Sometimes things just happen to seem unusual, and this is one: coming home this afternoon, my wife who has become an excellent trainspotter asked why the classification yards have wind socks. We checked three, and found them on the top of light towers. I do not suppose it is because wind affects locomotives that much, but does anyone have a reasonable explanation?
One reason the wind socks are there are for the emergency crews to know which way the wind is blowing and where to start evacuating people if the need arises. Police, fire, and hazmat crews need that info.
it is used by the US millitary for launching ICBMs from box cars… but the cover story is that its to help HazMat teams if thier is a spill or leak with down wind evactuations…
csx engineer
by the way…the pic you put at the bottom…the passanger car is on the ground…just thought i would pass that on to you…lol
csx engineer
I had given that some thought, it sure seems logical (the HAZMAT not the ICBM)
It is for hazmat. You will see the same thing at chemical plants and refineries. When the alarm goes off the first thing you need to know is the wind direction.
just consider me the online dragging equpment detector…lol
csx engineer
Mr Wilcox has your answer…
but to put a question to you…
Who are the very first people who will;
A: know a hazmat car is derailed or leaking?
B: need to know right then which way the wind is blowing?
The yard crews and the employees in the yard…
The socks are for us as much as the emergency crews…we have to know which way the wind is blowing, so we know which way to begin the evac and who is downwind from the incident that we need to notify to either evac or shelter in place.
You will find the wind socks in all yards, refineries and most chemical plants.
Ed
Ed
I have heard trainmasters refer to them so they know they are down wind. Of course that doesn’t work if they are watching Ed or csxengineer98. “I feel a major disturbance in the Force” [X-)][X-)][X-)]
A: The people closest to it. One or few will gag and stumble about and drop. Anyone near will realize there is a problem and start to scatter. Maybe if the problem is detected a general alarm is raised vocally then by PA system followed by telephone/celluar calls out.
I am trained not to turn back and respond to cries for help no matter how pitiful they are. I leave that to the Rescue folks who should have the proper equiptment.
B: Wind is important but land height is even more important, you want to try and go up hill away from low lying areas.
Don’t know if I would want a ICBM boxcar on a train with a DPU… signals might get crossed up. [C):-)] [swg] [oX)]
CC
The Lionel ones would launch unexpectedly.
Although there has been some serious attempts to explain wind sox in rail yards, so far the truth hasn’t been told.
As with any larger corpration, the railroads no different, polictcal winds need to be tracked. Wind soxs in rail yards have been placed by the owners to track just that, the polictical WINDS.
Jim
Highiron,
We have posted evac routes and marshaling points, all on higher ground.
We also have a huge horn, looks like something you would find on a oceangoing ship, mounted on our control tower.
If it ever sounds repeated blasts, its time to drop what your doing, and get the boogie shoes on!
We are taugh to cut the locomotives away, and use them to evac with if fesaible, but if not, shut them off to prevent spark hazard, and leave them.
During our hazmat training, we were also taught that if the guy ahead of you falls, and you can grab him on your way out, do so.
If the guy behind you falls, leave him.
YOU DO NOT GO BACK FOR ANYONE, EVER!
Under no circumstance are you allowed to reenter the site until the all clear sounds.
Most of the chemicals we deal with are heavier than air, and will accumulate in low areas, ditches and drainage culverts.
Most of them are colorless, and have either a unique to that chemical smell, or a order added to aid in detecting leaks.
The one chemical I personally despise handling is hydrocyanatic acid…cyanide.
Its a liquid under pressure, but turns to a gas at atmosphere.
It too is heavier than air, and, according to the people who make it, smells like almonds, or fresh cut grass/hay.
I asked them how they know what it smelled like, as all of the safety info they distribute states that exposure to any amount, way up in the PPM scale, is lethal.
Never got a satisfactory answer…and I personally dont plan on ever finding out what it smells like!
Ed
As much as I’d like to make lite of this…Perhaps the first and only serious marking of the Sparks yard after the UP merger (purchase of Espee) was with the wind soxs along with numbered entry points to the yard and no trespassing signs.
This, absolutely is an indication this outfit is run by bean counters and attorneys…not railroaders. No wonder they’ve stalled three times during what should have been easy takeovers
The wind soxs, no trespassing signs, and first responder entry signs should be now just going up, as the railroad matured into its bigger self. That was not the case, now we see, the horse was infront of the cart!
Jim
Thanks for the clarification.
No one wants to understand what some of the stuff smells like, it is quite possible that the smell may be detected by your nose and sent towards your brain only to find that you are dead already.
Pine Bluff is destroying Sarin Gas and other very dangerous military chemicals and so far not one atom has gotten out to kill anyone. Let’s hope it stays that way.
One of the first things they teach you in Hazmat training is not to drag your finger through the stuff, then lick it to see if its bad!
If the top management of Union Pacific had learned how to run its purchased railroads, when the China storm hit, they’d weathered it. Instead of learning the roads of their acquired properties, they where hanging wind soxs and painting signs…
Sorry,
Jim - Lawton, NV MP236
no no no, the wind socks are so the train engineers know what direction the wind is going, so they can use the appropriate tracks to leave the yard [:P][:D][:P]
Yep, in the real world, that’s got to be the cause of it ALL.
Jim