Western Railroad Discussion > Interesting car in Pueblo this afternoon (5 Shots total)

On our way home from pueblo Co this afternoon, came across this car here. Was being set out to the UP in the small interchange yard between the UP and BNSF, My guess is it is headed back out after a visit to either the TTC or MxV Rail at Avondale Co.
Apparently an autonumous cars capable of reading all sorts of track condition at speeds up to 70mph in regualr service on trains. Lots of info on the car itself can be found at RAILAI.tetratech.com.
The car is TETX 001 and is apparently the only one.  Kinda different.  Shots in Pueblo Co 11-23-2024
2 more detail shots to follow......   Ben

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Last 2 shots of TETX 001  Pueblo Co 11-23-2024  Thanks for looking. Ben

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Those track geometry cars are one of the SMARTEST things the RR's have ever done.  Constant monitoring, with immediate feedback.  Really smart asset.

They are asking for trouble having sensors that low and outside of the rails. They really should build in some solid "deflectors" to the underframe to knock away branches and other debris that ends up close to the rails like you often see.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Hmmm, anyone know what those laser turrets on the end of the car are for? To shoot down railfan drones? Steal operating info when on foreign roads, lol?

JG

Neat catch Ben,
I recall sometime ago a piece about the orange block things in the truck springs. Some sort of snubber or vibration attenuator. Perhaps to protect certain vibrations or harmonis that would affect geometry readings.
Gonut

Gonut1 Wrote:
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> I recall sometime ago a piece about the orange
> block things in the truck springs.

Those are snubbers, they limit harmonic rock or rock due to low joints. CNW used them a lot on their grain hopper fleet because of the light rail branch lines they had. But for this system to even halfway reliable, they must employ precision motion detectors like those found in cell phones so the computer system can competsate for rocking and other motions.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

funnelfan Wrote:
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> They are asking for trouble having sensors that
> low and outside of the rails. They really should
> build in some solid "deflectors" to the underframe
> to knock away branches and other debris that ends
> up close to the rails like you often see.

No different from the ones CN has been using for 5 years now.

Ray

jgilmore Wrote:
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> Hmmm, anyone know what those laser turrets on the
> end of the car are for? To shoot down railfan
> drones? Steal operating info when on foreign
> roads, lol?
>
> JG

Those are new "Directional Acoustic Guns". Aimed properly they can deter almost anything by direction a "sound blast" at anything they deem that needs to be neutralized. 😁 Ben



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/24 16:29 by ns2557.

Great catch! I caught this car back on July 13th here in Southern Indiana. For some reason it was running with the CSX geometry car on I026(JAX-CHI).
Here's a video I tried to do of the CSX GEO car passing by at night.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/24 03:30 by CSX2605.

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CSX2605 Wrote:
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> Great catch! I caught this car back on July 13th
> here in Southern Indiana. For some reason it was
> running with the CSX geometry car on
> I026(JAX-CHI).
> Here's a video I tried to do of the CSX GEO car
> passing by at night.

Looks like they were comparing the results the two cars provided.

PHall Wrote:
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> CSX2605 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great catch! I caught this car back on July
> 13th
> > here in Southern Indiana. For some reason it
> was
> > running with the CSX geometry car on
> > I026(JAX-CHI).
> > Here's a video I tried to do of the CSX GEO car
> > passing by at night.
>
> Looks like they were comparing the results the two
> cars provided.
The 1st boxcar is for LCL freight.  CSX is testing the market to see if they can get back into directly hauling LCL.  It's quite lucrative.  The railroads were literally forced out of LCL by the know nothing government regulators.