RailRoadFan.com

La Grasso Bros. Produce, which is located at the end-of-the-line of the Detroit east side Belt Line operated by Norfolk-Southern, also receives reefers from North Yard. I can't understand how the railroads are able to do this. Produce items do not last a week in my home refrigerator, and it must tak...

For a good and inexpensive scanner (< $100) checkout the hand-held models at Radio Shack. Although they carry the Radio Shack brand, they are actually manufactured by Uniden and are high quality. Also, for use in the car, pick up a magnet-mount CB antenna (about $30). Then remove the 39 inch rod and...

Maintenance include the bi-annual structural inspections and I know my employer does not want the responsibility for inspecting a RR deck / superstructure. Thanks for the clarification. But your point here raises another question. Why wouldn't your employer want the responsibility of inspecting a r...

When a rail line intersects a public highway and the rail line passes over the road, who owns the bridge? I would think that the bridge is a public bridge, owned by the state, but I am not sure. Driving through Detroit, for example, the rail bridges that cross over the freeway and other streets seem...

It may be legal to photograph trains, but in many places it is not legal to LOITER. Sitting and waiting in a private parking lot would be a definite case of loitering. Even driving a vehicle back and forth down the street in the same area can be considered loitering. I doubt if the police would pres...

The railroads aren't dumb (despite the sometimes outward appearances) so I'd assume they did the financial analysis... No, they aren't dumb. But conservative perhaps? I would be inclined to say "Yes." Not just the railroads, but most American businesses are managed by people who have their heads st...

With the railroads always complaining about costs, it would seem that reducing maintenance expense would be a major concern. Yet everytime I see trackwork being done, the replacement ties are always the same old creosote-treated wooden variety. The newer ties that are made from recycled plastic and ...

The pictures are good, but they could be better. The sharpness is poor in all photos and the exposure and focus are suboptimal in many cases. On the obviously clear sunny day on which these pictures were taken they should have come out much better. It would seem that the photographer used a cheap po...

The Doppler effect only alters the frequency (pitch) of a sound and not the loudness. If anything at all is happening, it is most likely some kind of refractive effect where, due to certain atmospheric conditions, the sound bends away from the ground causing a sound "shadow." This web page explains ...

I know all about that federal law and that's why I was so surprised to hear these "quiet" signals. The next time I go to Delray Junction -- which may not be for a while -- I'll have to closely observe what's going on. There are three crossings less than 200 ft. apart. If memory serves, I don't recal...

Bottom line is I work in a manner that keeps me safe so I get to go home and provide a income to take care of my family. Those are the things I look to protect everyday, not seeing that Bob the builder has the fastest route to his coffee. When I have crossing blocked I work as fast as I SAFELY can ...

I've noticed that when these locos pass through certain neighborhoods they seem to give only a short, quick blast on the horn which makes it very quiet compared to when they give a prolonged blast that lasts several seconds. You can't switch the horn into "quiet" mode, but you can make it appear ver...

Here is a link to a map of the proposed construction of the consolidated Livernois yard. The date of this map is 2003 and since then the project has been reduced a little in scope, but the map still gives a general idea of the extent of the construction. Most of the old yard area west of Lonyo, whic...

The United States Congress has made it clear that states and local governments cannot regulate train operations. Do you think that they would abuse the privilege? One day I was out railfanning and I happened upon a rare sight (at least for me). A CSX locomotive was running from Oak Yard in Detroit ...

Didn't BNSF partner with someone on a facility in Battle Creek and it was a bust? You may be missing the whole point of the DIFT. Intermodal in Detroit is happening right now on a large scale, and it will continue to happen into the foreseeable future. The DIFT is a plan to improve the existing ope...

I don't think CN's Moterm is operating near capacity. I believe it handles about a 1/3 the intermodal it was designed too. Capacity is only one-half of the situation. The other half is the improved efficiency of train transit time through the Detroit labyrinth. Consolidating all intermodal operatio...

Your company, then, is only a broker, or middleman, between the railroads and the shippers. You wouldn't know about the details of the actual costs for handling intermodal. What we need is someone from the railroads to give an assessment of whether or not the DIFT would lead to lower costs of handli...

Some time ago, I was driving down John Kronk avenue just north of Livernois yard in Detroit. A long CP freight was westbound but was stopped for some reason and blocking both Lonyo and Central, which are the major north-south roads in that area. As I drove further down John Kronk, near the head end ...

Based on the price, it is cheaper ($200) and faster (2 days) to truck to Chicago. This makes it a tough sell to my customers. Has your company performed a highly detailed cost analysis to get an accurate fix on the break-even point? Would your accounting staff even know what to do? From my, admitte...

Could you amplify on this statement. By using the standards of safety, transit time and unblocked crossings it [Alameda Corridor] appears to be a big success. I have never read or heard anyone call it a failure. Check this link: http://transportation.northwestern.edu/docs/2003/2003.07.23.CalTrade.R...