Western Railroad Discussion > UP 3071, EMD Tier 4 in SoCal

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4899581,4899582#4899582

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4899641

SP8595 and 2ebright caught the SD70ACe-T4 UP 3071 leading a coal train in the scenic parts of Utah/Colorado border, what I call the National Parks cluster area around Moab. I posted the links above, because they posted excellent photos.

Just 4 days prior to their catch, I caught the UP 3071 leading a westbound "PSR" stack train in Southern California. I was loitering east on I-10 around Beaumont Hill, doing my usual hunt for a train before heading back to the airport. I was near Banning when I heard this on my scanner:

"UP Detector Milepost 570.0, Track 1, integrity failure..."

"(Tone up) UP 3071 to Dispatcher 244..."

I perked up and got ready to exit I-10 and change direction, and sure enough, I made a visual confirmation that the train was indeed led by an EMD (Progress Rail) SD70ACe-T4. Thanks to the integrity failure, I didn't miss the freeway exit and preserved valuable time to intercept the westbound at the Beaumont S-curve. FYI, I knew that the manned helpers were assisting another train in San Timoteo Canyon, so I knew my shot wouldn't be blocked there.

Due to the ongoing road construction in San Timoteo Canyon, I stayed on I-10 (even with weekday commute traffic) to make sure I got the train one more time, and intercepted the UP 3071 at the west end of the Colton flyover.

As the train was descending the Colton flyover toward Rancho, I was listening to Dispatcher 250 and the UP 3071 crew discussing the West Colton setout of the manifest ("PSR") section of the train. It seems the inbound crew was afraid of running out of hours while doing the setout, so they sounded sarcastic when they told the DS, "we'll do the best we can."

That's it for the quick report.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 08:00 by cchan006.

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"Integrity failure"?
 

BigDave Wrote:
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> "Integrity failure"?
>  
Bad order detector.

Posted from iPhone

Did they make the set out ?

Fredo Wrote:
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> Did they make the set out ?

I didn't stay to watch (headed to the airport) but I believe they did. Whether they were able to finish the setout before they died on the law, I do not know.

BigDave Wrote:
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> "Integrity failure"?

Sometimes, hotbox detectors act up under certain circumstances, for example, a train slowing down too much while the axles are being counted. The 3071 crew toned up to let the dispatcher know how fast they were going, to remind him that it was the detector, not the train that caused the integrity failure. (No such message on the next detector)

Had the integrity failure not occurred, I wouldn't have known what the train's leader was until seeing it, and sometimes my view along I-10 can be blocked by vegetation, barriers, and other vehicles. I shared this information in my story, as often times, every little thing counts when railfanning.  

The-late-EMD Wrote:
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> BigDave Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > "Integrity failure"?
> >  
> Bad order detector.

Not most of the time.  Integrity failures are most commonly caused by traveling too slow over the detector, drastically changing speeds over the detector or stopping on top of the detector.

One of these rolled through Burbank last week leading the LOF74 (Gemco to WC).