Just what I wanted , thanks. So an Engineman, Brakeman and a toilet in the cab. Any beer in the fridge?

I doubt there is any beer onboard, today I think there is only an Engineer and maybe a Conductor on a US freight train, I think.

The diagram should really say "conductor's desk."

The toilet is actually down in the nose, on the level of the frame, whereas the cab is a few steps up.

Beer in the fridge would be an FRA violation that not even the unions would work very hard to get them excused from.

The cab picture is what they looked like in the 1970s-80s. Newer ones have computer screens in place of many of the gauges. They display the same information as the gauges and much more.

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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.

Well I was out when it arrived and I had my recorder set to "medium quality" so not a good pic.

But if you wait long enough it turns on the wye!!




It is owned by Rail Journeys West

This is from the history page

The Silver Solarium was built by the Budd Company in 1948 as one of the original six vista dome observation sleeping cars for the famed California Zephyr which was inaugurated on March 20, 1949. In the Zephyr consist the car carried the designation as CZ-10.

Built to Plan Number 9511 the Solarium had an operating weight of 159,250 pounds (almost 80 tons). As built, the car contained lounge space for 50 and overnight space in 3 double bedrooms and a single drawing room that contained the only shower facility on the train (showers on trains were not expected in 1948!)

The car was one of three cars assigned to the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) share of the pool of equipment for the California Zephyr that operated through March 1970. The car carried CB&Q 377 as for accounting purposes. The Silver Solarium later served the CB&Q and later Burlington Northern on various routes until ownership was transferred to Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak renumbered the car as Amtrak 9252 and retained the name.


The car served Amtrak patrons throughout the country until being retired in April 1978 with over 7 million miles. Amtrak sold the Silver Solarium in November 1985 to a private individual who restored the car for private charter service.

Today, the Silver Solarium is the only one of the original California Zephyr vista dome observation cars in private charter service. The car was acquired in June 2002 by Rail Journeys West, Inc.

From August 2002 through November 2002, the car was selected by use by the American Orient Express for use as the rear end car on the AOE II train. The Silver Solarium carries Amtrak private car number 800333.

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Well I was out when it arrived and I had my recorder set to "medium quality" so not a good pic.

But if you wait long enough it turns on the wye!!




It is owned by Rail Journeys West

This is from the history page

The Silver Solarium was built by the Budd Company in 1948 as one of the original six vista dome observation sleeping cars for the famed California Zephyr which was inaugurated on March 20, 1949. In the Zephyr consist the car carried the designation as CZ-10.

Built to Plan Number 9511 the Solarium had an operating weight of 159,250 pounds (almost 80 tons). As built, the car contained lounge space for 50 and overnight space in 3 double bedrooms and a single drawing room that contained the only shower facility on the train (showers on trains were not expected in 1948!)

The car was one of three cars assigned to the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) share of the pool of equipment for the California Zephyr that operated through March 1970. The car carried CB&Q 377 as for accounting purposes. The Silver Solarium later served the CB&Q and later Burlington Northern on various routes until ownership was transferred to Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak renumbered the car as Amtrak 9252 and retained the name.


The car served Amtrak patrons throughout the country until being retired in April 1978 with over 7 million miles. Amtrak sold the Silver Solarium in November 1985 to a private individual who restored the car for private charter service.

Today, the Silver Solarium is the only one of the original California Zephyr vista dome observation cars in private charter service. The car was acquired in June 2002 by Rail Journeys West, Inc.

From August 2002 through November 2002, the car was selected by use by the American Orient Express for use as the rear end car on the AOE II train. The Silver Solarium carries Amtrak private car number 800333.

The other CZ observation cars:

CB&Q 375 Silver Horizon -- now the Amtrak station at Maricopa (Phoenix), AZ
CB&Q 376 Silver Penthouse -- sat behind Amtrak's Beech Grove shops for years until BNSF bought it back and moved it to their headquarters in Ft. Worth, TX... where they completely gutted it, cut new doors in the side, and installed a level floor the length of the car; the dome is now a skylight over a conference table, and the car is named Prairie View
CB&Q 378 Silver Lookout -- the extra car built in 1952 (plan 9533), its interior burned and was redone in a modern scheme, carries Amtrak number 800282
D&RGW 1145 Silver Sky -- kept by Rio Grande when Amtrak started, used on the Rio Grande Zephyr until they joined Amtrak in 1983; sold to Via Rail Canada as an extra Park car (CP's Park cars were copies of the CZ cars); last report in my notes says it has number 800711 and is gutted and windowless in either Montreal or Saginaw, MI
WP 881 Silver Crescent -- now at Gold Coast Railway Museum, Miami, FL (the closest one to original condition, although it was damaged in a hurricane several years ago), 800293
WP 882 Silver Planet -- at last report, still in Mexico after being sold to a Mexican railroad

I think I was aboard Solarium once, long ago. I may have also climbed onto Penthouse when it was languishing at Beech Grove.

The one I have in my HO scale set is Penthouse.

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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.

Well today has been a good day for "odd items"

Firstly it seems Chesterton got it's "vegetation controlled"

You can just see the sprays at the rear.



Also the 49 today had PV on, in fact the California Zephyr car Silver Solarium, however in a strange position, right behind the locos.



Not going to get a good view there!!

Unfortunatey the camera at Chicago is playing up so I was lucky to get this, they came over the airline, but I missed it with the camera in a "replay" only mode had to wait till they came along the wye.



I can say I have never seen those cars before, Metra Electrics I presume.

Also never seen the switcher before.

Topically with my recent post about the Norfolk and Western 611 being back in stream

Here is Norfolk and Southern 8103 "heritage loco" at Chesterton today.



Have to admit 611 looked better :-)

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Well today has been a good day for "odd items"

Firstly it seems Chesterton got it's "vegetation controlled"

You can just see the sprays at the rear.

Interesting. Note that the grade crossing arms are up. Even if it has passed the control point, I doubt that the crossing arms come up that fast. That would mean the equipment isn't enough to operate the track sensors.

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Well today has been a good day for "odd items"

Firstly it seems Chesterton got it's "vegetation controlled"

You can just see the sprays at the rear.

Interesting. Note that the grade crossing arms are up. Even if it has passed the control point, I doubt that the crossing arms come up that fast. That would mean the equipment isn't enough to operate the track sensors.

Yes you are correct I have a video of it passing in both directions and it did not cause the crossing to operate, it just kept using the horn and slowed at the actual crossing.

As you can see a car came along and stopped even though it had passed.

I often see the road/rail pickups used by maintenance crews and they never set off the crossing either.

As I have said before would not be allowed in the UK, but it's a different country and different rules apply.

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It is quite common in Canada for hi-rail trucks to not trip crossing alarms. I always figured this was for two reasons: one - these trucks often stop near the crossing to work on signals (or to go for donuts), and you wouldn't want the gates down and bells ringing for all that time; second, these trucks can easily stop on the tracks, which makes a hi-rail truck crossing a road no more risky than any other uncontrolled intersection. And we have lots of those in rural Canada.

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It is quite common in Canada for hi-rail trucks to not trip crossing alarms. I always figured this was for two reasons: one - these trucks often stop near the crossing to work on signals (or to go for donuts), and you wouldn't want the gates down and bells ringing for all that time; second, these trucks can easily stop on the tracks, which makes a hi-rail truck crossing a road no more risky than any other uncontrolled intersection. And we have lots of those in rural Canada.

That's an intriguing vehicle.
Is it still propelled by the main driving wheels?

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Is it still propelled by the main driving wheels?

In most cases yes, the road wheels make contact with and therefore drive the rail wheels.

Since looking at the USA web cams you see these things everyday, all regular maintenance seems to be carried out using them and larger trucks converted in a similar way.

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Then there is this that had to be pushed, no gasoline in the 1880's..

(Off topic)
One thing about that scene nagged me. The San Andreas fault moves about 35 mm per year, so in one century the bridge would have moved 3.5 metres and Marty would have materialised in thin air next to it.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Then there is this that had to be pushed, no gasoline in the 1880's..

(Off topic)
One thing about that scene nagged me. The San Andreas fault moves about 35 mm per year, so in one century the bridge would have moved 3.5 meters and Marty would have materialised in thin air next to it.

Who says this was supposed to be in California?

Because it's set in California...

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Well today has been a good day for "odd items"

Firstly it seems Chesterton got it's "vegetation controlled"

You can just see the sprays at the rear.

Interesting. Note that the grade crossing arms are up. Even if it has passed the control point, I doubt that the crossing arms come up that fast. That would mean the equipment isn't enough to operate the track sensors.

Yes you are correct I have a video of it passing in both directions and it did not cause the crossing to operate, it just kept using the horn and slowed at the actual crossing.

As you can see a car came along and stopped even though it had passed.

I often see the road/rail pickups used by maintenance crews and they never set off the crossing either.

As I have said before would not be allowed in the UK, but it's a different country and different rules apply.

That being the case it also likely does not set off the track occupied signals either. IIRC to set them off there need to be a few more axle sets shorting the rails.

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Feeling better are we Chris?

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That being the case it also likely does not set off the track occupied signals either. IIRC to set them off there need to be a few more axle sets shorting the rails.

Well in an article I found this.

They are generally designed to be insulated, thus they do not activate track (signaling) circuits although some rail operators, normally those operating remote lines without boom gates etc. prefer them to be non-insulated so that they are detectable by train safety systems.

So they are in fact designed not to activate tack circuits or crossings.

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http://hamptonroads.com/2015/06/norfolk-southern-makes-train-honor-first-responders

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http://hamptonroads.com/2015/06/norfolk-southern-makes-train-honor-first-responders

Yes saw that recently on the NS site, with a great PR pic.



Meant to mention it then, thanks for jogging my memory.

Now that really will be one to watch for!!

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So like in China the average IQ is only 105?
Wow, no wonder I did ok in life, and I thought
I was just lucky!

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I believe this is the train thread, one close to my heart and discussions of IQ in relation to going through rail crossings are better in the Transportation Safety thread.

Or start a thread in politics based on IQ and the ability to see a train.

Please back on topic.

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Please back on topic.

sorry

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That's an intriguing vehicle.
Is it still propelled by the main driving wheels?

The ones I am familiar with keep a good portion of the vehicle weight on the rubber tires. Gas, brake and gear shift work as usual, you don't have to steer. They tell me braking is only slightly reduced compared to the same vehicle on the road, hence my observation about safety at crossings.

The local rail companies love these, because they are so much cheaper than running a full loco, and they have the flexibility of switching to the road when needed (like when it is time for Timmies). Around here all the daily track inspections are done in a hi-rail pickup truck. The ones in Canada are all radio equipped, and operate under whatever form of block or track control the local line is using.

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