trains, bro

offspring22
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offspring22
Edited Date/Time 1/24/2012 7:11am
So is anyone on here a railfan like me?

LETS TALK ABOUT TRAINS.
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Dirty Britches 8/9/2010 1:55pm
8/9/2010 1:55pm
worked as a programmer for rail transportation for 6 years. Interesting stuff and some great work 'field trips'.
Watching 2 fully loaded grain cars hook up from 10 feet away is bad ass. The ground shakes under your feet.
The business side is complicated, much more so than trucking.
Right now I'm just into Thomas.

Dad worked for Missouri Pacific (mopac) later to become part of Union Pacific for 30 some years.
yes, trains are cool in my book.
offspring22
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offspring22 8/9/2010 1:57pm
8/9/2010 1:57pm
Fuck year mopac.

I love the sounds trains make. Slack action is intense.
noob
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noob 8/9/2010 2:19pm
8/9/2010 2:19pm
I hopped trains for fun in my early twenties. Good times.
txmxer
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txmxer 8/9/2010 2:27pm
8/9/2010 2:27pm
odd timing. I just got a call from a recruiter asking if I or anyone I knew had experience design railways...uh...no, not me.

The Shop

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offspring22
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offspring22 8/9/2010 3:02pm
8/9/2010 3:02pm
noob wrote:
I hopped trains for fun in my early twenties. Good times.
Nice! Train hopping is a lot of fun.




Or so I hear.
offspring22
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offspring22 8/9/2010 3:08pm
8/9/2010 3:08pm
It's certainly dangerous stuff. Trains are unforgiving. But I feel that riding freight trains isn't too much more dangerous than riding a motorcycle. It's all about how you do it. Use your head and you're good. Act like an idiot, well...
alphado
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alphado 8/10/2010 6:26am
8/10/2010 6:26am
My Dad is a trian nut. 3/4 of his basement is an HO layout. All our vacations growing up were train related. He has my son Joey hooked. They are building an N gauge layout now.
HuskyEd
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HuskyEd 8/10/2010 8:21pm
8/10/2010 8:21pm
My Grandfather worked as a hostler for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad in Canton, Ohio and my father worked for a short time shoveling coal on yard switchers for the same railroad.

My dad always said those guys that shoveled coal deserved every penny they made. It was some very hot and physical work.

I myself have always loved the EMD F7 locomotives (A&B units) of the Santa Fe and Western Pacific railroads.





Another beauty. The DD40AX

look out below 8/11/2010 2:30pm
8/11/2010 2:30pm
I am a MOW welder for the UP. A few days before I hired on, our gang had to put ties in UNDER the DD40x after it derailed going around a curve that was too tight of a radious.

I worked with a grinding train yesterday. That is the nastiest, low paying, hottest,shittiest job ever.

I have some photos on my phone of derailments and special units that come thru but I dont know how to put them on here.

Yes the Santa Fe warbonnets are the best looking paint of all time.
motogeezer
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motogeezer 8/11/2010 3:21pm
8/11/2010 3:21pm
A good friend of mine drives trains for Santa Fe.

He says it's the best job in the world, other than sometimes having to wait for days in some podunk town for his return-trip cargo to be set up. (He gets paid to wait, so it's not a deal-killer.)

The dude has a helicopter license and a fixed-wing license, and chose to be Choo-Choo Charlie.

Talk about a train nut!
look out below 8/11/2010 3:51pm
8/11/2010 3:51pm
motogeezer wrote:
A good friend of mine drives trains for Santa Fe. He says it's the best job in the world, other than sometimes having to wait for...
A good friend of mine drives trains for Santa Fe.

He says it's the best job in the world, other than sometimes having to wait for days in some podunk town for his return-trip cargo to be set up. (He gets paid to wait, so it's not a deal-killer.)

The dude has a helicopter license and a fixed-wing license, and chose to be Choo-Choo Charlie.

Talk about a train nut!
I have sat for days watching and waiting for trains go by, just to do a one hour job. I sleep and read moto mags alot. But there are other days where I will work my ass of for (literally) days on end. It all pays the same and its not my railroad so I dont give a shit if it gets fixed or not. ha ha We have a saying when something is crappy--Cant see it from my house.
HuskyEd
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HuskyEd 8/11/2010 3:59pm
8/11/2010 3:59pm
motogeezer wrote:
A good friend of mine drives trains for Santa Fe. He says it's the best job in the world, other than sometimes having to wait for...
A good friend of mine drives trains for Santa Fe.

He says it's the best job in the world, other than sometimes having to wait for days in some podunk town for his return-trip cargo to be set up. (He gets paid to wait, so it's not a deal-killer.)

The dude has a helicopter license and a fixed-wing license, and chose to be Choo-Choo Charlie.

Talk about a train nut!
Funny Geeze, a good friend of mine is an engineer for BNSF. His route is from Los Angeles to Barstow and Barstow to Los Angeles with San Diego thrown in once in a while.

Loves his job and gets paid very well. Until the Feds. stepped in and required mandatory rest periods for train crews he worked a crap load of OT. The only down side was he was never home and he was on call 24-7.
look out below 8/11/2010 4:10pm
8/11/2010 4:10pm
HuskyEd wrote:
Funny Geeze, a good friend of mine is an engineer for BNSF. His route is from Los Angeles to Barstow and Barstow to Los Angeles with...
Funny Geeze, a good friend of mine is an engineer for BNSF. His route is from Los Angeles to Barstow and Barstow to Los Angeles with San Diego thrown in once in a while.

Loves his job and gets paid very well. Until the Feds. stepped in and required mandatory rest periods for train crews he worked a crap load of OT. The only down side was he was never home and he was on call 24-7.
That is Cajon Pass, very steep lots of runaways. I dont think you can even work that route unless you have some experience. I could be wrong just what i have heard.
motogeezer
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motogeezer 8/11/2010 4:23pm
8/11/2010 4:23pm
look out below wrote:
That is Cajon Pass, very steep lots of runaways. I dont think you can even work that route unless you have some experience. I could be...
That is Cajon Pass, very steep lots of runaways. I dont think you can even work that route unless you have some experience. I could be wrong just what i have heard.
If it's not true, it should be.

They've had some pretty nasty train wrecks in Fontucky over the years.



TripleFive 8/12/2010 12:32am
8/12/2010 12:32am
My uncle used to fly trains.
DirtyFilter75 8/12/2010 7:56am
8/12/2010 7:56am
Pulling a train has always seemed a little gay to me?Sick


motogeezer
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motogeezer 8/12/2010 8:42am
8/12/2010 8:42am
DirtyFilter75 wrote:
Pulling a train has always seemed a little gay to me?:sick: [img]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/Fozmovy/GayTrainSMALL.jpg[/img]
Pulling a train has always seemed a little gay to me?Sick


Shouldn't Malcom be in that pic?
DirtyFilter75 8/12/2010 8:57am
8/12/2010 8:57am
DirtyFilter75 wrote:
Pulling a train has always seemed a little gay to me?:sick: [img]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c358/Fozmovy/GayTrainSMALL.jpg[/img]
Pulling a train has always seemed a little gay to me?Sick


motogeezer wrote:
Shouldn't Malcom be in that pic?
He is probably on a LUBE run!Tongue

Pit Row

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Intothebreach 8/12/2010 12:28pm
8/12/2010 12:28pm
My dad worked for Rock Island, Southern Pacific, Missouri Pacific, and finally Union Pacific before retiring a couple years ago. So, I grew up around trains my whole life. Even got to "drive"one once. Good times.
jndmx
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jndmx 8/12/2010 12:53pm
8/12/2010 12:53pm
My grandfather was a conductor on the old Providence and Worcester Line.
When I was a little kid every once in a while I would get to go ride with him for the morning run up from Westerly RI to Providence and back.
Walking from car to car puching tickets.

We had tracks out behind my parents house that had the old glass and ceramic insulators on the poles.
Used to put pennies on the tracks to squash them.

Actually did used to jump on the freight trains when I was a teenager and ride them to get to a friends house at night.
Course the thing was only moving about 10 mph so it wasn't too much of a challenge.
el moto diablo 8/12/2010 12:55pm
8/12/2010 12:55pm
Work on the ROW alot, some pretty cool clean burning switchers down at the Port. Nothing as badass as UP's big boy's

HuskyEd
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HuskyEd 8/12/2010 5:17pm
8/12/2010 5:17pm
Probably the most beautiful steam locomotive I've seen.

Santa Fe 3751



Probably one of the most interesting steam locomotives. The Southern Pacific cab forward.

There are so many tunnels between Mojave and Bakersfield and in the Sierra's that Southern Pacific had these built so the engineer could stay in front of the smoke.


project racer 8/12/2010 5:39pm
8/12/2010 5:39pm
Is that place with all the old trains still in LA? Travel Town? I think it was in Griffith Park.
look out below 8/12/2010 6:06pm
8/12/2010 6:06pm
HuskyEd wrote:
Probably the most beautiful steam locomotive I've seen. Santa Fe 3751 [IMG]http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w235/f1ed/SantaFe3751.jpg[/IMG] Probably one of the most interesting steam locomotives. The Southern Pacific cab forward. There...
Probably the most beautiful steam locomotive I've seen.

Santa Fe 3751



Probably one of the most interesting steam locomotives. The Southern Pacific cab forward.

There are so many tunnels between Mojave and Bakersfield and in the Sierra's that Southern Pacific had these built so the engineer could stay in front of the smoke.




Dont forget about the tunnel motors. Cool paint job too.
look out below 8/12/2010 6:10pm
8/12/2010 6:10pm


Here is a typical dirty SP. Radiatior intakes on the bottom to keep it from breathin smoke in tunnels.
minidad160 8/12/2010 7:15pm
8/12/2010 7:15pm
How do train engines move without spinning the wheels?
WhKnuckle
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WhKnuckle 8/12/2010 7:34pm
8/12/2010 7:34pm
My son is a huge railfan, and I never knew anything about them until he got interested. They're amazing machines, and the building of the old rail systems was an incredible engineering and construction feat.

We've ridden the Durango to Silverton line several times, and it's hard to imagine how those guys managed to build that through those mountains.
look out below 8/13/2010 3:17am
8/13/2010 3:17am
minidad160 wrote:
How do train engines move without spinning the wheels?
There is a hose that sprinkles sand on the rails which provides traction and slack in the cars, it kinda starts pulling one car at a time. And they are just plain ol heavy. But sometimes they do. I actually saw the worst engine burn I have ever seen yesterday. It looked like sat there peeling out, ruined the rail.
alphado
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alphado 8/13/2010 3:53am
8/13/2010 3:53am
GE bulids locomotives right here in Erie where I live. When I was a kid we would play on the trade ins that would sit in the yards for months.
minidad160 8/13/2010 5:04pm
8/13/2010 5:04pm
minidad160 wrote:
How do train engines move without spinning the wheels?
look out below wrote:
There is a hose that sprinkles sand on the rails which provides traction and slack in the cars, it kinda starts pulling one car at a...
There is a hose that sprinkles sand on the rails which provides traction and slack in the cars, it kinda starts pulling one car at a time. And they are just plain ol heavy. But sometimes they do. I actually saw the worst engine burn I have ever seen yesterday. It looked like sat there peeling out, ruined the rail.
Thanks I have always wondered that. Sand had no clue. Thought it was magnets or something; Also wondered how those engines work, are they electric motors or diesel? Do the engines ever break in half pulling that much weight?

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