T8 Lights loosing their brightness?

[the old grind]

Has anybody seen the string of locomotives, dare I say a thousand, in the desert, surplus to current requirements?

You betcha! Omaha-based Union Pacific, a major player and known for ordering the largest locos of any era. There's a drone fly-by video of a string of top performers idled. Something in the 100+, end to end, and over a mile long. This color:

My father got me into the habit of counting the number of engines and train cars while sitting at crossings. Still do it to this day.

So you stop & whip out your phone when the gate goes down. Open 'notes' and log the engine numbers, no of cars, empty or loaded train, etc.

There are a few 'hoppers' in this old shot, w/legacy livery Pennsy GP-40 & little Joe, and a UP Alco RS-3: (GG-1 is indeed Tuscan red w/gold stripe. )



Not to digress , but for me installing LED tubes into 2 x 4' t-8 fixtures was a bit of a job, but way worth the effort. "Energy saving' or not, I get so much light from switching to LEDs that I now have fixtures prepped for places that needed fewer of them. btw, "When you change tubes under a 14' ceiling, and only a 12' ladder & 8' piece of lumber":



I don't recall paying more than $4-5/T-8 whether from Amazon or Menards, and haven't bought any in over a year. Haven't replaced even the ones next door that never seem to get turned off. I'm still giving away some of the 50 odd 6k Kelvins I bought and didn't like. (Blue light specials. ) They're taking up storage space under the train. :irked:

 

[MossRoad]

Speaking of South Bend... the mayor was here yesterday campaigning for President... here being the SF Bay Area... he did not speak about coal... I think the focus was it is time for the next generation to have a say in politics and the country's future.

I lived inside South Bend for 34 years. I live about 400 yards outside it for the last 23. So South Bend decisions affect me greatly. I'll have to say, that as far as mayors go, I favor his decisions about 75-80% of the time, which is just not natural for me. :laughing: About 12 years ago, my employer and friend, the local newspaper publisher at the time, had a daughter that went to high school with my daughter. Our girls were being inducted into the national honor society together. The publisher told me the key note speaker was this young guy who was really going to go places in the future. Little did I know that the young man with the funny last name (who gave a really good talk to the kids, by the way) would end up as Mayor Pete. Our town has done much worse, as far as mayors have gone, and I can't think of any that were better. Anyhow... no politics. That's for another forum.

 

[MossRoad]

Moss
Do you know where the coal that is headed east is coming from
All of our coal in Ohio comes from the East

I'm guessing Wyoming, as it's Burlington Northern running on Norfolk & Southern tracks.

 

[MossRoad]

You betcha! Omaha-based Union Pacific, a major player and known for ordering the largest locos of any era. There's a drone fly-by video of a string of top performers idled. Something in the 100+, end to end, and over a mile long. This color:

View attachment 598026



So you stop & whip out your phone when the gate goes down. Open 'notes' and log the engine numbers, no of cars, empty or loaded train, etc.

There are a few 'hoppers' in this old shot, w/legacy livery Pennsy GP-40 & little Joe, and a UP Alco RS-3: (GG-1 is indeed Tuscan red w/gold stripe. )

View attachment 598028

Not to digress , but for me installing LED tubes into 2 x 4' t-8 fixtures was a bit of a job, but way worth the effort. "Energy saving' or not, I get so much light from switching to LEDs that I now have fixtures prepped for places that needed fewer of them. btw, "When you change tubes under a 14' ceiling, and only a 12' ladder & 8' piece of lumber":

View attachment 598029

I don't recall paying more than $4-5/T-8 whether from Amazon or Menards, and haven't bought any in over a year. Haven't replaced even the ones next door that never seem to get turned off. I'm still giving away some of the 50 odd 6k Kelvins I bought and didn't like. (Blue light specials. ) They're taking up storage space under the train. :irked:

Not that big of a rail fan. But for a few years, at night, I'd sit at my computer on google earth and follow active, idle, and abandoned rail grades looking for roundhouses and roundhouse foundations. I found a couple thousand.

 

[dnw64]

Not that big of a rail fan. But for a few years, at night, I'd sit at my computer on google earth and follow active, idle, and abandoned rail grades looking for roundhouses and roundhouse foundations. I found a couple thousand.

Firstly, that sounds like the very definition of "fanatic"... :laughing:

Secondly, how did you know whether they were active, idle or abandoned?

 

[ArlyA]

I spent a few years in the RR car repair industry and most most of my time was spend working on extended side Gondola cars. I'll attach a photo of one. In fact, I worked on this companies cars, much of the time. Who owns these??

 

[dragoneggs]

Do you know for certain that they are hauling coal? Maybe it's silica sand (fracking) that is big business around here...or grain.

No. A gondola car has lower sides, maybe 4', and no hopper doors underneath. You frequently see gondola cars filled with scrap metal or a couple rolls of steel, things like that.

Gondola (rail) - Wikipedia

I know there is a bit of thread drift here... but another advantage moving to LED for me was I don't trip breakers in my house as much anymore.

 

[ArlyA]

I know there is a bit of thread drift here... but another advantage moving to LED for me was I don't trip breakers in my house as much anymore.

I have no idea how it drifted sooooooo far off "track" and into RR cars.

 

[MossRoad]

Firstly, that sounds like the very definition of "fanatic"... :laughing:

Secondly, how did you know whether they were active, idle or abandoned?

Active has trains on it! :laughing:
Idle usually has weeds and not a clean look.
Abandoned can be cut off at both ends, rails to trails, etc...

If you look at the earth from outer space on google earth you can see the scars of abandoned rail grades for decades and decades, even if the tracks and ballast has long been removed.

 

[MossRoad]

I have no idea how it drifted sooooooo far off "track" and into RR cars.

Hahahaha! Nice! :thumbsup: