HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: adrian@ntmtv.UUCP (Adrian Brandt)
Subject: Re: NEC detectors, (CalTrain, too?)
Organization: Northern Telecom Inc, Mountain View, CA
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 17:30:16 GMT

In article <7731@public.BTR.COM>, rah@public.BTR.COM (Richard A Hyde  rah@btr.com) writes:
|> Can anyone tell me the locations and frequencys of such detectors on
|> the San Francisco Peninsula CalTrain commuter run?  Thanks!

Dragging equipment detectors on the San Francisco - San Jose CalTrain
line broadcast on the same frequency as the regular SPRR "Road" Channel
for the area: 160.32 mHz.  They are fairly low-power so depending on 
your antenna and radio's sensitivity, you'll have to be within a few
miles or so to hear them.   

I have the exact milepost locations at home, but I only can tell you
about 2 of them off the top of my head.  There's one in San Carlos
somewhere around milepost 23 and there's one about halfway between
Menlo Park and Atherton at milepost 28.3.  I would guess these were
placed to protect/inform trains entering or leaving the Redwood City
Yard & Junction area.  The Dumbarton line (at Redwood Junction) no
longer takes through traffic over to Newark, but the spur out the
port of Redwood City down Chestnut Street is quite active and is
currently being fully reconstructed with 136-lb. welded rail and
lots of new crossing protection...

-- 

Adrian Brandt (415) 940-2379
UUCP: ...!ames!ntmtv!adrian
ARPA: ntmtv!adrian@ames.arc.nasa.gov
From: johnm@hpmcaa (John Mosbarger)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: UP hog train
Date: 18 Aug 92 19:09:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpmcaa.1992Aug18.190946.10380
Distribution: na
Organization: HP Cardiology Business Unit - McMinnville, OR
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5


     I've heard the train referred to as Hamtrak.

--
John Mosbarger
HP McMinnville, OR
johnm@hpmcaa.mcm.hp.com
From: hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Hudson Leighton)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Which cars have holding tanks
Date: 23 Aug 92 01:05:02 GMT
Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN.

the dump is known to the riders of PVs with open platforms as "Brake Smoke"

Rule #1 for riding on the back platform while behind amtrak when you see
the gray-blue haze around the train after a station stop get inside fast
because if you don't get inside in time you will not be allowed inside the car
for the rest of the trip or until they find a car wash to send you through ;-)


UUCP: {crash tcnet}!orbit!pnet51!hudson
INET: hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org
ICBM: Lat. 44.59 x lon. 93.13
HAM:  NONMX  444.100 repeater
Advertisement: Try the Railway Post Office BBS (612) 377-2197 a Railfan BBS
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: jis@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (jishnu.mukerji)
Subject: Re: Restroom on Amtrak
Organization: UNIX System Laboratories Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:18:23 GMT

In article <1992Aug17.162021.8515@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff) writes:
>Yes, most Amtrak toilets flush directly onto the roadbed.
>Some of the older Heritage Fleet cars still have holding
>tanks (or had until recently), but the newer equipment 
>lacks them (surprisingly).  It has something to do with
>the electro-chemical system which supposedly treats the
>waste before dumping it.  Many towns have ordinances 
>against dumping this "stuff" in their towns, especially
>where the trains is stopped and it would build up on the
>tracks.

The message excerpted above may lead to a misunderstanding of the
current toilet situation on Amtrak, so here ifollows a clarification
on the issue:

Amtrak passenger equipment can be broadly classified into three
categories based on how they handle toilet outputs. They are:

(i) Toilets flush directly onto tracks: Typically all heritage fleet
equipment fall in this category. They were always like this. They
never had holding tanks even when they were owned by private
railroads.

(ii) Toilets flush into holding tanks which are flushed at
stations/yards that are equipped to handle such flushing. All Amfleet
equipment falls in this category. Basically, these cars are fitted
with airline type modular toilets adapted for railroad use.

(iii) Toilets flush into holding tanks which do not have enough
holding capacity to last the whole trip. These holding tanks are
periodically flushed by the train crew onto the track while the train
is in motion and not close to any town. The flushed output is a
chemically treated mist that is sprayed out onto the track. This tank
flush cannot be operated at train speeds less than 15mph. All
Superliners, except a few that have been fitted with new experimental
more capacious holding tanks fall in this category.

I do not know  how the Viewliners are currently equipped.

The plans call for complete conversion to holding tanks by 1996 (or
something like that). A federal law was passed last year that gives
Amtrak relief from being sued by anyone on the toilet effluent issue
until then. The result of this action will be that all Slumbercoaches
will be retired and not replaced. Minimal number of heritage sleepers
that are absolutely needed will be converted, and the rest replaced by
Viewliners equipped with holding tanks. All Superliners will be
converted to full journey holding tanks. All single level heritage
Diners and Lounges will lose toilet facilities and will
eventually be replaced by Viewliner Diners and Lounges.

Most of this information is summarized from various articles that have
appeared over the last year or so on this subject in the NARP
Newsletter and the NARP Telephone Newsline. Hope this flushes out the
toilet situation on Amtrak!:-)

Jishnu Mukerji
jis@usl.com
From: Steve_Hooper@mindlink.bc.ca (Steve Hooper)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: British Columbia Railroad
Date: 20 Aug 92 19:22:06 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

> Mike Salfi writes:
> 
> Not only Steve's comments but they also run regular passanger and, of
> interest
> to "Steam" fans, another passanger (tourist) service between North Vancouver
> and Squamish B.C. using ex CP Royal Hudson Steam Engine #2860 and several
> beautifully maintained coaches. I know they have ex CP smooth side
> lightweight
> coaches and also think they have heavyweight coaches as well (I just can't
> remember)....Steve?
> You can even take this train to Squamish and return to North Vancouver by
> boat
> if you wish.


Uh, they have 11 or so smooth-side coaches, and a couple of other heavyweights
which if I remember are actually owned by the West Coast Railway Historical
Society.  One of the better ones is an open-air observation which used to
regularly be the tail-end car on the Hudson excursion.  The also have a couple
of ex-business cars which, for a fairly large amount, can be leased by a party
and added to the consist.

It has been about 5 years since I have ridden it though, so I cannot say for
sure.

Strange, I live so close to it, yet I just take it for granted!  I bet some
netters out there would DIE to ride this thing, yet I just take it for granted!


--

 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
From: 31ochs@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: VIA's excellent, Amtrak sticks bigtime
Date: 14 Aug 92 16:22:07 EST
Organization: Western Michigan University


Just out of curiosity, but does VIA still use the LRC engines?
I remember seeing them a couple years ago on the International
(Amtrak's joint train with VIA from Chicago to Toronto. The have a "train
set" of VIA and a set of Amtrak)
Usually, the train was late, and when it arrived, it had a GT engine on
the front, because the LRC had died. Did they sound like an Alco, since
they have a 251 prime mover?
Thanks,

Fred Ochs

31OCHS@gw.wmich.edu   (VAX)
ochs@sol.cs.wmich.edu (UNIX)

_________________________________________________________________________
        _______________
       /_______________\__+--+_---_+--+__
    ___|[  ]| ###|  ###   ######|###### |
  | | ______|    |                      | |
  |_|/|_|___|____|______________________|_|
   H   \--/  \ \o/  o          /  \--/   H
___"__O----O__`---------------'__O----O__"_____

A GP30 with some imagination ;^)

Xref: sparky rec.railroad:6495 ba.transportation:1986 talk.politics.misc:39812 talk.environment:3257
From: whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,ba.transportation,talk.politics.misc,talk.environment
Subject: Re: Cost of transit systems vs highways
Date: 14 Aug 92 23:18:11 GMT
Reply-To: whheydt@PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Distribution: na
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA

In article <l8o70pINNknp@spim.mips.com> mpolen@gelato.mips.com (Michael Polen) writes:
>But in most of the modern cities (1920's & later?) the concept of one place
>for shopping, one place for working, and one place for living, never developed.
>With everyone going to a central core, mass transit (of any kind) has a chance.
>Bart and CalTrain serve San Francicso for a large number of people.
>
>On the other hand, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Portland, Seattle, and Houston,
>(I am only using places I have lived) have businesses and residences reasonably
>homogeneously distributed.  You can't have enough rapid transit to go "from
>everywhere" "to everywhere."

And notice how many companies are moving to places where they don't
have to pay for the transit subsidies--and thinning the support base
for the transit systems that are focused on core cities.

You can't (at least in the currnet political climate) build new
infrstructure fast enough to keep up with changes in demographics and
business park construction--and busses are considered exactly
'pleasant' ways to commute. . .

	--Hal
-- 
Hal Heydt                    |    "Boycott Time-Warner"
Analyst, Pacific*Bell        |         --J. Danforth Quayle
510-823-5447                 |    "... kill all the lawyers."
whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM    |         --William Shakespeare
From: jis@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (jishnu.mukerji)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Rail Access to Airports
Date: 19 Aug 92 18:40:36 GMT
Organization: UNIX System Laboratories Inc.

In article <714115794snx@warren.demon.co.uk> leveret@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton) writes:
>[ ... much good info deleted for the sake of brevity ... ]
>Paris Charles de Gaulle
>
>        Fast heavy-rail service from Paris (forget which station -
>        perhaps Gare de Lyons ?). Reasonably frequent.

Paris Charles de Gaulle:

	Fast heavy-rail (RER B) service from Paris Gare du Nord (and
Chatelet Les Halles, St. Michel, Luxembourg, Denfert-Rochreau (sp?),
Antony (bus connection to Paris Orly) among others) to Roissy Charles
de Gaulle RER station with bus connection to Aerogare 1 and 2.

Paris Orly:

	Two separate Fast Heavy Rail connected to by bus: (i) at
Antony RER B (see info for Charles de Gaulle above), and (ii) at
Pont de Rungis (OrlyRail) by RER C to Choissy le Roi, Blvd. Messina,
Gare Austerlitz, St. Michel, Musee d'Orsay, Invalides, Pont de l'Alma
(Eiffel Tower), and onto Versailles. 

Jishnu Mukerji
jis@usl.com
(Take all my French spellings with a pich of salt!)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,ba.transportation,talk.politics.misc,talk.environment
From: tkoppel@cassandra.cair.du.edu (Ted Koppel)
Subject: Re: Cost of transit systems vs highways
Organization: University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 03:13:57 GMT

>> MARTA still doesn't go where the majority of people want to go. 
>
>"Where people want to go" is to some extent driven by where the transit sys-
>tem goes.

    And that can be placed squarely on the electorate.  MARTA tried to expand 
  into Gwinnett County (NE Atlanta) but was voted down twice by the somewhat
  wealthier (and signifcantly higher Caucasian percentage) population of 
  Gwinnett County.  So now we have absolutely no public transportation in
  Gwinnett.  Need to go somewhere? Cab or walk.  

  They are just now finishing a new station on MARTA's north line - the
  Doraville Station - which ends about 3/4 mile from the Gwinnett border (it is
  in DeKalb County).  Huge Park and Ride garage. Who do you think will use it?
  Folks driving 15-20 minutes from their homes in Gwinnett, of course.

  Cobb County is similar - MARTA wasn't allowed in, origianlly, but at least
  Cobb started its own county-run system.  

  MARTA will eventually move into Cobb, Gwinnett, and other Atlanta counties,
  but it won't be easy.  It may take another fuel crisis, or some other
  cathartic event .... but eventually it will happen.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Ted Koppel  --  ted@carl.org  or   tkoppel@cassandra.cair.du.edu
From: campbell@redsox.bsw.com (Larry Campbell)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Cost of transit systems vs highways
Date: 21 Aug 92 04:11:46 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc.


In article <57361@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>
> You are assuming that the downtowns and inner cities are worth preserving.
> I consider them an anachronism, set up by the unavailability of decent
> transportation and communication.  
> 
> ...
> 
> Long distance telephone is now often cheaper than writing, and email already
> has replaced much use of paper.  The need for the central cities is essentially
> over.  Let the urban congestion die a natural death, instead of making everyone
> pay through the nose to keep it going.

There are those who believe that actual face-to-face contact is preferable
to telephone calls.  If you live out in the woods with a FAX machine,
your social life is going to be a bit constrained.  The quality of life
(outside your cocoon) is much higher in urban areas.

Here's a simple example:  you absolutely will not have a decent selection
of restaurants in an area of low population density.  A fairly predictable
percentage of the general population visits good restaurants, and you
can only eat out so many times a month.  Most people don't want, or can
not afford, to take more than an hour to get to a restaurant.  Draw
a circle of an hour's radius around where you live.  Count the number of
people in the circle.  Divide by the appropriate factor and you'll have
an upper bound on the number of restaurants that can survive.

The more people there are in the circle, the more restaurants.  The same
goes for nightclubs, brewpubs, acting companies, orchestras, sailing
clubs, karaoke bars, dinner theaters, etc. etc.

I suppose there are people out there who are perfectly happy to eat
TV dinners while slouched in front of an "electronic entertainment center".
I prefer real life.
-- 
Larry Campbell             The Boston Software Works, Inc., 120 Fulton Street
campbell@redsox.bsw.com    Boston, Massachusetts 02109 (USA)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
Subject: Re: Maximum age for cars (was Re: Restroom Closings on Amtrak)
Reply-To: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 18:10:12 GMT


In a previous article, christo@bcarh803.BNR.CA (Mark Christopher) says:

>In article <5025@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, macman+@pitt.edu (Dennis H
>Lippert) writes:
>[[some stuff about the age of Amfleet cars and cost of retrofitting
>holding tanks on washrooms.]]
>|>Also, most of the cars are nearing the 40-year age... quite a large
>|>number, and also the legal maximum age for an interchange freight
>|>car... anyone know of such a rule for passenger equipment?
>
>Is this age limit absolute or can it modified by rebuilds?
>
>Are the "retired" cars prohibited from being used on any trains at
>all or can they be used on locals or MOW, etc?
>

  I don't know what the absolute age for a revenue car is, but I'd guess
non-revenue equipment (e.g.: Maintainence of way) can be run as long as the
railroad is willing to keep it up to standards.  ATSF is still using tanks
in MW service that were built in the teens and two classes of flatcars built 
in 1910!  Most of these cars have an "R" after their number indicating 
restrictions due to factors listed beside the "R" such as age, frame, trucks,
yoke, etc.

-- 
 o__II___---__---__---___I~~~|~______________    |~~~~~~|~~|~~~~~~| |~~~~~~|~~|
 _|______________________|___|_|     3000    `\  |      |  |      | |      |  |
/ o~~O-O-O-O-O~~O-O-O-O-O~~o~~~~o-o-o~~~~o-o-o~~~~o--o~~~~~~~~o--o~~~o--o~~~~~~
Evan Werkema---------------------------------------------------elw4@po.cwru.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: tvervaek@col.hp.com (Tom Vervaeke)
Subject: Employee Timetables - Carl Loucks
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 20:38:20 GMT
Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division

As a new railfanner, I am trying all I can do to learn the ropes
in the local territory - Colorado Springs. We have 3 major rr's
here: BN, Sante Fe, and some SP (swallowed our old D&RGW).      

While reading Trains magazine I can across an advertisement for a 
guy called Carl Louck. In the 9/92 issue it is on page 16 to the
left. He sells older employee timetables and the like for some
reasonable. For example, a 1989 vintage BN Denver is $12. Has anyone
here ever used these things? He claims they contain data on
railroad operations, stations, signal rules, mileages. etc... Many
have complete maps and grade profiles. I thought this would be
a great way to learn something local. I realize '89 is kind of old,
but the track hasn't changed much here lately. 
 
Is it possible to get these things from employees locally on the
side? I.E "offer" them a few bucks for a current copy? I really
want to learn all the inside stuff regarding mile posts, sidings,
grades, etc..
 
How does everyone else do it?  You can only learn so much by observing
and listening to the scanner.
 
P.S. What is the frequency of the device now used in lieu of a
     caboose by many railroads?
 
Thanks.
From: vaughnw@asia.fai.com (Vaughn Wolffe)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: _Scientific American_ profiles Maglev Trains
Date: 20 Aug 92 15:27:52 GMT



>From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
>Maglevs on a maglev test track on Germany that is hardly
>noticed by cows grazing on a pasture almost directly underneath the
>tracks.


Over 4th of July I went to Santa Fe on Amtrak. The cows grazing
next to the track did not look up at our train or the highway
next to it. Heck, they didn't even look up when we stopped in 
the middle of nowhere because the loco died.



   Vaughn Wolffe        vaughnw@hadar.fai.com


Newsgroups: rec.railroad,alt.great-lakes,uwm.general
From: dave@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Dave Rasmussen)
Subject: Ride to Marquette MI?
Originator: dave@opus.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: UW-Milwaukee Computing Services Division
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:24:52 GMT


I'm driving up to Marquette Mi, either part way on Thursday Aug 20 or
all the way on Friday Aug 21. Riding WC train trips east and west of
Marquette on sat/sun, and returning to Milwaukee on Monday Aug 24.
Anyone who might want to carpool back to their family farm or whatever
in the northern reaches of the state along the way, or others going on
the train trip, lemme know. If I go up thursday night I may well end up
just going near Crandon that night.
From: forags@yogi.berkeley.edu (Al Stangenberger)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Comparing other systems to BART
Date: 12 Aug 1992 16:06:07 GMT
Organization: U.C. Forestry & Res. Mgt.
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: yogi.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Aug12.095750.998@msus1.msus.edu> schumann@msus1.msus.edu writes:
>In fact, I seem to recall that both systems were designed by the same
>company.  I believe that this company did both the fare collection systems
>and the rolling stock, which would explain the similarities.
>
>Anyone remember which company did this work?

BART's original cars were built by Rohr in Chula Vista, CA.  BART staff did
a lot of prototype development on a test track near Walnut Creek, CA, which
was later incorporated into the system.  I don't know what company did the
engineering design on the cars.

I think some of the early fare collection equipment was built by Cubic Data
Systems.  Again, don't know who designed it though.


-- 
Al Stangenberger                    Dept. of Forestry & Resource Mgt.
forags@violet.berkeley.edu          145 Mulford Hall - Univ. of Calif.
uucp:  ucbvax!ucbviolet!forags      Berkeley, CA  94720
BITNET: FORAGS AT UCBVIOLE          (510) 642-4424  FAX: (510) 643-5438                      
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: tvervaek@col.hp.com (Tom Vervaeke)
Subject: Snowsqualmie Falls, WA Train Yard?
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 14:13:44 GMT
Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division

On a recent business trip to Seattle Washington, I made an evening 
trip out to the little town of Snowsqualmie (sp) Falls. Its about
30 minutes east of Seattle directly on Interstate 80. The town is
famous to some as it is the filming locations of the now-defunct
show Twin Peaks. I believe they recently filmed a Twin Peaks movie
there also.
 
ANyway. Upon entering the little town there was a decent sized
collection of railroad hardware along the road.  There were at 
least 1/2 dozen steam engines in various stages of rusting, a
good selection of railroad cars, etc.. I was in kind of a hurry,
but did not see a museum.  The local area has a logging history
so perhaps there was a railroad here in times past (maybe even
now).    
 
Anyone on the net who know anything about this area? I'd very much
like to know more about it.

Thanks.
From: casey@bradley.bradley.edu (Chris Langston)
Subject: Re: Driver clunk
Organization: Bradley University
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 15:44:24 GMT

In <karl.20.714016573@empirical.com> karl@empirical.com (Karl Auerbach) writes:

>A couple of weeks ago I chased 4449 and 2472 down to Watsonville.

>While they were turning the train at the Y, I couldn't help but hear the 
>drivers on 4449 making rather loud clunks each time the driver went
>around.  The 2472 was quiet.

>Is it normal for the rods to be so noisy?

>			--karl--

 Well this is semi-normal. Most locomotives develope this problem. It is  
just showing that the locomotive needs some "Running gear" work. Mosty likly
the bearings in 4449's side rods are getting wore, And will need to be replaced
in a few months(if they runn it alot). Back when the steam locomotives were
running all the time. It was not unusuall to hear the rods "banging" on heavy
fright locomotives. 

 Now I have also read in locomotive cyclopedias (the service manual for 
steam locomotives). That the old friction bearings would knock when the
heat of the outside vs the locomotive were drasticly different. (I would
assume when the outside temp was bellow zero, and the locomotive was around 
110 or so it would cause the rods to knock) But I have never read or heard 
about that happening on a locomotive having roller bearings. I have heard 
765 with rod knock and the Frisco 1522 also knock. But I have never heard
611, or 844 knock. 

  So if you heard 4449's rods knocking. then she is in need of replacement 
of the roller bearings in the side rods.

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unknown Indian Chief "Iron Horse bad medicine"                              -
- Unknown Army Scout   "What do you think is good medicine?"                  -
- Unknown Indian Chief "Milk of Magnesia"                                     -
- Chris Langston  casey@bradley.bradley.edu                                   -