This is not your tax return, so please don’t ignore it!
Sign on engine - “Dead Head Rack Inside”…means what?
GP engines - we have a few. They have what looks like a step or a rung (?) between the wheels. On both axels. Why?
2 engines running around the yard One is an SW10 and one is an SW15. (Yard engines) Engineer (female) in 2nd engine. Cute, too!
I digress! Can she operate the front engine’s whistle for crossings from the 2nd engine or does she have to use the whistle in the cab she is sitting in? It almost sounded like the empty cab engine in the front was whistling, but with the wind blowing - it was hard to tell for sure.
Tracks that are abandoned temporarily - maybe for a year or so - do they still run a track check on them?
Two sightings - Coors tankers and kitty litter together on same train. I am sure there is a story there somewhere.
And - weather nice enough - I saw a fly sitting on MIllie’s dashboard. In January. In Nebraska! Deep freeze of the midwest! Usually.
On an out-of service track, the inactive portion beyond the switch & frog requires no inspection if the track is (a) clamped & tagged at the switch , (b) spiked & tagged at the switch, (c) protectected by a portable derail or (d) some other method to make the track inaccessable AND there are no revenue cars on the out-of-service track. The track has to be re-inspected and exceptions repaired prior to placing the track back in service. Main track and sidings get daily to weekly inspections dependent on tonnage and passenger train use. Backtracks/ industry and yard tracks get inspected once a month.
Sounds like the rack is for FRED. (or a bunch of burned out hippies [:D])
Gee, I thought a dead head rack might be where a crewmember in transit would camp enroute…
The step you may be referring to is part of the “suspension”. Check out the reference to Blomberg trucks in the opening paragraphs of this page.
Hopefully, here is an image of a model Blomberg truck - if that "step is the U-shaped thing in the middle, it’s the hanger, as described on the page I pointed you to.
In the old cabs (conventional) by the time you get 2 (sometimes 3) crewmen AND their luggage in them, there is standing room only. Sometimes there is an icebox that also takes up room. About the only choice left for a “deadhead” would be to hang him from the coat hook [:o)] [:I] [}:)] or sentance him to jail down in the potty. I believe jail in the nose in the old units would be considered cruel and unusual punishment. They tend to be pretty chilly, somewhat smely (at times [;)] ) and just generally not a place to want to stay.
The wide cabs are a little better, but not really that much more room. However, I have seen the seats facing each other and in a reclining position. (makeshift hammock, I believe [;)] )
Mookie,
Dead head rack= Yellow Thingies, except they are inside the long hood, not on the truck frame.
The “rung” is the hanger for the leaf springs that run across the center line of the trucks, the locomotive rides on these.
Gives a great ride compared to coil springs, which this style truck also has…but most of the weight of the locomotive is on the leaf springs.
Coors tanker and kitty litter together…yeah, I want to hear the story!
To expound - the “rung” is a swing hanger.
EMD Blomberg trucks and many passenger car trucks were built with outside swing hanger trucks.
Secondly - the whistle cord/plunger in an engine only controls the horn/whistle on that engine its in alone.
About old tracks - if they were maintained and haven’t seen a train, the RR may still have had regularly, and will before use, send a hy-rail pick-up for a visual inspection to check for the gauge, washouts, anything else.
I caught a lot of flak for yellow thingies, but in all honesty, that was all I could use to describe them.
They were a very bright yellow and hung fairly low down by the wheels. I finally, after a lot of verbal abuse ([:D]) got the answer I think was correct. They are brackets. And I have now heard that they either carry what mudchicken sez or the FRED when it isn’t in use. I also heard a few other unlikely objects.
And you know, since I got the explanation, I haven’t paid any attention - are they still out there?
Thank you for all your responses. I will now go and look for more questions!
