Pics Worth A Thousand Words

Foreign Rail

I was looking at the above picture of rail and began wandering all over the internet to find out about it.  I found a few other details while I was at it.  Nippon rail showed up all over the Union Pacific system on the previously reported trip to Nebraska, so my curiosity was already nudged on the subject. 

This particular 141 pound rail was found in the "Bottoms" of Kansas City on the Union Pacific.  I guess you'd say it was a high traffic area rather than a high speed area.  The three track mainline in Nebraska as well as the upgraded Marysville Subdivision had a lot of identical Nippon rail too.  The info I found said that Nippon and Krupp produce extra hardened specialty rails for high stress areas, which are only a small but growing portion of the overall rail market.  It costs more to make and more to transport from overseas.  Surprisingly, one forum I came across had track workers saying the Nippon rail was a pain to put down because the height of the base wasn't consistent for pressing on tie clamps.  The machinery to do the job needs to be adjusted constantly.  Domestic normal steel rail is apparently easier to install because of uniform dimensions and softer composition.  I read that they had some other complaints because the extra hardening didn't agree well with drill bits and grinders either.  My guess would be that someone didn't receive the right equipment for the job. 

Mittal makes the most common domestic rail these days, but there are other producers with modern processes, like Oregon Steel Mills that owns the former Colorado Fuel and Iron rail plant in Pueblo, CO.  Steel Dynamics of Indiana produced some of the rail for Amtrak's Downeaster expansion to Brunswick.  Mittal is a foreign company that picked up a few of the leftovers of the US steel industry, including the former Bethlehem Steel's Steelton rail plant near Harrisburg, PA.  Standard rail from a wide variety of foreign sources has been and will be tried out, especially when the currency markets favor it.  Krupp rail was very popular in the 1920's because of this and the Boston and Albany route was once relaid with it.  Norfolk Southern and others are trying out Chinese sources these days, among others.  But, the vast variables that go into rebuilding a line don't always boil down to cost numbers for choice of rail.  Sometimes durability and metallurgy are priority.  New demands for increased weight and volumes on the rail network may favor quality over quantity. 

While looking for rail photos I found another foreign, albeit closer rail source.  I found some Sydney Steel rail in my photo files.  This 115 pound rail was from 1982 and it appears the plant has been shut down since then.  Geographically, it's about the same distance as the nearest domestic producers, but it's not the same distance as Japan or Germany.  This piece was found on the former Maine Central just south (rail west) of Danville Junction, at the former "Brown's Crossing".  It contains Newfoundland iron ore heated with Cape Breton coal.  The company became a Crown Company (government owned) in 1967.  This particular rail looks like it's seen better days. 

 

I couldn't help but end on this classic though domestic note.  Here is some rail on the north end of the Bangor and Aroostook mainline in Fort Kent, literally within sight of Canada.  It's the standard 85 pound Bethlehem Steel, vintage 1938.  Other than being light weight and obsolete, it looks pretty good for being well used over the last 70+ years. Of course, it has benefited from being in Maine where "life in the slow lane" is the norm.   It may be replaced by one of those names listed above if the line is to be serviceable to the latest car load limits. 

BC

Mass. Railfanning

Skull calls Gary to report the action.  Worcester Union Station.

The DT&I Fan and I decided that it was a good time to go to Mass. on Sept. 22nd.  It might be the last free Saturday for either of us for a while and days are still long enough to cover some ground.  Our primary mission was to cash in my Christmas gift certificate at Ken's Trains in Sudbury.  The railfanning was a given.  Unfortunately we found out that Ken's will be closing next June.

After Ken's we worked our way towards Worcester.  We were going to meet "Skull" at the old Amtrak station.  When we arrived we looked around and saw familiar cars but didn't see our friends.  So, we headed over to the main station building.  We assumed they had good reason to be over there since an intermodal was backing down into the P&W yard as we arrived.  We did see the intermodal's power return later and another set of power was on the scene (CP-45) awaiting a recrew. 

Q427 emerges from the tunnels.

A P&W autorack train emerges from the tunnel.

Sure enough Billy and Josh were over by the old NH/B&M line.  Q427 was coming down from Rigby on its way to Selkirk.  Behind it was a P&W autorack train (GRWO) traveling from the PAS interchange in Gardner and headed for the Seaview RR in Davisville, RI.  Josh was hoping they'd be in sight of each other.  They were not that close but they were only minutes apart.

The new intermodal yard in Worcester.

We began to leave a while after Q437 had apparently signaled the end of the action.  We all took shots of the construction surrounding the new intermodal yard.  The new cranes were already in place and being tested as we watched.  Another crew was welding rails together and gravel strips were being compacted. But nothing was moving on the rails.

Purple Trains!  This same set went to Providence later.  See below.

Intermodal power waits around.  Left power came from P&W.

CSX returning east.  T readying to go east as well.

A very small Q437 with plenty of power.

Boston bound "regional" using an Acela set. 

We said our goodbyes and headed over to Sharon.  The station is on the old New Haven "Shoreline" to Providence.  The latest NH station still stands, complete with old platform roofs.  We stayed around for an MBTA train in each direction and a pair of Boston bound Amtraks. 

T set headed to Providence.

The station was a good change of pace from the usual haunts nearer the city.  Rural, suburban and accessible.  The first MBTA train we saw was the exact same set we saw in Worcester a couple of hours earlier.  The odd combination of single and double level cars gave it away.  1050 on the point sealed it. 

 My last shot before we left to visit Ikea was a "Regional".  This one was led by a "toaster" and I attempted to catch it beyond the center fence.  All was well until the train arrived and I could not get the focus to work despite clear test shots earlier.  Oh well.  This one is close enough.

Boston bound "toaster" at Sharon, MA.

BC

Annual Catch

For a third year in a row I've managed to have a camera on hand for something moving on the Rumford branch of the old MEC.  This time, owing to construction near my usual spot in Peru, I pass over the branch in Canton on the way to work each morning.  This spot is near the old wye that used to take the line down to Rumford Jct. in Auburn.  Yesterday the crossing lights lit up as I neared the crossing so I pulled out the mini-camera.  The train was a good distance away and putting along so I sped ahead (like everyone else) and turned to the crossing in the center of the wye where I caught this guy.  There's little traffic on the road so I just sat there with the camera pointed out the window short of the crossing.

This year, like the last two, a blue high hood GP40 was on the point.  The difference this year is that I got the other end of the number class.  I got 370 the last two times.  Now I have the recently acquired oddball 382 at the other end of the class.  I don't recall precisely, but isn't that a unit from NS to make up for one wrecked by them somewhere?

Here is my last encounter, and the first encounter, with something on the Rumford line. 

For me it's a minor victory. 

BC

North Platte or Bust - The Series

This was quite an ambitious, yet nearly "off the cuff" railfan adventure started when Charles "The Fiddler" Kadyk wondered if I might be interested in a railfan trip to Kansas City in August.  This was in April while we were on one of our usual tours of Altoona.  It seems he had a wedding to go to in KCK and he might as well drive as fly.  An idea was born.  Since I'm a huge fan of Kansas City, have friends there and personal history there, it didn't take any convincing. 

The following are 12 "episodes" covering that adventure.  They are broken down into smaller chunks to spread things out a bit.  As of Sept. 3rd all are filled in with some commentary.  I tried out the new caption feature on many photos but the new Blogger format takes some practice.  Errors can still be found.  It was a long trip for me beginning on August 2 and ending on August 20.  It has been another long trip writing about it and arranging photos in "AWYSIWYG" computer formatting. 

Charles and I will have "war stories" about this trip for decades.  

Here are the links:
Part 1, "Getting There".....................................Poughkeepsie Bridge, Dennison Depot, Marion
Part 2, "Marion, Bellevue and Fostoria"..........New parks and infrastructure in the works
Part 3, "Lima to Homewood"...........................Mid-west odds and ends plus Chicago commuter
Part 4, "Joliet and Rochelle".............................Busy locations
Part 5, "Mississippi River"...............................IL, IA and MO locations
Part 6, "Kansas City"........................................KC "Bottoms"
Part 7, "Nebraska"............................................Following the transcontinental route.
Part 8, "North Platte"........................................Bailey Yard, Cody Park and some BNSF
Part 9, "Steam".................................................UP 844 and the KP
Part 10, "Goodbye Mid-West"..........................Pacific, MO and assorted IL
Part 11, "La Grange, KY .................................Street running in KY
Part 12, "Finale"...........................................Landgraff, Bluefield, WV, Roanoke, Ellicott City, MD


I figured having one page to start with rather than linking all to one another would be the easiest to read or ignore.  Of course you could use the August 2012 link to the right to get the same thing.

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 12, Finale

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Our last overnight stop was to stay in the Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff, WV.  It was a bit off the beaten path but it came highly recommended by "The Wheelman".  We were not disappointed.  The main trick for us was crossing West Virginia on US 52.  We were approaching from the west, which allowed us to really sample a variety of the states roads.  We veered off the road now and then to see rail activity in such N&W railroad towns as Williamson, Jaeger and Bluefield.  The area was worthy of more attention than we could give at the moment.  Unfortunately, lighting was fading and good camera access was challenging as we headed east. 

From the Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

"Short range sensors"(GPS; Star Trek reference) constantly showed us squiggly lines representing roads that made US 52 look pretty good, that is, when it showed anything other than our road.  This was an area that made me think of towns in Maine like Rumford, Livermore Falls or Millinocket, which are prosperous by comparison.  The Wheelman concurs that Newcastle, PA also comes to mind.  Abandoned buildings and blight were mixed in with the homes of people hanging on somehow.  Statistically the same amount or more of coal is moving, but technology has made manpower to produce it less necessary.  It's also true that in this part of the world, if there is any flat ground, the railroad got there first.  Roads, building plots and sometimes even streams, had to be carved out of the hillsides.  Industry got what level land there was so any that happened to be leftover had houses. 

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

The Elkhorn Inn is a restored coal company boarding house and entertainment hall.  The owners have taken it from a wrecked shell and turned it into a small hotel.  It is perfectly located for the rail

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

enthusiast.  You are right across the street from the old Norfolk and Western mainline.  You cannot miss any train that goes by.  Charles and I were the only guests, so they gave us two single rooms with the best view of the tracks for our stay.  There was a balcony we could survey the tracks from or you could wander out to the tracks.  I tried both.  A computer with ATCS gave us some warning that traffic was near.  It appears that they have a receiver that gets signals several miles each way in the valleys.

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

I was intrigued by the many old N&W color position signals that were still in place.  Some were located a bit west of us.  I found that I could pull them in a bit with a telephoto.  It was just a matter of time before I had a train running under them.  ATCS helped.

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

When I came back to check ATCS and shoot the breeze with Dan the owner, I saw yet another train coming.  This one happened to be a

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

local.  It also had a caboose!  As it turned out, old cabooses are common in this part of the world in order to give a train a "pushing platform" for back up moves.  A crewman can hang out back there and keep in touch by radio with the locomotive.  I suspect it doesn't hurt to have the shelter and a place to work in this relatively isolated part of the world.  This particular caboose looks like it hasn't changed much since the old NW logo was applied to the side originally.  However, it did appear that the numbering crew had a rough day applying new painted numbers.  This caboose also appears to have missed the usual "sterilization" that "riding cars" usually get in the form of removing windows, ladders and appliances. 

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

Bluefield, WV

Around 11am or so Charles and I decided to move on.  We had had a blast chatting with the owners and watching trains but we had a long drive ahead.

Research Locomotive

  We bought some things from the gift shop and said our goodbyes.  Bluefield was down the road about 20-30 minutes.  We got lucky and found a geometry train parked at the depot, across from the locomotive shop.  There was an experimental research locomotive in the middle of the set. 

Bluefield, WV

Roanoke, VA

Once we left Bluefield, it wasn't long before we found four-lane highways again and made our way back to the Interstate Highway System.  Our route took us through Roanoke so we figured we'd detour in for a quick look at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.  The bulk of the museum is

Roanoke, VA

indoors and under cover but a few things were visible outdoors.  We could see some cool stuff as we drove over a bridge next to the museum.  Outdoors at the far end of the former warehouse we found a few good items, including the latest steamer to arrive for restoration. 

Roanoke, VA

There was an active yard next to the museum yard and just beyond the steamer we could see a few more of those cabeese.  Next to this area we could see some interesting and large locomotives from the past.  The place was full of stuff I'd like a closer look at someday.




The weather turned rainy as we moved north.  It was dark, gloomy and damp the rest of the way to Mohnton, PA.  But we got there in good shape, if kinda late.  But we had just finished a pretty good adventure.  We arrived in the middle of a power outage, but apparently it was being worked on because power came back about the time I was climbing into bed.  The fan was a great relief.



SATURDAY AUGUST 18, 2012

In the morning we cleared out the car and I said goodbye.  I was headed to my brother's new home

Ellicott City, MD

near Ellicott City outside of Baltimore.  His furniture hadn't arrived yet, but they had painting and such to do. 

Ellicott City, MD

I tried to make myself useful.  As the afternoon wore on we headed downtown to the old part of the city.  The B&O Museum in Baltimore has an annex at the Ellicott City station because it is the oldest depot building in the country and is located on the original mainline.

A Civil War reinactors group was encamped at the depot so there were people in period clothing wandering about and playing their parts.  This would explain some of the extra decoration too.

Ellicott City, MD

I found this depot area interesting because, as I read earlier, a lot of the design and architecture

Ellicott City, MD

was new at the time it was built.  No one had built a depot before and the bridge designs in the area were ground breaking engineering.  Thus, everything here was quickly surpassed by the thousands of other designs around the country to follow.  Leading edge.

Ellicott City, MD

Ellicott City, MD

These last two photos are pretty mundane.  I wanted a picture of the clock with the bridge in the background.  I also stuck my mini-camera through the fence to show the track in front the station.  I probably would have forgotten about the shots except for a tragic derailment on the following Monday night.  It took place on this piece of track and involved the same bridge in the background. 
A Baltimore Sun Article
I didn't know about the derailment when I got home on Monday night.  News hit Maine on Tuesday.




I was pretty much worn out from so much traveling when I got home finally.  5600 miles over 18 days was the final tally for me.  Suffice it to say, I vegetated for a couple of days afterward.  I spent quality time with my computer editing photos but it took a while to begin this report.  No one could have asked for better weather, better friends and better locales for this trip.  Charles and I will have some good war stories to tell for years to come.

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 11, La Grange, KY

August 16

We deliberately stopped a bit north of Louisville in a smallish town called La Grange.  The fact that they have street trackage, and practically celebrate it, drew our attention.  It turned out to be a terrific town to spend a few hours in.  It was nearly the only railfanning we did on a "travel day".

The old L&N depot on the west end of town was the future home of some local railfan's visitor center.  We found the very European looking steamer sitting out front.

From the end of town we drove back down into the street trackage area.  A stretch of track running about two city blocks through a busy and vibrant downtown area.  There was room for curbside parking on both sides and two lanes of traffic.  However, trains pretty much used one lane when they passed.


We located a good place to sit on the east end.  There were benches on the street corners so we picked the one with the best camera angles and lighting.  These happened to be metal rockers.   I had to get Charles to pose for a shot to show the street, the rockers and our vantage point.  We call these L.A.R.F.'ing chairs.
(Lazy A-- Rail Fanning)  This time they were provided by the city of La Grange and not pulled from the car's trunk.



The city spent a lot of energy keeping the town clean and maintained.  The streets were swept.  Flowers were growing everywhere.  Businesses seemed to be doing well.  Rather than fight the trains (CSX puts up to 30 per day through town) they celebrate it.  The city logo and slogans referred to the trains.




Amazingly, when a train came along, chaos did not develop.  Locals knew the drill well.   The business people we chatted with seemed to expect train nuts to visit and they were friendly people anyway.





Once we caught a couple of northbounds we moved to the other end of the street trackage.  Here we were next to a courthouse square and more businesses.  While we were basking in the shade of the courthouse park, a local reporter came by and asked if we were from the media (Charles' camera looks like a reporter's).  We had stumbled into another sensational murder trial (locally big this time).  We looked around and saw the people in a new light.  Lots of media types, security types and lawyer types.  I crossed the street for the next train.

We ate lunch outdoors at the One Nineteen Restaurant.  They had sidewalk tables that kept us about ten feet from the tracks.  Before, during and after we saw about 3 trains from that spot.  The staff was tickled to have a couple of rail enthusiasts around.  They were as excited about the trains as we were.  Of course, they had a business that was also across from the courthouse.  The food was good and our perky waitress kept my iced tea full.  We could see the end of the street trackage from out seats.


The light had shifted in the four hours we were around.  We decided it was time to leave.  However, there was a set of signals on the north end of the street zone that told us that a train was out there.  Red told us it was a southbound and probably at the siding north of the depot.  We headed to our original perch by the "LARFing chairs".   This gave me a chance to try some more wide angle shots.




Thinking this was it for a while, we looked at the signals again to confirm.  Still lit.  Something else was around.  We had gotten the idea from someone earlier that a local we'd seen would return south.  Sure enough, it appeared fairly soon.  This time the GP30 slug was leading.

We could leave now that we saw it.










I don't recall where Eminence fit in on the map but it was an important stop on the L&N once.  The line is gone now but was cut back to here in recent times.  Apparently bourbon was one of the chief products of the town and today Eminence Speakers are produced there.  The depot was unique enough to photograph.  It turned out to be the last significant rail shot of the day.  We were traveling to our last night's stop at the Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff, West Virginia.

We were headed into the hills.  No more straight and level roads for a while.  We had to go past Frankfort and Lexington to get into the serious mountains, but it was already getting rugged outside of La Grange.  We'd see it all by the time we found the Elkhorn Inn.  It wasn't exactly off an Interstate highway on the prarie.

BC