Western Railroad Discussion > Now that was a long stop

Reading my headlines. This one caught my attention.  UP train stopped at Beaumont CA grade crossing for 6 hours. WHOA! Nice going Onion Pacific.

Link > 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/union-pacific-offers-no-details-on-stopped-train-that-jammed-pass-area/ar-AAYyXIt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/22 06:59 by KB5WK.

Blocking America  

Know the area fairly well. The train would have been stopped on a grade. Likely an eastbound climbing the grade that didn't quite make the summit, which is only about a mile away to the east.

As mentioned by TO member BeaumontHill in a recent thread regarding manned helpers, trains are often stopped about a mile east from the blocked crossings ("Highland Springs" is the location he mentions).

Sometimes, there's train congestion around Highland Springs, at least back in the day (1-3 years ago) when I was chasing manned helper sets going both directions, sometimes 2 sets in action simultaneously. If a train is having issues nearby while a manned helper is being added/removed in the area, that could lead to some major headaches for Dispatcher 244. 

Remember back in the days when there was a train crew on board that could cut the train in half to double the hill?  How long would the crossings have been blocked if they had done that? 
I thought with PSR they were supposed to have people on the ground that could help the crew if there were problems.  I guess that didn't work.

The problem with the Yuma Sub is everything runs at the sametime. With large 3+4 hour gaps between trains. Lots of poor dispatching and train management IMHO. Doesn't take much to plug up San Timoteo Canyon with 3+ mile long trains when something happens.

My daughter lives outside of Brownsboro TX, west of Tyler on the old Cotton Belt BSM mainline. There are 3 at-grade crossings through Brownsboro. She has been caught behind UP freights blocking all 3 of them on 2 different occasions. For the most recent occurance on April 28th she finally turned around and left after about 1-1/2 to 2 hours, drove east into Chandler to get to a grade separation and get home. It was a 16-mile drive to get from one side of the tracks on Farm to Market 314 N to Highway 31, normally 150'. When she finally heard horns blowing again the elapsed time was just under 4 hours. UP can't handle it. 

Bruce 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/22 11:53 by StStephen.

The Lordsburg guys seem to do a decent job of laying back especially when you're trying to fit between the high wind
and flash flood warnngs. God hates the UP!

Out 

And No. 2's having a decent run which is a miricale in itself since PSR is supposed to "improve" things! Oh brother, that UP coal train going on the ground in Kansas proves otherwise!

Only 6 hours?  Amatuers.