The train thread

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David S
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Message 1704626 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 13:59:06 UTC - in response to Message 1701378.  

Bernie, this talk of turntables has got me thinking about your mysterious turning train. Maybe they are not concerned about which engine is where, but are actually turning the entire train. This means the cars arrive at a station on the return trip in the same order as on the inbound trip. Baggage car always first, first class car always last, etc.

Well yes that would at first glance seem to be a logical answer.

However the trains concerned are both short routes(relatively speaking) and do not have baggage cars. They do have Cafe cars so that might be the reason, however the one in the pic I posted appeared to have one at either end.

Of course none of that can apply to the train with 90368 on, The Pere Marquette 370/371 which runs from Chicago to Grand Rapids MI, it appears to be turned every time despite have cabs at both ends and being the opposite way round in the second pic. Just to explain that. Train arrives Chicago with P42 and Cafe car at terminus end, turn train, next time it arrives 90368 is on terminus end, turn train!! In reality that just makes no sense.

However I guess there must be a reason.

All three of the cars in the train with 90368 are coaches. The one next to 90368 is 35009, which has been converted with a snack counter on the lower level. However, they only way to tell that without going inside is by the number.

As for why that train is being turned, I'm stumped. I stand by my speculation that the St. Louis trains are being turned because only one loco has the necessary cab signal equipment. That could also be true of trains to/from Detroit and Pontiac, MI, except that there's no wye available at Pontiac. However, this train is used for the Pere Marquette, which takes a different route into Michigan and does not need the cab signals.

I'll inquire with a couple of Facebook friends who work in Amtrak's Chicago yard.
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Message 1704627 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 14:01:21 UTC - in response to Message 1701768.  

However I guess there must be a reason.

Time in service rule? Two trips = time to change crew?

Wouldn't explain turning the train.
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Message 1704628 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 14:04:22 UTC - in response to Message 1702084.  

PS gratuitous shot of a cabbage


Ooh, the very first F40PH! Actually kind of sad to see it converted to a cabbage.
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Message 1704629 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 14:12:21 UTC - in response to Message 1702212.  

I've hit several of these Detonators which are powerful enough to lift the wheel off the rail momentarily.

With the weight and speed of the train should it hit those ramps, would just slice through them (if they are similar to ones I've seen used in the transport industry - hardened plastic)

But as Richard stated, the train driver should be looking ahead for obstructions.

Another possibility I can see is the train catching the ramps and pushing them along, dragging the fire engine after it. Probably the hose would break, though.

Even a properly vigilant driver would not see those in time to stop, unless he was going pretty slow in the first place.
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Message 1704630 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 14:17:55 UTC - in response to Message 1703006.  

Over the past few weeks the California Zephyr has been arriving so late at Chicago that I have often missed it and assumed I have missed some of the new AC 64's being delivered.

However it appears not, the last one I saw was 647 on the 12th June and yesterday...



Had it arrived earlier there was the most amazing storm in progress.

You missed 649 a day earlier.


Finally just to prove it's not all about Amtrak, UP got into the act, by lining up 5 units against a sky that was about to unleash thunder and a torrential downpour.


Coal train?
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Message 1704634 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 14:25:42 UTC - in response to Message 1703656.  

Also on the end of the 4 and also a long way form home was this.



Surfliner coach 6400, do they have surf in Chicago?? :-)

Yes, Chicago does have surf. You ever look at the size of our little inland sea we call Lake Michigan?
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Message 1704638 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 14:41:58 UTC - in response to Message 1704243.  

Quite by chance yesterday I saw on the heritage unit website map that NKP765 appeared to be heading to Cleveland and would pass the Berea camera.

So for me this was a first.

https://youtu.be/iOO3MYcoKHY

I spent most of the day on Tuesday the 14th at Berea. Wasn't sure where the webcam was. I drove through its field of view when I finally left for the day and headed back to my motel.


Eek!! ;) That looked almost like a real freight train that steam loco was pulling, I hope the railroads aren't that desperate for horsepower..

Nice video Bernie.

Taking their coal supply along with them. Except for that and the box car on the end, that's the same train I rode last Saturday.

On occasion, a steam engine being ferried will pull freight, just for the brakes. (The brakes on those big driving wheels are less effective than on standard size wheels.) One of my favorite stories is of UP 844 heading home from Texas. The passenger cars had been sent off in a different direction, so 844 was pulling 10 empty flat cars. They came up behind a freight which had stalled on a hill. After hemming and hawing for a while, the dispatcher asked 844 if they could help. Sure we can! With all the proper communication, they pulled up behind the train, removed its EOT, gave the crew the number of their own EOT, and coupled on. When the freight crew said they were ready to go, the steam engineer opened his throttle wide. They pushed in several feet of slack and stopped, and just sat. Finally, the freight crew called and asked how they were doing. "We're in the 47th notch and not moving." "???" Finally, the diesels started doing their job and the train moved. Steve Lee, then head of the steam program, was seen holding his cell phone out the door of the crew car so somebody could hear 844 barking.
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Message 1704643 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 15:01:15 UTC - in response to Message 1704638.  
Last modified: 24 Jul 2015, 15:01:46 UTC

Oh da horror, a Diesel train rescued by a Steam Locomotive!!! ;)

I wonder is there is video of that humiliation somewhere?
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Message 1704650 - Posted: 24 Jul 2015, 15:20:37 UTC - in response to Message 1704643.  

Oh da horror, a Diesel train rescued by a Steam Locomotive!!! ;)

I wonder is there is video of that humiliation somewhere?

I'm afraid not. All we have is the story, as told by the fireman on 844, published in Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

For those who requested pics of me as conductor tomorrow, obviously I can't take any myself. It will be a slow day (no special event), so probably not a lot of foamers out either. Maybe I'll take my camera and see if someone else can snap a few of me. (Not that I like seeing pictures of myself.)

Tomorrow is also this year's air brake class, so I expect that the last run of the day will be taken over by them to give all the students a chance on the tailhose.
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Message 1704846 - Posted: 25 Jul 2015, 7:03:53 UTC - in response to Message 1704831.  

Steam for new Scotland railway.

Borders Rail

And the BBC don't have a picture of 60009




So where did I find this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/image_galleries/trains_gallery.shtml?13
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Message 1704935 - Posted: 25 Jul 2015, 15:18:01 UTC

I don't know Chris, they weren't all black. And some of them were good looking.









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Message 1705092 - Posted: 26 Jul 2015, 3:14:05 UTC - in response to Message 1704650.  

For those who requested pics of me as conductor tomorrow, obviously I can't take any myself. It will be a slow day (no special event), so probably not a lot of foamers out either. Maybe I'll take my camera and see if someone else can snap a few of me. (Not that I like seeing pictures of myself.)

Tomorrow is also this year's air brake class, so I expect that the last run of the day will be taken over by them to give all the students a chance on the tailhose.

One pic for you. There are a couple more which I might post.

Horribly busy day, with lots of wheelchairs needing to use our hand cranked lift. (Oddly, it's the most difficult to crank going down with a load.) Ran three trips, two of them packed. Then they sent 1630 to bed and brought out a diesel for the class trip.
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Message 1705843 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 3:30:12 UTC

Personally, I don't like any of those that Bill posted.

This is more to my taste: "the most beautiful locomotive in the world."

The only real clue in that picture that it's not from the 1950s is the extra tender.

4449 was the primary engine used for the American Freedom Train, taking over near Chicago from the Reading engine that was used for the smaller clearances in the northeast. Then, in the wake of 9/11, she was again painted red, white, and blue in 2002.

I have to tell you, though, Chris, that she was painted black twice in her life, first during WWII (to be less of a target for Japanese bombers) and again in 2000-01.

SP had been merged into UP, which won't let any steam but its own run on its tracks. That left only BNSF for mainline trips out of her hometown of Portland. BNSF hired the engine for its employee appreciation trips, but didn't want to advertise for its major competitor and requested a different paint job.

By the way, yes, that's an air horn on there, and yes, the engineer is quite fond of using it instead of the steam whistle.
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Message 1705846 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 3:37:49 UTC - in response to Message 1705843.  
Last modified: 28 Jul 2015, 3:38:11 UTC

So the UP won't allow old SP steam locos on its tracks, that's a shame, that makes SP steam locos, orphans. :(
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Message 1705854 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 3:53:34 UTC - in response to Message 1705846.  

So the UP won't allow old SP steam locos on its tracks, that's a shame, that makes SP steam locos, orphans. :(

They won't even allow other UPs. Just their own 844, 3985, and eventually 4014.
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Message 1705874 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 5:49:03 UTC - in response to Message 1705854.  

So the UP won't allow old SP steam locos on its tracks, that's a shame, that makes SP steam locos, orphans. :(

They won't even allow other UPs. Just their own 844, 3985, and eventually 4014.

Well that really sucks...
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Message 1705899 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 8:33:35 UTC

Shame your picture is of 60007 - "Sir Nigel Gresley".
Here's 4468 "Mallard"

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Message 1705901 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 8:48:33 UTC - in response to Message 1705899.  
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Shame your picture is of 60007 - "Sir Nigel Gresley".
Here's 4468 "Mallard"

Indeed, also it is pity it is a static display and hasn't run in many years, since 1987 it seems.

Whilst the Tornado was an amazing achievement, and restoring the Flying Scotsman and others are worthwhile projects, you might have thought that the "fastest steam locomotive" might have had a better fate.
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Message 1705944 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 13:00:38 UTC - in response to Message 1705901.  

Shame your picture is of 60007 - "Sir Nigel Gresley".
Here's 4468 "Mallard"

Indeed, also it is pity it is a static display and hasn't run in many years, since 1987 it seems.

Whilst the Tornado was an amazing achievement, and restoring the Flying Scotsman and others are worthwhile projects, you might have thought that the "fastest steam locomotive" might have had a better fate.

It seems the best preserved Allegheny 2-6-6-6 also shares that fate, #1601 is at the Henry Ford Museum.

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Message 1705960 - Posted: 28 Jul 2015, 13:39:39 UTC

I'm not going to get sucked into a "which is better looking" discussion, but will just say I like a lot of the recent pictures here. The 1930s streamliner look worked for me, on both steam and diesel.





I also love the "all business" look of something like a Big Boy. That machine was built to work, and worked very well.



And I also have a weak spot for the weird looking. I've just discovered this current Chech engine, which appears to be wearing goggles.



Is it just me, or could that thing be Bender's cousin?



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