn't



Another one for the Flickr album.

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Presumably you are using "print screen" for these pics, or am I being silly?

I actually have a "screen recorder" that will take videos of the cameras, it has it's own playback and video editor, so I can step through frame by frame and then "print screen" the best one, I then paste it into my picture editing program and save it as a normal jpg.

Just as I was posting before I noticed an Amtrak P32 coming down the wye. These were just basic freight engines but with a head end generator, for heat light and power for the carriges, there were 20 built in 1991 and were used as a "stopgap" until the P40' and later P42's (the sleeker ones in the other pic) arrived they were ment to be retired years ago but as far as I am aware 19 are still in use.

Mostly as this one a yard shunter. Number 506

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Presumably you are using "print screen" for these pics, or am I being silly?

I actually have a "screen recorder" that will take videos of the cameras, it has it's own playback and video editor, so I can step through frame by frame and then "print screen" the best one, I then paste it into my picture editing program and save it as a normal jpg.

Just as I was posting before I noticed an Amtrak P32 coming down the wye. These were just basic freight engines but with a head end generator, for heat light and power for the carriges, there were 20 built in 1991 and were used as a "stopgap" until the P40' and later P42's (the sleeker ones in the other pic) arrived they were ment to be retired years ago but as far as I am aware 19 are still in use.

Mostly as this one a yard shunter. Number 506

At least two of the 500s were actually bought by the state of California and only had their Amtrak "Pepsi Can" paint for a short time before being repainted in Caltrains' blah colors. Pepsi Can is widely regarded as the best paint job Amtrak has ever had on anything. You are correct that they are mostly used now as yard switchers, but they can also fill in as road power when needed. I have even seen them used to supply power to private cars sitting in the yard because, for one reason or another, it was easier than connecting to ground power.

Where can I get your screen recorder software?

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

If we can get back from computer games to trains, has anyone got a link for these USA webcam photos please?

Here are some more web cams, including the one at Rochelle, Ill. where UP and BNSF cross. From what I understand, the area visible on the camera was not affected by the tornadoes yesterday, but towns within a few miles of it were wiped out.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Where can I get your screen recorder software?

It's called Blueberry Flashback I tried several others but this one works for me.

I use two screens normally which makes it easier but I have used it successfully on my laptop.

You can uses "hotkeys" to record and end recording. As I have a gaming keyboard I have set one of the "extra" keys to record and one to stop, so I can leave the program running in the background and quickly hit the "record" key when I need to.

On of the guys at "Railstream" couldn't make the software work but I have it installed on three machines now no problem.


Strange you should mention that the 500's are sometimes used in service.

This was the 29 yesterday



Possibly coming to Chicago for an overhaul?

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If I wanted to do a 'screen grab', a technical term, I'd use Paint Shop Pro, it does that and also can do 'copier service', though for copying, best to set incoming dpi as high as possible, so the printout will be legible. I use v4.12, it's old and has a useless nag screen that I can't get rid of, since this version is no longer for sale, but then I'm not sure if Corel even sells/updates PSP anymore. It's a 2.4GB download that is as it says, no malware of any type is in the downloaded software, works with Win 7 x64 too.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Not sure if this should be in the "Transportation Safety" thread but I have just had a heart stopping moment.

While waiting for the daily Capitol Ltd to pass through Chesterton, I heard the crossing bells and the train horn, the barriers went down and I heard the train horn again closer.

Several seconds pass and I know that the train is close, suddenly a car approaches from the left and moves out to go round the barrier!!, luckily the driver must have looked right!!



As you can see the car is actually on the wrong side of the road.

I really thought I was going to see the first accident at this crossing!!

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Looking at the vehicle, the passenger door appears to be in undercoat, that might give a clue as to the mindset of the driver.

It is more than that. The hood color does not match the rear. Obviously this is a rebuilt wreck from several junkyard cars but never painted. I really doubt the body frame is capable of absorbing another impact, but this is the result of cheap instance.

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Looking at the vehicle, the passenger door appears to be in undercoat, that might give a clue as to the mindset of the driver.

It is more than that. The hood color does not match the rear. Obviously this is a rebuilt wreck from several junkyard cars but never painted. I really doubt the body frame is capable of absorbing another impact, but this is the result of cheap instance.

So no insurance then :-)

Looking at the vehicle, the passenger door appears to be in undercoat, that might give a clue as to the mindset of the driver.

It is more than that. The hood color does not match the rear. Obviously this is a rebuilt wreck from several junkyard cars but never painted. I really doubt the body frame is capable of absorbing another impact, but this is the result of cheap instance.

Even though My cars paint matches all around, one person asked Me is that the original hood for the car? Since the front of the hood looks odd on My Escort zx2 sport.

Kind of like this one here.

Unlike this one here, which does look like something from the after market.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Looking at the vehicle, the passenger door appears to be in undercoat, that might give a clue as to the mindset of the driver.

It is more than that. The hood color does not match the rear. Obviously this is a rebuilt wreck from several junkyard cars but never painted. I really doubt the body frame is capable of absorbing another impact, but this is the result of cheap instance.

So no insurance then :-)

Or the car is so old that it isn't worth carrying comprehensive repair or collision coverage. Most states only require Personal Injury/Liability and Medical coverage. My newest car is a '94 Olds Cutlass, Blue Book value is only about $3000, and that's what the deductible would be, so not worth the extra premium. I do carry uninsured/underinsured motorist and roadside breakdown coverage, but not collision/comprehensive.

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

Looking at the vehicle, the passenger door appears to be in undercoat, that might give a clue as to the mindset of the driver.

It is more than that. The hood color does not match the rear. Obviously this is a rebuilt wreck from several junkyard cars but never painted. I really doubt the body frame is capable of absorbing another impact, but this is the result of cheap instance.

So no insurance then :-)

Not necessarily. May be a "total" that was "salvaged" by a wreck shop and sold to a new owner. Or a cheap insurance company that will only pay for used parts from the cut rate shop. The no paint might be the deductible.

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So before the train thread turns into the car thread I had better post some more "railfan" pics

The City of New Orleans brought a 500 north today in fact it was 500



Also because it was early, this was a first for me, it passed the outgoing Saluki on the St. Charles Air line



In fact it is the first time I have seen any trains pass there

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Bernie, your second photo looks like a collision is "what happens next"

:-)

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Happy Crunching,

Graham

Bernie is that Superman standing on the overpass
to the right of the image, waiting to save the day?



(Right over the train in the top image.)

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Nah, that's just two ends of the same very long train.. ;)

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's