Was that happened a few years ago, April, 2014? The slide took out Highway 24 in two places at the switch back. In this image, the boulders fell from the ridge where the arrow on the right is, took out the slide fence that stretches along road below the where the green arrow is and demolished the track where the arrow on the left is. The vegetation has pretty much healed before this photo was taken.
Boulderdash? They must have made an impressive rumble while tumbling along. A good thing these didn't tumble any further down the slope. That could have been nasty.
Not sure what is going on here. It appears that they have removed a switch/turnout and are salvaging the electrical components for controlling it. This was in June of 2016. Yet the images on Google Maps still show it in place with a date of 2021. Is that just a current copyright date on an old photo? https://www.google.com/maps/place/T...31ef6e30!8m2!3d29.4904804!4d-95.6300233?hl=en The street view date, where workers are on site, says November 2016.
Russell, the Google Maps link you provided does not show the removed turnout in your vestibule photo. I also see evidence of empty turnout ties remaining in the siding a little to the right of the culvert that is shown in the vestibule photo near the turnout control building. However, the Google link does show a turnout on the siding to the right which would have been out of sight behind you in the vestibule photo.
Yeah, it came off of one leg of a wye that is no longer used, shown on the left. It could also be used as kind of a short siding before it joined the main line further down on the left. The other leg of the wye shown here on the right handles monster coal trains coming and going to the Smithers Lake power station. The main continues on to Galveston.
From 09/07/2019, NS SD-60 6943 is departing Columbia, SC with Train 192 at a location the railroad calls Talcott. Precision Scheduled Railroading put an end to 192 and most remaining activity on this line is in darkness.
Wow! Ditch the chain link fencing on the left and this could well be a photo from way back when. Great photo, Russell!
OK, got it. I now understand why prime mover seems to be above idle on units under dynamic breaking. Indeed it actually is. Dom
While visiting the Big Boy showing in Houston, there were a few distractions. Here a very long KCS freight creeps by on the next track over. Three units on the front and one pushing well over 100 cars. It took forever to go by.
I'm sure that there were at least two reasons for it slow pass. 1) There were lots of people near the tracks and they needed to proceed carefully and 2) The engineers wanted to see the Big Boy as much as you did.
Most likely they had instructions to proceed with caution. Restricted speed, due to the civilians wandering everywhere.