And then there is also the F40PHM-2. The M is for Modified. The only thing about it that's actually modified is the nose, but EMD was using the M suffix at the time they were built to denote freight units with a "wide" nose instead of the standard nose as seen on the GP40FH-2. Now, wide noses are standard.

trainweb.org

---

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

http://fox2now.com/2015/11/17/amtrack-train-stopped-by-tree-in-washington-mo/

Amtrak hit a tree and derailed in Missouri.

(Yes, the url has Amtrak spelled wrong. Mumble grumble idiots at Fox News...)

---

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

http://fox2now.com/2015/11/17/amtrack-train-stopped-by-tree-in-washington-mo/

Amtrak hit a tree and derailed in Missouri.

(Yes, the url has Amtrak spelled wrong. Mumble grumble idiots at Fox News...)

Agreed David...

---

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

In keeping with the report of snow in Illinois I had a quick look at the Railstream cams.

Unfortunatly Chicago has snow on the cam.



So 518 is just about visable.

However at Rochelle a waiting UP 3864 makes a good pic..



So snowy cameras and lots of white on the menu for a while now!!

---

MH got an incredible, unbelievable shot: AMTK 592 actually moving cars.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=897100230344961&set=pcb.897100347011616&type=3&theater


Those gensets have been nothing but trouble since they arrived.

---

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

MH got an incredible, unbelievable shot: AMTK 592 actually moving cars.

Well I saw that too!!



I have actually seen it a few times moving cars, I will have to see if I have the pics.

Well the snow has moved east to Indiana, to Chesterton to be precise.



The west bound 49 kicking up some snow.

Also spread south west to Galesburg IL



Still snowing at Rochelle IL.



Seems to be raining at Chicago, camera still covered in water drops, no good shots today.

---

Big city with big lake means warm enough for some of the snow to be rain instead. It's really wet, heavy snow too. The epitome of heart-attack snow.

5 has Puget Sound and Sierra Hotel on the rear. OT out of NPV.

I'm out in the snow getting my first pictures with the new signal bridge in place at West Eola. Probably be spring before they activate them, though.

---

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

Two idiots:
http://mynewsla.com/orange-county/2015/11/22/man-killed-stepping-in-front-of-metrolink-train-in-orange/

and

http://mynewsla.com/crime/2015/11/23/motorist-injured-in-collision-involving-metro-blue-line-train/

---

I was really hoping that purely factual information about it could be posted without it resulting in a politically-based protest, but I guess not. As thread founder, I hereby direct that ALL posts about CHSR be posted in Politics.

---

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

I was really hoping that purely factual information about it could be posted ...

Me too ... guess I won't be following the project ...

---

I have "tidied" the thread.

Seems the Empire Builder 7(22) had a run in with a gravel truck yesterday.

Empire Builder vs gravel truck

That will put 91 out of service for a while.

Also noticed that both the Southwest Chief 3 and 4 had only one P42 yesterday

And a first for me, The City of New Orleans 58, arrived with 158 and 120.



Then 5 hours later the pair left on the California Zephyr 5.



I have not see a "pair" of P42's moved to another srevice so quickly.

Seems to me there might just be a shortage of power.

---

Seems the Empire Builder 7(22) had a run in with a gravel truck yesterday.

Empire Builder vs gravel truck

That will put 91 out of service for a while.

Oops. Looks mostly cosmetic, though. Beech Grove will take care of it.

[edit] I see there was a private car on it too. Fun. [/edit]

Also noticed that both the Southwest Chief 3 and 4 had only one P42 yesterday

Heard about that. Speculation is that due to a power shortage in Chicago, 4 is dropping a unit at Kansas City and 3 is picking it up. They don't *really* need it until Colorado.

And a first for me, The City of New Orleans 58, arrived with 158 and 120.

Then 5 hours later the pair left on the California Zephyr 5.

I have not see a "pair" of P42's moved to another srevice so quickly.

Seems to me there might just be a shortage of power.

That IS quick. You're probably right.

---

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

Seems the Empire Builder 7(22) had a run in with a gravel truck yesterday.

Empire Builder vs gravel truck

That will put 91 out of service for a while.

Oops. Looks mostly cosmetic, though. Beech Grove will take care of it.

[edit] I see there was a private car on it too. Fun. [/edit]

Got some more details. Seems the damage caused both units to be unable to produce HEP. One unit was taken off the next 8 that came along to give 7 HEP again, and both trains got freight engines to help them.

I asked what the PV was, no answer yet.

---

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

BTW, Mike's latest mission is to escort an E unit from Chicago to Oklahoma City. He has to drive a rental car the whole way. Depending on the timing, he may take the Heartland Flyer down to Ft. Worth and the Eagle home again, or fly.

A full week later, and Mike is still sitting in his house, the rental in his driveway.

First, Chicago Terminal (the IPH property which serves as a Chicago-area storage location for passenger equipment not being used soon or not Amtrak certified) was late delivering it (SLRG 100, by the way, ex-IC 100, BN 9902, BN 9938, CB&Q 9938A) to CP at Bensenville. The day they did deliver it, CP didn't have any power for their G45 transfer run to BRC Clearing. They moved it the next night. Now it's Friday morning, and BNSF won't take it without inspecting it first. The guy who does that travels and is out of town. Don't expect him over the weekend, either. Monday morning, he inspects it... and says they can't take it without alignment control couplers (never mind that it has the same couplers as when it was BN). IPH will have Motive Power (or somebody) go to Clearing to install extra parts on the couplers to make them compliant. That was supposed to happen today, maybe. Then BNSF has to reinspect it. Don't expect him to come out on Thanksgiving either. IF it gets fixed AND inspected today, M-BRCEOL may or may not run tomorrow morning, which would get it to Eola Yard in Aurora (closest yard to my home, and Mike's). If that does happen, then M-CHCGAL picks it up from there to take it to Galesburg, where it could possibly get hung up again. After that, I'm not sure if there's a train directly from Galesburg to Tulsa, or if it will stuck on one to Kansas City and then have to be switched again there. Anyway, from Tulsa it has to go to Oklahoma City. Even in the best case scenario, it misses yet another weekend of the Polar Express train it's supposed to be pulling, leaving it with at most four weekends... if it ever gets there.

---

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

BTW, Mike's latest mission is to escort an E unit from Chicago to Oklahoma City. He has to drive a rental car the whole way. Depending on the timing, he may take the Heartland Flyer down to Ft. Worth and the Eagle home again, or fly.

A full week later, and Mike is still sitting in his house, the rental in his driveway....

leaving it with at most four weekends... if it ever gets there.

Well that reminds me of what we call "farce" here!! Does that sort of thing happen often?


Well onto more "Thanksgiving" type things and really only interesting if you are a real train fan.

Being in the UK obviously I was not really thinking about Thanksgiving yesterday. The first train I see out of Chicago is the 381 to Quincy, leaves at 7:35am local time usually one P42 and 5 cars.



Nothing unusual there, however on the other end:



NPCU(cabbage) 90219, something very odd.

At the same time 381 is passing the camera, it's opposite number 380 is arriving at Galesburg it is similar, one P42 and 5 cars, it is a still camera so sometimes I miss the train completely, however yesterday I had another first



A P32-8BWH in the lead on the 380. I could also see a P42 on the far end.

At this point I realised they were running the 380/381 with a cab at both ends, why? So they could run extra services for pre Thanksgiving travellers, the two trains concerned instead of having long layovers at the destinations would return earlier as the "holiday extras" so easier if you don't have to turn them round(obviously something we here in in the UK woked out a while ago ( :-) ).

SO here is the 380 arriving at Chicago later with 517 in the lead.



And the regular P42 #174 on the other end



It was actually late but left again as the "extra" train 385 less than an hour later. Easier when you don't have to turn the train.

Also yesterday finally IPH seem to have had a bit of better luck.

The Hoosier State turned on the wye and



Yes both 4137 and 4135 were on the train. It really looks so much nicer with everything the same colour.

---

BTW, Mike's latest mission is to escort an E unit from Chicago to Oklahoma City. He has to drive a rental car the whole way. Depending on the timing, he may take the Heartland Flyer down to Ft. Worth and the Eagle home again, or fly.

A full week later, and Mike is still sitting in his house, the rental in his driveway....

leaving it with at most four weekends... if it ever gets there.

Well that reminds me of what we call "farce" here!! Does that sort of thing happen often?

It does when you're trying to move elderly locomotives and passenger cars on freight railroads that don't give a damn about you.

Update: the couplers are fixed and the 100 is scheduled out on today's BRCKCK, which will change crews but not do any switching at Galesburg. As soon as it's confirmed it has departed, Mike will hit the road for Kansas City, KS and probaly get there ahead of it.

Well onto more "Thanksgiving" type things and really only interesting if you are a real train fan.

Being in the UK obviously I was not really thinking about Thanksgiving yesterday. The first train I see out of Chicago is the 381 to Quincy, leaves at 7:35am local time usually one P42 and 5 cars.



Nothing unusual there, however on the other end:



NPCU(cabbage) 90219, something very odd.

At the same time 381 is passing the camera, it's opposite number 380 is arriving at Galesburg it is similar, one P42 and 5 cars, it is a still camera so sometimes I miss the train completely, however yesterday I had another first



A P32-8BWH in the lead on the 380. I could also see a P42 on the far end.

At this point I realised they were running the 380/381 with a cab at both ends, why? So they could run extra services for pre Thanksgiving travellers, the two trains concerned instead of having long layovers at the destinations would return earlier as the "holiday extras" so easier if you don't have to turn them round(obviously something we here in in the UK woked out a while ago ( :-) ).

SO here is the 380 arriving at Chicago later with 517 in the lead.



And the regular P42 #174 on the other end



It was actually late but left again as the "extra" train 385 less than an hour later. Easier when you don't have to turn the train.

Exactly. In a pinch, they could back out of Chicago and head west from the south leg of the wye, but at Quincy it's a few miles from the station across the river, around the wye, and back again... if the route is clear -- West Quincy is Yard Limits. They could never manage the return schedule without a cab at each end. The extras will run again on Sunday to get all the students back to college for classes on Monday, all with suitcases full of clothes freshly laundered by their mothers.

Also yesterday finally IPH seem to have had a bit of better luck.

The Hoosier State turned on the wye and



Yes both 4137 and 4135 were on the train. It really looks so much nicer with everything the same colour.

Still being widely said (although not officially that I've heard) that both are on the head end so at least one will still be running when it gets there.

---

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

For those with access to the cable channel Destination America, they're running a 5-hour show today that's a real-time (plus commercials) view out the front of the locomotive on a train from Talkeetna (I think) to Healy, Alaska. It started an hour ago and will start again when it ends four hours from now.

AFAIC, it beats a yule log, a parade, and especially a football game.

---

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

Just watched the trailers - now to find it all on line if possible.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I've seen cab ride videos before. This one was rather boring. The only landmarks were a few rivers and bridges.

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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.

...usual program maker's trick then - best bits in the trailer. Still hunting, but I was out most of last night so didn't look that hard.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?