HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: eddie@railnet.nshore.ORG (Eddie Van Huffel)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Calendar
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 12:41:16 EST
Distribution: na
Organization: Railnet BBS +1 216 786 0476

I have been receiving a Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers calendar for 
several years now, and was surprised to see that this calendar had no 
pictures in it.  the reason I have received it in the past, was the array 
of pictures which they had presented and it made a lovely wall adornment 
over my computer.  However this year, all of the top pages are blank.  
Can anyone out there, who might belong to the brotherhood enlighten me 
why this has happened?  Thank you in advance.


--
eddie@railnet.nshore.ORG (Eddie Van Huffel)
Railnet BBS +1 216 786 0476
From: MRH@tdkt.kksys.com (Dan McNulty)
Sender: FredGate@tdkt.kksys.com
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Amtrak and cold weather
Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1993 00:45:09 -0600

Re: Amtrak's Empire Builder comes to a stop.
 
     Because of the severe cold weather in the upper midwest region, Amtrak's
Empire Builder has discontinued its route of service temporarily.  Bus
service is being used to transport people who were stranded when service
came to a halt.

->Dan McNulty (From the Shoreham Section)
From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Heritage Fleet was Re: Amtrak orders Viewliners
Date: 31 Dec 92 05:47:02 GMT
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <92365.112647CSS3@psuvm.psu.edu> CSS3@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
> 
> In article <1992Dec28.205642.28639@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>,
> zephyr@cory.Berkeley.EDU (COIFMAN) says:
> >
> > I am wondering how Amtrak is/will dispose of the heritage fleet cars.
> >Do they just scrap them? Or will some be donated to railroad museums? Or
> >do they go up for sale to the highest bidder, be he a scrapper or be he
> >a railroad museum?
>
>    I can't say exactly what Amtrak's policy is toward disposing rolling stock
>  that it no longer has plans to operate on the road. I can say that Amtrak
>  does offer rail cars for sale to the public.

Probably the thing to do is contact Amtrak and ask to be put on the mailing
list for when equipment is put up for bid.  Depending on the real salvage
value and the uiltity of the equipment you might be able to get some for
a fairly low price, but then of course you will have to pay to have it
transported and find a place to store it.

Chance are something like sleeper would go cheap, but coaches, diners or
dome cars that would be of interest to tourist/dinner lines or railcar
lessors would go for considerably more than scrap value.

-- 
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: dermer@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Marshall Dermer)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Did AMTRAK USE BEACONS ON F-7's?
Date: 25 Dec 1992 23:30:38 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.30
Originator: dermer@convex.csd.uwm.edu

Many railroads have rotating or flashing beacons on their motive power e.g.,
the C&NW has an amber, rotating beacon over the cab of each locomotive.  When
AMTRAK used F-7's as motive power was there a beacon and if so what was
its color and placement?

Thanks!

Marshall
      -----------------------------------------------------------------. 
  .--/__|_|__Marshall_Lev_Dermer_ University of Wisconsin ______|_|____| 
  /.  . |-|   Moshe Ben Menasha         Milwaukee               |.|  | | 
 /   ___|-|_Dept. of Psychology _  dermer@convex.csd.uwm.edu____|_|__|_| 
/___/<_>==<_>\------------------------------------------------/<_>==<_>
From: mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: DMU's and putting the world to rights.
Date: 23 Dec 92 12:06:23 GMT

Robin Popplestone writes:

>When the US after the war plastered itself with copies of Hitler's gift to
>civilisation, the autobahn, it committed itself to a diffuse demography that
>has energy inefficiency as its essence (whatever its perceived strategic
>advantages for the cold war).  So no one need be surprised that it costs the
>US 50% more energy to achieve a given added value than it does its
>competitors.

The US was committed to a diffuse demography, on the largest scale, simply
by the facts of its geography.  Just for starters, transcontinental shipping
in the US dwarfs all *western* european and Japanese trips.

In the case of Japan, geography is surely destiny in this matter.  Given
Japanese population and land area, no other solution is really possible.

Application of European experience to the USA is basically relevant to the
northeast.  Even then, it is limited by the ease of moving away.  Americans
don't want to be huddled together into urban areas while the countryside
around them is basically empty-- that's what a lot of mass transit planning
looks like.
-- 
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."
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 18:10:35 EST
From: <CSS3@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: South Bend station (was New York <-> Washington: air shuttle was

     In regards to the recent message about the rumor that Amtrak will
relocate its South Bend, Ind. station downtown, that rumor is true, more or
less. In 1984, a developer named Kevin Smith purchased the former South Bend
Union Station and renovated it. It has since become a popular location for
dinners, parties and receptions. He has also been trying for some time to
entice Amtrak into moving into the station.
   Amtrak trains (Lake Short Ltd. and Capitol Ltd.) currently stop at a
station on the west side of town near the old Bendix plant. The station is
also used by South Shore trains. However, the location is in a seedy area of
town and reportedly many people have feared for their personal safety in the
area. The Amtrak agents have recommended to some people to park their car at
the airport and to take a cab to the station if they plan to be gone for
several days.
    Amtrak has expressed interest into moving back downtown. But as the
recent post indicated the sticking problem is stopping its trains on the
Conrail mainline. The Union Station is located in a place where not only CR,
 but also Grand Trunk trains operate. There are approximately 77 or so
movements per days through this congested area. The current Amtrak station is
 not located in joint-territory so stopping on the mainline is less of a
problem.
    Conrail in 1991 rejected Amtrak's request for permission to stop on the
 mainline, citing the extensive traffic. It proposed instead that Amtrak use
 a 2,200 foot siding at Union Station. That's fine, but the siding needs to
 be rehabilitated and a switch linking the siding to the mainline at the
 east end. The sticking point here is who will pay for all of this work.

      In addition, work would need to be done to set up a waiting area, ticket
 office, etc. The total cost of siding rehabilitation, constructing a switch,
  and fixing up the station is estimated at $1.5 million.
 Not only would Amtrak be expected to pay for all of this cost, but it would
 also have to pay the maintenance costs of the new switch.  Amtrak's response
 was to undertake a 60-day study of train movements in the area in an effort
 to gain information to use as a weapon to convince Conrail to   relent and
 allow Amtrak to stop on the mainline.

     As far as I know, this is where things stand. In the meantime, the South
Shore is extending its line from the station is shares with Amtrak to the
Michiana Regional Airport, which reportedly would leave Amtrak the sole
tenant at its current station.

   Note that information provided above was taken from "The Indiana Passenger
 Letter," the publication of the Indiana Association of Railroad Passengers.

 craig sanders
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: crh@wam.umd.edu (Craig Hinners)
Subject: High Speed Rail Questions
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 01:23:35 GMT

Hi everybody.  I'm in the process of reading my recent Christmas gift,
"Supertrains" by Vranich.  Two questions have come to mind in the 
meantime:

a) Can anyone update me/us on the status of the Texas TGV/HSR project?
   Has ground actually been broken yet, or is everything still in the
   planning stages?
   Also, it wasn't clear what kind of trainsets they are going to be
   using ... From what I can gather, they'll be using TGV Atlantique-
   type trains, although there was some mention of the German-made ICE's.

b) What exactly is "welded rail"?  I assume this means they actually
   melt the two ends of the rail together so that if you went up to
   the rail, you wouldn't be able to tell where the joints were.
   Correct?  Also, it seems to me that the heating process of welding
   the rails together would produce some warping in the rails, which,
   although minute, could cause buggers at very high speeds?  Can some-
   one describe the actual process of fusing two lengths of rail and the
   machinery involved?

Thanx.
Craig
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: pierson@empror.enet.dec.com (dave pierson)
Subject: Re: Oil Bearings (was Re: Grand Canyon Railway)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 21 DEC 92 19:47:08    

In article <1992Dec21.223512.12593@mel.dit.csiro.au>, ajw@squid.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh) writes...

>'Friction bearing' is a tautology. All bearings have friction. What

	Urrrrmmmm  Well, i know what you mean, but roller bearings (ball, etc)
	don't have (noticeable amounts of _sliding_ friction.

>they mean is that the cars are fitted with traditional bearings in
>which the turned steel journal (the axle) rotates in a white metal
>bearing. Oil lubrication is supplied by a pad rubbing the underside
>of the journal. In modern equipment this type of bearing is replaced
>by roller bearings.
	In the USA, use of brass as the material for the bearing was almost
	universal, to the point where "the brasses" was synonymous with the
	(replaceable) part of the bearing system.

>I would not be surprised if railroads limit (or even prohibit) the
>use of equipment equipped with oil bearings.

	Without checking, i suspect that FRA or DoT have done so, at least
	for interchange.

thanks
dave pierson			|the facts, as accurately as i can manage,
Digital Equipment Corporation	|the opinions, my own.
40 Old Bolton Rd		|I am the NRA.
Stow, Mass, USA	
01775				pierson@msd27.enet.dec.com
"He has read everything, and, to his credit, written nothing."  A J Raffles
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: pierson@empror.enet.dec.com (dave pierson)
Subject: Re: Railroad Signals
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 21 DEC 92 08:09:17    

In article <BzJGrE.M9x@csn.org>, medberry@teal.csn.org (Michael G. Medberry)
writes, in part:

>To the question at hand, Red apparently restricts traffic, but not forces
>a stop.

	In general, Red standing alone is named STOP SIGNAL and means
	STOP_AND_STAY.

	IF the signal is numbered, its a restricting block indication (?) and
	stop_and_proceed is allowed.

	If the signal is on a heavy grade, and fitted with a G (Grade) marker,
	or designated such in the ETT, Tonnage trains (hard & expensive to
	restart) are allowed to pass it at under <specified> MPH.

	This is where rulebooks and ETTs come in to play.

thanks
dave pierson			|the facts, as accurately as i can manage,
Digital Equipment Corporation	|the opinions, my own.
40 Old Bolton Rd		|I am the NRA.
Stow, Mass, USA	
01775				pierson@msd27.enet.dec.com
"He has read everything, and, to his credit, written nothing."  A J Raffles
From: AR.CHM@forsythe.stanford.edu (Chris Martin)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Novice Request for Info
Date: 30 Dec 1992 13:14:25 -0800
Organization: Stanford University
NNTP-Posting-Host: morrow.stanford.edu

Railfans,

     Being a part-time history buff and dabbler in HO, I was hoping
someone out there might have a source book for trains running in
Europe, 1930-1950.  The introduction/use of electric and diesel
locomotives is of particular interest, as is the Reichsbahn.  Mail
me if anything springs to mind (or point me to a FAQ sheet /
newsletter).  Thanks for reading!

Chris Martin
Systems Coordinator
Facilities - 855 Serra
Stanford University
chris.martin@forsythe.stanford.edu
From: clark@angelo.amd.com (Brad D. Clark)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Train station car rentals and long-term parking?
Date: 21 Dec 92 17:27:44 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

(All the stuff about long-term parking........)

The last long Amtrak ride I took a couple of years ago was the Coast Starlight
from Portland, OR to LA to transfer to the Desert Something for Phoenix.
To get around the parking hassle at Portland's Union Station (as in it's 
not the greatest place to park a car, or even walk after dark), I reserved
my ticket to depart Vancouver, WA and arrive back there. I stuck the car
in the parking lot, which is patrolled by the BN railroad police, and
had free, secure long-term parking. Also got to watch the SW-1200s do
their thing, as well as photograph a couple of trains coming over the
bridge from the Oregon side. Verry nice. And no extra charge either (the
ticket would have been the same price, departing from VAncouver or Portland.)

Brad

          /--------\                Brad Clark  clark@brahms.amd.com
         /          \    II            ______________________________           
 [>-----/------------\___II____<]   | [______________________________] |
 ||         C P R R             |   | [______________________________] |
 ||_____________________________|   |\--------------------------------/|
 [------------------------------]   |---------________________---------|
   (*)-(*) `--------` (*)-(*)         (*) (*)                  (*) (*)
---------------------------------------Camas Prarie Railroad--------------

I work at AMD, the opinions are mine, the CPRR is just a bit o'nostalgia
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: jis@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (jishnu.mukerji)
Subject: Re: Captial Limited question
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 20:03:20 GMT

In article <Bzruvx.1wL@nocusuhs.nnmc.navy.mil> organic@usuhsb.ucc.usuhs.nnmc.navy.mil writes:
>Does anybody know when the Chicago-D.C. train is going to 
>start using the Superliner cars?  I want to take it this 
>spring and get last chance to use the old dome cars  

Yes, according to an Amtrak speaker who spoke at a NARP region meeting
in '92, the Capitol Ltd. will become a Superliner train. He did not
state any specific date for this, but one would suspect that it will
be within the next couple of years.

Jishnu Mukerji
jis@usl.com
From: matthew@sleeper.apana.org.au (Matthew Geier)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: The value (if any) of B units
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 22:20:39 GMT
Organization: Desolation Road Railfan BBS


>bill@hpcndaw.CND.HP.COM (Bill Kepner) writes:
>> It seems every couple years somebody looking at reducing costs revists the
>> B unit concept.  Apparently costs of maintaining the controls and crew re-
>> lated equipment is not trivial.  Sometimes RR's think they can manage this 

 Most Australian locomtives built in the last 20 years had had 2 cabs, one
at each end, requiring duplication of all crew facilitys, some units even
have two independant air-condition systems for each end !.
 The use of 2 cabs meant that turntables wouldnt be ever needed..

 About 2 years ago, Australian National ordered a new GM 710 based locomotive,
the DL class. They 'shocked' the Australian railway scene be ordering a
singled ended locomotive. The main justification I saw for this was the
considerable cost saving in avoiding duplicating the control system and
assoiciated creature comforts at each end !
 AN already was operating a considerable number of 20+ year old single
ended locomotives and must have found that the extra cost of the 2nd 
cab didnt cover it self in operational savings by being easly 'turned'.
 In operation most of the single enders are operated in MU lashups, or
run terminal-terminal..
 AN have since ordered 2 more classes of locomotives, single ended, 'stream-
lined' fronts. One was GE-8 based, the current order SD-60 based, mind
you these units look nothing like their Nth American relatives...

 My home state of NSW has just ordered/leased two new locomotive classes,
one model of 4000HP is being built by EMD in the US and are single ended,
it is intended that these be used on unit coal trains. The mines mostly
have ballon loops as does the unloader, thus there is never any need to
'change ends'. Many unit coal trains will require a pair of loco's so I
guess these will run the engines 'back to back'.
 The 3000HP class , which are being built localy, but still EMD based, have
a cab at each end.. They just couldnt break with the two cab tradition 
entirely in NSW. There is a high probablity that these 3000HP units will
end up at the end of country branch lines, where the turntable, if its
still there at all, was last used to turn a 32 class steammer 30 years ago....

 As far as im aware, no Australian railway ever owned a B unit, including
the Northwest heavy haul ore railways, with their Nth American style
locomotives. ( The closest NSW has come is units tagged 'trailing unit only -
xxx defect', commonly fumes in the cabs..)

-- 
Matthew Geier,
matthew@sleeper.apana.org.au   |  Desolation Road Railfan BBS and Dialup Unix
matthew@cs.su.oz.au (Quicker)  |  (+61) 2 718 6996 ( Ringback )
From: rambler@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Dan Meyer)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Amtrak and cold weather
Date: 2 Jan 93 18:05:01 GMT
Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN.

MRH@tdkt.kksys.com (Dan McNulty) writes:
> Because of the severe cold weather in the upper midwest region, Amtrak's
>Empire Builder has discontinued its route of service temporarily.  Bus
>service is being used to transport people who were stranded when service
>came to a halt.

And then there is the rest of the story. 

The Empire Builder *is* being run from Chicago to Minneapolis. 
The train is being annuled west of St.Paul. Passengers traveling 
from Chicago to Portland or Seattle are being transported on the 
Pioneer. Other passengers are being offered a refund or rescheduleing 
their trips. Helluva way to run a railroad isn't it?

Roumer also has it that the 'Builder is also being run from Seattle and
Portland to Spokane, and annuled east of Spokane. Is there any truth 
to this?

-- Dan Meyer

Remember: " Buffalo never Oink " Seen on a South Dakota travel brocure.
Advertisment: Try the Railway Post Office , a railfan BBS ! (612) 377-2197.
UUCP: {crash tcnet}!orbit!pnet51!rambler
INET: rambler@pnet51.orb.mn.org
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 11:26:47 EST
From: <CSS3@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Heritage Fleet was Re: Amtrak orders Viewliners
 <1992Dec28.205642.28639@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>


In article <1992Dec28.205642.28639@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>,
zephyr@cory.Berkeley.EDU (COIFMAN) says:
>
> I am wondering how Amtrak is/will dispose of the heritage fleet cars.
>Do they just scrap them? Or will some be donated to railroad museums? Or
>do they go up for sale to the highest bidder, be he a scrapper or be he
>a railroad museum?
>
>
>
   I can't say exactly what Amtrak's policy is toward disposing rolling stock
 that it no longer has plans to operate on the road. I can say that Amtrak
 does offer rail cars for sale to the public. During a visit at Beech Grove
 shops during August 1991 I noticed that Amtrak had placed a number of cars on
 some unused tracks and in effect had "for sale" signs on them. My memory may
 be wrong, but I don't believe that any of them were Heritage cars. I do not
 know how long the cars were on the sale block. However, Amtrak had invited
 prospective buyers to examine the cars and bid on them. Presumably, some of
 the Heritage cars upon retirement will be also placed up for sale. I would
 think some of them might be attractive for sale because I've read that many
 railroads are demanding that cars operated on excursions meet Amtrak
 operating standards. I would also think cars not sold would be stripped of
 useable part before being scrapped. This is done with locomotives that have
 been retired.

 craig sanders

>          - NP 328 -
>
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
From: roma@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Roma)
Subject: Re: Switch Heaters?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 23:23:44 GMT

Steve_Hooper@mindlink.bc.ca (Steve Hooper) writes:

>> Jon Roma writes:

>> I don't know about the snow melters on the CP Rail but around here, most
>> snow melters in CTC territory are controlled by the dispatcher as part of
>> the
>> CTC system.  There are typically levers for the snow melters just like the
>> ones used to control switches and signals.  An indication from the field
>> location is returned to the dispatcher to let him know whether the snow
>> melter
>> fires up properly.

>You got my interest up, so I just called the Cheif Dispatcher here in
>Vancouver.  He told me you are correct...they are remotely comtrolled from
>the dispatcher's office.  Aparently they have a seperate panel of controls
>for the switch heaters.

On a number of railroads in central Illinois, switch heaters in CTC territory
didn't come into common use until about 10-15 years ago.  Around this time,
the railroads started installing remote-control snow melters to replace the
section gangs that had been used to keep the switches clear.

The dispatcher controls for the snow melters were thus added to already-
existing CTC systems, either using vacant spaces on the control machine or
on separate home-made panels next to the main machine.   Indication of the
snow melter's operation is typically returned to the dispatcher's control
machine from the field by the same means as switch and signal positions are
indicated.

On modern CTC systems, the dispatcher can turn the snow melters on and off
via his keyboard or mouse, in the same fashion as switches and signals are
controlled.
-- 
Jon Roma
Computing and Communications Services Office,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Internet:  roma@uiuc.edu      	UUCP:      uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!roma
From: sam@terapin.com (Sam Lewit)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: New York <-> Washington DC: air shuttle was better
Date: 20 Dec 92 20:47:07 PST
Organization: BBS

In article <62871@mimsy.umd.edu>, mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate) writes:
>As far as the car rental is concerned, Enterprise, at least, brought the car
>to the airport (in Charlotte NC-- they don't have facilities at the airport)
>and picked me up.  I suspect the same deal is may be available w.r.t Amtrak.

When I took Amtrak to Flagstaff (from the SF Bay Area), they had a prepaid taxi
waiting at the airport for me which took me the short ride to the airport to
pick up my rental car. For dropoff, they simply told me to leave the car in the
Amtrak station parking lot and hand the keys to the station agent. The receipt
was mailed to me.

I forget the rental company name.

Sam Lewit                 | sam@terapin.com
2550 Shattuck #73         | "We shouldn't be blindly opposed to all progress.
Berkeley, Ca. 94704       | But we should be opposed to blind progress"
Internet: sam@terapin.com | 510-486-1422 24HR BBS Newsfeeds Free