Eastern Railroad Discussion > "NS 35Q....Stopping short of obstruction."

So a heads-up from "Cody" on the NS B-Line near Front Royal told me that 35Q was coming east with a clean "Virginian" leader.  Figuring about an hour to Manassas, VA, I drove to Wellington Rd. in Manassas for the intercept and a sun-lit picture.  The timing was perfect......EXCEPT that a banner test foiled me.  The local NS Trainmaster had unfurled a test banner across the tracks near the Vulcan Quarry two miles west of the junction.  The picture was taken after the banner had been returned to the white SUV on the right and a job briefing was in progress.  Don't you just hate it when "men at work" dampen your frivolous pleasure.

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Nice catch. I saw this train in Topton last night around 21:00.
Dan

Posted from iPhone

Cinder,  You say...The timing was perfect......EXCEPT that a banner test foiled me.    I'm not sure how the test foiled you?  The pic looks the same stopped or moving 30mph, except for the SUV mucking up the photo a little.   Do you have any pics with the banner unfurled?  That would be neat. 

So that is what took him so long to come through Manassas.  ;-)    I shot him near Haymarket, then went down to Bealton, where I had to wait much longer than normal.

Did the crew pass the test ???  Doug

I had set up at Manassas Junction, two miles beyond the banner test.  When the radio revealed the test, I went looking for it, but it was over when I arrived at the private Vulcan Quarry crossing.  I assume the test was passed, but is a job briefing part of the test?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/17 14:05 by cinder.

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Depends on the trainmaster and if the bannering was in reponce to a incident some where else on the Divison. Failed test the banner would be under the engine some where. 

Failure on test means the crew gets replaced.  The crew was still on 40 miles past the test.  ;-)

is it normal procedure to banner test when a violation occurs on the division / system ??? ...

Typiclly if a stop signal gets violated, or a crew hits something in the a yard we get a banner blitz, along with holidays and randoms every 90 days