Rail roads and their tracks.

[oliver1555]

I have a question and that is.. Why is there always a diesel-electric locomotive in the consist when a UP steamer is providing the motive power? it'a always that way and I'm curious of anyone has the answer?

The diesel provides dynamic braking.

 

[Hay Dude]

I worked almost 36yrs on the RR 1976-2012 for CN
It was sad to see the decimation of the RR and it's customers by Individuals who decided that a stock holder share was worth more than a customers ability to do business with the RR depending on whether you loaded 1 or 100 cars.
The RR's gave business to the trucking industry rather than maintaining spurs or sidings it was easier to rip them out and industries closed because of it.
Now all they want is to run coast to coast with minimal stops in between and let trucks do the rest
The RR's forged the US and Canada in the beginning but sadly they are fading away to bike trails,tourist trains and Museums and still make money for the shareholder in doing so.

There are a few bright spots where some RR upgrading and expansion is happening.
Freight: In my area, East Penn RR has invested a lot of money into new sidings and road grade crossings. They are very busy moving freight, including steel from our local Arcelor Mital steel mill to the docks on the Delaware River. I love to watch them revive our rail history!
Passenger: also in my area, a SEPTA line idle since 1989, was just partially restored to the tune of 177 million!!! New tracks, catenary, 3 bridges and a state of the art new passenger rail station! A thrill to watch it being built and fills me with hope.
The picture below shows a new RR bridge to replace old failing bridge across RT1 in Wawa, PA. The new train station will be built just to the right of the bridge. Concept pictures look fantastic. Should be done spring of ‘21

 

[BoylermanCT]

No one here went to see the BIG boy this past summer?? It was in WI and even came up to Duluth MN so now I wished we'd have went there. Duluth is not far from us!

My dad and I flew out from CT to Cheyenne when the Big Boy left for the CA trip in September last year. Spent the day chasing it across Wyoming and went to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden the next day. Great experience with my dad.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I have a weird hobby of following live, dead, abandoned railroad grades across the country with Google Earth looking for signs of existing or long gone roundhouses. I have a couple thousand pinned on Google Earth. If I get much time off in the future, I'll compile them in a spreadsheet and share the locations.

Moss, this info would make a great website when you have pins on a map which open up to pics and maps when you click on them. Or a slide show presentation, I would come to that for sure!

 

[ArlyA]

My dad and I flew out from CT to Cheyenne when the Big Boy left for the CA trip in September last year. Spent the day chasing it across Wyoming and went to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden the next day. Great experience with my dad.

Thanks for posting this Boylerman. The B Boy is suppose to do another tour and I'll try catch it next time. What a great marketing tool for the UP!

 

[ArlyA]

The diesel provides dynamic braking.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[MossRoad]

OK Moss, tell me your guess. Who is this trio sitting on the now abandoned rails running through my little town in 1968?

Cream.

Eric Clapton
Ginger Baker
Jack Bruce

It's a pretty famous picture.

 

[two_bit_score]

The Texas State Railroad runs between Palestine and Rusk, Tx.

Texas State Railroad - Piney Woods Texas Area Railroad Tours

Texas State Railroad - Wikipedia


TBS

 

[MossRoad]

I worked almost 36yrs on the RR 1976-2012 for CN
It was sad to see the decimation of the RR and it's customers by Individuals who decided that a stock holder share was worth more than a customers ability to do business with the RR depending on whether you loaded 1 or 100 cars.
The RR's gave business to the trucking industry rather than maintaining spurs or sidings it was easier to rip them out and industries closed because of it.
Now all they want is to run coast to coast with minimal stops in between and let trucks do the rest
The RR's forged the US and Canada in the beginning but sadly they are fading away to bike trails,tourist trains and Museums and still make money for the shareholder in doing so.

Similar thing happened to newspapers and their routes.

The one I worked for used to have 145,000 customers in 7 counties, 500+ employees. Many remote offices, distribution centers, trucks, etc...

As customers dwindle on a route, it makes no economic business sense to maintain that route, even though there are paying customers on it. A 70 mile route with 10 customers doesn't pay for the paper it's printed on, let alone the carrier's pay.

I imagine that railroad spurs with sparse customers don't pay enough to maintain the tracks.

There are several short-line railroads around us now. Most of them are just a few miles long and most of them are owned by the same company, Pioneer.

 

[MossRoad]

Moss, this info would make a great website when you have pins on a map which open up to pics and maps when you click on them. Or a slide show presentation, I would come to that for sure!

I used to be able to share the google earth file, people could download it and have it all. However, google changed some things, I didn't upgrade, and I'm not gonna. But as I said, someday I'll convert their file to a spreadsheet by state, city and locations.