Being new to alot of railfan etc., and working from home , I got the Stampede pass Washington Dispatcher (listening on line at Railroad Radio.net ) for BNSF and a few terms I do not under stand : Roll up Clear block - good for 100 Also I was listening to the Whitefish MT BNSF Dispatch on friday and they had a stalled train and had to send a helper ( stricker ? ) and they had to call someone on the cell phone to get in touch with the driver ...This was the area of Marias pass I think , the radio was in and out and hard to tell where the train was stalled ( boy I bet some one got their bacon chewed on for sure ) . Having only listened for a couple of days, does confussion come with the job ? Yikes , some of these people ..... sound like some pilots i flew with in Nam ....
Roll up- Bring the train up to the clearance point at a signal? Clear block...- Green signal, they can proceed at posted track speed, subject to any restrictions in any track forms they'd received. "Good for 100"??? Stricker was probably the engineer. Likely stalled either due to a unit failure, or being underpowered. It does happen over Marias. They've tried many times to eliminate the helper job, but cannot due to very frequent situations such as this. Despite incorrect reporting in fan and modeling magazines, there are only two places where helpers on Marias are assigned- Whitefish and Essex. They can go out a train, or meet a train anywhere across the Pass, from those two points. Unless something has changed, those jobs are designated as K-WHIWHI and K-ESXESX. The cell phone comment about a driver was trying to contact the Whitefish crew bus driver. That job transports fresh train crews from the yard office to their train, or brings incoming train crews back in to get their rest. If their home is here, they get their car and go. If this is an away terminal, the crew bus takes them to a local motel.
"Roll-Up" - refers to the track warrant. When the dispatcher will ask the crew to "Roll Up" a track warrant, the crew will release the portion of track behind their train so another track warrant can be issued to a following train. "Good for 100" - Probably a shoving move where the trainman gives car counts to the engineer to let him know how much room he has behind him so he knows how far he can back up. I worked at Auburn and onto the Stampede yesterday, kind of creepy to know someone might be listening to us :startled:
thanks Ken , its great someone here knows how to decipher the chatter ., I think Greg is right on as well, I sit here trying to recall the conversastion with dispatch , Greg's reply would be spot on as dispatch asked if he the train had room for 50 or 100... and I heard the roll up just a bit ago and it is refering to the warrant for that section of track.. cool . An Greg, there is someone ALWAYS listening to all radio calls in the US ...rail, car, police, aviation, Ham, CB, VHF,UHF, LW, CW , microwave, satellite and of course the FBI on the internet most likely has the second biggest listening post next to NSA... in America ..now if you go outside the US , it's a bit different story ... I could tell ya but I'd have to kill myself ...
Aside from far, FAR too many "big brothers", there are uncounted millions of scanners out there, home base and portables. At any one time, there are almost always railfans listening in or watching you, with or without cameras. Plus, these days with computers, fans can be and are listening to you from Fort Worth to Iceland to Iraq to Siberia and???? Oh. A great railfanning tool for our area, Paul- If you are out and about, set up near a signal. They are "approach" lighted. Dark (unlit) when nothing is coming in either direction. If you are in a place where there is minimal noise, when something enters the area, the signal will light. You can not only see it happen, but there can also be a very audible "click" when it activates.
Super , i just have to decide which scanner and antenna to get . The rail traffic around here is ridiculously busy east and west bound. I could go into town and park at the closed train depot ( BNSF visa v the Amtrak ) as it sits at a switch that sends traffic from the west ) north then east and due west so we end up getting both the Spokane and Seattle east/west bound trains , and is a choke point to go west over the mile long bridge over the Ponderay river west bound. I still think I should give up the 1940's era logging RR and just do the inter change here , I could own 5 RR diesel and steam , UP, CP,GN, NP,CB&Q-BN-BNSF , i don't think i could afford the massive amount of motive power that has run thru here in the last 80 years and the freight trains ... be enuf to fill the Baily Yard at North Platte.... LOL, but boy golly one could have some of the best passenger trains that ever graced a northwest rail ....steam and diesel .
What is happening with the old NP depot? Is it still in danger of being demolished? Or is someone still trying to save it?
It is still there but the building is off limits, one could park in the parking lot ( as employees do ) but the building is verboten .... you'd still be about 15 feet from the main. I will see what I can find out. Which reminds me I must get some 3 views of it just in case ...
"BNSF Minnesota Dispatcher... Chicago/South Seattle Number 3.....Ovahh!" "Chicago/South Seattle.....Ovahhh!" "Uhh Chicago/South Seattle have you passed the dog and the goat yet"? ....Ovahhh! "Roger dat Dispatcher....Chicago/South Seattle is clear of the dog and the goat by 5 miles"...Ovahh "Copy Chicago/South Seattle is clear of the dog & goat by 5 miles, Stand by for a track & time'! Ovahh... Roger Dispatch... standing by for track & time.... OUT!
Is the road construction done yet? It was a huge mess when I stopped by two years ago. I grabbed a couple of views, but they weren't too good, as it was breezey and the wind jiggled me a bit.
Charlie, I can just "see" that happening in Chi town .... you're too funny !:cute: Ken, the by pass is finished and it looks pretty cool , being state highway one cannot stop except for emergency but getting a pic of the depot and or trains etc is an emergency in my book
Help. I got a scanner and trying to find the channel/s the BNSF is on in North Idaho -Bonner county and not knowing where the sub dispatch is or the frequency it is on is got me stymied if any one knows a where I can find that .. BTW I got a Uniden BC72XLT and it has the NASCAR logo on it so I know it costs me 10 extra bucks at least ... cant hear no NASCAR on it though ...hboy::crying:
You'll need to attend a race..... A few starters: BNSF "Boyer East" 160.920 BNSF "Boyer West" 161.250 UP your area, try 160.740 MRL Helena West 160.950
Ken, do you have the last (and I mean LAST) Altamont Press Timetable that was published for the northwest? I'm sure you know the frequencies for the area. If these don't work, let me know and I will dig the ones out of the NW tt. Right now I am off to the 4449 trip this weekend. I may not even publish a report, since there is so little interest in these things on the board anymore, except for you and Hank. :rats:
Jim- Those frequencies noted should be good. I have used a couple just the past month or two. Gotta have a 4449 trip report!!!
Was Stryker a siding location over Marias? One Marias trip I made had a stall on an EB. The DS had him wait at Nyack and sent a helper set to give a push.
Stryker is well west of Whitefish. It is the point where the east end of the Libby Dam line relocation joined the older transcon. This present Stryker is slightly different from the original site. A remaining stub of the previous line remains today, (Stryker-Eureka), as part of Mission Mountain RR. At one time, there was timber industry business at old Stryker, long gone.
ok, I got the channel/s working and found the Boyer west , not very active today. I will continue to try to progam the UP and the rest of the BNSF channels as well ... I 2 am looking fwd to news of 4449 trip !!
The MRL won't be very active, as they run a lot less trains than BNSF. They may instead use the BNSF frequency for Boyer West as they get into your area. You may see periods of less BNSF activity. When there is track work, etc, ongoing, trains will be held at places such as Pasco, Spokane/Hauser and Whitefish. Listen in the mid-afternoon and it should pick up, as m-o-w work ceases for the day.
