Yesterday mornings blast from the past! The M-train arrived from Laurel with this consist! I worked on both of these MRL units back in the 90's when I worked at LRC in Livingston. I don't remember what exactly on the 262, but I do remember putting the 355 in service. Fun memories!
Yup! It was probably my favorite "job" working for an employer. It was more like playing with trains!! That shop did it all, from changing out wheelsets and traction motors, to rebuilding the engine, to rebuilding the entire locomotive. There was a wheel shop, and a car shop also. And a paint booth, of course. Sad today to see it unused and vacant. That entire industry took a big hit for a few years there, and the last CEO was not as good as he should have been.
Had this UP EMD unit hanging around in yesterdays snow, And a LOT of good old BN green hoppers on the eastbound M train that UP was at the head end of. Here's a few,
And a weird sounding GE sat on the head end of this train. It has already been to the service track and is back on it's train. I have been hearing either this particular unit or several different ones making the same sound, like a misfire. It is also stuck, waiting on the ballast train to move back. Which is the subject of this video, the "Slot Machine" setting ballast off in the yard.
That noise is way too fat for the prime mover's RPMs at idle. I would say air compressor, such as a "spitter" valve stuck open. The unloading process seen sure seems as though it would be quite a slow procedure.
Monday evening I had to take a friend to the ER in Billings, so had to spend the night. After they released him yesterday, we headed home after stopping at the LHS, Jim's Jinction, and enjoying some fine visiting. It was spitting a bit of snow, but I kept looking and spotted a grain train around Huntley, eastbound. I had time to get to the Pompeys Pillar overpass and get out to a good overlook. It was 9 degrees and breezy, but the surprise was worth it. A double long train! I counted 116 empties before the midtrain power and 116 after the midtrain power! I'll bet that the crew was not super happy with this train! I may have counted wrong, but correct me if you like, I am ok with that!
Not super happy, as it won't clear in most sidings, and clogs up the railroad everywhere. I'm sure the dispatcher LOVES it...
WOW!!! I love it! The only good thing for this crew is they will have priority on the tracks to the next yard.
We had what appeared to be a steam engine billowing above the turntable on the morning of the 16th! One can only dream, though. Tis a SD70ACE after a very cold startup, she cleared up fairly quickly. The next morning another venerable old timer was sitting along side the back yard! Thursday evening saw this guy waiting patiently for me to catch a pic, And last, but not least, the local paper printed some ads from 50 years ago. I bank at this institution, though it is now called the BN FCU!
Chased a coal train eastbound out of Glendive today. Had a neat combo of power fore and aft. First view is at the Glendive creek bridge just after the "hump" getting out of town. The second view is just before the summit of Beaver Hill, which is almost to Wibaux. It is a 500 ft climb and is one of the reasons that the NP designed the Yellowstone loco, 2-8-8-4. So it is quite the work out, it was all of 45 minutes for the train to get to the summit from the bridge.
Wow. Several really nasty flat wheels in there. Cold weather rail breakers! BN/BNSF being known to skimp on occasion, with power, do they ever stall out here?
I haven't heard about them stalling out here very often. I did catch a power swapout a few years ago at the Hodges siding. A coal load lost it's lead unit and they swapped out one of the DPU units from the rear of an empty.
It was a blustery day yesterday, but I still got a chance to do a vid as a coal load left town. I stepped down into the cut on the east end just near the beginning of the curve, which got me out of the wind, sort of. I sometimes wonder how much longer we will see these coal trains rolling?
Yeah, I always wonder when it is below zero if I will hear or hear about a rail break derailment caused by hammering wheels. There seem to be a lot more around here than there used to be. Hopefully, I will get it on video! As long as noone gets hurt, that would definitely be a fortuitous event for me. Not so much for BNSF!
Yesterday was the anniversary of the end of the NP,GN and others as the BN merger was official. And I had the good fortune of catching a train with both BN and MRL nee NP cars in it, twice! In the earlier morning I caught it entering town in heavy snow, Then four hours later after some power changing and picking up cars, it headed east under sunny skies!
This GP60M sat here about 3 days until it got picked up yesterday by an eastbound. Traffic is way down due to the mudslide referenced on the BNSF thread. Hopefully the last snow of the year!