HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: scott@svl.cdc.com (Scott Gerken)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Stupid People
Date: 20 Nov 92 01:47:15 GMT
Distribution: usa

zephyr@cory.Berkeley.EDU (COIFMAN) writes:

> If we lived in a world that worked the right way, the rail road would
>be preparing to take legal action against the driver for tresspassign,
>damage to their locomotive, loss of revinue do to having the main shut
>down, etc..

They sometimes do.  When I was going to school up in Chico one of the Teacher
Assistants had a 3 wheel motorcycle.  One day he was riding down a dirt road
in an orchard and came to the SP main line.  The dirt road crossed the tracks
and continued along it's way.  The problem was this crossing was not a legal 
crossing.  The farmer, would just drive over the track at this point to get
to his trees on the other side.  Thus, there wasn't a grade crossing.  Being
that the private dirt road crossed there the TA thought it was ok to cross
there.  Well you can guess what happened.  His motorcycle got caught part
way accross and a SP train came along.  Well, lets just say the motorcyle
is now history.  The last I heard SP was threatening to sue him for the amount
of revenue they lost for having the main line shut down for the half hour
it took to fill out the paper work.  I graduated from Chico and left before
it was settled, so I don't know what happened.
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff)
Subject: Re: Why long end of engine forward?
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 17:28:26 GMT

LONG HOODS FORWARD

The reason N&W and Southern continuted buying high
hoods and running them long end first for so long
so simple to any Southerner: it's a tradition (this
explains everything without answering anything).

By the way, another tradition I'll miss is white
flags on Southern extras.  This was railroad with
class.

~S
--
Garth (Haridas) Groff
"Not yet famous author"
ggg9y@poe.acc.virginia.EDU         Chant "Govinda Bohlo Hare"
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: Prime Mover Software Development <U93_PTUPACZE@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Smokey Alcos?
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Organization: Indiana University
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 05:14:52 GMT
X-Vms-To: IN%"rec.railroad@silver.ucs.indiana.edu"

The primary reason most Alcos smoke is due to the design of their 
turbochargers. They work correctly, for the most part; however, a design flaw 
in them allows the thick exhaust smoke to sneak past the turbocharger blades 
into the stack and out of the engine. This phenomenon only occurs when the 
engine is "notched out," or sped up. The engine immediately starts spitting 
out more exhaust smoke, but the turbocharger is still spinning relatively 
slowly. The turbocharger takes a few seconds to catch up to the correct speed, 
and in the interim, smoke gets right around the blades.

Hope this helps!

     - Paul Tupaczewski
       Stevens Tech
       Hoboken, NJ
       u93_ptupacze@vaxa.stevens-tech.edu

Newsgroups: rec.railroad,aus.rail
From: brom@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (David Bromage)
Subject: Re: ICE trains withdrawn in October?
Followup-To: rec.railroad,aus.rail
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 07:25:27 GMT

Matthew Geier (matthew@cs.su.oz) wrote:
: In article <TSOS.174.721926232@uni-duesseldorf.de> TSOS@uni-duesseldorf.de (Detlef Lannert) writes:
: 
: >It's correct that they had problems with the rotor parts of the traction
: >motors. I don't know if any of them actually broke but cracks showed up 
: >when the motors were inspected. 
: 
:  A similar type of problem has showen up on Sydneys new 'Tangara' trains,
: a unit derailed in a yard because a bogie collapsed. It was then found that
: it an a number of other bogies in the set were cracked.
: 
: >All motors had to be exchanged and the defective parts replaced. Luckily
: >enough (for DB), this was still covered by the manufacturer's warranty,
: >and Siemens had to pay for it (they indicated a cost of "not many" tens
: >of millions DM).
: 
:  They claim the same thing here as well, that replacing the defective bogies
: is being done as a warranty repair , only the cracks have been found in the
: older units, the oldest of which is well over 2 years old. I rather doubt that
: all are covered by warrenty.
: 
: >The exchange and repair was done on the fly: The motors were replaced
: >during normal service periods, and there were enough spare trains so
: >that the normal schedule could continue. DB passengers shouldn't have
: >noticed anything (as long as they didn't read the papers ...).
: 
:  Thats what they are doing here, they cant pull the entire tangara fleet
: of the rails , the Suburban system cant run minus 70 train sets, so as
: part of their fortnightly inspections the bogies are being checked for
: cracks. At the last time the problem made the news , some 70 bogies had
: been replaced, which comes out at 9 sets withdrawn, although I doubt the
: 70 bogies neatly came 8 at a time off a given carrage set.
: 
: (BTW these particular bogies were Japanese designed and have disk brakes
: instead of 'tread' ? brakes. When the trains switch from regenerative/dynamic
: braking to air as they slow down , the disk brakes emit a loud high pitched
: squeel, some times accompanied by strong low frequency vibration, no wonder
: they are cracking... )

What does this mean for the Victorian 4D (prototype suburban emu, based on
the Tangara). The train is a bit lighter than the Tangara and the bogies
are wider (the 4D is broad gauge). I have travelled many times in the 4D
and I cannot remember a squeal or a vibration. If the bogies are based on
the same design then The Met is going to have problems.

David Bromage
From: wbrill@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Warren Brill)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 15:41:26 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: Cows'n'Trains (was Cow Catchers)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.railroad

In rec.railroad, zephyr@cory.Berkeley.EDU (COIFMAN) writes:

> In article <17412@mindlink.bc.ca> Steve_Hooper@mindlink.bc.ca (Steve Hooper) writes:
> >
> [abridged version]
> [MORE abridged version]
> 
>  Ah, in the good old days of steam engines and cattle on the track. Seventy
> years ago, it seemed that the only animals that trains ever struck were
> prize wining beasts. Or so the farmer claimed. This problem was so big
> that the railroads employed crak lawyers to keep from paying huge
                              ^^^^
                        So, the "Amtrack/Amtrak" dichotomy
                        has taken over! When the cra(c)k
                        lawyers won a court case, did they
                        go home and hit the sak?
                        Sorry, couldn't resist :-) :-)

> settlements.
> 
>  An aside, during WW2, Soo Line had a couple of female employees at
> their Shorham yard (a large yard and engine facility). The managers
> felt that the railroads were no place for women and these poor girls
> were often found with scrapers removing heavilly baked animal remains
> off of steam engines.
> 
> 
> 
>     r++-----------,---,-------------.            Benn Coifman 
>    /~____________/ ""||      @      |       zephyr@cory.berkeley.edu
>   / o-o  (*) (*)  o :  o-o-o   o-o-o      zephyr@robotics.berkeley.edu
> 
 
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o                                          i---i_________________      o
o    Warren T. Brill, a.k.a.          *----|[|]|  #### #### #### |*    o
o    wbrill@hpxxx.fc.hp.com         i_|___/|___|\________________|_i   o
o    wbrill@hpfcso.fc.hp.com       =++()=()=() `========' ()=()=()++=  o
o                                  =================================== o
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
From: cal@ee.ryerson.ca (Calvin Henry-Cotnam)
Subject: Re: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Organization: Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 17:22:43 GMT

iain@ee.ryerson.ca (Iain Campbell) writes:
>I am a regular commuter on the Toronto-Barrie GO train.  We have had
>several instances on my train of this.  Going through the Parkdale
>area of Toronto, an area politely called "economically disadvantaged",
>things (heavy things, by the sound of it) have been dropped on the 
>roof of the train from pedestrian overpasses.  Also, I once watched
>a kid drawing a bead on us with one of those wrist slingshots.  
>You can bet I ducked down below the window mighty quick!!

I regularly commute on the Lakeshore-east GO train.  There is one stretch
of the trip where from time to time the train gets pelted with rocks by
kids.  Usually it seems as though it is a handfull of small pebbles as
the "multiple hit" sound is what is heard on the side of the car, but
once in a while it is a loud heavy-sounding thud.  I find this rather
bothersome as I am usually half asleep at the time and the noise is very
startling.

On another note, once travelling into the city in the same location,
I was riding up front in the cab-car (GO trains mostly run push-pull
with the locomotive at the east end).  In this section section the
trains usually run about 80 miles per hour (F59PH's are geared for
83 mph top speed, and I have watched the speed display in the cab
car reach 81).  All of a sudden we bounced, and I do mean bounced
two or three times.  Apparantely there were some small stones left
on the railhead by some kids.  It was a helluva a scairy bounce but
fortunately nothing happened.  I suspect that with a heavier engine
leading, small stones would cause less of a problem and that the lighter
cab car up front could presumably be derailed easier.

Those that do such things probably don't realize that even if a derailment
is not caused, a stone being hit by a wheel moving at that speed could
send it flying at gunshot speed.


Calvin Henry-Cotnam, CATE          | "...My brain IBM"
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute    | "So if you see me, acting stangely..."
Toronto, Ontario, Canada           |                  STYX, Mr. Roboto
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: btiffany@pbs.org
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: UPDATE ON BOSTON TO PORTLAND, ME SERVICE
Date: 20 Nov 92 00:22:12 GMT
Organization: PBS:Public Broadcasting Service, Alexandria, VA

In article <1992Nov17.121352.2435@merrimack.edu>, gemmellj@merrimack.edu writes:

> on another note, when does the Swedish train engine makes it debut
> on the NE corridor??

It's been in and out of Washington Union Station for some weeks now (yes, I
have plenty of pictures! :-)  ).  I don't think it's on a regular run yet.
For some reason they brought down a Rohr Turboliner (!) to park nose-to-nose
with it one cold day last week.  I last saw it this morning.  It's called
the X2000, by the way.

-- Bruce Tiffany
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: brom@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (David Bromage)
Subject: Re: Vandalism
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 01:35:08 GMT

Andrew Waugh (ajw@squid.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU) wrote:
: In article <1992Nov16.021144.7958@lugb.latrobe.edu.au> agrcjb@ee.latrobe.edu.au (Chris Bell) writes:
: >On its second trip, someone threw a tin of blue paint over the loco,
: >probably from one of the overbridges.  The loco was running tender first, 
: >and the tender copped most of the paint, right over the right-hand side.
: >
: >Vandalism to the local electrics is one thing (and their is plenty of it
: >on the Hurstbridge line)...
: 
: As I said to the official supervising the shunting at Heidelberg
: afterwards, they were lucky they weren't throwing stones. There seems
: to be one or two cretins on this section of line who enjoy throwing
: things.
:
: I was in a suburban train approaching Macleod (on the same section of
: line) recently when someone -- probably the same someone -- threw a
: stone right through a window. I looked up to see a cloud of glass sweep
: through the other end of the carriage. Fortunately the glass is
: safety glass which doesn't have sharp edges and mostly stays in the
: window. But it still gave a nasty shock to the people sitting at
: that end of the carriage.

The Harris trains also had safety glass, but the type which does not stay
in the frames. Many years ago (I think about 1980) I was riding in a
Harris when a rock hit the window next to me. I and several others were
showered with glass.

The cutting at Heatherdale is another trouble spot.

: I've been in other trains when a loud 'bang' indicated that something,
: presumably a rock, had hit the steel sides of the carriage and not
: the window.
: 
: From the splatter marks on the tender of K153, it appeared that the
: engine was running tender first when the paint was thrown. If a
: rock had been thrown, one of the engine crew could easily have
: been injured. The windows on the rolling stock used (traditional
: wooden bodied cars) is, I believe, just normal glass (David would
: know...). A stone through that doesn't bear thinking about,

Correct.

: particularly as the train was full of small children.
: 
: The sooner they catch those bastards, the better.
: 
: andrew waugh

I believe in some US ciies, trains are shot at. Can anyone elaborate?

David
From: mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Compound Locomotives
Date: 21 Nov 92 12:37:40 GMT

On the discussion of the N&W A class, it's interesting how simple it is to
sketch out steam locomotive design based on a relatively small set of
parameters.  (Isn't physics wonderful?)

Horsepower is basically a function of how big the fire is, if the engine has
enough heating surface.  The size of the fire is a function of grate area.
Tractive force is a function of boiler pressure (which doesn't vary much on
modern engines), wheel size, and cylinder dimensions (unless you're
compounding, but in that case the low pressure cylinders are sized to the
high pressure so that things balance out); cylinder stroke is typically in a
fixed ratio to wheel size.  Adhesive weight is normally four times tractive
force; factor in axle loads and, as an aded bonus, you get a wheel
arrangement.

How all this babbling relates to the A vs. the Y can be seen by comparing
just a few dimensions (which I unfortunately don't have at hand, so i'm
going to rough them out).  Assume the B.P. and the axle loads are the same
for both.  This implies a tractive force for the A of about 75% of the Y (6
driving axles vs. 8).  If you look at drawings, The A's grate is probably
not that much smaller than that of the Y.  So we drop in the final formula
for horsepower and find out that the A's expected speed for its rated load
is 33% higher than the Y for its rated load.  Good articulation is critical
to keep the engine on the tracks at those speeds, but the other half of the
deal is developing the power to reach those speeds.

If people are interested I can dig out the spreadsheet I made up and provide
them with specific formulas.
-- 
C. Wingate        + "The peace of God, it is no peace,
                  +    but strife closed in the sod.
mangoe@cs.umd.edu +  Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing:
tove!mangoe       +    the marv'lous peace of God."
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org
Subject: Re: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 15:20:00 GMT

In article <1992Nov16.175634.16097@spock.UUCP>
lancelot@spock.uucp (Thor Lancelot Simon) writes:
 
>
>In article <1992Nov15.042209.12804@ulysses.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>
>_All_ MBTA engines have rock shields.  At least I've never seen one without
>them.  Does Amtrak own the MBTA's F40 units, or do they just run them?  The
>few older F units I've seen on the MBTA have the shields too, but I've never
>seen them on anything painted in Amtrak colors, so far as I recall.  Has
>anyone?  Where?
>--
The MBTA owns 'em;  Amtrak "just runs them".
 
 
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
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: cal@ee.ryerson.ca (Calvin Henry-Cotnam)
Subject: Re: Why long end of engine forward?
Organization: Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:36:26 GMT

hess@stat.ncsu.edu (George Hess) writes:
>
>Does anyone know why Norfolk Southern (and their
>ancestors, Norfolk & Western and Southern) run
>their engines long end forward?

I always speculated that the powers that be had such a strong tie
to steam power that they chose to operate diesel locomotives in a
way resembling steam locomotives, with the cab at the rear end.

       :-)



Calvin Henry-Cotnam, CATE          | "...My brain IBM"
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute    | "So if you see me, acting stangely..."
Toronto, Ontario, Canada           |                  STYX, Mr. Roboto
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: billg@bony1.bony.com (Bill Gripp)
Subject: Re: Amtrak List of Trains by # (LOOONG) (fwd)
Organization: LA&W RR
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 14:45:44 GMT

In article <TML.92Nov16103137@hemuli.tik.vtt.fi> tml@tik.vtt.fi (Tor Lillqvist) writes:
>In article <Pine.3.05.9211151945.A26182-e100000@uafhp.uark.edu> plaws@uafhp.uark.edu (Peter Laws) writes:
>    1) Taken from _Amtrak System Train Timetables_, valid through 4/3/93.
>
>     1 Sunset Ltd.             NOL LAX 136 Comb w/21 SAS
>			       ^^^ ^^^
>
>Why does Amtrak use what I assume are *airport* designators for
>stations? Isn't that both stupid, as trains are supposed to compete
>with airplanes, and misleading, as many cities have several airports,
>none of which presumably are as conveniently located as the railway
>station(s)?

I don't know where Amtrak came up with it's abreviations, but is it
possible that some were adopted from the roads over which Amtrak
opperates?  Could it be that the RR's used LAX first?

Newsgroups: rec.railroad,ba.transportation
Newsgroups: rec.railroad

Doug Jones writes:

> I've always been impressed with Swiss catenary, because they seem to
> make more consistent use of curved catenary than any other place >
I've been.

This style of hanging catenary is especially aesthetically pleasing
when hung in a series of "S" bends using only upright masts on the
outside of the bends so the catenary zigzags from pole to pole with
the contact wire suspended over the track by progressively sloped
suspenders.  In spite of this, the contact wire must must still be
made to hunt laterally to prevent cutting a groove in the contact
beam.

What I find curious about this is that only private railways and
branch lines of the SBB use this technique as though there were some
need for a more rigorous suspension for mainline overhead.  The SBB
branch line to Glarus and Linthal uses curved catenary.  Mainline
catenary, in contrast, is suspended by extra masts and outrigger bars
that in some cases are extra long because they are supported by
cantilever beams and support mast from the inside of the curve.  This
implies that masts on the other side are not to be used.

Since the mountain railways have many curves, they show off their
graceful three dimensional catenary curves often.

jobst_brandt@hplabs.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org
Subject: Re: Air whistles (was Scaring away meese)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 15:04:45 GMT

In article <jwj2.70.721871267@po.CWRU.Edu>
jwj2@po.CWRU.Edu (Jermaster) writes:
 
>
>In article <1e6kasINN866@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema) writes:
>
>
>The NH air whistles were known as Hancock Air Whistles. I'm pretty sure they
>were standard equipment on most all New Haven locomotives (with exception
>of their ex-Virginian E33's, which still had their originial horns on all
>the pictures I've seen).
>
That is I believe correct.  The Hancock whistles have always been associated
in my mind (and ears) with the New Haven's diesels, and I believe also their
electric MUs and most if not all their RDCs.  I believe that Metro North still
has some equipment with these whistles or at least did until recently.  For one
thing, I think the RDCs used until recently in the Suffern-Port Jervis shuttle
service had them.
 
 
 
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
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: terryfry@access.digex.com (Terry Fry)
Subject: Re: Recording trains
Keywords: audio, sound, recording
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 21:20:57 GMT

In article <17NOV199213352686@alpha.sunquest.com> rfj@alpha.sunquest.com (RICHARD F. JONES) writes:
>Greetings!!
>
>Well, since I have combined by love of trains and photography into
>several dramatic photos, I now have turned to recording (audio) moving
>trains.
>
>I have tried placing the microphone(s) adjacent to the tracks, about
>10 to 15 feet from the tracks, suspended over the tracks (got some
>great engine sounds from this one!!) and between the tracks.  My
>problem is the frequent wind that often tags along with mile long
>freights travelling 60+ miles per hour.
>
>I have used the usual foam wind screens, tried shielding the mikes in
>boxes (caused a sound distortion), etc.   Does anyone have any
>suggestions as to how I can get good recordings and not have the
>hurricane wind sounds along with the sounds of the train???
>
>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
>You may either respond to the net or to me directly.

I have used a PZM microphone with good results.  A PZM (Pressure Zone
Mike) is a flat ping-pong looking microphone.  It can be placed
against the "wind" and when secured will not pickup any wind
distortion.  Radio Shack used to sell a PZM which is manufactured by
a company called Crown, who make many models (all except the RS one are
professional and range from pricey to highly expensive.)  Crown
makes extremely high quality amplifiers (if you have heard of them)
and they are located in Indiana (made in the USA...)
From: PLAWS@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (Peter Laws)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Shuttle From Grand Central To Penn. Station
Date: 23 Nov 1992 21:03:48 -0600
Organization: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

On Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:51:15 GMT Jim Kasprzak said:
>
>
> Well, this could be done in theory, but in reality it would be silly.
>
> Grand Central is a _terminal_, which means that the lines _end_ there.
>For any trains going past New York, it makes much more sense to just
>route them through Penn and keep going.

 More sense yes, but it would still require "swapping ends" at Penn.

> Now, I want through service from Albany to Washington! (-:

I'd be happy to have an Amtrak station closer than 190 miles away....8-(

Peter Laws              |"The '90s are gonna make the '60s|   pcl@engr.uark.edu
n5uwy@ka5bml.ar.usa.noam| look like the '50s"--D. Hopper  |plaws@uafsysb.bitnet