And lettered for the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, using authentic graphics, if unprototypical (RW&O was absorbed by NYC long before Diesels came along). Thus it’s a total freelance, if a nod to the railroad heritage of the area.
Not easily visible in the picture is the placard on the tank car, way oversize so it can be read by the participants. The car (and some mates) was donated by the local model railroad club, then “detailed” for the simulator by moi. There are currently four “hazmat” tank cars. I just picked up a hopper (I forgot about that Chessie boxcar) to use as a buffer car. I may placard it for a chemical we had an issue with here a few years ago (although that would have been in a cylindrical hopper).
There are subtle jokes sprinkled around the sim as well - businesses renamed after local fire officials and the like. The TV folks are represented by a Matchbox truck marked for the SNL “Weekend Update…”
We ran about a half dozen scenarios, each time having different people fill the various command roles. It was an EMS class. The actual class the sim was designed for is intended to include fire, EMS, police, industry, and community leaders. Those can get pretty intense.
It was the tankcar. However, it looks like there might not be anything wrong with the placement after all.
I am guessing that a wreck that would breach the car is probably unlikely to happen in a yard and that is why there is not law requiring a buffer car for yard switchers.
Aren’t there supposed to be handrails down the sides at just above truck level for people walking alongside the car to give them something to grab should they fall towards the car?
I would say that the photo is definitely a telephoto shot. The tank car is very foreshortened, the trucks under the cars look skewed, and the unevenness of the rails is exagerated (note the far rail under the rightmost truck of the tank car). But since I sure don’t know the lay of the land, the photographer still could be trespassing.
Just looking at it and based on the comments it might be headed for storage in that yard ( based on the comments),
To Larry:
What I noticed was that the car appeared to possibly be empty ( springs at high end of their travel range), and the placard may be problematic? A flamable gas load is apparently never at 100% of empty(tank maintains a certain level of residue poduct in car)
. Doesn’t the showing placard on an empty car have to be the half black placard with the UN number of the precious contents UN number showing(unless the car is stenciled for assigned product service)? The car in question seems to have the red printed placard showing in its holder at the far truck bolster.
Hazmat containers,tanks, etc will have placards and markings if loaded or empty until cleaned and certified cleaned before removal. In reference to the car in picture there is a frame, it`s the tank.
I don’t care what lens he was using, he was still trespassing on railroad property that is marked for “NO TRESPASSING”. I’m not the grouch because some rail buff can’t read a sign and chooses to break the law. Quick Edit: The reason the track is not raised up on top of the ties, is due to the service roads running between track 102 (where the switch move takes place) and the yard ladder that is one track closer in the foreground. There’s an additional road even closer in the foreground, as well.
You’d be surprised how a good lens works today! There are lenses which could be use on a camera a mile or more off the property…so the photographer could very well, and very likely, not have been tresspassing.
In reference to the two and threes --class 2 covers flammable, non flammable,oxygen,poison gas, class 3 covers flammable,gasoline,combustible,fuel oil.
Actually, class 2 covers all compressed gases, and class 3 covers all flammable liquids.
Now, LPG is a gas that has been compressed so much that it is a liquid–as long as it is contained it is liquid, but once it escapes the container it evaporates and is a gas.
…Tresspassing by “long lens”…??? I’ve not heard of describing a circumstance as that before.
Haven’t really given that much thought…Just as I now reflect on the subject, I’m reminded of the movie of decades ago…Believe it was “Rear Window” starring Jimmie Stewart…Using a long lens to try to stop a crime he figured was brewing across a space that he could see from his appartment…to another. He was a media reporter.
Zooming in on a personal life as such…Have no idea what the law may read on that…Sounds like it could be voyeurism, which I believe is against the law.
But…out in the open, sighting on some outside object via a long lens…I doubt it, but I really don’t know the legal answer.
This car is designed for pressurized liquids and gas…all loading and un loading is done from the top hatch via hoses and valves, these cars see no other service but this and are always loaded/discharged from an overhead rack with a pump system, no need for or use for a side ladder, and the absence of one prevents anyone from tampering with the hatch and control valves.
As was pointed out in a previous reply, the contents are under pressure, and as such are a usually a liquid, when released to atmosphere, they become a gas, the absence of bottom discharge valves and the stout hatch protecting the control valves are to lessen the chance of a breech in the event of a derailment.
