RailRoadFan.com

In the city of Detroit, a very good place to get photographs of Amtrak (and other) trains is John Kronk avenue just east of Central street. At this location, which is essentially Livernois yard, the tracks run extremely close to John Kronk. For several years, I have parked my car on JK and waited, s...

Did you call and report this to CN? Even calling the crossing hotline on the crossbucks will work. If you didn't this time, make sure to next. If there is a next time. I doubt if I'll ever see something like this again since the authorities are coming down hard on railfans. Every time I go out I ge...

I was standing at Delray and watching a slow moving (about 10mph) CN mixed freight on the Conrail Shared Assets. The train was crossing Dearborn Street and I was located on the sidewalk about 3-4 feet from the moving railcars. After a few minutes I suddenly smelled an acrid, almost nauseating, kind ...

I was researching coyotes on the internet, and it said they use railroad right of ways as corridors through urban areas, because of the cover they provide. It's not just coyotes. Everyone -- both animal and human -- uses the railroad ROW because, aside from a few park areas, it is the only cover in...

If they should ever exhibit too much lack of fear, it could be an indication of rabies. Wild animals generally avoid human presence, but if they are infected they will show little caution. These coyotes have probably become accustomed to human beings being always near them, but it's always good to b...

I can't undestand this lack of interest by NS in the Michigan Line. The upcoming Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal (DIFT) will be built right on this line and, as far as freight operations, should be able to breath new life into it. If NS abandons the Michigan Line to Amtrak the DIFT will have ess...

It should be pointed out that this is only one of two possible routes for CN through that area. CN can either enter Conrail tracks at Vinewood, and hence negotiate the treacherous wye, or it can stay in its own tracks and proceed directly into Delray. Some CN trains use one route and some CN trains ...

I am not quite sure how you came up this thought. It should be quite obvious. All customers on a particular rail line are essentially captive to the owner of that line. Is this not correct? This would be especially true for the larger industries that cannot ship by truck. Let's consider the aluminu...

Thanks for all of the responses. I know very little about the issue of trackage rights, but I suppose that railroads will grant rights for passage but not for servicing customers. CN enjoys trackage rights on Conrail to avoid the congestion at Delray. Southbound CN freight will enter Conrail at Vine...

I asked this question on a different post but received no answer and so I present it again. Because CN, for whatever reason, does not service the GM Hamtramck assembly plant, GM apparently trucks the product somewhere else for transload to CSX. Why can't CSX just utilize the existing CN trackage to ...

Why would GM have to use trucks to transload their product onto CSX? Why couldn't CSX bring their trains right to GM via tracxkage rights on CN? Heck, CSX/NS could easily build a switch at Milwaukee Junction to obtain access to the GM plant via a short hop on CN tracks. This would appear to be an id...

but if they are blocking crossings for more than 10 minutes at a time or stopping often enough that they are, in effect, blocking the crossing for hours perhaps some work needs to be done to mitigate the problem. The responsibility lies with the people that live in the affected neighborhoods. If th...

there was a small tower there with a crossing operator. The tower was there at least through the 1970s, but I do not remember when it was torn down. Could you be referring to YD Tower? That's the only tower I had known about in this vicinity. If so, YD Tower was located at Pleasant Street which is ...

The problem is it's not ADA compliant. I assume that ADA refers to disability requirments. Well, the ADA just got one more brand new member following this latest incident. IMO, the requirements should apply to the entire crossing. Disabled people can wait on the ground until the train clears. Anyon...

Visger Road and Saliotte Street just to the south are very important avenues in that area. They both link large residential neighborhoods to the business and shopping district along Jefferson. Also, Ecorse High School is situated adjacent to the tracks on Saliotte. It's no wonder that people get imp...

For those of you expecting Norfolk Southern, here is an enlargement of a frame from the above videos: http://home.comcast.net/~frank.peters/run-over.jpg The locomotive is obviously a European model, and most likely from Latvia or Estonia or other nearby Eastern bloc state. The traction motor clearan...

This is a better version of the above video, with a much more convincing ending. The gentleman deserves an Academy Award.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1952588/s ... der_train/

AZ

Have fun boys and girls. This is a favorite pastime in the Baltic states, but hasn't quite caught on in the USA.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1096951/l ... der_train/

AZ

I have been made to delete my rail photos, not by the railroad police, but by the private security force at Great Lakes (USS) Steel after I "inadvertently" wandered onto the property. The funny thing is that those deleted photos are not actually deleted. Only the directory links have been removed bu...

I'VE JUST HAD TWO BRAN MUFFINS AND A LARGE CARAMEL MACCHIATTO FROM STARBUCKS- I GOTTA GO! (Just then, your 5-10 mile long train begins to pass by) I'm sending somebody this cleaning bill......... The case would be thrown out of small claims court. The judge would just ask about your Pee-Wee bag: ht...