Working rail roads and their tracks.

[Hay Dude]

Tell us what you know.

see #2,627

 

[MossRoad]

Yep, rail closures and more lost skilled American jobs.

Rail lost a lot of jobs between the 80s and early 90s. Then it leveled off until 2018, when it started losing more. There are plenty of reasons, but the top two are Natural Gas replacing coal, and PRS: Precision Rail Scheduling.

So NG reduced coal usage and hence coal transportation via rail, and the railroads themselves implemented PRS.

Employment in rail transportation heads downhill between November 2018 and December 2020 : Monthly Labor Review: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

This article provides an analysis of the recent employment declines in the rail transportation industry.

www.bls.gov

Coal is a dying technology for electric generation. It's also dying for heat generation.

Railroads are reducing labor. They want to go to single crew, and even no crew. Down in Lafayette, IN, there are rails that have warning signs at the crossings that the trains are unmanned.

Even if coal never wavered in usage, and all electricity in the US was made by burning coal, the RR labor would still drop due to automation, and rail lines would have been abandoned due to consolidation to reduce redundant routes.

 

[MossRoad]

So, we could debate the causes of rail decline and take this thread down the crapper, but like I said several days ago, why do that to such a fine thread?

How about starting another thread to discuss that topic and keep this one to the lighter side of life.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's my railroad trestle. Well, I own half of it. It and the property line both run north south. This view is facing east. So I own the west half that's facing the camera.

 

[dodge man]

Moss you’re lucky, you got the good half.

 

[MossRoad]

Moss you’re lucky, you got the good half.

Thanks!

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a google earth screen shot of the Subaru plant in Lafayette, IN and their train loading facility.



A bit further west is the Lafayette South Yard.



And several intersections to the west of that is where I first saw these signs.... I'm guessing the operator is standing at the yard end of the train using a remote control box for the engine when switching. He/she cannot see the next two intersections from the road.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's my railroad trestle. Well, I own half of it. It and the property line both run north south. This view is facing east. So I own the west half that's facing the camera.

View attachment 790062

I think they stopped using that trestle in the 80s. So about 40 years of neglect. We bought the property around 89. The tracks were long gone, but the ballast remains. To the right the grade opens up and you can see it used to have a siding there. A long deceased friend of mine that used to work for the NJI&I said the line was single track except for that spot, so they had to pull in there to let trains pass when needed. It was only about 1/2 mile long, as far as I can tell.

Someone tried to burn that trestle down before we bought the property. It kinda put itself out, I guess. Still seems pretty sturdy. But I wouldn't drive any equipment over it.

New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois Railroad - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ArlyA]

Houghton and Hancock Lift Span Bridge, showing Ranger III passing under it, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan - not posted, date c. 1960. I've been on the Ranger and crossed this bridge about 1000 times.

 

[Hay Dude]

So, we could debate the causes of rail decline and take this thread down the crapper, but like I said several days ago, why do that to such a fine thread?

How about starting another thread to discuss that topic and keep this one to the lighter side of life.

Just to set the record straight, I wasn’t implying any agenda other that the fact that rapidly declining coal mining will reduce the number of railroads and their tracks, which is after all what the thread title is.
If that’s taking the thread “down the crapper”, then ok, whatever. We will just do the happy RR talk.