Looks like a little more tamping and regulating going on …
Heard some interesting conversations today between the BNSF local’s conductor and the BNSF people doing further surfacing on the tracks (as is UP on theirs… intersting meets on the diamonds). The bottom line is that a bad joint is the problem. The the track guy offered to walk the local over the joint but the conductor demurred. He stated he would make some calls to determine how hot the cars were. A further point was raised as to who was responsible for fixing the joint and there was no clear immediate answer; at one point there was speculation that Burlington Junction, the operator of the City of Rochelle’s trackage might be responsible, but that was quickly determined not to be the case so it’s back to a game of finger pointing between BNSF and UP.
The issue of responsibility came up a few months ago when a BNSF track inspector condemned the spring from on the switch. By coincidence UP track forces were working on the diamonds. He walked over to get a fix rolling but was refused with UP asserting it was BNSF’s responsibility. BNSF had to bring in their own track gang a few hours later to fix it. Nevertheless it appears most people (perhaps mostly BNSF) do not clearly know who is responsible for what; perhaps someone will have to fish out the governing agreement to get a better answer, and that’s assuming there is no ambiguity.
Nice SP DPU …
just caught the BNSF local headed for it’s stops north side of Rochelle. Yes, it crossed the diamonds. someone mentioned that it never does.
I’ve seen it cross the diamonds, then come back a while later and go up the siding alongside the UP tracks. Has it used the switch since the diamond replacement?
BTW, lately when I click the refresh arrow for the web stream, the arrow disappears but the image remains static. I have to reload the web page to get the stream started again.
I have not had that freeze, but I have to refresh to get the sound going again…
Caught the regulator doing a pivot…
Found the BNSF local engine on the new updated Google Maps aerial. The image must have been taken some time ago, but not too long ago, there are no ballast piles but all the track panels and diamond is there. Does anyone know how the BNSF local operates? Is it done out of Rochelle? I always thought it came from a nearby yard to work Rochelle. https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9200756,-89.064052,138m/data=!3m1!1e3
This job, the 476, often goes to flag center and takes the wye usually the signaled east leg to run around its consist. It also sometimes interchanges a car here with the Illinois Railway, which operates an ex-BN branch to Rockford… Infrequently they run out west a bit; I’ve heard Polo as a destination over the last few months. Mostly they work BNSF’s yard, located on the railroad south side of the main tracks. They also interchange with the Bulington Junction Railway, which operates the City of Rochelle Railroad. BJR operates railroad north of BNSF and south of UP. BNSF interchanges traffic via a switch off of main #1 referred to as “Wiscold” UP connects with this trackage via a switch off of its #2 main referred to as “Cold Storage” about a mile east of the diamonds. BNSF also interchanges with BJR via the “199” switch visible in the web cam. UP reaches this trackage via a switch located off of #2 main immediately adjacent to CPY076, the east connection into Global 3. The engine usually ties up on the a track referred to as the “house track” and is located off of #1 main a few blocks east of the diamond. Typical call time is 9:00 but has varied some from time to time. If things go smoothly they can tie up around 11:00, but often run longer, especially if they have to go west, or, like today, when the track work is delaying an attempt to service BJR at 199, which has not had service from BNSF since the switch was replaced last week.
With all of the activity going on, I fired up the audio feed and heard something I’d Never heard before. On the BNSF (Aurora sub MP 56 I think) the detector reported ‘Train too slow’.
What are the thresholds that trigger this?
We won’t hear “Spider too slow”, boy she works fast.
Right; she works right on the bed, and does not have to worry about getting the ballast settled.
It’s probably triggered by the lapse of too much time between axles going over the detector. If the train is moving too slowly, it messes with the axle count. On the UP, this used to be (maybe still is) termed “integrity failure”.
Looks like BNSF has a track gang working on the bad joint on the side track. At the same time UP has a form B at the diamonds.
Somebody needs to read this about how to keep spiders off of security cameras. Easiest thing to do is turn off the IR LEDs if they are on: https://www.vueville.com/blog/how-to-keep-spider-webs-off-your-security-camera-lens/
Noticed some green wires where they removed the insulated joint. The insulated joint is still on the other side.
Are there IR LEDs on the webcam? I doubt it; can’t see anything at night except headlights.
/Mr Lynn
Looks like they settled the argurment on who would work on the siding.
The local is back and it looks like they are going to take the gravel road.
Green markers are probably to help protect the wires from the surf gang. On BNSF I heard their surf gang briefing with the maintainer where the latter promised to paint visible marks at the wires for the former. Broken wires from track work seems to be a common problem.