Read this article and you will see that Barrington is still NIMBY when it comes to trains. Yes a train blocked several crossings and the juction with the metra UP/NW line, but it was not the railroads fault. Trains can and do break down and every effort is made to get it moving again. We need to stop this anoying, usless fingure pointing. To read go to http://triblocal.com/barrington/2010/10/19/village-awarded-grant/ and tell me what you think. Thank you.
A relatively short freight train pulls a knuckle and ties up at least two major highways for over two hours (with lots of trucks) plus the Metra line (halting 15 trains) and you think this is only a Barrington NIMBY issue? Just wondering what would be said here if the Metra line (former C&NW line) had been at the crossing in West Chicago with the UP West line, with many freight trains halted/delayed for over two hours?
Freight trains are blocked by passenger operations all the time all over. Most freight guys could also go into the restaurant business since we are such good waiters.
So nothing new.
As far as a broken knuckle. Not really a NIMBY issue, but more of a “that’s life” issue. Hard to move a train when you are minus a knuckle.
But… But… I couldn’t get my [insert name of favorite coffee emporium here]!!!
“Freight trains are blocked by passenger operations all the time all over. Most freight guys could also go into the restaurant business since we are such good waiters.”
Now, Zug![:D] Can you help the people who can’t get to their favorite coffee shops?[:)]
Sounds like a real problem to me…
You really think it is all about snotty suburbanites not wanting railroads? If you do, you are quite ignorant of facts.
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The routes affected are heavily used by commercial trucks.
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The freight train runs on what was for its entire history as the EJ&E, a very lightly used transfer line, running steel-related goods from Gary to Joliet to Waukegan, and owned by US Steel since 1901. The change in traffic since CN ownership was dramatic, as the roads houses, etc. were there long before 2009.
My first thought after reading the posts before this one was: how does an engineer break a knuckle on a short train (I base this on my previous observations of the types of trains and the terrain the CN locomotive engineers must content with daily); then I actually read the article and nowhere did I see a mention of the length of train.
As much as I do not care for NIMBYs, I can completely sympathise with the residents who had to deal with the problems caused by thae broken-down freight.
My last thought was: why did it take two hours to replace one knuckle? Even if they were on OT, it still seems excessive.
And it sucks when the road I take to the yard is closed because of an accident. But guess what? I suck it up and find another route. These people whining need to grow up. Sometimes the world doesn’t revolve around you.
Anyone who has read the article and knows Chicagoland would realize that the complaint is valid.
State Route 14 is a 4 lane highway. A major artery.
The very notion that an at grade crossing was acceptable here for what was to be a major Bypass route is ridiculous. The EIS was WRONG just as is noted in the article.
You can say “well it was an accident, things happen, buck up.”
But this is just stupidly poor planning. There is no justification of it. This should have been planned around.
Its kinda hard to plan on having a broken knuckle…know what I mean Vern?
Yeah, seriously. Broken knuckles happen. Pulled drawbars happen. Broken trainlines happen. Broken wheels happen.
It happens all the time, but it mostly happens at locations that don’t impact other trains or automobiles. But sometimes it does. What can you do? You usually have to repair it right where it stands, even if it means it blocks roadways. Sucks, but that is life.
What would have happened if there was a major car wreck on that road that blocked it for hours? Oh yeah. people complain, but find another way around. I love how people think “their” roads are so special that they should never be blocked by roads. Please…
So I’ll say it again: Grow up and buck up!
The grade crossing existed before CN bought the EJ&E. Such an event could have happened anytime, then or now.
The planning failure was the town’s or Illinois DOT’s, to not have either eliminated the crossing or created a viable alternate route, as this road became the major Bypass route.
As zugmann pointed out, the same could have happened with an auto accident - or one of the many trucks that were apparently stuck in the resulting back-up. Or a fire could have closed the road, or a water main break, etc., etc. This time, the railroad was the ‘goat’, and justifiably so. But if that’s what happened and that’s all it took, then perhaps this situation has made the town and/ or the DOT irresponsibly vulnerable to any little disruption in their nice orderly little life. That aspect should be considered as well.
- Paul North.
You could run one train a week on that line and it could get a knuckle right there at the crossing.
Sucks, but hey, that’s life.
Typical “professional” railroader responses again. Predictable. Some folksmerely point out how a railroad has caused a disruption, probably its fault, and it’s “Sucks, but hey, that’s life.” No attempt to deal with the facts at hand. How often does a knuckle get pulled on a moving train on flat land. And if so, isn’t that avoidable through better maintenance or more careful operation? The EJ&E was a good neighbor in all those communities for years. Low profile, no problems, no complaints, hence no NIMBYism… The CN takes over and it has been a mess. Grade separations are now need because of the totally different character of the operation. Just curious, but I wonder what would be the reaction here if a tanker truck loaded with gasoline had an engine failure on that crossing 5 seconds before the gates and bells started?
First of all, lose the parenthesis. I am a professional. I get paid to be a railroader, thank you very much.
Ah, schlimm. I look forward to your debates. Knuckles can get broken anywhere. None of the breaks I have seen were 100% new break. That means the knuckle was already considerably weakened, and it just took the right amount of oomph (run in or run out) to finally snap it. Of course it could have been a knuckle pin, different part but same results - you have to replace pieces and parts. And no, you usually can’t tell if a knuckle has a crack (or defect) within until it snaps. I mean I guess you could ultrasound it or something, but be realistic. Same with knuckle pins. It can look perfectly normal, but all you can see is the head of the pin. You can’t tell if it is broken half an inch below (until the knuckle falls out, that is!)
Did I ever say it wasn’t the RR’s fault the crossing was blocked? No. But
I think the point that’s trying to be made is that rather than saying that things happen, we should try to make those things less of an issue. Why agree that it’s a problem but then make it sound insurmountable? The highway department or CN or a combination thereof should put in an underpass or overpass to alleviate this problem, because things DO happen.
Typical phoamer response.
There is no real way in knowing when a knuckle may break, no matter where the train is running. Sure, you follow best practices in operating the train, but there are times when partial breaks decide to let go.
Can you see it from the surface? Maybe. Unless they are inspected at each and every terminal (talk about dwell time), there is no way of knowing. And that is just for visual clues. Like rail, most times it is what you do not see that fails at the worst time. You would need to ultrasound them to see internal failures.
Most as Zug said, are not 100% new breaks unless someone jerked his train real hard. I have seen drawbars, even entire ends of cars come apart. The latter of course was a combination of poor handling, and old stress damage. But the car in Arlington, NE in 1999 split in half, due to age and steel failures, yet the knuckle and draft gear remained intact.
So do they fail on level ground, of course the do. But you see, someone in the field would know that, and not go off half baked someone’s fault, or it’s avoidable. Because in many cases, it is not.
Ok, Schlimm,
Here’s the chance for you to put your Microsoft where your mouth is…
Instead of simply whining and pointing a finger at the big bad railroad, why don’t you explain, in detail, exactly how you would have prevented that knuckle from breaking at that point in time at that location.
Use real world examples and real world current technologies, not some whiz bang laser guided tool that has not been invented yet.
And yes, we all understand you hate CN, for whatever reason, and we understand you don’t like railroaders much either, but humor us and show us the better way you implied existed.
Knuckles break all the time and cause delays. It is an inevitable fact of life. But the issue in this case is not the breaking of a knuckle. The issue is the delay of two hours. It is that delay time that needs to be explained, and saying it was a broken knuckle does not explain it.