Eastern Railroad Discussion > 3 Stalls and You're Out !.. Q317 & All 2nd Gen EMD Power 11/03/18

Q317 has a usual call time of 1500 hrs. at Cumberland, MD. Friday's train wasn't called till 0430 hrs. Saturday morning.  Intel reported that the power was a pair of SD40-2's and a Slug Set. Around 0530hrs. we hear scanner traffic giving the Q317-02 "west on 1" from the BF dispatcher in Jacksonville. Shooting at Keyser, WV will be under the lights as they make their set-off.

Luckily they also have to bury a haz-mat along with making their set off of cars for the Verso paper mill so we'll get a couple of chances to shoot them under the lights at the west end of the yard.

But... more interesting events will unfold soon enough........
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1) - 3) Under the lights at Keyser, WV.

... More to Follow ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/18 02:44 by DTWilson.

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Figuring with the rain and wind at the time, the rails on 17-Mile Grade would be covered with wet leaves, so the power may have a little trouble gripping the rail.... but it wasn't the leaves.

1) At Bloomington, MD. The Q317 is loosing speed against the grade. Within 8 cars length they will stall / hang up in front of us.

It wasn't the leaves that caused the stall but the Slug Mother had shut-down. The crew was able to restart the motor and get back on the pull.

2) and 3) Between the wind, the sound show was amazing at Crabtree Crossing above the Savage River Dam... but it would be short lived. Within a mile of passing Crabtree, the Q317 would hang up again when the Slug Mother shutdown. Another restart, another, mile, another stall...... A Call to Jacksonville Mechanical and the Slug Motor is down for the count.

... More to Follow ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/18 06:21 by DTWilson.

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The decision is made to taxi the B770 crew from the Beryl, WV yard down to Keyser and pick up the Mt. Storm Helper power. The Q317 would tie their train down at mp 214, cut their power away and take it to Mountain Lake Park. In the mean time the B770 crew will take the Mt. Storm Helper power to MLP and hand it off to the Q317 crew. Once the power was combined, the 317 crew would return east to their train and the B770 crew would taxi back to Beryl, WV.

1) B770-03 crew westbound at Bloomington, MD on track #2

2) and 3) Power from Q317 waits at Mountain Lake Park for the B770 crew to bring them a set of helpers.

... More to Follow ...

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/18 06:21 by DTWilson.

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1) The Helpers are backed against the Q317 power at MLP. Once combined the Q317 crew will take the power back east to rejoin their train. The B770 crew will taxi back to Beryl.

2) and 3) With the ailing Slug Motor leading, the combined power heads east at Swanton, MD back to their train.... Once together they will finally head west for Grafton.

.... More to Come ....

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Back in their regular assigned power, the B770-03 crew takes the outbound paper mill traffic to Keyser, WV. On the Interchange Track at Piedmont, WV passing the equipment from Curve Gang #5 waiting out the weekend.

Thank You for looking,

Tim W.

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Great report and great shots as well ! I'll bet the sound at Crabtree was tremendous. The crew probably didn't think it was very tremendous though !

Terrific photos and report, Tim. I sure do like those under the lights photos at Keyser.
And you even nabbed some decent fall color subsequently; at least it looks better than what I saw at Sand Patch.
Well done!
-Ted

Well done report Tim. Great photos too. Keep up the good work.

Randy

GREAT photos, but 5 and 6 really stand out.

well done Tim.  Great composing, narrative and Photos!.

GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY.  CLEAR SHARP PICTURES.  THANKS FOR POSTING.

PSR at its finest.
 

Amen to ALL the comments . . a real story is one with photos and background  . . well done

Craig
mcmrailvideos.com

Fantastic story and photos Tim.  I always look forward to your excellent posts!

Great stuff..!!  Thanks for posting.

When the old EMDs fail, time to send some new GEs to help...

Great shots Tim!   Thanks for posting them!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/18 05:17 by CSX602.

Great series and narrative!   How many cars do you estimate they were pulling?

BoostedFridge Wrote:
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> Great series and narrative!   How many cars do
> you estimate they were pulling?

I don't know exact car count but they were approved to go west with 46 tons over the maximum limit by the Train Master.

Tim W.

DTWilson, your regular postings are one of the things that keep me here on TO.  Great work!

JUTower Wrote:
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> DTWilson, your regular postings are one of the
> things that keep me here on TO.  Great work!

Thank You!