HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: paull@plasma.co.uk (Paul Lee)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: SNCF in UK
Date: 7 Nov 92 17:23:00 GMT
Reply-To: paull@plasma.co.uk
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.

In article 4044@s1.gov, lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:
>In article <1992Nov6.174914.8338@bcrka451.bnr.ca> dewi@bnr.ca (Dewi Williams) writes:
>
>>Can anybody comment on the rumour that SNCF (French National Rlys)
>>are proposing to purchase the London-Edinburgh line when the latter
>>gets privatized?
>
>	I haven't heard of _that_ one, but that would be politically
>embarrassing, something like the Japanese acquisition of some major
>American company.
>
>	But on the plus side, mayby they'll run TGV's.


They definitely won't run TGV's. They're TOO BIG. The British loading gauge is
too small, and every single bridge, tunnel, platform, viaduct etc would have to be
widened, the overhead catenary raised, and the tracks slewed apart. Quite expensive.

What is happening is that EPS (European Passenger Services) is building some Class
373 units for use with the channel tunnel. These may run up the East Coast Main
Line (ECML) to Edinburgh, and are sort of based on the TGV, and some will be owned
by SNCF.

Maybe this is what you really mean !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


---


		Cheers,
			Paul Lee (Hoppy)


			Meiko Scientific Ltd.

			Email: paull@meiko.com

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       HEINEKEN REFRESHES THE COMPUTERS OTHER BEERS CANNOT REACH
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Subject: Re: compound locos (was Re: High Speed Rail Query)
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:47:26 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

Has anyone ever tried building a locomotive that tried to recondense
water from the steam?  It would seem that a closed cycle would be
of great interest, given how quickly steam engines need to refill
their water tanks.
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: rogerm@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (Roger Mitchell)
Subject: Compound Locomotives
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 22:01:21 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.4 PL6]

The need for compound expansion of steam locomotives was largely eliminated
by the application of superheated steam to locomotives. The use of super
heated steam permitted using  shorter cut-offs in single expansion engines 
and increased their efficiency to the point of surpassing that of saturated 
compound engines and greatly reduced the complexity of the machinery in 
the process. The last successful compound locomotives built in the U.S.
were the N&W Y class 2-8-8-2 mallets. They were true mallets and were
highly successful when used on slow heavy coal drags, but when it came
to hauling the mail on fast freight the class A simple articulated did
the job far more efficiently. One other note about many compound locomotives
is that they had what was called an intercepting valve which allowed high
pressure steam to be admitted to all the cylinders of a locomotive to provide
more power for starting a load.

				Roger Mitchell
				Master Mechanic Ft. Collins Municipal Railway
From: craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au (Craig Dewick)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: flashing signals
Date: 7 Nov 92 06:31:59 GMT
Organization: Kralizec Dialup Unix Sydney: +61-2-837-1183 V.32

eoliver@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au (Eddie Oliver) writes:

>Your description does however cover a slightly different situation from
>what I was originally referring to. Your Berowra case actually relates to
>a pulsating yellow BAND of lights (below an upper red); i.e. in NSW
>terminology "medium turnout", or "medium clear" in US terminology. This is
>different from a flashing MAIN yellow, which is "medium caution" in NSW terms
>and "approach medium" in US terms. 

There is no difference between a pulsating band or a pulsating single
light, except that one indicates a turnout and the other not. Both
indications convey one thing - that the next signal is NOT at stop.

There is no such thing as a flashing mainline signal indication. The
only flashing signal indication is a small yellow 'shunt ahead' found on starting signals.
-- 
 Craig Dewick               |        - Railway Preservation Industries -
 Send email to:             |            Supporting the Preservation
 craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au |          of Australia's Railway Heritage
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: HO MODEL RAIL ROAD STUFF FOR SALE
From: mzal@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (mike.zaleski)
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:02:09 GMT
Distribution: ho
Organization: Personal Opinions Only.

HO TRAIN SET FOR SALE.  Includes track, transformer,
and cars (which may be suitable for parts, but are
missing the couplers - kids!).  Asking $15.
I also have a HO "racing truck" set for $20 and a
small collection of MicroCars for $1.
Thanks for your interest.

Michael Zaleski  (908)-576-3189   attmail!mzaleski
-- 
-- "The Model Citizen" Mike^Z  [ allegra, att ] pegasus!mzal  (908)-576-3189
"... well he looked me in the eye as he was writing me up,
 he said, "driver you been flyin'.
 That 95 was the route you were on, it was not the speed limit sign.""
From: R.Todd.Minsk@dartmouth.edu (R. Todd Minsk)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Condensors and turbines (Was: Re: compound locos (was Re: High 
 Speed Rail Query))
Date: 12 Nov 92 00:23:56 GMT
 <36546@cbmvax.commodore.com> 
 <1992Nov5.200421.14679@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> 
 <1992Nov6.064845.19703@sq.sq.com> 
 <1992Nov6.164726.16489@ulysses.att.com>  <urf.721208138@sw2001>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

In article <urf.721208138@sw2001>
urf@icl.se (Urban F) writes:

> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
> 
> >Has anyone ever tried building a locomotive that tried to recondense
> >water from the steam?  It would seem that a closed cycle would be
> >of great interest, given how quickly steam engines need to refill
> >their water tanks.

Some steam locomotives in South Africa are identified as having
"condensing tenders", which are identifiable by having some sort of
grillework on the sides. From the photos I've seen, all are large
main-line types (and narrow gauge, too). I don't know how the apparatus
actually works.

Todd Minsk, ferro-bibliographer
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton)
ReplyTo: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: Articulated locos (was Re: compound locos ...)
Distribution: world
X-Mailer: cppnews $Revision: 1.19 $
Organization: Indexed; Access: Random.
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 04:03:20 +0000

In article <1dicm2INN3l8@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema) writes:

>   I know Garretts were used in Australia and Africa (still?), but I can't think
>of a North American railway which used them.  Is there any particular reason 
>why it didn't catch on in the USA?  

Yes, Garrats are still used in daily revenue service in Zimbabwe. You
owe it to yourself to get out there and see them on the coal hauls on
the Bulawayo to Victoria Falls line - mortgage the house, sell the car
and send the kids out to work, or regret it for ever.

Garretts were briefly tried in the USA, but allegedly a combination of
the licensing fee and Not-Invented-Here meant that no major lines could
be interested in them. These two principles seem to have dictated the
development of a lot of second-best railway technology :-(
                                                          
Nick Leverton
-- 
"Government spending on the |  Lies, damned lies and Department of
 railways has increased."   |  Transport press statements.
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: roma@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Roma)
Subject: Re: Old Railway Age?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 03:29:06 GMT

Prime Mover Software Development <U93_PTUPACZE@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU> writes:

>I'm just trying to see what the interest would be in reprints of Railway Age 
>magazine, circa 1940's-1950's.  A friend of mine has a collection and was 
>thinking of reprinting them if people would want them... any takers?

Isn't this a rather monumental task?  Reprinting ten or more years worth of
_Railway Age_ would involve a substantial amount of material.  Since _RA_
was a weekly back then, you're talking about 52 weeks * 10 years * 50 pages
[roughly] for a whopping 26,000 pages!   This project will be neither cheap
nor simple.  Will there be enough demand to make the per-copy cost of the
reprints affordable?

One thing to bear in mind is that much of the old _Railway Age_ consists of
minute facts and figures, such as financial statistics and railroad personnel
changes.  Admittedly, many of these facts are interesting and helpful to
people researching railroad history.  However, how many people will want to
read through scores of pages containing announcements about so-and-so being
named traffic manager for the AB&C Railway at Podunk, Utah?

My intent is not to sound negative or to discourage this project.  It's a
very interesting idea, but I think the scope will have to be scaled back
somewhat for it to be practical.

What I would like for starters would be a reprint of the _Railway Age_ 
indices for the 1940's and 1950's (and other years for that matter).  While
this wouldn't be as interesting as reprints of the magazines themselves,
it wouldn't be such a monumental chore.  Having a copy of the indices would
be an incredible time-saver for those of us who spend large portions of our
lives in libraries. 

And if we can train an army of monkeys to type in all the _Railway Age_
index data from Day One, I'd love to have this on CD-ROM!  :-)
-- 
Jon Roma
Computing and Communications Services Office,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Internet:  roma@uiuc.edu      	UUCP:      uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!roma
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 22:32:02 GMT

In article <16896AD4B.R1004@vmcms.csuohio.edu>, R1004@vmcms.csuohio.edu
wrote:
> 
> 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?

Many people are agressive drivers.  They'll pull out in front of you knowing
that you'll stop to avoid an accident.  This behavior gets ingrained, and then
they start pulling out in front of trains, knowing the train will stop to
avoid an accident - WRONG.

-Mike
From: romeo@niagara.Tymnet.COM (Michael Stimac)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Old Railway Age?
Date: 8 Nov 92 22:17:39 GMT
Organization: BT North America (Tymnet)

In article <01GQSJ6BHQF6935GN1@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU> U93_PTUPACZE@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU (Prime Mover Software Development) writes:
>I'm just trying to see what the interest would be in reprints of Railway Age 
>magazine, circa 1940's-1950's.  A friend of mine has a collection and was 
>thinking of reprinting them if people would want them... any takers?
>

An enthusiastic "YES" from me. I love to be able to obtain
such things.

Would he reprint the entire magazines, or just selected
articles?

Michael Stimac

-- 
Michael Stimac
(415) 355-8889
romeo@tymnet.com
These opinions are not necessarily anyone's but my own.
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: roma@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Roma)
Subject: Re: ICC gives WC preliminary approval to buy GB&W
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1992 01:11:31 GMT

Joe.Russ <Joe.Russ@mixcom.mixcom.com> writes:

>I've never been a fan of the WC - I've just got this thing about scab
>(non-union) roads.

Whoa!  I'd hardly characterize the Wisconsin Central as a ``scab'' railroad.
In my book, the term ``scab'' describes a person that doesn't join a strike
or one hired to replace striking workers.  This has not happened on the WC.
I think it's more accurate to simply describe WC as a ``non-union'' road.

It might be relevant to note that WC's workers have deliberated on this issue
at least once and rejected the option of union representation.  WC's workers
are entitled to decide on their representation and on their future, even
if that future doesn't include a union.

I am not anti-union.  However, I am certainly not in favor of the attitude
that WC's workers should be unionized, whether they want it or not.  It's
pretty hard for me to criticize the Wisconsin Central success story: WC has
one the best operating ratios in the railroad industry and one of the
highest customer service ratings.  WC's been aggressive about soliciting
new traffic and has fairly good employee-management relations.  The overall
results of an operation is more important to me than whether the operation
is unionized or not.

I'd hazard a guess that the FRVR and GB&W lines have a more secure future
under WC operation than had they stayed independent; neither FRVR nor GB&W
can be characterized as terribly robust.  I'd rather keep the traffic and
jobs in the railroad industry than give it away forever to trucks.
-- 
Jon Roma
Computing and Communications Services Office,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Internet:  roma@uiuc.edu      	UUCP:      uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!roma
From: hleaves@gems.vcu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Hopping trains for a ride
Date: 9 Nov 92 21:50:10 -0400
Organization: Medical College of Virginia

I used to know a group of people who hopped freight trains for free rides and a
thrill. I presume that this is very illegal. What are the laws regarding doing
this? I've heard that the caboose crew is allowed to shoot people trying to
jump their trains. Is this true? It seems like rather a severe measure to
prevent kids catching a ride. Why do they do this? 

-- 
*******************************************************************************
** Hugh L. Eaves                      ** Internet: hleaves@ruby.vcu.edu      **
** Medical College of Virginia        ** Bitnet: hleaves@vcuruby             **
** Department of Human Genetics       ** Voice: (804) 371-8754               **
***************** All non-incendiary communication welcome! *******************
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Subject: Re: European trains
Organization: LLNL
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 19:59:13 GMT

	As to info, I have before me the Thomas Cook European
Timetable of trains and ferries.

	It has over 500 pages of schedules, and (by a rough guess)
several of the countries have at least as many scheduled trains as
Amtrak does. I could also see how often such fast trains as the TGV
were scheduled -- one per direction per _hour_.

	There were also such interesting tidbits as car trains (like
Amtrak's Auto Train), which run between many of the major cities, and
airport access (some major cities have direct rail access).
From: Steve_Hooper@mindlink.bc.ca (Steve Hooper)
Subject: Cow Catchers
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 00:22:01 GMT

> William Adams writes:
>
>       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".


Hi Bill,

One of our (CP Rail) operating rules states that when livestock is struck,
the dispatcher must be notified immediately.  In some cases, CP will
re-imburse the farmer for lost cattle.  This brings back a story I told once
where a farmer purposely left his gate open and led his herd on to the
tracks.  A train came around the corner and nailed about 10 of them.  CP
Police investigated and discovered what he had done and he got NOTHING.  This
happened in Southern BC by Sparwood.

As for cow-catchers, their main use is to shovel anything off the track, be
it rocks, debris, or cars.  In bad climates, large ones are used as snow
plows.  They ride about 2 inches above the railhead and can sweep most small
stuff out of the way.


--

 steve_hooper@mindlink.bc.ca   []  The Great White North in
 OR      a777@mindlink.bc.ca   []   Vancouver, BC, CANADA
From: rap@nnsgs50.lon40.nt.com (Richard Porter)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: SNCF in UK
Date: 11 Nov 1992 15:06:05 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe Limited
NNTP-Posting-Host: nnsgs50.lon40.nt.com

In article <1992Nov6.201231.4044@s1.gov> lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:
>In article <1992Nov6.174914.8338@bcrka451.bnr.ca> dewi@bnr.ca
(Dewi Williams) writes:

>>Can anybody comment on the rumour that SNCF (French National Rlys)
>>are proposing to purchase the London-Edinburgh line when the latter
>>gets privatized?

>	I haven't heard of _that_ one, but that would be politically
>embarrassing, something like the Japanese acquisition of some major
>American company.

The Govt's current plans, such as they are, do not include selling off lines.
There would be a national track authority and services (presumably the
profitable ones) would be franchised.

>	But on the plus side, mayby they'll run TGV's.

SNCF could of course bid for the London-Edinburgh franchise and operate
TGVs, only they would have to be built to the BR loading gauge.

Incidentally there is growing opposition in the UK to rail privatisation,
with various transport, environmental and consumer pressure groups joining
forces to mount a co-ordinated campaign. The recent pit closures fiasco
has shown up the Tories' privatisation sham for what it is and any promises
that the consumer will benefit are seen to be hollow.

Richard
From: TSOS@uni-duesseldorf.de (Detlef Lannert)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: European trains
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 13:47:33 GMT
Organization: Universitaetsrechenzentrum, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Duesseldorf
NNTP-Posting-Host: lannert.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de

In article <7857@charon.cwi.nl> dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes:

 [...]
> > airport access (some major cities have direct rail access).
>I know of Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London Gatwick (Heathrow is served
>by the Underground).

So has Duesseldorf (served by local "S-Bahn" trains; a stop for
Eurocity / Intercity trains is under consideration).
--
Detlef Lannert      DC3EK      E-Mail: tsos@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
"Gedanken sind nicht stets parat,
man schreibt auch, wenn man keine hat."             Wilhelm Busch
From: ianking@nnsgs52.lon40.nt.com (Ian King)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Eurostar
Date: 12 Nov 1992 14:25:25 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe Ltd, 
NNTP-Posting-Host: nnsgs52.lon40.nt.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Per Harwe (ebuhwe@ebu.ericsson.se) wrote:
: I just saw a short notice that the new high speed train for the channel
: tunnel has been shown by the French, Belgian and Brittish railways.
: 

There is an article on it in this week's RAIL magazine (which I unfortunately
dont have with me)

Regards....
...........Ian
	    
--
ADVANCE MICRO COMPUTERS LTD & Wolverton Rail | EMAIL: ianking@amicro.demon.co.uk
 PO Box 362, Olney, Nr. Milton Keynes,       |   or   ianking@lon40.nt.com
  Bucks, MK46 5ES, ENGLAND, UK.              |
   TEL: +44 (0)234-711615 FAX: +44 (0)234-240976 MOBILE: +44 (0)831-535618
From: rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Why do New England Express trains slow down...
Date: 11 Nov 1992 20:50:34 GMT
Organization: Bolt, Beranek & Newman, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: spcsun25.bbn.com

...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.

-- 
Ron Newman		rnewman@bbn.com
From: elw4@po.CWRU.Edu (Evan L. Werkema)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Stupid People (Grade crossings)
Date: 6 Nov 1992 07:13:55 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


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

>I don't believe the driver's ed course I took or the state of MD 
>drivers handbook says anything about trains beyond look both ways
>at crossings and "this is what a railroad crossing sign looks like".
>Maybe instead of showing so many drunken driver accident blood/gore
>films, drivers ed should show a general "don't do this" film...
>a good film of a car getting t-boned by an engine (just an engine alone
>would do, staged, of course) would certainly make people aware of
>the potential health risk.  

  I seem to remember a blood/gore film I saw in driver's ed. called _Signal 30_
which, toward the end of the film, showed the results of a fatal grade crossing
accident.  I was personally at the point of vomitting after 30 minutes of 
accident scenes, but did take the time to note the Southern Railway F's on the
point.

  About once a year, the Santa Fe stages a collision between a trio of GP35's 
and a 1970's Ford somewhere on the system.  The collisions are (I think) at
35 mph for the train, with the car "stalled" on the tracks.  A film of one
of these is at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago by the ATSF 
layout/display.  Even with light engines at 35 mph (as opposed to 10,000 tons
of train at 50), the image is pretty convincing.

-- 
   -----_._._,_,,_,__._._     _._.__,_,,_,_._._----      
  _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: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: U.S. railroad maps (topo maps)
Date: 13 Nov 1992 21:32:23 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: hobbes.ucsc.edu


Speaking of topo maps, and the infrequency of updating thereof, I got to
wondering if there is some place the government keeps obsolete topo maps.
So if, for example, an old railroad yard has been paved over and the
current topo map has been updated to delete the yard, is there somewhere
you could find an earlier version of the topo map that would show it.
-- 
haynes@cats.ucsc.edu
haynes@cats.bitnet

"Ya can argue all ya wanna, but it's dif'rent than it was!"
"No it aint!  But ya gotta know the territory!"
        Meredith Willson: "The Music Man"

Newsgroups: rec.railroad