Closest power the DS can steal to boost the train up the Divide is from the local at Flagstaff - 2 CF7's will get sent the short 10 miles to pick up the stalled 823. So we'll chase ahead to Flagstaff to catch them there. Late trains just get later, and the crew's about out of time now too!
Very nice! The railroaders hate having their mainline tied up like this, but us railfans love it! Great photography, can't wait to see her passing through Flagstaff!
I was kind of wondering if there was enough power to make it up the mountain, and now I have my answer.
Couldn't get a good view of the couple-up of the helpers down by the old Navajo army depot. Set back up again just east of the Riordan overpass.... Well, it seemed like a good idea, Sue insisted that Norm pass on this one! But finally, Norm gets reset in front of the depot for the pair of rescue CF7's getting the 823 up and over the hill. They're moving pretty slow again coming into town. But meanwhile, once again, guess who gets this shot?
They're stopping, and the scanner pretty much tips it off. Since its all downhill to Winslow, and the CF7's don't have dynamic, they'll swap crews to gain time, drop the CF7's, outlaw the local at Flag, and head on east to Winslow. Just as they cut the CF7's back into the siding....WHAM!!!! wow, missed the power entirely on that one! Stalled train or not, this is still a fast and fluid railroad. Finally, after the air comes back up, they proceed on east: "Highball, 823!"
Where'd Sue go? Just east of the depot, for the possibly rarest shot of the day - the only GE 70-tonner in Arizona, and today the only two in the state!
Nearly two hours later the 823 arrives at Winslow. The train normally does work here anyway, so there's no particular hurry involved in chasing it.
The 608 is on front of the Winslow cut - so the local switcher has it as a handle during the setouts. Getting the view from the yard tower is a little clearer than the ground!
Getting nowhere fast - and a company pickup pulls up on the inspection pad. Oh, this can't be good - car inspectors!
Hopefully its something simple like the tiedowns need tightened. If its the fact the flat is bowing, uhoh...:mwacko:
Boy, I hope they dont have to bring in a crane and move her to a brand new flat that can handle the load...
.........Vhange to a heavier flat ? Now that would be fun to watch!!! I just ordered a set of "Rail-Riders" for my Wheelchair, so I'll be along to inspect operations pretty soon.
Well, the car inspectors spent the better part of an hour adjusting turnbuckles - seems everybody's been repeatedly tightening them up to the point where the car ends were actually coming up and the wooden deck timbers are warping! But there's no damage done, and the car actually straightened out a bit when that was fixed. Somebody's going to have some fun though, when then find the weld rod that just got put between the locomotive truck sideframes and the sill to cut down on the rocking. But 823 is long gone, and the Super's had about all the fun with this thing he can stand. It's stuffed into the yard for the rest of the day. Next day the plan gets a little clearer. This "headache load" is headed east again, this time on a Belen-bound MOW train that doesn't have any particular schedule to keep. Hard to say where's it's going to show up next! The train still hadn't left Winslow by dusk, with the mainline traffic headed west in fleets. Finally, just before dark, 608 makes it out of the yard headed east. Darkness will hide where she shows up next, and that MOW train is limited to 30mph with the crane anyway. Hope somebody else out there catches it!