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Looks like the used car lot added a windmill.
Does Trains or anyone have any information about the specs of the diamond-replace job, e.g. weight of diamonds, cost of the job, number of workers required, etc.? /Mr Lynn
Just now (c. 8:30 PM Eastern) a single-unit pulling a short WB UP freight (a local?) stopped east of the diamonds, a guy got out and went to the box near the tracks, fiddled with it for a while, then got back on board, and off went the train, with bell ringing. What was that all about? /Mr Lynn
It sounds like he operated the manual release for the interlocking.
Jeff
watched a BNSF mixed and lots of covered hoppers WB. Just as the last car crossed the diamonds on track 1, a second train on track 2, hit the diamonds with feet between the head end (Norfolk Southern) and the last car of the first train. My first seeing this.
Grinders at work on the diamonds. It will be interesting to see how often routine welding/grinding will be for such a new installation (a week could hardly go by without at least one or two days with this kind of maintenance)
For any who might be interested, I just completed a blog post called âReplacing the Diamonds,â using a few screen shots from the Trains webcam:
https://walkingcreekworld.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/replacing-the-diamonds/
Itâs aimed at a general audience, so apologies if you find it too elementary.
/Mr Lynn
PS But feel free to let me know if you see any errors, either here, or in the Comments to the post.
I think it is bye for now to the two UP Heritage units âMissouri Pacificâ and âWestern Pacificâ. They were the tail end power on a long WB intermodal train on the far track that crossed the diamonds at about 1452 CDT.
Bruce
And at 1835 CDT, they were headed through Cedar Rapids- making good time! Thanks for the heads-up, Bruce!
Youâre welcome, glad I could help. I like that picture.
I almost didnât make that post. I wasnât sure it warranted one. I had actually turned to do something else before I decided to post.
Bruce
Just watched an EB mixed manifest go through on UP Track #1- three engines up front, second unit is 1988, the KATY heritage unit.
Saw that.
Did you happen to notice that odd sized CN gondola? It looked to be a foot and a half or two feet taller than a regular sized gondola in front of it, and about the same amount less height than a covered hopper behind it. It had a flat bottom with no gates or a tub.
I noticed it coming even before I saw the road name. I wonder what commodity it is used for?
Bruce
Didnât notice that- too busy trying to get the camera icon to work, which it wouldnât (#@*&%@$).
A UP EB coal train just cleared the diamonds on the far track at 1305 CDT. The angle of the sun cast shadows on the cars in a way that you could tell those two diamonds were working right. Good to see.
Bruce
I either missed a post or there was none about what has reduced the inpact noise from the wheel impact at the diamonds. Are the new crossings a special low noise design? Are there plastic inserts or fillers? Why is the noise so much lower than it used to be?
Either I missed a post or there was none about what has reduced the inpact noise from the wheel impact at the diamonds. Are the new crossings a special low noise design? Are there plastic inserts or fillers? Why is the noise so much lower than it used to be?
Now the rubber hits the road (bad pun, indeed).
Just saw a UP EB coal train on the near track clear the diamonds at 1721 CDT. It wasnât going as fast as the one I mentioned earlier, but the new diamonds did their job. It was as close to âsteady as she goesâ as you are going to get.
As to Electroliners questions, all I can hope for is that there will be a good article about it in an upcoming TRAINS.
Bruce
There was a short piece about this on page 20 of the June 2017 Trains. It wasnât about the Rochelle diamonds of course; it described, among other things, some new polyurethane pads to go between the rail and the tie (plate?). I only noted the headline and some picture captions (just happened to have that issue lying on my desk).
While typing the above, UP sent a WB stack train at speed on #1 to demonstrate the improvements Electroliner saw. And then while Iâm proofing this post, hereâs an EB BNSF stack train on their #1. All involved with the replacement can take a bow.