It's been suggested to me that that particular cabbage has long been assigned to southern California and therefore it will probably go back there, to be the west coast veterans' unit.

---

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

It's been suggested to me that that particular cabbage has long been assigned to southern California and therefore it will probably go back there, to be the west coast veterans' unit.

Indeed it would seem so.

This was the Southwest Chief this very day


Peering past the cloud of smoke left by #200 we can see:



90208 and 455 bound for LA..

Also today a couple of train fans turned up at Chesterton I always watch to see if it is for a specific reason. For one of them it was he left as soon as this had passed.



CP 5908 a 36 year old SD40-2 that seem to have been last painted about 1992 and it was leading a very long consist of autoracks.

It's partner was an ex-SOO line SD60 CP 6257



That is only 26 years old and was repainted into CP colours in 2012.

---

It's been suggested to me that that particular cabbage has long been assigned to southern California and therefore it will probably go back there, to be the west coast veterans' unit.

Indeed it would seem so.

This was the Southwest Chief this very day



90208 and 455 bound for LA..

I just happened to see that go by as I left work. I was a bit late and so was it.

CP 5908 a 36 year old SD40-2 that seem to have been last painted about 1992 and it was leading a very long consist of autoracks.

It's partner was an ex-SOO line SD60 CP 6257



That is only 26 years old and was repainted into CP colours in 2012.

A long string of auto racks with one empty center beam lumber car at the front.

---

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

A long string of auto racks with one empty center beam lumber car at the front.

Yes I have seen that before, I know that they put hoppers filled with sand beginning and end of oil trains, but not sure why they would put one empty centre beam on a 80+ string of autoracks. hardly "protection"

---

Blockade to speed Chicago – St Louis upgrade

USA: Amtrak services between Chicago and St Louis have been suspended for 15 days from October 16 to permit major track and signalling renewals on the 455 km(282.72 miles) corridor, which is being upgraded for 177 kph(110mph) operation. This follows four previous eight-day blockades in 2012-15, with further closures expected in both 2016 and 2017.

Under the $1·9bn project, which is largely being funded through the federal government's high speed rail programme, much of the track is being relaid, and several sections totaling 91 km(56.54 miles) are being double-tracked. Around a third of the route is being fenced, and 234 of the 256 level crossings are being upgraded. In total, $757m is being spent on track and structures and $218m on level crossing works, with a further $414m being invested in new rolling stock capable of 200 kph(124mph) operation.

---

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

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20151018/car-struck-by-train-in-pasadena-2-hurt

---

“We have evidence, statements, that the car went under the arm and was on the track,” Mercado said. The conductor was unable to stop in time to avoid a crash.

That may very well be a Darwinian thing.

---

“We have evidence, statements, that the car went under the arm and was on the track,” Mercado said. The conductor was unable to stop in time to avoid a crash.

That may very well be a Darwinian thing.

Drunk driving usually is .....

“We have evidence, statements, that the car went under the arm and was on the track,” Mercado said. The conductor was unable to stop in time to avoid a crash.

That may very well be a Darwinian thing.

Drunk driving usually is .....

Some people just can't wait to be a corpsicle.

---

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

“We have evidence, statements, that the car went under the arm and was on the track,” Mercado said. The conductor was unable to stop in time to avoid a crash.

That may very well be a Darwinian thing.

Drunk driving usually is .....

In one of Robert Heinlein's books about Lazarus Long, he notes:

Stupidity is the only universal Capital Crime.
The punishment is swift, and there is no appeal.

---

Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

Back at the museum Saturday. Someone else was training on 415, and I let him do all the mainline runs, but we split trips around the car line (the bilevels were moved off of it). End of the day, we asked one of the Electric Car Department guys to ride with us; we thought we would be qualifying, but he said he couldn't do that (in my case because he signed my form in two places and couldn't sign the third line). He suggested we ask another guy on Sunday.

So, after visiting a railroadiana show in the morning (found a conductor's hat that actually fits me and paid too much money for it, and also got a CTA MUDC key from a museum guy who was selling stuff), I headed back out there. The other trainee was doubling as conductor on the North Shore train, so I got lots of practice on the car line. Right when I got there, they were heading out on the main with the other Electric guy, and as soon as we got back I did a trip with him too. Then he said he and the first Electric guy had decided it was too late in the season to qualify us; we would forget too much over the winter. Also, 415 is the weekday car, and the weekday operator is normally also the dispatcher, and we both have no experience dispatching.

So this Saturday, I'm conductor on an L train, and I will ask if I can be dispatcher. The scheduled dispatcher will let me, I think. I spent a few hours with him in the tower one day when he was dispatching and I wasn't doing anything, so I think he knows I have some interest in dispatching. I was going to ask to get into it next year anyway.

---

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

Railroads warn they will miss deadline for safety system, stopping cargo in its tracks

WASHINGTON — Railroads are pushing Congress to extend a deadline for installing safety technology on trains that carry cargo as well as commuters, warning that oil, gasoline and other goods moved by rail could be stopped in their tracks without extra time.

... “You cannot purchase PTC systems off the shelf at Best Buy,” said Michael Melaniphy, president of the American Public Transportation Association, which is pushing Congress for more time. Otherwise, Melaniphy warned reporters Monday, “there will be a transportation crisis in this country with severe economic consequences.”

... So far, Congress is inclined to extend the deadline.

A Senate-passed transportation bill would give railroads until 2018 to install positive train control.

A stand-alone bill in the House would extend the PTC deadline to the end of 2018 and authorize the Department of Transportation to give even more time to individual railroads in some instances.

The House transportation committee is set to vote on its own version of the highway bill on Thursday, with plans on including some kind of PTC extension in the measure, though details were still being worked out Monday.

A draft bill has a placeholder for a provision “ensuring safe implementation of positive train control.”

---

It has been obvious for a few years the end of 2015 deadline was unrealistic, but that has never stopped a paper (or any other media) from deploying sensationalist headlines very late in the day...

Two things have been at play - dollars (lack there of) and time (lack there of).


While headlines sell papers, but they don't solve either of these problems. It was probably an optimistic target give the number of cabs to be fitted and the number of miles to be installed. Europe started on its ETCS/ERTMS development before the US, but no major country has managed to install and commission it fully across its network, and just about every country has suffered cost and time over-runs. Some of these over-runs are the result of "politics", but many are to do with technical issues found during the development and deployment of the system, and I can see no reason for it not being the same in the US.

---

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

I still think Congress is looking for some political battle to go with this. Either the Republicans want Obama to come out in favor of it so they can oppose it, or they want to attach something anathema to Obama to it at the last moment so either he will be forced to approve the other thing or they can blame him for the rail shutdown crisis.

[edit]
This is the only reason I can think of why they haven't just passed an extension already.

---

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

I still think Congress is looking for some political battle to go with this. Either the Republicans want Obama to come out in favor of it so they can oppose it, or they want to attach something anathema to Obama to it at the last moment so either he will be forced to approve the other thing or they can blame him for the rail shutdown crisis.

[edit]
This is the only reason I can think of why they haven't just passed an extension already.

Agreed, the GOP is insane, I hope in 2016, that the US can take back the Senate, plus keep the Presidency and follow Canada's lead.

---

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

Before the train thread gets moved to politics

Time for a bit of an update.

I was out most of Saturday so if anything good happened I missed it!!

On Sunday a work crew arrived at Chicago.



They replaced five ties/sleepers, however whilst I know it was a Sunday, I don’t think here in the UK they would have got away with this.



Whilst 173 and 22 are not moving at track speed I believe the workers are much too close to a working track.

Still they did get the job done with the help of the JCB/backhoe (interesting how there are several differences in terms between the UK and US) which actually pulled out the old ties/sleepers and pushed the new ones in really easily.

It was noticeable how three of the five came out in pieces!!

Here showing the finished job is #66. You can just see the five, which stretched across the two tracks just about centre of 66.



Yesterday yet another ACS arrived on the 6, this was #661



From all the websites I have found that discuss things “Amtrak” the consensus is they will miss out 666.

Today P40 #822 was on the 49 and I think made a nice picture with the sky at Chesterton



Very busy today at Chicago, several freights and this.



BNSF 3007 GP40M leading Dash 9 4443 and the NXTRACK track measurement train, not sure why 3007 is there at all unless there was a problem with 4443. It came round the passing track, reversed towards the yards then came back at speed.

Finally another conundrum. Today P32 #512 came down the wye with two Horizion coaches.



It then reversed back towards the yard/station.
Around ten minutes later it reversed back down the wye with what I assume were the same two coaches.



Proceeded back up the way and was I assume now facing the same way it started.

Why turn a train twice?

---

Yesterday yet another ACS arrived on the 6, this was #661

I heard about that, after the fact. Glad you got it.

From all the websites I have found that discuss things “Amtrak” the consensus is they will miss out 666.

I'll take a wait and see attitude.

Very busy today at Chicago, several freights and this.



BNSF 3007 GP40M leading Dash 9 4443 and the NXTRACK track measurement train, not sure why 3007 is there at all unless there was a problem with 4443. It came round the passing track, reversed towards the yards then came back at speed.

Heard about that too. Can't answer the question.

Finally another conundrum. Today P32 #512 came down the wye with two Horizion coaches.



It then reversed back towards the yard/station.
Around ten minutes later it reversed back down the wye with what I assume were the same two coaches.



Proceeded back up the way and was I assume now facing the same way it started.

Why turn a train twice?

I can't answer that either. However, I would like to point out that the one closest to the engine is in fact a food service car -- note the absence of windows in the middle of it. It probably has business class seating in one end and booths in the other.

---

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

Re work:
Looking back through the photos in the thread, where the spot is in shade it almost looks like those ties were marked by the side of the roadbed. In a couple of the sunny shots it does look like they are split. Perhaps after the ballast car and/or rail grinder went over someone put in an elevated trouble ticket.

Re JCB, that appears to be a brand name. The "CAT" on it is Caterpillar Tractor. Backhoe is generic, covers John Deer, Terex, etc.

---

That JCB was a Cat. But then you Brits call all vacuums Hovers.

---

I can't answer that either. However, I would like to point out that the one closest to the engine is in fact a food service car -- note the absence of windows in the middle of it. It probably has business class seating in one end and booths in the other.

Yes I did see that, as it obviously passes the camera close up and yes I understand wanting the food service car in a particular place in the train, facing in a certain direction, however if it was the wrong way round to start with, why turn it twice?

That JCB was a Cat. But then you Brits call all vacuums Hovers.

Yep and call call vacuum flasks Thermos. ;-)

I didn't call it a Cat as I have mostly seen the term "backhoe" used to describe that type of machine in the US. However in the UK JCB is in fact a word!!

JCB was founded in 1945 by Joseph Cyril Bamford, after whom it is named; it continues to be owned by the Bamford family. In the UK and India, 'JCB' is often used colloquially as a generic description for mechanical diggers and excavators and now appears in the Oxford English Dictionary, although it is still held as a trademark

---