Spent 2 days at trackside. BNSF knows when Mookie is around and stops all trains.
Did locomotive airing - nice windy day - so took out #7337 - SD40-2, #6882 SD40-2, # 7932 SD40-2 #9221 SD60M and some unknown Dash 9. Took short sight-seeing trip altogether and then back into the yards. Out tantalizing the Mook!
SW10 and SW15 - paired to push some freight cars around.
2 CN’s pulling a Herzog Gravel/Rock train - going south out of Lincoln. Nice change.
Saw #5615 and #5669 - new GE AC’s sandwiching a UP #7161. Another nice change!
Something for Mudchix - watched MOW walk down about 175-200 yards from crossing and come back with big set of ? wire cutters? and something that looked like a 1/2 bowling bag - with cable in it. Little leftovers from previous work…hmmmm?
He also shoveled a lot of mud off possibly a frog?
And a question - from the driver. Wants to know when you pull up to the diesel pumps in the yards - how long does a fill-up take? Is there more than one opening into the tank (looks to be about 2-3 to me) and do they have two tanks (one on each side and are they connected, or do they have to each be filled separately?
2nd question from driver - he is driving me nuts with this - “how much wood can a wood chuck chuck?”
Lest you think he is a little weird, let me confirm it - he sat and read my trains magazine and told me all about the articles in it while I watched the few trains go by. I know a little more about grades and haven’t even started reading the magazine!
Enough for now - going to try to read latest Trains mag and have some more questions later this week.
(1) sounds like a signalman running around with a pair of track shunts and a lineman’s tool bag full of tools and wire[shunts generally are two vise-grip pliers with a cable connected to each]…Signalman out testing or troubleshooting a problem. Sounds like he shoveled mud around an insulated joint near a frog because water had shorted the system and the dispatcher was getting a “track light indication” where it should have been off (no train) keeping him from throwing a power switch or lining up trains…signalman probably cussing out the mud and the roadmaster and a whiny dispatcher…
(2)fill-up of a 3000 gallon tank on a locomotive takes 10-20 minutes dependent on line pressure and how much fuel in the tank…Fueling system & fuel nozzle made by Snyder National Co. near Springfield MO…1 opening each side plus a vent/overflow valve & tube for one 3000 to 4000 gallon tank.
(3) I dunno…go ask the woodchuck yerself! [:D](methinks driver was looking at CP’s great piles of cut green timber in the magazine)
How many dummies did UNL cite for bypassing the gates at 17th & Holdrege this weekend?
He was testing the track earlier - had his cohort in the little house watching him touch two rails. Kept waiting for one of them to light up, but they never did. He was alone and went out with just a shovel and came back with all those tools that were evidently left beside the tracks from an earlier visit. Wonder if they were under the snow?
No calls from the UNL PD - altho - one LPD did break a leg and a bone in his ankle chasing down a stolen car suspect! Got his man, too!
This weekend will be even worse - it will be Boy’s State Basketball. As soon as your 100mph winds die down - I coming west to get out of town!
You know I gotta get deputized - while we were watching trains Sat and Sun - I could have written tickets left and right from people going around the gates. And one for littering - an empty beer bottle!
The only problem with getting deputized and writing tickets is that you have to chase the drivers down and get them to sign the ticket. On gated crossings most of the time we are sitting behind someone… for us to go after them would require us to chase after the offender right across the gated tracks, which is a big no no. (He who sins to catch the sinner is a greater sinner.)
All this time, I thought the reason I wore a hardhat was so that I could throw it at the offender’s windshield before he ran me over…
The Chinook (*) winds hit Saturday and had gusts from 70-90 mph here in Denver. Blew multiple semis on their sides and at least half of one double wide mobile home on wheels on I-70 on the west side Denver (Mobile Home = Trailer House = Tornado Bait)…Had an empty wheelbarrow in my back yard end up in the front yard after vaulting a 6 foot cedar fence…all hands, Batten down the kittykats![:-^][:-^][:-^][:-^]
(*) Indian translation for “chinook” is snow eater
ps- did an accident survey for a tornado caused derailment at Waynoka, OK of a TOFC train in 1994 that flipped everything off the track but the engines and one or two piggyback flats. Quite a mess![:O][:O][:O][:O]
It is one large tank underslung the width of the locomotive. It can be fueled from both sides, so no matter which end comes onto fuel point there is access to a fuel valve. Usually also duplicated either side will be coolant fill and sump oil fill. It saves having to have fuel/oil pumps on both sides of the track on a fueling point.
Diesels are harder to start than your car’s engine. Also, the stuff they put in the radiators includes coolant, but not antifreeze. So in cold weather, the engines have to be kept warm, usually done by running them. Lately, though, with the cost of fuel rising, some (probably most) railroads have installed systems to shut down the engines and start them automatically at a threshhold temperature (this applies only to units left idling, of course!).
At the fuel rack, no harm will come from a locomotive left running. But, in the interest of conservation, all but one unit in a line might be shut down, in good weather. For not-so-good winter weather, see above.
Congratulations on thinking of bringing the magazine(s) along, and holding Driver’s interest (or piquing it) in that way. I could do that, but I’m pretty sure Driv-ee would ignore it/them and keep on knitting.
New Semi cabs have “Optimized Idle” in them that does basically what CShaveRR describes. It’s supposed to be able to idle all night (turning on and off) using only a gallon of gas.
Everytime he starts to read - I interrupt with a question, comment or holler. So in order to answer my questions a little, he had to “study” up on the material. Works great! But only when the female is the train person - guess the rest of you are stuck with knitting or nothing. Sad…but if she is there beside you - little hand holding between trains works! [:I]
