Check this out.
Working the Chestertown Branch
I was invited on a ride along last week. It was a long, hot day, and the condition of the track made me wish I had some dramamine. Even so, I had a great time, it was really educational. Plus, I can now boast that I had lunch in the cab of an RS-3!
Enjoy!
Lee
Awesome video Lee!
Right on! That looks a lot like riding the rails on the Eastern Shore of VA, only they have a 10mph speed limit, and even so it shakes you teeth out.
Thanks for sharing!
A greaT clip Ireally enjoyed it I have a couple of questions about the switching of those tank cars But it can wair Larry
Very nice! I can’t beleive I’m the first one to ask, but how did you manage to get the railroad to let you ride along on their train?
Very nice. Shortlines have a magic all their own. What was behind NS that was stopping them from backing up?
Great video! It looked like a great way to spend the afternoon.
Especially nice was the shot from the switch rod pocket as the train passed overhead. Nicely done.
All the talkback during switching makes you think about how much more work it was before the use of radios.
Brian, who is one of my regular operators on my N scale layout, works as a part time conductor for the M&D. He worked out the details for the tour. I just had to sign the liability waiver.
And it was a little more than the afternoon… I was up at 5 to leave my house in Cambridge by 5:30, I met Brian at his house in Centreville around 6, and we were at Massey before 7 am. We tied up finally around 3:30.
I’m hoping to score another ride on the Federalsburg line, which is a lot closer to my home, and operates into Cambridge.
The front of the NS train was up as far as it could be at the main line junction in Townsend. The engine you see is at the rear of the train. They operate their locals in a push-me/pull-me set up to speed up switching along the way. He was waiting for a southbound train to clear on the main, and from what I could gather, the southbound train was hung up at the C&D Canal lift bridge a few miles north of where we were. Back in the day, there would have been a local dispatcher that could have sorted it all out, but nowadays that stuff is handled by some guy in a dark room a thousand miles away, so it all has to go by the book so as not to ruffle the bureaucrat’s feathers.
Lee
Ah. Get it now. Thenm who has to go get the cars from Massey? The MA/DE crew tomorrow? And did I see another engoine beside the shed?
Waaaay Too cool! That was about the best amateur train video I have seen.[tup]
What a way to spend the day.
Yes. We dropped the cars at the Milepost 8 run around, where we picked up the potash car in the morning. The next day (or the next day the M&D operated that line) the first move would be to haul those cars back out to Townsend where they can be retrieved by H-94.
The NS train that was blocking us out actually had two cars for us in it’s consist. I don’t know why they didn’t busy them selves with setting them out. That might have reduced their length enough for us to make the runaround. We probably still would have ended up pushing the two new cars back, but that would have gone a lot easier than pushing back the 10 that we had…
And yes, 1202 has two sisters, 1201, which you see there by the shed, and 1203 which makes its home down on the Federalsburg line.
Thanks for the kind words. I guess all that money my dad spent on my communications degree is finally paying off! I took a film class where we learned how to shoot a sequential movie, and how to splice in things that might not be exactly in sequence to help with the continuity.
I recently reviewed a cab ride video a friend gave me, and it’s just that. 90 minutes of looking out the window. Even though it’s a line I have a great interest in, I was yawning after 10 minutes.
If I do this again, I’ll take along a second camera man to chase the train so I can splice in more exterior running shots. Either that or just get some “stock footage” at the grade crossings I can use. As you can see, there’s usually not a lot of variety in the consists… Covered hoppers and tanks…
Lee
No spacer on empty hazmat?
“UN 3256 Elevated temperature liquid, flammable, n.o.s., with flashpoint above 37.8° C”
Minimum 1 car. Shouldn’t be on the head pin.
It was on the head for a short distance until we picked up the potash empties at Kennedyville.
I was there as a spectator, not an FRA inspector… I believe we were still within the “switching district”, which may provide some latitude.
[:D]
Lee
That was most enjoyable, thanks for posting it Lee.
Let me get this straight…this video shows a prototype Alco running with an EMD 567 under the hood and a K5LA horn? This sounds like something that would happen to a modeler who accidentally uploaded the wrong sound scheme for his Lok Sound decoder!
What a combo! [:P][:D][tup]
It’s a proto-kit-bash! What can I say!
The railroad also has a couple of FP-7’s. It’s like Dr. Frankenstein got into the locomotive business![:D]
Lee
Great Video Lee, loved every minute of it !!!
Den.
Naw…It just a generic MRC sound decoder in it![:P]
That was a very well done vid Lee-I have to say it’s also excellent reference for switching operations IMO.
I’ll have to let my better half see it when she has the time, as she’s an N scaler like you & has an Atlas Soo Line RS-1 (close enough) to see how the “real deal” operates!
Now that’s my kind of video! Shortlines rock! [:D]