The Train Thread 2

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David S
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Message 1879292 - Posted: 20 Jul 2017, 18:47:24 UTC - in response to Message 1879194.  

Ooooh, that sounds messy.

This is messy

Yep, that's messy. Where the wall is scraped and has a chunk missing at the left, is that where it went over?
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Message 1879523 - Posted: 21 Jul 2017, 22:37:32 UTC

Cab ride video on C&NW 411 westbound from Kishwaukee Grove to Jefferson St. and back to East Union. This was on July 2, the day I was conductor. At about 4:50, Jamie picks up the radio handset to get and repeat an order from Johnson Siding to Signal 81 and call. As he puts it down, you can (barely) hear me repeat the order and he picks it up again to say I'm correct. Later, when he gets an order to meet 749 at West Switch, 749 jumps in before I can repeat the order, so I don't bother.
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Message 1879529 - Posted: 21 Jul 2017, 22:51:54 UTC - in response to Message 1879292.  

Ooooh, that sounds messy.

This is messy

Yep, that's messy. Where the wall is scraped and has a chunk missing at the left, is that where it went over?

No, it went through. I found this http://www.whittierdailynews.com/general-news/20161222/big-rig-crash-on-210-freeway-in-pasadena-likely-to-snarl-afternoon-commute with some more photos.
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Message 1879544 - Posted: 21 Jul 2017, 23:52:36 UTC
Last modified: 21 Jul 2017, 23:59:39 UTC

Video at La Grange, KY

Notice as the second train clears the signals, they go dark. This is to save electricity. Also notice new signals are in place but not in service yet, thus are turned sideways.
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Message 1879547 - Posted: 22 Jul 2017, 0:01:12 UTC - in response to Message 1879544.  

Video at La Grange, KY


That is about a half hour from me, and I've always thought a train track down the middle of the street was odd.
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Message 1880042 - Posted: 24 Jul 2017, 10:48:05 UTC
Last modified: 24 Jul 2017, 11:04:01 UTC

Whilst not being as active on the cameras as I was I still get e-mails if an interesting locomotive is within 25 miles of the Chesterton camera.

So this morning it said that RCPX4601 had passed the camera around 8pm EST last night. Now there is a 24 hour DVR feature, so winding back I came across this.



Ex Conrail 4601 an E33 which I believe is headed for the IRM

Here is the other cam view.




The light wasn't so good on that cam so I had to tweak it a bit.

In case you wanted to see what it looked like when it was stored in 1983

Look here:

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-4601-E33-at-Rutherford-PA

As one of the guys on Railstream chat said "It needs a bit of work"!

Still it is probably about 61 years old.

Whilst winding back through the camera I came across this little gem.



Northern Illinois & Wisconsin 629, Alco RS18C, was built by Montreal in August 1966, #M3460-02, as Pacific Great Eastern 629. It became British Columbia Rail 629. It was rebuilt with Caterpillar power in 1994. It was sold as NIWX 629 in April 2009 via J&L Consulting.

Which makes it a staggering 51 years old!!

It also appears to be for sale, so I wonder if it is heading for a new owner, it was heading east.


Also I think "needs a bit of work"



Still you don't see many Alcos about these days!!
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Message 1880183 - Posted: 24 Jul 2017, 23:54:21 UTC - in response to Message 1880042.  
Last modified: 25 Jul 2017, 0:44:38 UTC

Whilst not being as active on the cameras as I was I still get e-mails if an interesting locomotive is within 25 miles of the Chesterton camera.

So this morning it said that RCPX4601 had passed the camera around 8pm EST last night. Now there is a 24 hour DVR feature, so winding back I came across this.

Ex Conrail 4601 an E33 which I believe is headed for the IRM

Yes it is.

In case you wanted to see what it looked like when it was stored in 1983

Look here:

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-4601-E33-at-Rutherford-PA

Oooo, nice!

As one of the guys on Railstream chat said "It needs a bit of work"!

Still it is probably about 61 years old.

Yeah, it does. It was sitting at Altoona for almost two years waiting for NS to cosmetically restore it for us. They finally decided they weren't going to and shipped it to us. It has plywood and lots of rust. A good amount of steel will need to be replaced, including the cab sides. I hear there is evidence that it never operated in service in CR paint. One other exists, restored to the original Virginian. We are likely going to do ours as New Haven, although to be proper it will need some parts added back (probably fabricated from scratch).

Whilst winding back through the camera I came across this little gem.



Northern Illinois & Wisconsin 629, Alco RS18C, was built by Montreal in August 1966, #M3460-02, as Pacific Great Eastern 629. It became British Columbia Rail 629. It was rebuilt with Caterpillar power in 1994. It was sold as NIWX 629 in April 2009 via J&L Consulting.

Which makes it a staggering 51 years old!!

It also appears to be for sale, so I wonder if it is heading for a new owner, it was heading east.


Also I think "needs a bit of work"



Still you don't see many Alcos about these days!!

Wow! Never knew about that company. I'll have to find out where it is.

I see on 629's info page that its blue card status is "Non FRA service." I assume that means it's only certified to operate as a switcher in an industry or perhaps a grain elevator or somesuch, at any rate not on a railroad that's regulated by the FRA (so we would have to get it a new blue card). It's also shown on their "for lease" page, so it could also be headed to a lessee. As for needing work, as long as it does its job, what it looks like doesn't matter too much.

Also on their "for lease" page is 1861, obviously a sister to our 1848. On August 12, I'll be conductor of the caboose train, pulled by 1848, for Diesel Days. During the last winter, our guys completely rebuilt the battery box in 1848 with new steel and installed new batteries, but it hasn't been used at all this season.

I'm most excited by the 603, listed on the "on lease" page. I'll have to look into where that is too.

[edit] I'm beginning to think that despite its name, that company doesn't have a physical location other than their HQ in Pennsylvania. I found 629 listed elsewhere as on lease, so maybe that lease ended and it's headed back to PA, one of their partner shops, or to another lessee.
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Message 1880321 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 3:42:30 UTC

I started last night to write about last weekend, but I fell asleep proofreading it. When I woke up, the outrage had started. Anticipating this, I copied it, then pasted and posted at Einstein, so I'll refer you there. (For those who don't know, I usually put a link there to my museum posts here.)
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Message 1880323 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 4:02:56 UTC - in response to Message 1880183.  

So this morning it said that RCPX4601 had passed the camera around 8pm EST last night. Now there is a 24 hour DVR feature, so winding back I came across this.

Ex Conrail 4601 an E33 which I believe is headed for the IRM

Yes it is.

It was seen on UP going west through Elmhurst today. If it hasn't already, it will probably go up the Belvidere Sub tomorrow. The seemingly-simple way to drop it in our interchange would be on the way west, but it's more likely it will go straight through to Belvidere and the local will bring it back. My guess is it will be sandwiched between two diesels so the lead one can cut off on their main and the trailing unit shove it in. Unless the engineer is the guy who's qualified on our line, in which case he could bring it right down to the depot. But the last I heard, he was reassigned to commuter service.

Whilst winding back through the camera I came across this little gem.



Northern Illinois & Wisconsin 629, Alco RS18C, was built by Montreal in August 1966, #M3460-02, as Pacific Great Eastern 629. It became British Columbia Rail 629. It was rebuilt with Caterpillar power in 1994. It was sold as NIWX 629 in April 2009 via J&L Consulting.

Which makes it a staggering 51 years old!!

It also appears to be for sale, so I wonder if it is heading for a new owner, it was heading east.

I see on 629's info page that its blue card status is "Non FRA service." I assume that means it's only certified to operate as a switcher in an industry or perhaps a grain elevator or somesuch, at any rate not on a railroad that's regulated by the FRA (so we would have to get it a new blue card). It's also shown on their "for lease" page, so it could also be headed to a lessee. As for needing work, as long as it does its job, what it looks like doesn't matter too much.

This was also seen, going east on the UP at Geneva on Saturday.
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Message 1880338 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 6:34:16 UTC

Are the museum planning to do a complete or just a cosmetic restore on 4601?
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Message 1880396 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 14:59:01 UTC - in response to Message 1880338.  

Are the museum planning to do a complete or just a cosmetic restore on 4601?

Well, we don't have 11KVAC in our wire, so it wouldn't run as designed. However, it has been bandied about that we could bypass the big transformers and rectifiers and somehow wire some controls to power the motors directly from our 600VDC.

The big challenge, apparently, is that there's a lot of lead paint and there are strict regulations about removing and disposing of that.

UP Trace shows it arrived Belvidere about 1430 yesterday.
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Message 1880402 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 15:26:57 UTC

By the way, there is a blog post about Santa Fe 92. There have also been pictures on Facebook of NRE removing the bad alternator and engine block.

And please remember to help save the TP&W 800.
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Message 1880405 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 15:35:43 UTC
Last modified: 26 Jul 2017, 15:37:40 UTC

Last couple of days have been a bit busy as I am going back home tomorrow till Saturday and have been trying to arrange care for dad.

However yesterday the view from my very first US railcam changed.

When I first opened Chesterton west I was greeted with this .



What I believe would be described as two backhoes and a loader which were apparently removing the crossing.

The line remained open



If a little close to traffic.

Once the asphalt from the crossing had been removed a procession of vehicles arrived.



and gathered in view of the east cam.



The whole lot set of and appeared to go back and forward along the line, a lot of sleepers(ties) were replaced by two of these



Unfortunately I was not able to get the whole thing, but the end result is



Crossing gates but no crossing. You can see the "Road Closed" barriers and the orange sign which has been there for a week.

Now I wonder if they intend to replace the crossing, there are 3 others and one is almost visible on the east cam. I have read that Chesterton is trying to become a "quiet zone" as far a rail horns are concerned, so removing a crossing would reduce the number of times trains had to use their horns. There is no activity at all there today .
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Message 1880410 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 15:48:57 UTC

Well, we don't have 11KVAC in our wire, so it wouldn't run as designed.

And I very much doubt that, even if you had 11kV AC it would be 11kV AC, 60Hz. So you would be into the "fun" of either a bespoke rotary converter or solid sate unit - neither of which would come under the head of "low cost".

As appears to have been considered running a feed directly onto the DC link may work, it just depends on the control scheme employed within the loco how easy that conversion would be.
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Message 1880449 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 19:25:38 UTC - in response to Message 1880405.  

Crossing gates but no crossing. You can see the "Road Closed" barriers and the orange sign which has been there for a week.

Now I wonder if they intend to replace the crossing, there are 3 others and one is almost visible on the east cam. I have read that Chesterton is trying to become a "quiet zone" as far a rail horns are concerned, so removing a crossing would reduce the number of times trains had to use their horns. There is no activity at all there today .

I put out an inquiry about it. The response is that they're just replacing ties. My guess is they'll wait a day or two for this track to settle and then do the same to the other. Then they'll put the crossing back in. If this is part of a QZ project, there could be a raised median between the lanes to keep people from driving around the gates. In fact, it would make sense to do this first and finish with any permanent closings.
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Message 1880453 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 19:53:22 UTC - in response to Message 1880405.  
Last modified: 26 Jul 2017, 20:21:30 UTC

Chesterton west

https://railstream.net/live-cameras/item/chesterton-in-west-free

I just looked up that camera, and am getting a live video feed, with sound. I have no idea what they're chattering on about, but I'm assuming it's railroad lingo.
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Message 1880456 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 19:57:31 UTC - in response to Message 1880453.  

Chesterton west

I also just saw a couple kids walk up to the track with a tripod and a camera. I'm assuming young aspiring trainspotters. :~)
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Message 1880457 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 20:04:07 UTC

Chesterton west

And here's a Sept. 2013 Google Street View of that intersection. You can pan around and get a 360 view of the area.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.611727,-87.0555935,3a,60y,94.76h,75.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sml1gJgi1wzc2Q6eX9Cp1jg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
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Message 1880463 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 20:38:15 UTC - in response to Message 1880410.  

Well, we don't have 11KVAC in our wire, so it wouldn't run as designed.

And I very much doubt that, even if you had 11kV AC it would be 11kV AC, 60Hz. So you would be into the "fun" of either a bespoke rotary converter or solid sate unit - neither of which would come under the head of "low cost".

As appears to have been considered running a feed directly onto the DC link may work, it just depends on the control scheme employed within the loco how easy that conversion would be.

Yes, the New Haven was at 25 Hz. Current owner Metro North converted it to 60 Hz, but that was in 1987, long after Conrail ceased using electric locomotives. Amtrak had plans to convert its Pennsylvania RR system to 25 KV 60 Hz, but decided it wasn't worth the expense; however, it did bump the voltage up to 12 KV. When they electrified the former New Haven from New Haven to Boston, they did it at 25/60. All Amtrak locos and MU trains have to be able to adapt on the fly between all of these and other voltage/frequency combos.

I seem to recall someone mentioning that the Brick, as it's called, has 450 VDC traction motors, so we would have to include some resistance in the circuit to step it down.
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Message 1880465 - Posted: 26 Jul 2017, 20:57:40 UTC - in response to Message 1880453.  

Chesterton west

https://railstream.net/live-cameras/item/chesterton-in-west-free

I just looked up that camera, and am getting a live video feed, with sound. I have no idea what they're chattering on about, but I'm assuming it's railroad lingo.

Listening to the audio for a few minutes, I hear the foreman telling the dispatchers Track 2 has a restriction of 25 MPH for about three miles until six tonnage trains (i.e. not Amtrak (and possibly not intermodals)) have run over it. After the six tonnage trains, it reverts to track speed (probably 60 for freight, 79 for passenger).

You'll probably also hear trains calling signals. On that line, every time each train comes to a signal, it calls out its train ID, the signal indication, the signal location, which track they're on, and the direction they're going.

Now I hear the foreman reporting clear of his work authority for the day.
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