Railroaders' Nostalgia > One of my scariest moments making a meet.

My worst meet was when we headed into Marcel going west and knew it would be tight so I stopped about 50 feet from the signal and the disp said we were still not in the clear.  It was about 5 am on the LABRF the Starpacer. The non clearing eastbound came by and stopped at the east end and we were still on the switch at the top. The disp gave us permission to flag the signal to clear.  I dragged the train but with brakes on it did not move an inch so put all the jam on and put it in reverse in run 2 and released the brakes . As soon as I thought there was enough air I made a soft set and put it in idle . At the time we had rear end markers but they were not 2 way. No movement. Good. Released the jam and we inched to within 20 feet of hiting the eastbound. I said that is all there is. Still not in the clear but the eastbound went by us with about 20 feet to spare on the top. I made a litle more of a set and put it in reverse with the throttle in idle ready to hold it in case it started creeping . he conductor was safely on the ground doing a rollby.  About 20 cars later the train cleared us and ​I could stop holding my breath.  I was so scared my knees felt ready to shake.  I decided to never be a hero to the RR again in that type situation.  Not a thank you from anyone.
Tom 
  

I see in the current orders that Marcel is still a 23mph speed limit.

Why the odd speed vs 25 or 20?

Posted from iPhone

I think it was 25 mph unless your TPOB ( tons per operative brake ) was over a certain limit such as cement or beet trains . Also maximum number of operave dynamic brakes was a factor for speed too. 

Tom

Wasn't the 23MPH limit due to harmonic rocking?

PHall Wrote:
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> Wasn't the 23MPH limit due to harmonic rocking?

No, UP said it was an attention getter wen they took over in the complete operation in 97-98.

I think there was a rule about harmonic rocking .  I think at 17 mph it was severe so if you could not mainain a minimum speed you had to operate at less than 15 mph. Rules are getting foggy now ( burned the rulebook last year when I reired )  so hopefully someone will have the correct numbers.

Tom

On the BNSF harmonic rocking took place between 13 and 21 MPH. I suppose Uncle Pete changed the laws of physics?
Maybe BNSF got it wrong.

Charlie

cewherry Wrote:
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> On the BNSF harmonic rocking took place between 13
> and 21 MPH. I suppose Uncle Pete changed the laws
> of physics?
> Maybe BNSF got it wrong.

Nope 13-21 is right.

TAW

Two rumors I have heard is UP wanted 20mph, BNSF wanted 25mph so they met in the middle. I've also heard that it was between UP Transportation Dept. Vs Track Dept.

Posted from Android

Actually at this point BNSF and UP agree on the physics of the Tehachapi curves and that 23 mph is the correct speed.  Much like the 22 MPH on the Oregon Trunk sub between MP 87.3 and MP 98.1 on Paxton Hill.  Before concrete ties were installed on the hill the speed was 10 mph because the wood ties would not hold the gauge at higher speeds.

The rocking was on 39 foot, jointed rail, mostly in the sidings.  That is why you never saw a slow order for 15 mph. I was okay at 10 and just fine at 20. 15 was the magic number where the rocking made you pucker.

There was something out in the 80s I think, about certain covered hoppers doing  some bad rocking at a slow speed and there were restrictions placed on them.


Nudge

spnudge Wrote:
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> There was something out in the 80s I think, about
> certain covered hoppers doing  some bad rocking
> at a slow speed and there were restrictions placed
> on them.
>
>
> Nudge

SP had a short lived restriction if a train having a block of more than 10 covered hoppers containing grain coupled consecutively was restricted to 12 mph if a speed of 22 mph or more could not be maintained. Since we didn't handle a lot of grain out of Eugene this wasn't a big issue normally but crews looked their lists over carefully and if there was a block of "more than 10" cars on west (south) trains the crews would usually make a switch on their train to break up the blocks into blocks of 10 or less so this restriction wouldn't apply.

I had the nightmare as while it was rare to have grain trains up here I had a solid grain train out of Klamath coming east as a 5x4 train (cut-in helpers right out of Klamath). Because of tonnage the train was restricted to 20 mph down the hill, which of course meant it was 12 mph down the hill. That was a long trip at 12 mph down the hill on this 9,998 ton train, which included me stopping 3 times for meets with west trains. We barely made it into Eugene.
 

Railbaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spnudge Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There was something out in the 80s I think,
> about
> > certain covered hoppers doing  some bad
> rocking
> > at a slow speed and there were restrictions
> placed
> > on them.
> >
> >
> > Nudge
>
> SP had a short lived restriction if a train having
> a block of more than 10 covered
> hoppers containing grain coupled consecutively
> was restricted to 12 mph if a speed of 22 mph or
> more could not be maintained. Since we didn't
> handle a lot of grain out of Eugene this wasn't a
> big issue normally but crews looked their lists
> over carefully and if there was a block of "more
> than 10" cars on west (south) trains the crews
> would usually make a switch on their train to
> break up the blocks into blocks of 10 or less so
> this restriction wouldn't apply.
>
> I had the nightmare as while it was rare to have
> grain trains up here I had a solid grain train out
> of Klamath coming east as a 5x4 train (cut-in
> helpers right out of Klamath). Because of tonnage
> the train was restricted to 20 mph down the hill,
> which of course meant it was 12 mph down the hill.
> That was a long trip at 12 mph down the hill on
> this 9,998 ton train, which included me stopping 3
> times for meets with west trains. We barely made
> it into Eugene.
>  

That was a DRGW rule

WAF Wrote:
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> That was a DRGW rule

A-ha, when they implemented it up here nobody knew where it came from; makes sense now. Heard it was supposed to be for jointed rail, which up here almost everything was welded rail, but it was implemented here anyway.


 

Railbaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WAF Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That was a DRGW rule
>
> A-ha, when they implemented it up here nobody knew
> where it came from; makes sense now. Heard it was
> supposed to be for jointed rail, which up here
> almost everything was welded rail, but it was
> implemented here anyway.
>
Moffat had a mix of stick and ribbon on the hill

>
>