Western Railroad Discussion > My date with Herzog

I had a date with the Herzog ballast train today and we ended up frolicking around the South Bay after the train dumped its load in the Morgan Hill area, south of San Jose.

I first encountered the train in San Martin, between Morgan Hill and Gilroy shortly after 1 p.m. The train, which came south from San Jose earlier in the day, had just dumped the last of its ballast. Four UP engines were shoving the train back toward Morgan Hill when I arrived.

After uncoupling the power, the crew attached the FRED to the south end of the train and ran the power around the train to pull it back to Oakland.

In San Jose, the train came in on Track 1 and ran right behind the ACE 4, the 3:35 p.m. commuter train bound for Stockton.

The first shot shows the train heading north between Morgan Hill and Coyote.

Second shot is attaching the FRED to the south end of the train in Morgan HIll.

Third shot is coming into San Jose fast on the heels of ACE 4, which is just departing on Track 1.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/12 23:21 by walstib.

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Good to see any kind of freight train in that area. Thanks for posting the picture of the San Jose station. I haven't been there since they put in the new platform. I will have to make a trip down there and check it out.

AL Bayer

It's pretty cool -- they extended the underground subway and did a nice job.

Dumb question from me,,,What is the deal with the solar panels on the Herzog cars??

Ct97

Thanks for the updates and for the great shots! I really like the telephoto compression in your first shot.

I caught the ballast train at CP Expressway (MP 44) in Santa Clara as it rode the yellows behind ACE 4.

1: Fairly new GEVO UP 7501 leads SD70Ms 5195/4871/4451 across Martin Ave.
2: Knocking down CP Expressway (diverging advance approach off the controlled siding).
3: Herzog ballast hoppers as far as the eye can see.

John

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CT97 Wrote:
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> Dumb question from me,,,What is the deal with the
> solar panels on the Herzog cars??
>
> Ct97

See: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,2314281,2314328#msg-2314328

They power the electronically operated dump doors on the cars.

According to Herzog's website, the fleet is GPS-enabled.
http://hrsi.com/railroad_services_plus_train.php
...Lorenzo

Nice. Graffiti free! What a treat.

Interesting Pics.

Can some explain to me why they designed that terminal with the "kinks" in the layout. Obviously, to clear the platform canopies, but why not lay out the whole thing with straight wider platforms to fit the canopies, or narrower canopies to fit the platforms?

-LD