I trust that this is not considered off topic. Trains were extensively used during war years & the service both the trains & railway employees provided, not just to the country but the armed forces themselves, is something that should be remembered.

Don't forget that during WW1 the White Feather campaign did a lot of damage. As can be seen from the video (I hope that those outside the UK can view it), many applied to serve on the frontlines but were not allowed due to the essential service they provided to the war effort itself.

The trains that saved soldiers

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.

In Track Warrant Control territory, the person in the truck (or the foreman, if it's a whole work crew with multiple vehicles) will get a warrant just like a train would (I think). In CTC territory, the dispatcher will issue a Track and Time, which blocks out the line so no train can be lined into it; if a train needs to enter the blocked segment, it will also receive a T&T, then have to contact the person to whom the first T&T was issued for permission to enter, and has to move at Restricted Speed.

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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"

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!!

I heard about that. Probably, it took passengers east and was deadheading back west, so placement didn't matter. If that's the case, it was probably logistically easier to place it there and avoid a lot of switching when 49 and 449 are combined at Albany, NY. I believe I read that it's leaving Chicago on Sunday on #3.

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.

Those are old Metra Electric Highliners, originally built in the late 1960s to early 70s for Illinois Central. They are now being retired as new ones are delivered from Nippon Sharyo's plant in Rochelle, IL. The new cars look like a standard Metra bilevel, except all of them are cabs cars and they have a one-armed pantograph at one end. Interesting that those cars are headed in that direction. They've been storing them up north at Rondout, but since they started scrapping them they've been bringing them back down from there, so it's odd that these are headed that way. The museum is getting a pair of them to preserve, plus another pair to scrap out for spare parts.

Metra has several switchers like that. The newer ones, such as 9, are capable of going at full track speed. I hear Metra is shopping for a couple of Geeps for work trains, which could lead to the oldest switchers, 1 and 2, being retired. Fans are already speculating about them going to museums.

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 :-)

8103 spends most of its time in the Virginia coal fields. This is, I believe, only the third time it has come to Chicago, and I was otherwise occupied the first two times. It was the last of the 20 I had not seen and shot, so I absolutely got dressed and drove over to Indiana to get pictures of it this time. I found it sitting by the road in Colehour Yard (ex-Pennsylvania RR) in Hammond, just over the border from Illinois, pretty close to where you see the engines in this Google Street View. My pics are not perfect, but they're pretty good. Maybe I'll upload them for you later.

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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.

End of an era.

Would Sir like a cup of tea?

Not sure if this should be here or in the weather thread!!

Chicago is currently having a bit of a thunderstorm, and whilst recording a freight train passing the camera I also got this.



Lightning hitting the "horns" on the Willis tower and another building.

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End of an era.

Would Sir like a cup of tea?

What a shame. Slowly strangled by bureaucracy and hide-bound unions.

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

So after the other day with 4 Metra Electric cars going past the Chicago camera, today a large consist came by going in the opposite direction, heading west to start.



These seem to have been stored in the open, where "artists" have used them as a medium.




There were 13 altogether propelled once again by Metra 9



After a pause out of sight Metra 9 pulled all 13 across the airline.



I assume they wont be coming back!!

And as David predicted the Silver Solarium left today on the Southwest Chief 3

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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!

Well given that IQ scores are adjusted to make 100 the average, there's nothing 'only' about 105.

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

The Frecciarossa 1000 train by Ansaldo and Bombardier hs reached 400 km/h on the Milano-Rome leg but is limited to 300 km/h by state regulations. The train has almost kicked Alitalia out of business in this traveled route.
Tullio

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The Frecciarossa 1000 train by Ansaldo and Bombardier hs reached 400 km/h on the Milano-Rome leg but is limited to 300 km/h by state regulations. The train has almost kicked Alitalia out of business in this traveled route.
Tullio

That's good to hear.

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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.

More great pics, Bernie.

The downtown tall buildings are well grounded for lightning strikes.

I will be riding trains 303 and 306 to St. Louis and back on Wednesday. My friend is doing a one-day charter with Caritas, so maybe I can hang out with him during the layover. It won't go by the camera, though, except maybe to turn the train after it gets back, but that will be well after dark, probably after midnight.

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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.

Now whilst this might not win any "green" awards, it is nice to see low emissions and recycling together.

This is UPY 892



Whilst it might not look much to the untrained "railfan" it is as the sign on the side proclaims.

"A Low Emission diesel Genset Switcher." That is instead of one large diesel engine and generator it has 3 smaller ones that are switched in and out as needed by computer control. But that is not all, it is manufactured by Railpower as an RP20CD, or perhaps that should be re-manufactured, as it started life as UP 3249 an SD40-2

Here is a link to a pic(I won't post here as it is copyright) of UP 3249 looking as bit jaded back in 2006. UP 3249

Nice to know that railroads are doing their bit!!

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Now whilst this might not win any "green" awards, it is nice to see low emissions and recycling together.

This is UPY 892



Whilst it might not look much to the untrained "railfan" it is as the sign on the side proclaims.

"A Low Emission diesel Genset Switcher." That is instead of one large diesel engine and generator it has 3 smaller ones that are switched in and out as needed by computer control. But that is not all, it is manufactured by Railpower as an RP20CD, or perhaps that should be re-manufactured, as it started life as UP 3249 an SD40-2

Here is a link to a pic(I won't post here as it is copyright) of UP 3249 looking as bit jaded back in 2006. UP 3249

Nice to know that railroads are doing their bit!!

Railfans get a bit excited over those because they're so rare, although many ignore them because they're ugly and/or because they lament the loss of the old unit it's made from.

Railroaders don't much like them because they don't work very well. Amtrak has a pair in Chicago that probably don't have 50 hours of operation between them in the couple of years they've been there.

Railroads tend to buy them only when local or state governments give them a financial incentive (either direct money or tax credit) to help reduce pollution in a dirty metropolitan area such as Los Angeles or Houston.

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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.

Something local to Me, an SP escapee from the Paint Shop in Barstow CA, faded bloody nose and all. Photo taken by Steve Yates, permission to post I've got, I asked.

Surprised to see that in CA. At its age, I'd expect it to belch enough visible exhaust smoke for the public to report it to the state, which will issue UP a fine.

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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.

Good stuff there, Vic.

My trip to St. Louis tomorrow is off. Caritas is still going, but my friend is sick and got someone to replace him, so I'm not riding either.

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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.

Here is an odd one I had never heard of before.

ICE 6214 an SD40-2

ICE Stands for Iowa Chicago and Eastern

Apparently formed in 2002 and swallowed up by Canadian Pacific in 2008.



Interesting history - "Built by GMD as CP 5682 (12/1974). Sold to National Railway Equipment (1/2005), became NREX 5682. Acquired by Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (2006), became ICE 6214"

So it was originally a Canadian Pacific loco to start.

I have to admit to not really understanding how US freight railroads work.

The track at Chesterton is owner by Norfolk and Southern and their trains do indeed seem to make up most of the traffic. However as can be see this is a CP train, or is it? Loco number 4 is an NS loco.




So my question is how and why do mixed locos, sometimes 3 or 4 different companies get on one train, and just who drives, I assume that the train in the pic has a "CP" engineer at the controls.

What I mean is if you can drive one ES44AC then you can drive any ES44AC belonging to a rival?



Or not?

I suspect the answer is simple.

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Bernie, up here in the North MU lashups are almost always driven from the front engine, and the front engine is almost always from the line operating the whole train. This is done because you want a local engineer driving, and you want all the communications equipment (voice and data) that your line needs at his command. This would make your photos a CP train. There are of course exceptions, but only when the leased/rented equipment has the right gear fitted out, or another line's engineer is familiar with the stretch of track. In Canada train crews generally only operate on a few hundred miles of track, trains that cover longer distances switch crews at regular intervals. The crews I talk to prefer this, since it means they get home at the end of each shift, even though the train may roll on for another few days,

As for the mix of markings in a single consist, it is all economics. Each line wants to own just enough engines, not too many, for their volume of traffic. When "stuff" happens (we use another word for "stuff" in North America) you do what you have to to keep the trains running. If your line can quickly come up with your own spare engine when "stuff" hits the fan, your accountants will tell you you own too many engines, and you need to look into leasing or selling some. If you have been following your accountants advice for some time, then when "stuff" hits your line you have to look elsewhere for motive power.

The last 5 years or so in Canada (and I think in the US) has seen freight volumes rise faster than the factories can turn out new equipment (combination of oil by rail and growth in bulk freight like ores and grains). All the lines are scrambling every day to put together something that runs. This makes for interesting times for the spotters, as some of your photos and Vic's photos show.

Vic is right, the MU interface is pretty standard, permitting one cab crew to run multiple engines (even different models) at the same time. The key is how the cab crew fits into the block control / track control used locally, and that usually depends on the gear in the front cab. From my work with Electromotive here in London, very similar looking locos can have very different equipment in the cabs when they leave the factory, depending on which line they are going to. Updates over the years only make this worse.

The NS regularly runs complete trains over the CP line south of where I live, this is the old "lake level line" that was funded by US railroads in the 1880s to bypass Pennsylvania mountains when connecting Chicago to the US east coast. I assume the NSF locos and crews are equipped and trained to run on what is now a CP track.

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Sorry I didn't make myself clear.

The locos would all have to have MU capability(Multiple Unit) or be upgraded to do this if they didn't have the capability, but being the locos had been owned by CP, what can I say? MU just allows one engineer to control a bunch of locos in a trains consist as if they were one giant loco, how this is done exactly, is beyond My knowledge.

That I understand very well and is not really what I am saying.

You as an NS engineer turn up for your rostered duty, can you only ever be in control of an NS loco?

So the rail companies like NS lease out engines they don't have enough of to companies like CP?

What I meant was do they just use the engines that are available or is there a strict policy as to who can run what where and which engineer can be in charge of which trains?

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And another "oddity" was on the rear of The Lake Shore 49

Saw it passing Chesterton earlier but couldn't read the number, not quite "PV"



It is FRA DOTX 216 High-Speed Research Vehicle

Read about it HERE

Here is another view, seems the "wye" was out of use for most of today, as you can see they used the main for the reverse.

Then came back on the passing track.

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Bernie, the Canadian railways I'm familiar with have strict rules about who is qualified to run what engine. It is very unlikely that a CP engineer would be asked to sit in the cab of somebody else's loco. It is much less likely that a non-CP person would be in a CP cab.

Since my last post I talked to someone who knows the NS business here in Ontario. Those NS trains running on CP rails in Ontario have NS crews, but the crews are Canadians home-based in St. Thomas (just south of here), and they are trained to run on, and only run on, the CP line. There are probably other similar deals in place for particular routes.

To be more specific about some of the "stuff" can happen here: buying locos is a long term business, contracts are signed today for engines to be delivered over several years. The quantities contracted for are based on expected traffic volumes over a several year period. That is, at best, an educated guess.

By the time the engines are delivered, contracts have shifted, one mine has gone out of business unexpectedly and another has gone to triple shifts, etc. The railway companies get together, sign mid term and long term lease deals, and shiney new engines go to where the business is.

On top of that, there is the day to day "stuff" when one engine goes unserviceable, or a class gets a sudden recall notice. That is when you are likely to see the really old stuff dug up from a back siding somewhere and put back into service.

Leased or rented engines are almost never the lead engine, with a crew in it. As long as they have a standard MU fitment, the crew doesn't need to know much about the engine, or even get into the cab.

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