|
NTSB report on on the cause of the head-on CTA collision a couple years ago (not the O'Hare wreck, but just as interesting): http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAB1502.pdf I remember when this accident happened; it was the first day of the annual APTA (American Public Transportation) convention ... being hosted in Chicago.
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 23:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 13:31 |
|
|
Question on rail weight: It looks like 141lb is the heaviest rail now made, and PRR once produced 155lb rail. If heavier rail implies heavier freight and faster freight, why not go heavier? Is it an economic thing of rail cost vs benefits, or benefits vs installation / maintenance, or weight vs strength, or just manufacturability? Aslo, accident time a mile from where I used to live: a contractor for Washington DC Metro had a crane accidently knock down a pedestrian bridge on to the tracks. Not only closed the Metro tracks, but apparently the CSX / MARC main line (in the foreground of the picture in the link) as well. You would have thought they would be aware of the bridge, it's been there for 20+ years. http://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2015/04/bridge-collapses-onto-metro-marc-train-tracks-in-prince-georges-co/
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2015 15:53
|
|
|
Pigsfeet on Rye posted:Question on rail weight: It looks like 141lb is the heaviest rail now made, and PRR once produced 155lb rail. If heavier rail implies heavier freight and faster freight, why not go heavier? Is it an economic thing of rail cost vs benefits, or benefits vs installation / maintenance, or weight vs strength, or just manufacturability? I'm betting that improvements in steel metallurgy allows 141 pound rail from today to be as good or better than 155 pound from however many years ago. Plus the savings in not having to deal with rail that heavy. So yeah, economic thing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2015 17:49
|
|
|
God drat, I do apologize for the delay, but here's the quasi- dash cam footage of the streetcar line I work. Sorry for the vertical video, but I couldn't find another way to set my phone up where the camera could still see out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5adNDsDTw For reference, here's the streetcar I was operating in the video. Car 369 was built in 1925, measures 48' 10" (almost 15 meters), and weighs in at 25 tons (roughly 23,000 Kilos). Ignore my conductor doing a weird curtsy; he was trying to get out of the photo. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2015 19:20
|
|
|
quote:"The Railroad Man is a soldier in the "Army of Labor" to which he serves a Union whose enemy is the corrupt men that are those Companies. Those Companies only goal is to exploit the Army in every way and cause dissention in its ranks. They [the Companies] know that by playing the Army's various Divisions or Crafts against one another, the United Front will collapse and the exploitation will continue! That is why WE RAILROAD MEN, regardless of craft or individual achievement, must stand together as ONE BROTHERHOOD UNITED THROUGHOUT so that we may thwart the Enemy. That we may have a safe working environment and be paid the honest wage we deserve. To force the corrupt man's coffers open and provide THE RAILROAD MAN the dignity he is equated."
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 03:22
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:God drat, I do apologize for the delay, but here's the quasi- dash cam footage of the streetcar line I work. Sorry for the vertical video, but I couldn't find another way to set my phone up where the camera could still see out. Oh hey, isnt that one of the W-class trams from Melbourne?
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 08:04
|
|
|
Yup. It's a W2.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 17:10
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:Yup. It's a W2. One thing I've always wondered with the W-Classes; What's the chugging noise they make when they idle? The one around roughly the two-minute mark. Also as a bit of trivia, the Melbourne ones don't have whistles - they just have a bell.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 17:17
|
|
|
The chugging noise is the standard two cylinder air compressor. The whistle on this car was added around two years ago. It's definitely a Melbourne tram.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
Just gonna leave this here
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 19:45
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:The chugging noise is the standard two cylinder air compressor. The whistle on this car was added around two years ago. It's definitely a Melbourne tram. Why the whistle? Is it a historically accurate for the city, or what?
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 19:51
|
|
|
ctishman posted:Why the whistle? Is it a historically accurate for the city, or what? Because we are a transit agency that happens to operate vintage vehicles, certain bits of historical accuracy had to be sacrificed for safety purposes. Nothing says "get out of the way" like a trombone whistle while not pissing off the neighbors too much.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:02
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:Because we are a transit agency that happens to operate vintage vehicles, certain bits of historical accuracy had to be sacrificed for safety purposes. Nothing says "get out of the way" like a trombone whistle while not pissing off the neighbors too much. Ahh, and the bell was too much noise, I take it? That makes sense. I was afraid it'd been some concession to some dude on the city council who thought all trains should go 'whooo' or something stupid like that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:07
|
|
|
Sudo Echo posted:Just gonna leave this here Holy gently caress. My dad is a GI doctor and every once in a while he'd come home and tell me that he'd operated on a railyard worker that had been run over by a train. They never survived too long, but I remember on one occasion there was a guy who stayed alive for 12 hours when he only existed from the pelvis up, his bottom half having been conveniently severed from his torso by a free rolling car.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:18
|
|
|
ctishman posted:Ahh, and the bell was too much noise, I take it? That makes sense. I was afraid it'd been some concession to some dude on the city council who thought all trains should go 'whooo' or something stupid like that. Actually the bells on the Melbourne trams are pretty quiet, so by the sound of it the SF ones needed to make more noise.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2015 04:20
|
|
|
Sudo Echo posted:Just gonna leave this here 
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2015 12:59
|
|
|
Bet he's unemployed and regretting the video by now
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2015 16:59
|
|
|
Back to back yard derailments affecting UPS trains. Engineer ran through a switch and then a conductor ran a shove through a bumper with UPS loads.
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2015 22:26
|
|
|
MassivelyBuckNegro posted:Back to back yard derailments affecting UPS trains. Engineer ran through a switch and then a conductor ran a shove through a bumper with UPS loads. more like  loads amirite
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2015 23:56
|
|
|
MassivelyBuckNegro posted:Back to back yard derailments affecting UPS trains. Engineer ran through a switch and then a conductor ran a shove through a bumper with UPS loads. They really take that "the mail must get through" thing seriously, huh.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2015 09:41
|
|
|
Neddy Seagoon posted:Actually the bells on the Melbourne trams are pretty quiet, so by the sound of it the SF ones needed to make more noise. The bells suck. The whistles are the only truly effective thing in traffic.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2015 18:54
|
|
|
Tex Avery posted:The bells suck. The whistles are the only truly effective thing in traffic. I'd believe that. All the W-Class trams do around Melbourne is circle the edge of the CBD, Docklands, and go down Chapel Street. And you gotta be really, really stupid to try challenging a Tram in Melbourne CBD traffic (the average city driver knows better), so I doubt the local ones need them as much as whatever traffic they face in San Francisco.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 09:59
|
|
|
Just saw this posted. A train was blown off a bridge in Baton Rouge or New Orleans, not sure which. From what I've heard no one was injured, but I'm not sure. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc5hzmpxs7A (Edit: looks like they took it down, sorry) MeatloafCat fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Apr 28, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 22:03
|
|
|
MeatloafCat posted:Just saw this posted. A train was blown off a bridge in Baton Rouge or New Orleans, not sure which. From what I've heard no one was injured, but I'm not sure. That looks more like the bridge failed in some way. Wind alone would probably just flip the containers and not all at the same time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 22:09
|
|
Klaus Kinski posted:That looks more like the bridge failed in some way. Wind alone would probably just flip the containers and not all at the same time. No, it wouldn't. Intermodal well cars are ~5' deep so a container isn't coming out without rolling the car. The cars would blow over in large groups. vains fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Apr 28, 2015 |
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 23:40
|
|
|
You'd be surprised what a strong wind can do to something flat and high sided, like double stacked containers, it's basically a giant sail. I don't think there was any issue with the bridge.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 23:42
|
|
|
MeatloafCat posted:Just saw this posted. A train was blown off a bridge in Baton Rouge or New Orleans, not sure which. From what I've heard no one was injured, but I'm not sure. Mirror's up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB-nBhsMiYc
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2015 01:57
|
|
|
Thats why the stop coal trains in any winds over 60 mph. Aluminum empty hoppers just turn into giant sails. I know we can burn quite a bit of fuel running empty hoppers back to the mines, and on a windy day its easy to burn 500 gallons in 200 miles.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2015 02:50
|
|
|
History. For the first time in history, Intermodal trailer/container carloading surpassed conventional carloadings. The cause is the steady historical increase in intermodal, and a small dip in conventional loadings. http://www.progressiverailroading.c...AAR-says--44235 BrokenKnucklez posted:Thats why the stop coal trains in any winds over 60 mph. Aluminum empty hoppers just turn into giant sails. I know we can burn quite a bit of fuel running empty hoppers back to the mines, and on a windy day its easy to burn 500 gallons in 200 miles. Yeah, the wind here in Wyoming is second to none. We some times have to pull them downhill off Sherman, a place that without wind a car could free roll from 0-200 mph in just a couple miles.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2015 16:58
|
|
B4Ctom1 posted:History. For the first time in history, Intermodal trailer/container carloading surpassed conventional carloadings. The cause is the steady historical increase in intermodal, and a small dip in conventional loadings. JB Hunt says they have 2 million more loads they could conceivably move by rail. Problem is, there isn't much existing terminal or lane capacity to move the boxes. Service is poo poo as it is.
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2015 21:41
|
|
|
ArNo Pun Intended posted:You'd be surprised what a strong wind can do to something flat and high sided, like double stacked containers, it's basically a giant sail. I don't think there was any issue with the bridge. Around here we have days when empty trailers, busses and RVs are banned from using the Chesapeake Bay Bridge because the wind will blow them right over. Same goes for the U.S. 301 bridge down south -> VA. One of my least pleasant driving experiences was taking an empty 5 Ton truck over that bridge to Fort A.P. Hill for a training event. There was some chop on the Bay and that truck wanted to go anywhere but straight on a bridge that is narrow and has minimal guard rails. Those well cars were hosed from the moment that the first one blew over. They were probably part of a linked set. The bridge didn't fail but if one of those cars hit the pylons on the way down it might be out of service for a while pending inspection and/or repair.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 01:23
|
|
Arishtat posted:\ They were part of a linked set aka articulated. But it wouldn't have mattered, I've seen wind blow over a thousand or so feet of loaded double stack cars.
|
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 03:23
|
|
|
Matilda!  I've ridden her a few times.  Forget the name of the other ones I've ridden, Matila just stands out for some reason.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 13:24
|
|
|
Dear train thread, Have an article from 1963 Life.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 16:14
|
|
|
MassivelyBuckNegro posted:JB Hunt says they have 2 million more loads they could conceivably move by rail. Problem is, there isn't much existing terminal or lane capacity to move the boxes. Service is poo poo as it is. Got any links?
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 17:21
|
|
|
This is nuts. 10 pages long http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-railroads-wont-tell-you-2015-05-08
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2015 01:32
|
|
|
Nebakenezzer posted:Dear train thread, Thanks for that article. I'll bet that was also the last time peregrination was used in the popular press.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2015 02:46
|
|
|
It's been a little wet up north https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug3xXaJtY1o
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2015 07:27
|
|
|
homebrew posted:It's been a little wet up north Historic level flooding? Or was construction cheaping out on culvert sizing? 
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2015 17:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 13:31 |
|
|
Slung Blade posted:Historic level flooding? Or was construction cheaping out on culvert sizing? 300mm in a day, rivers gaining meters of height in minutes..... I'm surprised any rail existed afterwards.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2015 01:47
|
|
