Plymouth Yard Office fire

[barnstormer]

Due to a fire at the Plymouth yard office on Thursday, operations on the Plymouth, Detroit, and Saginaw sub-districts will be a bit hampered. This is due to the signal system controls for those areas was located in the building that caught fire. This has affected the manner of operating trains thru these areas significantly, and could possibly be long-term in its duration. It will be a slow-go thru these areas, so expect to see even slower-moving trains in the area of the Plymouth diamond. (This should allow ALOT of photos for you hobbyists!)

That's all the info I have.

-barny

[Saturnalia]

Signal Suspension started with Q334 last night. This effects the Plymouth sub EAST of Trowbridge, and the Saginaw Sub north of John Hix, but not sure how far north of Plymouth.

I also heard something that sounded like some codeline was down around Wixom and/or Wayne?

[Jetlink]

Signal Suspension started with Q334 last night. This effects the Plymouth sub WEST of Trowbridge, and the Saginaw Sub north of John Hix, but not sure how far north of Plymouth.

I also heard something that sounded like some codeline was down around Wixom and/or Wayne?

West of Trowbridge? So Plymouth to Trowbridge is OK? Is that right? Doesn't pass the sniff test initially with me. Just wanted to make sure it isn't a typo/misprint. West of Trowbridge CTC ends at Ensel. and Doesn't pick up again until Lake O. It looked like the signals were working properly in Lake Odessa this morning and Lake O is west of Trowbridge.

[pudgy]

I believe you're right jet link...heard the dispatcher talking to a train this morning about crossing failures due to the signal suspension/damage (not sure why the crossing protection wouldn't work, thought those were "local" circuits to the roads). Area affected is EAST of Trowbridge to Plymouth and south on the Toledo sub.

[Saturnalia]

I believe you're right jet link...heard the dispatcher talking to a train this morning about crossing failures due to the signal suspension/damage (not sure why the crossing protection wouldn't work, thought those were "local" circuits to the roads). Area affected is EAST of Trowbridge to Plymouth and south on the Toledo sub.

Correct, EAST of Trowbridge. Sorry for the typo.

Post has been corrected...

[Jetlink]

I believe you're right jet link...heard the dispatcher talking to a train this morning about crossing failures due to the signal suspension/damage (not sure why the crossing protection wouldn't work, thought those were "local" circuits to the roads). Area affected is EAST of Trowbridge to Plymouth and south on the Toledo sub.

I heard a conversation between a signal maintainer and the RN this morning discussing the same thing. Sounded like a confusing e-mail was sent internally. The maintainer didn't know why the local crossing protection would be out either. It was mixed in with a report of a false activation at Grand River so they weren't really sure what was going on. Sounded like RN was going to get to the bottom of it and get it cleared up.

[Typhoon]

Power lines fell on the yard office during the storm, starting a fire. All the signal equipment was kept there, and was burned. The signal supension will last a couple of weeks. There are some grade crossings on the Plymouth sub that need track lights on the signal system to activate the crossings. No signal system=no track lights=activation failures. It is a strange setup, and I don't remember seeing anywhere else.

[Racer]

Power lines fell on the yard office during the storm, starting a fire. All the signal equipment was kept there, and was burned. The signal supension will last a couple of weeks. There are some grade crossings on the Plymouth sub that need track lights on the signal system to activate the crossings. No signal system=no track lights=activation failures. It is a strange setup, and I don't remember seeing anywhere else.

Is that why Q335 made a stop at Farmer Street, today? I watched the head-end pass Main Street and saw the signals were red for them to take the cross over and the Southwest Wye for the Plymouth Sub. I couldn't see if the gates came down before the power came to the crossing, but they came to a stop at Farmer Street where I saw the conductor standing on the steps of the conductor's side of the lead locomotive and ignited flares that were placed on the grade crossing. I assume that is the procedure when the crossings do not activate?

[BnOEngr]

North/south affected from John Hix to Middle River. East/west affected from Hines Park to Trowbridge.

[brysonda]

The signals west of Trowbridge seem to be lit and operational. Which leads me to wonder, why does CTC stop at The west end of Ensel to pick back up at Lake Odessa? The signals from west end of Trowbridge on are clearly a separate part of the system from the east.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

Power lines fell on the yard office during the storm, starting a fire. All the signal equipment was kept there, and was burned. The signal supension will last a couple of weeks. There are some grade crossings on the Plymouth sub that need track lights on the signal system to activate the crossings. No signal system=no track lights=activation failures. It is a strange setup, and I don't remember seeing anywhere else.

From observations posted in the CSX update thread, there's no noticeable damage from just off the property. Is the damage confined to the interior of a building and not apparent from outside?

[Michael]

All I could find online (apart from this forum) is this one paragraph in the Plymouth Observer:

Firefighters responded to fire at a building at the CSX Corp. railroad yard off of Junction Street on the north side of town. The fire was reported about 2:30 p.m. and about 20 Northville Fire Department firefighters were at the scene, which was still active at just before 4 p.m.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire had not been determined.

[donnieland]

hi typhoon
concerning the need for track lights to activate the street crossing system you talked about.
would that be the reason that the new flasher/gate protection for 104th ave gr sub cg 21.9
relay case has a radio ant attached to the case at the top of the nw cor?
thanks
don

[BnOEngr]

hi typhoon
concerning the need for track lights to activate the street crossing system you talked about.
would that be the reason that the new flasher/gate protection for 104th ave gr sub cg 21.9
relay case has a radio ant attached to the case at the top of the nw cor?
thanks
don

No. That is for remote problem reporting.

[donnieland]

hi bno engr
thanks for the reply about the ant. on the case
don

[barnstormer]

The signal supension will last a couple of weeks.

Is that why Q335 made a stop at Farmer Street, today? I watched the head-end pass Main Street and saw the signals were red for them to take the cross over and the Southwest Wye for the Plymouth Sub. I couldn't see if the gates came down before the power came to the crossing, but they came to a stop at Farmer Street where I saw the conductor standing on the steps of the conductor's side of the lead locomotive and ignited flares that were placed on the grade crossing. I assume that is the procedure when the crossings do not activate?

Informed directly that CSX will place a new signal bungalow at Beck rd. to handle the signals from there to Trowbridge in order to expedite the return to service of that segment, hoping to finish this in a few days. And due to the fire, they are also looking at completely replacing the old signals system for Plymouth diamond from Beck rd. to Hines park and Middle river to John Hix rd., which was slated to be updated in the near future anyways, but will now be put on the front burner, so to speak. They hope to have this next step done in 4-6 wks.

As far as the procedure for activation failures, crews must stop the train prior to fouling the crossing, the conductor dismounts the equipment, flags the traffic to a stop, places lit fusees on both sides of the crossing to indicate to traffic the need to remain stopped, and when it is safe to do so, give a signal to the engineer to occupy the crossing, stop movement once on/over the crossing, mount the equipment, and then proceed. This is not the case for false/partial activations, as the procedure is less involved.

-barny

[Saturnalia]

Informed directly that CSX will place a new signal bungalow at Beck rd. to handle the signals from there to Trowbridge in order to expedite the return to service of that segment, hoping to finish this in a few days. And due to the fire, they are also looking at completely replacing the old signals system for Plymouth diamond from Beck rd. to Hines park and Middle river to John Hix rd., which was slated to be updated in the near future anyways, but will now be put on the front burner, so to speak. They hope to have this next step done in 4-6 wks.
-barny

I wonder if this will affect the GR & GRT Sub replacements? I was wondering if they are pulling the crew from GR for a bit.

I guess this means I will be waiting on the Saginaw Sub maps for just a little while longer

[CAT345C]

I think its a separate crew working on the east end. Few years ago they hired some guys for a Construction gang out that way. A lot of the xing signals are being upgraded right now. They hit all the standard lights with new gates and boxes from Beck road to South Lyon. And a lot more west of there.

[NoviRailfan]

"Informed directly that CSX will place a new signal bungalow at Beck rd. to handle the signals from there to Trowbridge in order to expedite the return to service of that segment, hoping to finish this in a few days. "

When I crossed the Beck Road crossing early this afternoon, there was several CSX maintenance trucks east of the crossing with at least a half dozen people on site. I didn't get a chance to stop and photograph but I'm assuming that it's related to the earlier comment.

[barnstormer]

Thanks for that bit of info Barnstormer. I always said you guys know more then we do...we just WORK here...

Uh...Doc....so do I, just not as many grey whiskers as you may have. Just like you, it's why the info we provide isn't just guess work, but based on experience and direct contact with those who may know what is actually going on, though I've learned to take some things said with a grain of salt.

-barny