Passenger Trains > Sante Fe Cantilever death and Talgo return

2-12-18 the Cantilever at west end LaJunta CO was pulled down by Hulcher.
That rock is 7 feet tall and 4 ft square. Anybody care to do the math on how heavy it is?
HPUEBEL rumbles by.
It was loaded in a truck to the scrap yard within the hour of these photos.

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Then a hurried blast west to intercept the Talgo return east from the Test Center.
Vroman CO
Rocky Ford CO
west side of Swink behind an autorack.

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Swink
entering LaJunta where it will be parked till The next morning.

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😔... I love how this heavy iron resists its razing and fights back with all its might! Long live the old signals!

The new signals aren't built as well as the old ones.  The mounting masts for lower signals are often welded NOT square and true, and hence you get that tilting signal result.  The old US&S stuff was high quality, well made, and durable.

Time will tell if these new signals still work as well 60 years from now.

Nice set, even if a little disappointing.

Andy

SD45X Wrote:
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> 2-12-18 the Cantilever at west end LaJunta CO was
> pulled down by Hulcher.
> That rock is 7 feet tall and 4 ft square. Anybody
> care to do the math on how heavy it is?
> HPUEBEL rumbles by.
> It was loaded in a truck to the scrap yard within
> the hour of these photos.

Rough numbers - a cubic yard of concrete on a ready mix truck is rated at 2 tons. There are a little more than 4 cubic yards in the signal base = 8 tons!

coach Wrote:
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> Time will tell if these new signals still work as
> well 60 years from now.


By that time we probably won't need them...

Once PTC and the algorithms are figured out in each territory, and train type, the technology can start toward "moving blocks"...

I figure in about 30 years time fixed blocks will be a thing of the past on most mainlines..

That 8 tons of concrete is why its still there today and why the new signal will need to be replaced in twenty years.

I sure wouldn't want to hit a truck with that low-nosed Talgo.

Sad to see another Cantilever fall to the ground and never to be seen again, I still shoot myself in the foot not getting the one in Tehachapi when it was still there!

That Talgo is one ugly train.

While rebuilding the CSX Intermodal ramp in West Springfield, MA 7-8 years ago, they put in a water retention pond so runoff from the ramp wouldn't get into the storm/sanitary combined sewer system. Unfortunately, they encountered what I believe were two of the footings of the coal tower that used to be in that location 65 years ago. Each is about 10 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. If they dug a little further to the north, I suspect they'd would have found the other two.

Interestingly, Massachusetts EPA law says if you 'found it' on the property and keep it on the property, it's OK. Breaking them up and trucking them somewhere is expensive. So they used a full size bulldozer to drag them to their new resting places...one in the pit left by the surprise 'discovered' abandoned scale-house and scale, and one 'stands guard' today alongside the east end of intermodal track 4.

It'll be interesting to find out what they do with the 8 tons of concrete from that gantry, and others in the area. Perhaps part of the contract to take down the signal gantries includes disposal of all above and below ground portions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/18 19:05 by BRAtkinson.

The Talgo is already done testing? Where is it going now?