Good evening everyone how are we all doing well I’m sure you have all been watching the weather tonight along with the skies. Seeing all of the thunder storms roll threw out the area. How do railroads deal with heavy rains and severe thunder storms that hit all at once like they did today and tonight. And contuing though tomorrow. With weather like the stuff we had tonight do railroads like amtrak and Cp rail. Also the Up keep in constant radio contact with there dispatchers and or radio broadcasts about the approaching weather. Systems also what do railroads like The Up and CP rail pull guys and girls out of the yard and off of the engines and cars while the storm is passing though the area. Because with mostly everything in a rail yard metal. Which is a great conductor of lighting which is more dangerous then tornadoes. But any who I was just wondering that with all of the storms moving though out wisconsin and the southern part of state today and tonight.
I have heard the BNSF Northtown yardmaster (I believe that’s who it was) broadcast an immediate order to all yard crews to cease activity, stop and secure all movement (something to that effect) and get to shelter during severe weather. I haven’t been listening lately during bad weather because I have my scanner on Weather Alert instead of the railroad frequencies.
WHERE???
My thoughts exactly.
Northtown Yard is in the Twin Cities area. This should be s.o.p. when there’s a tornado warning.
Had some rough weather by us last night, too–glad I was done with work when it hit. Maybe the rain power-washed our main line between Lombard and Proviso (there’s a thread about that).
…There’s a pattern of nasty weather stuff in our midwest here and sure hope it soon changes. It’s effected lots of people and infrastructure in a wide area…including our own state. {Indiana}.
According to TV news this morning Indiana was particularly nailed by the storms. Plenty of work ahead for track inspectors, MOW and C&S crews. Washouts, soft roadbeds and failed communication/signals all over the place, I’d guess.
Don’t know a lot about electrical storms but if running the power I’d think about putting my feet between my fanny and the cushion (praying position?).
Railroads would seem to be well connected with the ground. Any lightning history for this subject out there?
Flix
Operating a Railroad, is not like a baseball game, or a picnic., never heard of one shutting down for inclement weather, just as post office, rain, sleet, snow., etc., they just keep on going and going and going.[8D]
you forgot the bunny.
I hope AND doubt everyone is OK.
Rix
…We’ve escaped the bad stuff right here, but there has been some fatilities…much infrastructure damage…Electrical transmission lines {and poles down}…homes flooded…{some up to the eves}…electrical power outages still in some areas from a previous hit…{Friday}…and today it is really getting hot again. But the sun is shining. Surely, the pattern will soon change.
Actually we do shut em down when the lightning gets bad. I have worked some nights where it looked like day light all the lightning strikes. We shut down the hump and all yard jobs, and even hostler jobs when that happens.
High wind warnings leave you stranded in a siding or on the main for hours,This aint your grandpappys railroad lol.But I have been out in a downpour with no lightning,thats always fun when you get back in and your boots squish with everystep and even though you had rain gear on your soaked cause of the humidity.Ahh fun times lol.
We got a chance to see how waterproof those remote boxes are today. There were several sudden downpours in our area that didn’t amount to much in the gauge. The rain would come, and the hump would stop so the RCO could put on his rain gear–by which time the shower was over and he’d be nice and steamy inside the rain suit.
At least I didn’t have to bail out the tower this time!
I did not know about the Chicago storm until I watched the report Sunday morn on Weather Channel. The area that was hit in south Chicago, where was this in relation to Union Station, White Sox park and Homewood.? Not much of an expert on the area, just wondering as I was through there last winter.
Whoa! I missed that story.
and he didn’t even mention the birds…
…J…Am I reading the time on your above post correctly…That was still time to be “sawing logs”…Not…?
There were about six tornadoes reported in the Chicago metro area on Saturday but the closest one that did significant damage was about 40 plus miles away from downtown Chicago in the SW suburbs beyond Joliet. Interestingly there was one small twister that touched down very close to the site of the memorial for the victims of the F-5 tornado that hit Plainfield back in about 1990 (or was it 1991, I can’t recall exactly). That surely must have sent shivers up and down the spines of the residents of Plainfield!
Sounds like someone had a slight case of insomnia…
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-32515
This link will show the twister that did all the damage in the SW suburbs.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-32648
shows railroad under water