Locomotive Insanity: Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist doesnt have the same ring to it

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Locomotive Insanity: Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist doesnt have the same ring to it

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Bugdrvr posted:

I love trains too! I grew up in the Northeast where you'll still find a lot of railroad history floating around. Near the "Steamtown Museum" in Scranton PA they had a Big Boy sitting for years. I drank many a 40 in the cab while playing with the knobs and levers when I was in high school. The museum itself wasn't bad either though not nearly as cool as the one in Baltimore.

Heh, you're thinking of the old Steamtown. You should go check out the new version. Its loving awesome, and yeah the Big Boy is still there, static display, because even if somehow they did come up with the several million $ to restore it, they'd have to build an excursion specifically for it...

I'm old enough to remember the old Steamtown too, and I can assure you the new one is just as good as the Baltimore museum, I've been to both. Hopefully this spring I'll actually visit the RR museum of PA now that I only live like 30 minutes from it. They have a bunch more live steam, and acres of rolling stock.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 13:58

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 17:17

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Advent Horizon posted:

How many loving times does that locomotive need to be brought up before you people read the loving thread? Yes, it's loving awesome. We get it. READ THE GODDAMN THREAD. IT'S ONLY TWO PAGES LONG.

Okay, that's done.

Anyone taking a cruise to Alaska needs to ride the White Pass. It's a rule.

They have one of the only functioning steam rotary plows in the world (I believe the only other one is in Switzerland?), and they actually use it! Not only do they use it...wait for it...they push it with steam locomotives! http://www.wpyr.com/rotarysnowplow.html

They run the rotary about every two years, and unfortunately I can't make this run. I will definitely be at the next run.

Yeah, other RRs use rotaries, but they've been converted to diesel and hydraulic, not steam. Although I think there's a few left that have a steam generator onboard salvaged from the early days of diesel electric prime movers hooked up to old style passenger consists, where it needed steam to run the stuff back there, so it was just a diesel burner with steam tubes in it...

# ¿ Mar 10, 2011 08:52

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

I though I would share this with you. Once in a great while I get to see something a little rare.

La locomotora guerrero azteca

look at these road warrior windscreens

these side screens slide/retract so that you can throw things back I guess

Our chair backs recline, but there was a second control that allowed these seats to recline the chair seat

that cage effects visibility in a way I would not like. in bad weather and rain sometimes we can barely see at all as it is.

espa�ol etiquetas de control

Is it me or is there no alerter in that cab?

# ¿ May 25, 2011 23:03

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

Alerters are an American corporate temper tantrum which is not that widely practiced elsewhere.

It is my hope that the man who invented the alerter has to press one every few seconds for the remainder of eternity in hell.

The executives who mandated them should have them mounted on their desk and be required to press them constantly as the decisions they make there have far more dangerous repercussions than anything I can do on a train.

Can't you press them early, or do you HAVE to wait for the beep?

# ¿ May 26, 2011 00:33

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

This used to be the number 1 issue on the railroad. When there is an incident of any kind, a bolt comes loose a mile back in your train, then some part falls off because of it and derails a car. The crew goes in a piss tests and because one of the guys thought it would be cute to eat a brownie while on vacation 25 days earlier in Amsterdam the cause of the derailment is automatically assigned to him. Something damaged? Failed the drug test? Case solved, paperwork filed.

But there is a new number 1. A cause so insidious as to have the public opinion so on edge, so upset, something that actually HAS been the cause of transportation accidents. Buses, trucks, cars and trains have all wrecked and people have died because of it. This cause is the dreaded cellphone.

The result has been the FRA Emergency Order #26. Emergency Order To Restrict On-Duty Railroad Operating Employees' Use of Cellular Telephones and Other electronic devices. On March 28th this ban became law with stiff fines (tens of thousands of dollars) and even bigger fines for willful violation. If you violate and there is a resulting crash you would probably go to jail. You are not even allowed to have it turned on. It must be turned off and put into a bag.

Another is a result there is a rush for new technology, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is piloting some equipment that will be installed in the cab of a locomotive that will stop the train if a cellphone is detected. So as to not be tripped by nearby cellphones or plain cellular tower signals, this equipment can detect the special signal changes that a cellphone goes through when a call is made or received, data is used, which includes send or receive messaging. It is said to even be able to detect a phone as it does the "handoff" from one tower to another. This equipment is antenna-ed in a way so as to be able only to detect within the confines of the cab to prevent false triggers.

Basically if your train is moving, and the device detects a cellphone within the cab in a state other than off, an alarm will sound, train brakes will apply, and the operator will have to answer for why this happened to at least his employer.

The procedure now in the event of an accident, the FRA will subpoena your cellular records to check to see if your phone was on or off. It will be the new "drug test". Some train ran into the back of you? Well records show YOUR cellphone was on, case solved. As a result, I turn mine off. There are a few hold outs, mostly conductors, but I figure eventually the FRA will start handing out warnings that will curb most of this.

The fact of the matter is this, cellphones are a distraction. Any guy who violates this law can't expect any sympathy from the public or the FRA. If he has an accident even more so. There have been fatal accidents since the law went into effect March 28th. It is rumored that these guys had phones on or in use.

They made allowances for small amounts of cell phone use while still on duty in the law and the railroads followed suit. If your train is stopped, and nobody is performing any duty other than holding down a chair, nobody is working on or around your train, no other train is near you or approaching, you can make a phone call. No texting at all ever while on duty.

It is also rumored that in the future we will no longer be allowed to even possess personal electronics of any kind on the train. This means you will have to get a second phone and put it into your locker at the away from home terminal to stay in touch with your family.

Those of us who have gotten really familiar with the rules because of their ease of access through our laptops, phones, or PDA's will have to give them up as an official legal source. Every man will have to go back to carrying the huge clunky General Code of Operating Rules which becomes outdated every 5 days or so. This means all the separate printed changes in the form of booklets, amendments, orders, special instructions, timetables, subdivision orders, superintendent notices, and MTO circulars we runn off of the printers will also have to be carried again. Basically enough books and stuff to fill a box used for printer paper.

Gone will be the days of just looking in the computer for an update before going to work and downloading it to your laptop or PDA and just having it all right there. Need to know a rule right now? No more Ctrl + F, no more little magnifying glass to help you instantly find it. Back to the days of sorting through a ream of paper to find out what you are supposed to do when you encounter a situation that doesn't happen that often. This is what I will miss the most.

Well its a more tech savvy way to gently caress with the trains than the tried and true fake FRED on a tomato stake in the middle of the ballast on a curve at 3AM on a snowy January Sunday method...

Cell phone with a little boost plus high gain yagi aimed right can probably freak it out at a large enough distance that nobody will see you.

It'll never happen. To make it work they'd basically have to RF-seal the entire cab. Take a guess how much a test chamber for cell phone systems costs, and its a scenario where the room is stationary and you can go heavy on the concrete and rebar. Even if they try it, once the false positives cause losses greater than the actual cost of the system in the first place it will all be silently swept under the rug...

The easier way to do it would be to just jam the signals in the cab, but the FCC isn't going to allow them to run a wideband noise source, let alone one that's mobile!

# ¿ Jun 3, 2011 17:49

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

BrokenKnucklez posted:

That is a big "it has been this way since diesel locomotives came out and to bad deal" type of situation.

Pretty much most stuff thats out here has been done for a 160 years the same way. No one has figured out a better way and so far I think thats the way it will stay. Railroaders do not like change at all.

Wrong!

It has to do with synchronous power production. To make the generators produce the correct frequencies for the AC traction motors and head-end power it has to run at certain multiples of rpm.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2011 21:23

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

BrokenKnucklez posted:

What about the DC units then?

Same thing, the prime mover is coupled to the alternator, and head end power is tapped off as AC, and the juice for the traction motors is passed through the rectifiers and sent on down the line to the motors themselves.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2011 21:29

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Cat Terrist posted:

Jurys in this area are pure 100% loving stupid. It's a goddamn train track, trains can not stop, they cant swerve and if you are too stupid to not to look then you stand a good chance of being splattered. PLus trains are big noisy things that are not that hard to see at all.

It truly is mind blowing someone could stand up and say it's someone else's fault if you cross tracks and you get belted.

Especially when the fucker is honking the horn as per protocol.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 11:24

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

bus versus train
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=29e_1309541162

drat.

At least where I live they have to come to a complete stop, open the door, and their window before proceeding across tracks, presumably so they can hear better... Which is always fun at lights, "Welp, the bus just started moving when the light went red."

# ¿ Jul 1, 2011 20:50

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

This is far too :black101:

to not share...

http://books.google.com/books?id=xyADAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&lr&pg=RA1-PA37#v=onepage&q&f=true

:swoon:

Oh 1950s, you're so ambitiously rubbish.

Google books will be the death(by starvation) of me.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2011 15:35

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Felt the need to drop this in here...

http://books.google.com/books?id=hycDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q&f=true

# ¿ Jan 22, 2012 10:51

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

So on my beer and smokes run this morning, I happened to see a high-rail zip by, and started digging for my camera as a second zipped past.

After a third went by, I gave up on digging because it wasn't in my bag anyway, and then this... thing... this glorious ORANGE thing that looks like a CITY BUS coasted gracefully on by.

This is CONRAIL/NFS in Central PA.

Can someone tell me what the bus-sized unit was/does?

The three in front all had serious weights front and back, so I think its measuring the track positions?

# ¿ Mar 13, 2012 15:12

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Shampoo posted:

Maybe a geometry car?

GIS-ing that, yep, that's what it had to be. Thanks! (I wish I had my camera now, damnit.)

# ¿ Mar 13, 2012 17:29

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

From a railroader email I received I want to share with you guys.

That right there is just pure smut my friend.

:fap:

# ¿ Apr 18, 2012 22:45

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

jamal posted:

hey cool. I'm there right now and took these pictures the other day:

it's a big bridge.

Kinzua Viaduct was(sadly) bigger... I went there every year for like 7 years with scouts... I should dig through my rolls of EPS film and find some good pictures when it was still North America's longest train trestle.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 00:47

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

BTW, the old trick of putting a knuckle pin in a guy's bag is about to go the way of the dodo because they are now making them out of poly instead of steel.

For _freight_ usage? If so polymer must have come a long way... On the flip-side there's probably several hundred thousand TONS of steel knuckle pins in service, which could be replaced by a few hundred tons of poly, with commensurate savings in fuel, eventually...

# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 08:10

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

On our end, any metal crap in coal is a big no-no. At the mine car loading facility, if the metal detector picks up any tiny metal that the magnets didn't pull, the conveyor shuts down and alarms. It isn't 100 percent, but it catches a lot.

So a handful of coins would make for a fun day? (Being non-magnetic.)

# ¿ Apr 20, 2012 22:37

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Slung Blade posted:

They wouldn't hurt coal-crushing jaws but they'd make for some pretty unpleasant clinker wherever this stuff is getting burnt.

I'm saying they'd set off the metal detector, because it can't distinguish nonferrous.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2012 00:53

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

InterceptorV8 posted:

So, he is like the High King of Foamers.

His roundhouse is a copy of the one at Steamtown in Scranton PA...

# ¿ May 18, 2012 01:57

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Fire Storm posted:

Thought I'd post this here. There's a non-profit organization known as The Geek Group, and they have this nifty habit of posting cool videos about technology, and this particular video is about diesel-electric locomotive basics on an old EMD SW9 switcher.

Last 10 minutes (51 minute video) is video of the train running through a switch yard.

Is it wrong that all of the "I don't know." items infuriate the gently caress out of me? If you're going to do a video like this, either edit those bits out, or do it the right way and rehearse the things you're going to point out...

A for effort in terms of attempting to educate the proles, but D- for actual knowledge content.

# ¿ May 22, 2012 19:15

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

Picture out of nowhere for noreason

So why didn't the truck fall off?

# ¿ May 23, 2012 17:40

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

I have a video to share. Please let me know if I did this right:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2Pzikk_x3PKWVpHZVAyX0lmUWc

Ok to rehost to share here on SA. Try to keep it here (yeah right).

You gone done it wrong son. :clint:

I fixed it for you. (And the rest of AI.) Hosted it for you on my own hosting. PM me if you need it deleted at any point in time.

http://www.kittenshateyou.com/SA/AI/Unnerving-Crossover.wmv

Edit:

B4Ctom1 posted:

We have one too
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cheyenne,+wy&hl=en&ll=41.130417,-104.789466&spn=0.000544,0.001321&hnear=Cheyenne,+Laramie,+Wyoming&t=h&z=20

That has happened here as well.

What the hell is that place. It looks like Serious Industry happens there...

# ¿ May 27, 2012 04:44

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

B4Ctom1 posted:

I have hosting too, but wasn't sure how it would respond to having an 88MB vid pulled over and over.

Afraid of a little Horrible Technological Failure? :3:

# ¿ May 27, 2012 12:19

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

FatCow posted:

They rebuilt it?

They must have one SERUOUS frame-bender... :gizz:

# ¿ Jul 19, 2012 04:55

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

BrokenKnucklez posted:

On top of that, most roads "customized" their engines. Meaning a 4-8-4 from one road could not change parts with another 4-8-4. Even today, its still the same thing. CSX engines are completely different than UP engines. Even new Canadian National engines do not have AC, and the Mexican roads have no heaters.

Its like building a hot road, sure maybe its a chevy 350 motor, but every thing else is all your work.

Steam Locos are truly the definition of "bespoke" manufacture.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 05:11

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

bytebark posted:

I've been told by a BNSF engineer that every time one of his district's crews work in an NS locomotive, the company owes each member of the crew ~$75. NS units are apparently pretty barebones in comparison to what BNSF is running, to the extent that they are not compliant with the union's agreement with the company. So if BNSF provides a non-compliant (i.e., NS) locomotive they are required to pay a fine to each crew member.

I believe it. I've seen the "half a dozen large ice chests bungee strapped down out on the porches" thing here in PA in the summer on the NS consists... Pretty sure they're droppin cubes down their asscrack the entire time... I sure as hell would be.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 05:55

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 17:17

Sponge!: Dec 22, 2004; SPORK!

Lets not forget the Alternator principle. It is totally possible to tap some of the power headed towards the load bank and feed it through the inverters (if applicable) and pass it BACK to the field coils... At least I think this is the case. I will disclaim that I have been awake for 31 hours at this point though, so I might be the brain poisions equivalent to :2bong:

on this one...

DC traction is obviously piss easy, since once things reach equilibrium even a TINY lead acid battery will stabilize a car alternator across varying loads. (Like a little 1.2Ah unit that's slightly smaller than a deck of smokes...

:can:

on this one but I'm also pretty sure that there's enough latent magnetism in the armature of most LARGE AC motors to tickle the thing into action provided you're not crowbarring the terminals at 0rpm then trying to run it up. Just a token (gently caress, what's with the :drugnerd:

puns?) load on the terminals to keep them from going overvolt, then point it to the load bank. I only think this works for resistive loads, because if it was pointed at an inductive load (xformer or motor) the tickle wouldn't ever resonate enough...

# ¿ Sep 22, 2012 09:11

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Locomotive Insanity: Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist doesnt have the same ring to it