Western Railroad Discussion > A couple of tid bits from the Dunsmuir Yard today.

The first one goes without saying and the second is one way of complaining.

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I wonder how a remote switch engine reacts to the sign in it's path?

fbe Wrote:
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> I wonder how a remote switch engine reacts to the
> sign in it's path?

In case you weren't making a joke. . .

Outside of a remote control zone with pullback protection, UP rules state that every movement on a remote control locomotive is a shoving movement. Therefore, rules governing shove protection apply.

Those END OF TRACK signs popped up everywhere recently.  I wonder how we managed to stop before? lol

When that U-5 box starts giving them a lot of signal problems, that tie will get changed. Could be the split is making it difficult to keep the thing tight.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/17 20:22 by SP4360.

So far (19 years) that decision to leave the tie has been a good one.  
The tests of whether a tie should be replaced are whether it still functions to hold the track in gauge and supports the rail.  Visible signs of those failure modes (crushed by tie plate, rail moving laterally, loose spikes) are not apparent in the photo.  Some species of wood get positively ugly as the age but still hold onto their spikes and rails just fine.  I have seen 19-year old ties that had failed by that age.
Wood isn't very predictable and you have to inspect it periodically.  Modern inspections include Gauge Restraint Measurement System (GRMS), an add-on to track geometry cars that puts a lateral force on the rail to determine whether it does move out without sufficient restraint. GRMS can give a pretty fair indication of weak ties.

EspeeROW Wrote:
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> Those END OF TRACK signs popped up everywhere
> recently.  I wonder how we managed to stop
> before? lol

I think it's because many of us didn't!

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> So far (19 years) that decision to leave the tie
> has been a good one.  

I think that's a mile mark, not a date.

clem Wrote:
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> railstiesballast Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So far (19 years) that decision to leave the
> tie
> > has been a good one.  
>
> I think that's a mile mark, not a date.

Yes that's a milepost location, not a date.

Matt Starman
Greenleaf, ID