Happy 4th of July weekend. I saw trains today, but couldn't stop for pictures. Alas. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk
A beautiful morning, a decade ago. This BNSF manifest is just pulling away from the crew offices at Whitefish, Montana, heading east to Havre and beyond.
Some time during the winter of 2007/2008, in a light but steady snowfall, ex Minnesota Northern 1471 and HESR 3868 pull a freight through Marlette, MI. 1471 was a GP9 built in 1959 and was one of my favorite RailAmerica engines, It was eventually renumbered to HESR 1721 and then scrapped after the Genesee and Wyoming takeover.
I was a teen on a limited budget in 1976, so shot only black & white film and developed it in a basement darkroom shared with a brother. As such, I was unable to capture the red, white and blue splendor of EJ&E's Bicentennial unit 668 at Barrington, IL. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to have this shot. From what I recall, EMD delivered the unit in white with the standard sliver trucks and fuel tank, and the J's Joliet shop forces did the rest. Happy 4th everyone!
"Thunderstorms and Hot Stacks" Priority domestic intermodal traffic charges away from the severe thunderstorms lashing the region to the east.
Not the greatest pic of a pic, but still one of my favorites. An all GE set in 94 in the WY coal basin. The units are digging hard and the CNW is leading and bracketing a pair of UP Borg with that mighty fine looking lightning scheme!
Nice one, Alan! The crew sure has the cab A/C on full! The canola bloom is in full swing in North Dakota. Here's a westbound CP grainer at MP 489.5 on the CP Portal Sub. The whole train is in the shot.
Canola is an acronym for Canadian Oil Low Acid. It come from a genetically bred rapeseed that produces much less acid. Regular rapeseed oil makes a great lubricant but is not very palatable. After WWII and the drop in demand for rapeseed oil to grease the wheels of war, those crafty Canadians developed the low acid variety.
I've wondered about rapeseed oil ever since reading in an old book about a method for keeping an overheated babbit bearing from seizing. The writer, a prominent mechanic/ stationary engineer at the turn of the century, recommended allowing the bearing to run and flooding it with "rape oil". I had never heard of this substance and was somewhat perplexed to say the least. Now I know. Rapeseed oil has apparently not been widely used as an industrial lubricant in 70 years or so. I'm going to guess that this is due to the shift to anti friction bearings in machinery design and the elimination of line shaft drive systems. I wonder if the low acid canola oil works as well as an industrial lubricant.
Never heard of this one. An industrial lube and a food refined from the same source just doesn't stir the appetite.
As long as they're made in separate factories. I suppose that the process for one is different from the other, considering that the hygiene required for a bearing is somewhat less stringent than a human..
I agree. It just strikes me like taking a gallon of crude oil, making part of it motor oil, and in another processing line, making champagne. The thought. Bleh.