Rail roads and their tracks.

[MossRoad]

Sorry, no pics but I just saw what I think is the longest train I have ever seen. It was parked so I noted the start and end locations then scaled from Google Maps. 3 head units and 2 DPU for ~2.5 miles total length! For those in the area, it stretched along US33 from Oxbow crossing SE to Martins (Beaver Ln crossing). Neither of those crossings were blocked but all in between were for my entire lunch! It was on the track closest to 33 which is the track that comes up from Warsaw. And no, I didn't count the cars

Being familiar with the area, I agree. That's a long train!

Back in the 80's when I was driving Army trucks out of AM General, our boss was driving the 6-man I was in somewhere. He was about 25-30 years older than us. We got stopped by a train. And it was slow. And it kept going by, and by, and by. It was probably a good 10-15 minutes and still not done. The boss was getting antsy and says "I haven't seen a train this long since WWII!"

The comment was lost on the other guys, but I started laughing pretty hard!

 

[oliver1555]

My son is a BNSF engineer. He told me they are putting two trains together in many less sparsely populated areas and then break them apart when they get to an urban area. He is not a fan. He says there are too many variables because you could have part of the train ascending a hill, part of it descending, more of it ascending, descending, etc., all at the same time. Plus, they have to have a repeater to maintain control over the trailing engines. But, the bean counters see less expense because they are using fewer crews.

 

[Hay Dude]

Heres a photo of one of my towns 2 rail stations.It was taken in 1939. I can drive to this spot in minutes and my friend live across the street. I will take a picture from about the same location in a few days.

Today from almost the same spot 83 years later

 

[BravoXray]

Sorry, no pics but I just saw what I think is the longest train I have ever seen. It was parked so I noted the start and end locations then scaled from Google Maps. 3 head units and 2 DPU for ~2.5 miles total length! For those in the area, it stretched along US33 from Oxbow crossing SE to Martins (Beaver Ln crossing). Neither of those crossings were blocked but all in between were for my entire lunch! It was on the track closest to 33 which is the track that comes up from Warsaw. And no, I didn't count the cars

I saw that when I was in town today. The DPU's were BNSF and UP units. Yes, I checked the length on my odometer and it was almost 2 3/4 miles long. Longest one I've seen too. There was a unit coal train on the east track that sat there for quite a while too.
Indiana passed a law last year that lets them block crossings and not get ticketed by the police like they used to do.
A couple of weeks ago I saw another ~2 mile long train set there overnight. It was there in the early afternoon when I went up US33, and the nest morning it was still there. It had snowed the previous afternoon, and the next morning you could see where the snow had drifted around the wheelsets and laid in the depressions on the outsides of the wheels.

 

[Hay Dude]

Is a Pennsylvania Rail Road coal shovel valuable/collectible?

My grandfather gave it to my father who gave it to me.

 

[MossRoad]

THAT is pretty cool!

 

[Hay Dude]

Would it be considered collectible?

 

[MossRoad]

Would it be considered collectible?

Sure! By you.

Especially with the back-history.

But why would you ever give it up?

If you have no one to leave it to, donate it to a RR museum.

 

[BruceR]

S&W Model 1905 M&P in 32-20, railroad police gun.

 

[MossRoad]

S&W Model 1905 M&P in 32-20, railroad police gun.View attachment 735001View attachment 735002

Ooooo. That is pretty good.