Nostalgia & History > Rockin' and Rollin' on the Iowa Interstate 1989

Here comes IAIS 483 eastbound at McClelland Iowa, on the former Rock Island main line through western Iowa.
I am pretty sure 483 is taking hoppers from Council Bluffs to Hancock, Iowa for loading. 
Not unlike the old Rock, the cars are rocking on the jointed rail. 

Rick Z

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I was talking with an engineer that used to run GG-1s on the Pennsylvnia/Penn Central. When they pulled those grain hoppers he said they had a standing order for a certain speed they had to either stay below or get above to avoid the harmonics that would get the cars rocking hard enough to derail. I don't recall what speed but it wasn't too fast.
Gonut

Gonut1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was talking with an engineer that used to run
> GG-1s on the Pennsylvnia/Penn Central. When they
> pulled those grain hoppers he said they had a
> standing order for a certain speed they had to
> either stay below or get above to avoid the
> harmonics that would get the cars rocking hard
> enough to derail. I don't recall what speed but it
> wasn't too fast.
> Gonut

For some reason I think it was around 13mph or so. Ben

Excellent Rock and Roll video and that old Geep was making a nice sound !

Great video. Some serious rockin and rollin going on. The worst rockin I have ever seen was an eastbound GTW passing through Blue Island, IL. To this day, I am surprised I didn't witness a derailment. It's amaizing what freight cars can do and stay on the rails.
JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/22 13:14 by 3rdswitch.

> Here comes IAIS 483 eastbound at McClelland Iowa,
> on the former Rock Island main line through western Iowa.

Thanks for sharing the video.

You're probably correct, that the Bluffs switcher is taking some empty cars up to Hancock.  They most often sent their grain shipments south via Co. Bluffs.  When they did that, many times the line-haul RR (KCS in this case) would supply cars.

That portion of the mainline was always difficult for some reason.  As I recall, the rail was bent, so even after new ties and a surfacing gang had worked on it, it didn't ride well.  Around 1988 or so they spent some $ on it and raised the speed limit from 10/25 up to 40.  That lasted only for a few weeks and engineers began commenting that things were going bad.  Speeds were soon back down to 25.  Some former RI guys told me that portion of the mainline (realignment project 1953) was built on soil/material that wasn't the best.  I understand the loess soil out in that area is pretty soft, especially when it's damp.  Some also told me they were in a hurry when constructing the line (in '53) and used anything they could find to build up the embankments, including any kind of soil, sand, tree stumps, etc.  Supposedly, that's why the line was unstable and prone to slow orders.  These days the track is in pretty decent condition, with new rail, etc, but it was difficult to manage back then when we didn't have the money for the full upgrade that it needed.

Also in the video you can see our McClelland base radio that we used to talk to trains in that area, accessed through a selector at the dispatcher's office in Iowa City.  It would reach from Co. Bluffs east to about Atlantic, with reception often lost when trains dropped down into the valleys.

Take care,

Mark

mamfahr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Here comes IAIS 483 eastbound at McClelland
> Iowa,
> > on the former Rock Island main line
> through western Iowa.
>
> Thanks for sharing the video.
>
> You're probably correct, that the Bluffs switcher
> is taking some empty cars up to Hancock.  They
> most often sent their grain shipments south via
> Co. Bluffs.  When they did that, many times the
> line-haul RR (KCS in this case) would supply
> cars.
>
> That portion of the mainline was always difficult
> for some reason.  As I recall, the rail was bent,
> so even after new ties and a surfacing gang had
> worked on it, it didn't ride well.  Around 1988
> or so they spent some $ on it and raised the speed
> limit from 10/25 up to 40.  That lasted only for
> a few weeks and engineers began commenting that
> things were going bad.  Speeds were soon back
> down to 25.  Some former RI guys told me that
> portion of the mainline (realignment project 1953)
> was built on soil/material that wasn't the best. 
> I understand the loess soil out in that area is
> pretty soft, especially when it's damp.  Some
> also told me they were in a hurry when
> constructing the line (in '53) and used anything
> they could find to build up the embankments,
> including any kind of soil, sand, tree stumps,
> etc.  Supposedly, that's why the line was
> unstable and prone to slow orders.  These days
> the track is in pretty decent condition, with new
> rail, etc, but it was difficult to manage back
> then when we didn't have the money for the full
> upgrade that it needed.
>
> Also in the video you can see our McClelland base
> radio that we used to talk to trains in that area,
> accessed through a selector at the dispatcher's
> office in Iowa City.  It would reach from Co.
> Bluffs east to about Atlantic, with reception
> often lost when trains dropped down into the
> valleys.
>
> Take care,
>
> Mark

Supposedly when the Rock rebuilt the Golden State Route in the 1940s they didn't properly compact the dirt on the fills and that is why they had a nightmare of a time keeping the tracks level. Plus, they had a ton of deep cuts full of drainage tile that got neglected as things went downhill, so those areas turned into swamps.

Dylan VanAntwerp
Jesup, IA

Cars with truck spacing the same at 39 ft rail were supposed to gain speed fast between 10 and 20 mph to pass through the speed when they rocked the worst.  

The Rock Island did not put out speed restrictions between 10 mph and 25 mph because of
the harmonic rocking.
zr190