HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Date: 13 Nov 1992 05:51:15 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, wadams@spitz.ECE.CMU.EDU (William Adams) says:

>      A bit off the subject, but what's the deal with the "cow-catcher"
>on locomotives today?  Are there still giant unfenced herds in the
>west that require their use.  If so, why haven't herders made a big
>fuss over their cattle getting plowed?  Or is there cow-insurance that
>covers such train mishaps?  
>      If cattle are no longer a problem, maybe these devices should be
>renamed (and possibly redesigned) as "car-catchers".  Maybe a giant
>marshmellow or something.
>
>      I would appreciate answers concerning the current need for 
>"cow-catchers".

  I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss as to what you're referring to.  To me,
a "cowcatcher" is the thing which surrounded the coupler on the front of a 
steam engine, made of old boiler tubes and such, usually coming to a point 
above the center of the tracks.  
 
  On most diesels I've seen, the front of the engine is dead flat except for
the anticlimber and (until a few years ago) the footboards.  Are you referring
to the small snowplow pilot sometimes added by the railroad, that is mounted
around the coupler and below the anticlimber?  Many Santa Fe locomotives have
these, since ATSF's only other snow-fighting equipment is a rotary plow.

  By the way, on the subject of cattle, they are still a problem some places.
In New Mexico, they aren't present as large herds, but some ranchers still
graze their cattle on public lands near the railroad.  On one trip into
Abo Canyon east of Belen, I counted four or five cows that had been caught
unawares up in the cuts.  I don't know what the railroad's policy is on 
compensating the owner...though I'd guess they'd be lucky finding the owner 
at all...

-- 
   -----_._._,_,,_,__._._     _._.__,_,,_,_._._----      
  _Ioo I ===        ====I     I====        === IooI____   I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
|_II___I____Santa Fe____I_| |_I__Evan Werkema__I__I___I_| I elw4@po.cwru.edu I
`-~O==O~===========~O==O~-`~`-~O==O~=============~O==O~-`~~o==o~\/~\/~\/~o==o~
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: prking@silver.cs.umanitoba.ca (Peter King)
Subject: Great Central Railway
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 03:09:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago there were several messages dealing with 
various aspects of the Great Central Railway in the UK. In 
particular the (tragic) fact that the one railway in the UK built to 
Berne guage is no more.

I have just been reading Mac Hawkins stunning book "The Great 
Central Then and Now". It is a series of maps and photos of the 
portion of the GC mail line from Sheffield to London. The photos are 
in pairs -- a view of the line as it was when the line was 
operational, and then a view from the same location as it is today. 
Most of the "then" photos are late 50's early 60's. The "now" ones 
are 1989/90. 

I have a couple of other books of this type of the Northwest and the 
Lake District for example -- none on this scale however.. I would be 
interested in knowing of other titles of this type. I find the dual 
photos really add to the nostalgia already afforded by the "then" 
pictures.

The question that I hope somebody can help with is as follows. There 
is a brief section at the beginning of the book entitled Great 
Central Renaissance? This suggests that there is a consortium 
interested in re-opening some 60 miles of the route from Whetstone 
to a point between Banbury and Marylebone on the Chiltern line. This 
would be part of a freight route from Kent to the Midlands. I would 
be very interested in hearing whether this is fact of fiction, and 
what the status is, if any.

Peter King
prking@cs.UManitoba.ca
From: x92ochs1@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Misspelling of "Amtrak" (was Re: Metroliners)
Date: 5 Nov 92 19:15:33 EST
Distribution: na
Organization: Western Michigan University

In article <lfipggINNahd@news.bbn.com>, rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman) writes:
> Seriously....
> 
> how did the National Rail Passenger Corporation ever
> get the name "Amtrak" anyway?
> 
> -- 
> Ron Newman		rnewman@bbn.com

"Amtrak" is a short version of "Americans on track."

From: dave@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Dave Hodge)
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:45:05 GMT
Subject: Re: Mallet / Compound (Was: Re: High Speed Rail Query)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.railroad

In rec.railroad, ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff) writes:

> 
> COMPOUNDS
> 
> Lopsided compounds with a high pressure cylinder on one
> side and a low pressure cylinder on the other were not
> uncommon in the U.S. in the late 19th century.  They
> were usually called Vulcain Cross Compounds, after Sam
> Vulcain (sp?) of the Baldwin Locomotive Works who 
> pushed the design.  I don't know what their technical
> problems were, but most were rebuilt to simples after
> the turn of the century.

I'll see if I can do this without sticking my foot in my mouth again.:-)

What you described I've always heard called just a cross compound (high
pressure on one side, low on the other, only one cylinder each; total=2),
while the Vauclain compound used one low and one high pressure cylinder
together on each side, one above the other (total=4).  As I recall, both
schemes suffered from the inability of the technology of the time to deal
with all the steam fittings.  Both were notorious for leaking steam all over
the place, which was the reason many were converted to simple.

Dave Hodge			Hewlett Packard
dave@hpfcdjh.fc.hp.com		User-Interface Technology Division
KF0XD				Ft. Collins, Co.
From: romeo@niagara.Tymnet.COM (Michael Stimac)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Mallet / Compound (Was: Re: High Speed Rail Query)
Date: 8 Nov 92 22:15:30 GMT
Organization: BT North America (Tymnet)

In article <1992Nov4.133100.11273@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> ggg9y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Garth G. Groff) writes:
>Lopsided compounds with a high pressure cylinder on one
>side and a low pressure cylinder on the other were not
>uncommon in the U.S. in the late 19th century.  They
>were usually called Vulcain Cross Compounds, after Sam
>Vulcain (sp?) of the Baldwin Locomotive Works who 
>pushed the design. 

Samuel Matthews Vauclain is the name you want.

Michael Stimac
-- 
Michael Stimac
(415) 355-8889
romeo@tymnet.com
These opinions are not necessarily anyone's but my own.
From: mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Mallet / Compound
Date: 7 Nov 92 12:24:03 GMT

Garth Groff writes:

>Lopsided compounds with a high pressure cylinder on one side and a low
>pressure cylinder on the other were not uncommon in the U.S.  in the late
>19th century.  They were usually called Vulcain Cross Compounds, after Sam
>Vulcain (sp?)  of the Baldwin Locomotive Works who pushed the design.

That's Vauclain compound, and they had a low and high pressure cylinders on
both sides.  The high pressure cylinder and the valves were on top; the low
pressure was on the bottom, and the crosshead and its guides were in between
the two piston rods.  It was indeed a Baldwin design.

Besides being more difficult to work on, in this case the crosshead guides
wore out very quickly because the forces from the two cylinders weren't
equal.

B&O, of course, had a slew of these, as well as tandem compounds (high and
low pressure cylinders on the same piston rod-- an even worse idea).  Just
about the only motive power ideas that they didn't try were Sante Fe's
bizarre Mallet with the articulated *boiler*, and conjugate motion.
Compounds didn't last long except on the big engines, and even then the
trend was towards simple engines; large numbers of B&O compounds were
converted up until the arrival of the diesels made it all moot.  Some of Col.
Emerson's toys were compound, but after all....

N&W was the only railroad to really make compounds work over the long haul,
and in their case, it was the discovery that adding a little high pressure,
and more importantly, high temperature steam to the low pressure steam
improved performance a LOT.


-- 
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."
From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Misspelling of "Amtrak" (was Re: Metroliners)
Date: 6 Nov 92 04:48:20 GMT
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Distribution: na
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <lfipggINNahd@news.bbn.com> rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman) writes:
> Seriously....
> 
> how did the National Rail Passenger Corporation ever
> get the name "Amtrak" anyway?

It was a spelling error they were to embarrassed to correct.

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,     work:   to be avoided at all costs...
but no way officially representing:   uucp:   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
Commodore, Engineering Department     domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com
From: stonecp@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Christopher P Stone)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: German train schedules: Frankfurt to Dusseldorf
Date: 11 Nov 92 16:45:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: master.1drdbhINNjoa
Reply-To: stonecp@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Christopher P Stone)
Distribution: world
Organization: Computer Science Department at Rose-Hulman
NNTP-Posting-Host: o233-21.nextwork.rose-hulman.edu

In article <1992Nov10.063458.16112@wam.umd.edu> gurd@next04wor.wam.umd.edu  
(Daffy Duck) writes:
> Anybody familiar with DB rail schedules, I need schedule/fare  
information for
> service between the Frankfurt airport and Dusseldorf.  My mother is  
attending a  
> conference in Dusseldorf and does not want to rent a car, she will be  
arriving  
> on a morning flight from Washington Dullus to Frankfurt arriving at 7:30  
AM ...  
> on Monday November 30, any information about morning schedules and fares  
will  
> be appreciated.
I was in Germany this summer, and took the DB everywhere.  As far as going
Frankfurt to dusseldorf, there are several options.  I *think* that 
dusseldorf is served by one of the I.C.E. trains.  These are by far the
best, fastest, and most modern.  Between Frankfurt and Munich this summer
we hit 251 km/hr.  The problem is that these usually leave in the morning,
and you probably won't beable to connect to it.  The other option is to
take the slower local trains that make ALL the stops.  These are generally
old, dirty (not bad, but not what you would expect from germany), and 
uncomfortable (the seats are straight-backed with luggagle bins that 
scrape your head if you hit a rough spot- but then again, I'm tall.).  The 
nice thing is, the scenery is BEAUTIFUL!.  As far as getting from the 
airport to the train station, take the subway.  It's clean, safe, and 
inexpensive.  Trains leave about every 5 min.  Also, don't expect
german trains to wait on you or be runnig behind- they won't.  They are
ALWAYS on time.  This reminds me of something else.  Lufthansa has a rail
service run with some experimental high speed sets left over from the 70's  
(can't miss 'em - they look like donald duck's bill).  If your mother
is flying by LH, you might want to try this, it runs to most of the 
major cities within a couple hours distance, and it is just like being
on an airplane.  
Schedules:  sorry I can't help you there.  Although I have one, it is only  
good to Oct. 1.  With the reunification, everyting is in disarray, and the
equiptmen tis being streached to it's limits, part of the reason that 
everything doesn't seem as well taken care of as it should.  The only
way to get a current schedule is to call over there and ask that one be
sent or faxed to you, or ask for the times.  Most everyone in germany
speaks a little english, so be patient, and I'm sure that they will be 
VERY helpful.  Call internation information, and they will give you the 
number (god knows I did this enoguh).
Hope she enjoys her trip!.
-Chris Stone-
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Subject: Re: Hopping trains for a ride
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:35:11 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

Last time this subject came up, someone here recommended ``Rolling
Nowhere'', by Ted Conover, an account by a yuppie of some time he
spent hopping trains.  I commend this book to anyone contemplating
the practice.
From: mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: NEC ramblings
Date: 10 Nov 92 10:57:32 GMT
Distribution: na

Craig Hinners writes:

>The RDC's are used on the Brunswick line to do the "against the flow" runs.

They do this somewhat irregularly.  Over the summer the reverse trip was
covered by push-pull equipment.  I get the sense that the reverse runs are
sometimes used to ferry equipment to and from Brunswick during the day; the
reverse trip leaves Union Sta. after the last forward trip, and then returns
before the first outbound trip.

At least when I rode the Camden line trains, the RDCs were much more common
there.  On the Brunswick line they have mostly been supplanted by the new
equipment.

>Incidentally, late this past summer in July or Aug. (can't remember which),
>the afternoon inbound RDC set had a fire in one of the cars at the Rockville
>(two before Gaithersburg) station.

Fortunately, it wasn't 8913; I've seen it since.

MARC has just been told it is going to get 1/6th of the fed money it asked
for.  There goes the capital equipment improvements.
-- 
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."
From: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Another sound file posted
Date: 12 Nov 1992 02:15:02 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


  A few people requested more sound files, so I've posted another one to
alt.binaries.sounds.misc.  This one is of an westbound Conrail train 
led by DASH 8-40CW 6055 whistling for the one crossing in Madison, OH.  Enjoy!

-- 
   -----_._._,_,,_,__._._     _._.__,_,,_,_._._----      
  _Ioo I ===        ====I     I====        === IooI____   I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
|_II___I____Santa Fe____I_| |_I__Evan Werkema__I__I___I_| I elw4@po.cwru.edu I
`-~O==O~===========~O==O~-`~`-~O==O~=============~O==O~-`~~o==o~\/~\/~\/~o==o~
From: wbrill@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Warren Brill)
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1992 15:41:57 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: missspellings
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.railroad

In rec.railroad, hudson@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Hudson Leighton) writes:

> The Rock Island was nortious for putting any old door on U-boats, one of
> our local HO custom painters collected several pictures and did a series
> 
> I am the pround owner of a cKcK Isla  U-boat, in HO of course
                             ^^^^^^^^^
>                        Is this a new reporting mark? :-)
> 
> 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

 
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
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: saevans@l_cae06.icaen.uiowa.edu (Scott A Evans,,,)
Subject: Re: Why do New England Express trains slow down...
Originator: saevans@l_cae06
Reply-To: saevans@icaen.uiowa.edu
Organization: Iowa Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Iowa
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 21:22:35 GMT

From article <lg2sgqINNhg9@news.bbn.com>, by rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman):
> ....when passing through certain stations that they do
> not stop at, such as Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut?
> 
> Seems like they could gain 10 minutes or more on their
> schedules if they zoomed through these stations at full speed
> instead of crawling through them at what seemed like 20 mph.
> 

Some towns have laws prohibiting trains from going through their 
borders at above a certain speed.  I guess that the rationalle for this
is the decreased danger of major accidents and the reduced noise.

Scott

-- 
                                              / /  *\  
          Scott A Evans                      /0/ __O/  
     (saevans@icaen.uiowa.edu)      |TTTTTTTTTTTTTT\\T| 
       Grad Student For Life        |IIIIIIIIIIIIIII\\|  
     Sparks and Magic forever!      |      / \      / \  
                 o                  |     /  /      \ |\
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,rec.autos
From: bjork@telebit.com (Steven Bjork)
Subject: Dead meat, was Re: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Organization: Telebit Corporation; Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 20:20:42 GMT

In article <1992Nov12.142734.6331@gw.wmich.edu> x92ochs1@gw.wmich.edu writes:
>In article <1992Nov12.165118.15090@fs7.ece.cmu.edu>, wadams@spitz.ECE.CMU.EDU (William Adams) writes:
>> 
>> [discussion of grad (sic grade) crossing accidents]
[discussion of cows]

The Alaska Railroad has problems with moose. The trains plow out
a nice place for the critters to walk, thus they congregate there.

CTC Board mag claimed 20 or so struck in a single trip is not uncommon.

All this pales in comparison to the number of critters slaughtered
*every day* by automobiles. Sheep, deer, squirrels, cats, etc.etc.etc.

--Steven tries to maintain perspective
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: jerry@ncc.uky.edu (Jerry Nokes Jr.)
Subject: Posting Gif's
Keywords: gif's; steam engine 
Summary: Is it ok to post railroad gif's here?
Organization: University of Kentucky, Communications Services
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 17:43:21 GMT
Originator: jerry@ncc.uky.edu

Ok guys, I got some pictures of our little Steam Engine, 717, running
down the tracks from a few weeks ago.  Is it ok to post them here, I got 
four to put up.  Is anyone interested?


Jerry@ncc.uky.edu


-- 
Jerry R. Nokes, Jr.  University of Kentucky Wide Area Network Shop Technician
                     Volunteer Examiner ARRL & W5YI
Jerry@NCC.UKY.EDU    Official Observer for ARRL Field Bureau
                     WY8S@WY8S.#LEX.#CKY.KY.USA.NA [44.70.12.21]
From: R1004@vmcms.csuohio.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Date: 5 Nov 92 17:19:23 GMT
Organization: CSU

This is just a complaint about the stupid people we all hear about.
Last night's late news had a lovely picture of a car cut in half
by a freight train.  That's the third I've heard about this week
in northern Ohio.  What is it about flashing lights, gates, and
a locomotive that weighs more than they can imagine that these
people don't understand?
 
Okay, I feel better - had to vent my speen somewhere!
Thanks
-Bob
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Martel               |
bob2@cua3.csuohio.edu    |  Lady luck must have been a wonderful girl
R1004@vmcms.csuohio.edu  |    -She's never been a friend of mine!
                         |                        Alan Parsons Project
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: sven-e@lysator.liu.se (Sven L Eriksson)
Subject: X.2000 with diesel engine in the US.
Keywords: X.2000 Amtrak tilting
Organization: Lysator Academic Computer Society, Linkoping University, Sweden
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 12:34:00 GMT

This is an translation of an article that appeared yesterday in the
Swedish weekly technically newspaper "Ny Teknik". I hope you will get
the message of the article dispite any translation errors.

A diesel propelled X2000 can be running on american tracks in a few
years. ABB is currently looking for a possibility to insert a diesel
engine into the swedish high speed train. Diesel propulsion is needed
to enter the big american market.

X2000 is now being tested by Amtrak on the american east coast. If the
test runs completes successfully ABB can get an order for 26 trains
for a value of two billion swedish crowns (US $350 million). But even
bigger sales are possible if ABB manages to get an X2000 that can be
propelled with anything else than electricity.
In the US there are, not counting the north-east corridor Washington-
Boston, more than 15 more railway lines where tilting high speed train
technology whould fit. But the tracks are very curvy and the lines
almost totally lacks electricity. Straightening out these tracks
would cost enormous amounts of money. Money that the american train
companies don't have today. Supplying these lines with electricity
would also need large investments.
- Currently we are making a study that will indicate if it is possible
to construct a competitive diesel propelled tilting high speed train,
says Joseph Silien at american ABB Traction.
The study is about what demands possible customers will raise and what
technical problems with a diesel propelled high speed train with
tilting coaches.
Joseph Silien does not believe in gas turbine propulsion that whould
result in lower weight. American experiences show that turbine
development demands large investments and are expensive to maintain.
American ABB Traction will investigate if there are enough large and
easy diesel engines.
The locomotives chassi and brakes must also be inspected. Diesel
locomotives of today weighs much more than corresponding electrical
locomotive and it accelerates and brakes slower. A diesel propelled
locomotive for high speeds also raises new demands on wheels and
transmission. 
The control system, computers and software in X2000 must also be
adapted or rebuilt to handle the diesel propulsion.
ABB have already some experiences of controlling diesel engines from
X2000. The train that is currently being tested on the USA east coast
will also run the nonelectric line New Haven-Boston when a diesel
locomotive is coupled at the end of the train. The pushing locomotive
is controlled from the X2000 locomotive with help of some additions to
the control system. This technology is possible for a X2000-Diesel.
--
- Sven L Eriksson                 o O___ _________ _________ _________
-                               _][__|o| |O O O O| |O O O O| |O O O O|
-                              <_______|-|_______|-|_______|-|_______|
- Email: sven-e@lysator.liu.se  /O-O-O     o   o     o   o     o   o
Newsgroups: rec.railroad