HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: 737ochs@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: What about the Metrolink phone number?
Date: 2 Oct 92 01:16:45 EST
Organization: Western Michigan University

In article <22650@galaxy.ucr.edu>, tgrupe@watnxt11.ucr.edu (Todd E. Grupe) writes:
> 
> On Pirate Radio 100.3 FM, a recent traffic report was sponsered by Metro-
> link and a toll-free phone number was given.  The number was 1-800-371-
> LINK.  I have dialed this number at all hours of the day throughout the
> week and it is always busy, as if it's off the hook.  1.  Is this the
> correct number?  2. If it is the number, is it possible that it would be
> busy all of the time?

Well, from Michigan, all I got was a recording saying the call couldn't go
thru as dialed. Maybeits a California only 800 number

Fred Ochs
From: cantrell@clipper.ingr.com (Loren Cantrell)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Project 2479
Keywords: Steam Locomotive Restoration
Date: 6 Oct 92 17:13:24 GMT
Organization: Intergraph Advanced Processor Division - Palo Alto, CA

The Santa Clara Valley Railroad Association in Campbell, CA, has undertaken 
restoration of ex-Southern Pacific steam locomotive no. 2479.  The locomotive isa 4-6-2 P-10 Pacific built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1923.  It currently atthe Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, CA.  

The present status is the tender is well underway to restoration and is expectedto be completed by next spring.  Work on the locomotive is just now beginning inearnest.  

S.C.V.R.R.A. has asked for help in trying to locate the following items to      complete the restoration:

	6-ET Automatic Train Air Brake Valve
	6-ET Independent Locomotive Air Brake Valve
	6-ET Regulating Valves
	     Note:  Any information regarding the conversion from a 6-ET to a
                    26 NL Westinghouse brake system would be appreciated.
	Duplex Air Brake Guage
	Steam Pressure Guage  (2 each)
	Duplex Back Pressure Guage
	Water Column (Nathan type W-O-A)
	Water Glasses, reflex type (2 each)
	Water Glass Lamps (2 each)
	Water Guage (try) Cocks (3 each)
	Pressure guage for Worthington BL feedwater pump
	Back Pressure Steam Guage
	Steam Guage for Atomizer
	Air Sanding Valve (cab type)
	Bell Ringer
	Drawings for locomotive cab windows
	Superheater ball joints and return bends
	Staybolt material
	Hydrostatic Lubricator (Nathan three-feed)
	Steam Generator (Pyle National K-240)

As S.C.V.R.R.A. is a non-profit organization, they would like to obtain these   items at no or minimal cost.

If you have any information about where or how they could obtain the above itemsplease contact:

	Santa Clara Valley Railroad Association
	P.O. Box 403
	Campbell, CA 95009

	Attn:  Ken Middlebrook
               (408) 721-5429

Thanks for your help

Loren Cantrell
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Cantrell                                       cantrell@clipper.ingr.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: gurd@next04wor.wam.umd.edu (Daffy Duck)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: California Rail Bond
Date: 29 Sep 92 20:14:33 GMT
Reply-To: gurd@wam.umd.edu

I just read in one of the industry magazines that another $1 billion rail  
bond referendum will be on the November ballot in California.  Who is  
lobbying for it, and which groups (if any) oppose it.  If it is approved  
what specific projects will it be used to finance (other than exercising  
the States option with Morrison Knudsen for more California cars).
From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Chip In Express
Date: 6 Oct 92 00:03:48 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

Oshkosh? Why not Milwaukee, or Chicago?
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org
Subject: Re: Several Questions
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 14:43:39 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.145701.1@woods.ulowell.edu>
andradee@woods.ulowell.edu writes:
 
>        Also, does anyone know were the Lowell National Historic Parks puts
>there trolley at night? You never see it before a certain time, and I have
>followed the entire lenght of the tracks trying to see were they may store it,
>but have not seen anything.
>        Thanks in advance for any answers you can give.
>
>        Ed Andrade
Not certain, but I believe they have a "car house" built into or adjacent to
the Boott Mill.  Try looking arond there for a track that leads into the
bulding.  Otherwise look in the Lowell phone book and call Jim Nigzus, who I
think lives on Exeter Street.  He drives the bloomin' thing, and I'm sure he
knows where it's kept!
 
 
Len Bachelder        Archives Committee, Boston and Maine RR Historical Society
MITRE Corp.           Secretary, Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts
Bedford MA 01730      Member, 470 Railroad Club
<M00209@mbvm.mitre.org>
 
"Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should'st die for me!"
                                                 - Charles Wesley
From: ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff)
Subject: Re: Notes from recent transcontinental vacation
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 12:29:56 GMT


PACK MULE TRAIL

I have noted that trail and several others like it on my 
several trips through Colorado.  I looks as if it has been
broken in several places by slides and is probably quite
dangerous.  The west (north?) end comes out at a large
campground, so it is probably accessable.  I recommend
a USGS topo map to find out more.

By the way, I think the trail you are thinking of goes
near two interesting tunnels (or two ends of the same
tunnel) near the river level.  There is also what might
be a old mine railroad track in the canyon closer to 
Denver.  Some trestle bents can still be seen.  The bents
are pretty wide, so I am sure it was not for a conventional
narrow gauge line, and I don't think any ran through 
those canyons anyway.  Sorry I can't cite the exact 
location, but I always watch for it on every trip.
~S
--
Garth (Haridas) Groff
"Not yet famous author"
ggg9y@poe.acc.virginia.EDU         Chant "Govinda Bohlo Hare"
From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Three-phase electrification (was something about tunnels
Date: 1 Oct 92 04:47:37 GMT
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <1992Sep30.142436.9488@prodok.ch> prodok@prodok.ch (prodok) writes:
> 
> This type of transmitting power through open air couplings _is technology
> from the thirties_. I know that the German class 403 sets (the ones which
> are now running as Lufthansa Airport Express) had a high power coupling,
> but this one was feeding two additional cars at the maximum.
> 
> The mentioned kind of coupling is still in us for coupling HEP-lines on
> some secondary railroads (if one counts the Chur - Arosa line as secondary 
> line). I doubt that it is reliable enough to transmit 6000 kW (or so) 
> at high speeds.
> 
> OK, for commuter operation this type might have worked 60 years ago, but
> for high speed operation now ... ?

Well, why not?  As used on the Reading Railroad, it was at 11KV, so even your
6KW would be less than 1 ampere, assuming you have good enough inslulation
for 25KV instead of 11KV this should be no problem.

Admittedly, this scheme is not used on the most recent cars, but probably
because running trains of mixed semi-permenantly coupled pairs and single
cars gives enough flexibility and still avoids the extra wear and tear of
one pantagraph per car.
From: teruya@amazon.llnl.gov
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Can you tell me what I saw ( UP Freight in California)?
Date: 28 Sep 92 20:49:32 GMT
Distribution: usa

In article <1992Sep25.201110.23735@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff) writes:
> DODX LOAD
> 
> My best guess is that odd load is a nuclear waste
> container.  The caboose with all the radio gear
> is the tip-off.  I have been told that similar
> cars with similar cabeese operate through 
> Lynchburg, VA, with nuclear materials, though
> I have yet to see one.  The caboose is supposedly
> quarters for the security team (read armed guards!).
> 
> I wonder if this car was headed for Livermore and the
> big nuclear lab there, or if maybe that is how they
> ship nuclear weapons to air or navy bases in the Bay
> Area?
> ~S
     It's not coming here.  We don't have any rail connections on site. :-(
Since we are not a weapons production facility what little material we need
for tests comes in on truck.

     The Dept. of Defense marking would indicate that it is non-nuclear since
nuclear stuff (including weapons) comes under the Department of Energy
which inherited them from the Atomic Energy Commission.  When I was at
the Rocky Flats plant near Boulder, Colorado, I saw a few of the railroad
cars from the "white train" that used to be used for carting nuclear
weapons around.  The reporting marks on the cars I saw were ATMX ###.  I
guess they don't have many so they can get away with a three digit number.

     The white train got its name because it was originally
white, but after a while the protesters got organized and started to
block it.  The cars were then painted all sorts of colors so it would look
like a regular train, but I doubt that helped much. I don't think they ship
by rail anymore since it is easier for protesters and terrorists to track
shipments than if they go by truck. I always thought it
might be kind of fun to model the white train, but then I would have to
put protesters on the track and the train couldn't move. :-)

     The initial description of the DOD load made me think of one of the
rigs for moving large transformers for power plants.  The two ends with
the wheels have large vertical surfaces that are bolted or welded to 
the sides of the transformer, so the transformer acts as the body of the
car. Model Railroader had a review of a model from one of the brass 
importers sometime in the past year or so.

     
> --
> Garth (Haridas) Groff
> "Not yet famous author"
> ggg9y@poe.acc.virginia.EDU         Chant "Govinda Bohlo Hare"

     _____           Alan Teruya                  teruya1@llnl.gov
  ___ |[]|_n__n_I_c  Conductor & Track Worker     (510) 422-4676 
 |___||__|###|____}  Niles Canyon Railway         Lawrence Livermore Nat'l Lab 
  O-O--O-O+++--O-O   Pacific Locomotive Assn.     P.O. Box 808, Mail Stop L-352
                                                  Livermore, CA  94550
From: Steve_Hooper@mindlink.bc.ca (Steve Hooper)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Diesel vs. Electric Locomotive Maintenance
Date: 6 Oct 92 17:46:53 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world


> Steven Bellovin writes:
>
> Speaking of which -- the October '92 Railpace mentions a campaign (in
> Connecticut, I think) by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers against
> an electrification project.  I assume that they're afraid of job loss,
> but it isn't clear to me why electric locomotives should require fewer
> engineers than diesels.  Explanations?


Guessing, but I'd think it would be easier to automate an electric system
compared to a system running diesels.


--

 steve_hooper@mindlink.bc.ca   []  Conductor on the High Iron of
 OR      a777@mindlink.bc.ca   []     CP Rail - Cascade Sub
 The Great White North in      []
 Vancouver, BC CANADA          []   Opinions are mine, NOT CP's
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: brennan@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Joseph Brennan)
Subject: Re: garbage trains, money trains, and other novelties for out of towners.
Reply-To: brennan@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Joseph Brennan)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 04:02:29 GMT

In article <BvGGHJ.7o3@acsu.buffalo.edu>
v106qhlw@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (NEW YORKER IN EXILE) writes:

>garbage . . . then is picked up in the middle of the night
>by what are referred to collectively as "work trains". 

If our readers are trying to picture them-- they're flat cars,
basically, but have railings dividing them into sections and around
the outside.  They carry large containers.  The garbage bags from the
platform garbage cans are just dumped into the containers on the
train.  It goes pretty fast and takes less time than it would to bring
the bags to street level.  Anticipating the next question, no I don't
know precisely where they dump, but all that's needed in the homebase
trainyard is a platform between the train's storage track and a road
where a dump or garbage truck could go.  I wonder whether a couple of
yards (207th St and Lenox Ave yards) have transfer directly to barges?

> they are painted
>yellow and consist of unmotored subway cars pulled by small diesel engines.
>(Joe: are any of them motorized, or are all pulled by diesel?)

You've got me.  What they used to favor were Lo-V IRT subway cars from
the 1910's and 20's: they had two motors per car (one per truck) in
passenger service, when they could pull one trailer car per motor, and
by reuse of the materials they created Lo-V "motors" (in the sense
we've discussed lately!) with 4 motors per car that could pull a few
trailers.  However, those are certainly gone by now and I think they
now use only those stinking little diesel locomotives (built to narrow
IRT loading gauge, like the work cars, so they can go anywhere).

>I'm told that there is a garage door-like opening just past Jay St
>in Brooklyn (the TA headquarters) where the fare trains can unload directly
>INTO the TA building.  Is this still used?

It's in the westbound tunnel used by the N R trains just west of
Lawrence St station.  Whether it is still used, I don't know.


I'm looking at "Moving the Millions" by Ed Davis Sr, the author :
Livingston, Montana, 1985.  He notes the existence of:

rider cars:  to carry work crews, usually old passenger cars with some
  seats removed to carry equipment too.

pump cars:  to carry pumping equipment into tunnels.

vacuum-cleaner cars:  to clean the track bed and station platforms.

revenue collection cars:  mentioned in another message.

alcohol cars:  to de-ice third rails.

There are also hopper cars, flat cars, crane cars and tank cars, all
built to narrow dimensions (8 ft 9 in wide body instead of 10 ft).

--Joe Brennan

Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: prodok@prodok.ch (prodok)
Subject: Re: Three-phase electrification (was something about tunnels
Organization: PRODOK Engineering AG
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 10:38:38 GMT

In article <35517@cbmvax.commodore.com> grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) writes:
>
>Oops, Mark pointed out that it was 6MW, not 6KW.  This works out to ~250 Amps,
>at 25KVA, more at lower voltages, which is maybe a bit more severe 8-).
>Still I'm not sure why it should be so hard to pass the beween cars if you can
>pick it off the overhead.  Maybe the real limitation is the maximum current
>that you can reasonably pick off of a single pantograph?
>
>The power involved do not seem to be that much greater than on single pantograph
>usage on 11KV american electrification.  If I rememeber, the PRR GG1 was rated
>at somthing like 6000HP continuous / 9000HP short-time, which works out to
>around 4.5MW and 6MW.  The multiple-unit cars were on the order of 300-600 HP
>per unit, so there the intent must have been mostly to avoid unneccessarly
>wear on the overhead.
>


What I found out about pickup currents with the newer high speed palettes on
pantographs, a contact current of 500 to 1000 Amps can be handled.

However, another point about that transmission of line voltage via couplings
is that a full length ICE would have 15 such couplings (from head end 
power car through 14 cars to rear end power car). This looks quite a lot
to me <g>.

Max Wyss, PRODOK Engineering AG, Bonstetten, Switzerland
From: czl30@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Chris Lee)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Crosti Boilers (was Re: Three-phase electrification)
Date: 30 Sep 92 14:38:43 GMT
Reply-To: czl30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Chris Lee)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <9209291505.AA29163@hplomg.hpl.hp.com> BRANDT_JOBST/HP1900_01@HPLOMG.HPL.HP.COM writes:
>
>Italy had a number of interesting configurations, one of which was a steam
>locomotive with the exhaust stack along the side of the middle of the
>boiler.  I was never able to discover the advantage of this although I am
>sure there was one.  I would like to hear from anyone who knows why.

This was the Franco-Crosti boiler. It looked like 2 boilers, one above the
other. The lower one was actually a pre-heater. The used steam was fed
from the smokebox into the preheater, and exhausted at the side. It was
expected to be more economical than the normal arrangement.

Some British Railways class 9F 2-10-0s were built with Franco-Crosti
boilers but were more expensive to maintain, less powerful because the
actual boiler was smaller that on the rest of the class to make room for
the Crosti pre-heater, and didn't show the expected savings. These locos
were altered to the normal arrangement with the steam exhausting through
the chimney on the smokebox, but to avoid a complete rebuild they still
retained the smaller boiler above the no-longer-used pre-heater. This
made them look rather strange!


>
>jobst_brandt@hplabs.hp.com

Chris Lee
From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Can you tell me what I saw ( UP Freight in California)?
Date: 29 Sep 92 02:16:51 GMT
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <1992Sep28.124932.1@amazon.llnl.gov> teruya@amazon.llnl.gov writes:
> In article <1992Sep25.201110.23735@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff) writes:
> > DODX LOAD
> > 
> > My best guess is that odd load is a nuclear waste
> > container.  The caboose with all the radio gear
> > is the tip-off.  I have been told that similar
> > cars with similar cabeese operate through 
> > Lynchburg, VA, with nuclear materials, though
> > I have yet to see one.  The caboose is supposedly
> > quarters for the security team (read armed guards!).
> 
>      The Dept. of Defense marking would indicate that it is non-nuclear since
> nuclear stuff (including weapons) comes under the Department of Energy
> which inherited them from the Atomic Energy Commission.  When I was at
> the Rocky Flats plant near Boulder, Colorado, I saw a few of the railroad
> cars from the "white train" that used to be used for carting nuclear
> weapons around.  The reporting marks on the cars I saw were ATMX ###.  I
> guess they don't have many so they can get away with a three digit number.

The information posted earlier indicated that the cars were used for
carrying (among other things) "steam generators".   These are most
likely the "boilers" for a nuclear reactor where the primary coolent
is used to make steam for conventional steam turbines.  Unless the
Navy has their own marking, most of this would be associated with
ships/submarines, but they would probably also be available for other
heavy cargo.
Organization: mbp Software&Systems GmbH at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
Date: Thursday, 1 Oct 1992 08:51:29 CET
From: Dr. Lutz Massonne <LMASSONN@ESOC.BITNET>
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Italian three-phase locos (trolley vs. pantograph)

Regarding the question, whether the "current pickups" on Italian
three-phase locos were pantographs or trolley-type frames: BOTH .

The primary reason to use the "frame type" was the already discussed
need to cross 'dead zones' over switches. The first types of locomotives
were rather short units (often coupled together in pairs), and
the length of the loco did not provide the needed baseline to use
pantographs. Tho locos therefore had the "frame-type" trolley-panthos
mounted on the short middle cab, extending over the motor housings
at the front:

   ________________________________________          .       .
        I_______       _______I                    (====) (====)
                T_____T                            _I__I___I__I_
               I       I                          I             I
          _____I       I_____                     I_____________I
         /                   \                    I             I
        I                     I                   I             I
         ---------------------                    I_____________I
          O   O         O   O                       I         I
 --------------------------------------------       T         T
           Side view                                Front view


The later models of three-phase locos (as far as i know, essentially
"the other model", as the main bulk of locos were from two types)
had a larger base length and used conventional pantographs.

Apart from the complicated catenary, a major downfall of the
three-phase system was the fact that the rotational speed of the
motor was fixed through the phase of the current.
Therefore it was difficult to change speed without mechanical
converters.

An advantage was that the three-phase system provided an easy way
for multiple traction and the three-phase motors do need less
mechanical parts (important in the early days of mainline
electrificaion).

Regards, Lutz
From: eravin@panix.com (Ed Ravin)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Rusty Rails in the Subway (was: garbage and money trains oh my)
Date: 3 Oct 92 19:57:53 GMT
Organization: Not Just Another Pretty Face

In article <1992Oct3.001710.9356@ulysses.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com 
Steven Bellovin) writes:

>Hmm -- that reminds me of something I heard, or at least think I heard,
>long ago.  When one of NY's transit strikes was settled, it took several
>hours before service could be resumed -- a rail-grinder had to come out
>first to polish the rails, which were normally kept clean by the wheels
>of passing trains.

At the last transit strike, there was still one train running one every
line (I'm sure Joe will post the exact schedule) to keep the rails from
rusting over.  And the BMT express tracks in Manhattan which went unused
for many years as the Manhattan Bridge access was cut off by construction
often sported a substantial rust buildup.
-- 
Ed Ravin            | I like to think (it has to be!) of a cybernetic ecology
eravin@panix.com    | where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature
philabs!trintex!elr | returned to our mammal brothers and sisters,
+1 914 993 4737     | and all watched over by machines of loving grace