Sudden stop and inspection

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Orie

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Hello all,

I'm currently on the Palmetto 89 going down to Savannah. We stopped suddenly somewhere between Fayatville and Dillon SC, at which point the conductors announced they had to inspect the train which took about half an hour. I

was just curious if anyone knew what might be the cause? I've never had it happen before and we weren't given a reason. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the E-brake because while the stop was sudden and more than normal, it wasn't obnoxiously so, although the brakes did give off that popping sound as we were slowing.
 
And you could smell a burnt smell immediately afterwards, but again I think an emergency brake would be much more abrupt
 
Possible trespasser strike?

Debris on track (which the train ran over)?

Equipment issue?
 
speaking of scanners

my uniden BC75XLT literally crapped out on my last trip

i got so disgusted with it i am selling it

would not pick up diddly

i used my scanner radio app while i had three G

that's how i knew our crew had gone dead 1 mile from Williston,,,

technology is great when it works
 
Speaking of scanners. What do people currently recommend for a scanner for listening to railroad frequencies in the train and station (I'm not going to be using it anywhere else)? I have gotten curious enough that I wouldn't mind overhearing the dispatch conversations, just to find out what's going on during delays, but there are sooooo many scanners out there (often marketed for listening to police, fire, weather frequencies) and I don't really know what I'm looking for. All the information I've found is both way too high-end (targeted at people who understand ham radio) and substantially obsolete (several years old at minimum).
 
Train may of set off a dragging equipment detector. Hot box detector and dragging equipment detector are common. Set off one and you stop the train to inspect.

If it was a hot box detector you would notice a car getting left behind. While a dragging equipment could be as simple as hose that is hanging too low. Easy fixable.

If it was a car strike you be there for 2-3 hours.
 
Speaking of scanners. What do people currently recommend for a scanner for listening to railroad frequencies in the train and station (I'm not going to be using it anywhere else)? I have gotten curious enough that I wouldn't mind overhearing the dispatch conversations, just to find out what's going on during delays, but there are sooooo many scanners out there (often marketed for listening to police, fire, weather frequencies) and I don't really know what I'm looking for. All the information I've found is both way too high-end (targeted at people who understand ham radio) and substantially obsolete (several years old at minimum).
If you are only interested in railroad monitoring, a cheap (so-called NASCAR scanner) will suffice). Wide-spread digital use is still some time away although migration to narrow-band FM is taking place. NOTE: narrow-band does not mean digital, narrow-band FM can be analog. Down the road, things will change.
 
A full stop doesn't lock the brakes and lurch everything forward. Even e brake applications aren't terribly dramatic. I was I the Texas Eagle around 15 years ago and we ran over a tire placed between the rails. It disconnected the brake line witch stopped the train. It was about 1 am in the middle of the Ozark mountains somewhere near the Arkansas and Missouri border. Anyway, the conductor walked the train, reconnected the line, we tested the brakes and we were off. Total time was around 30 minutes.
 
We were on the California Zephyr in July during a storm. Apparently a tree fell onto the tracks. We stopped. I heard that the conductor got out onto the tracks and removed the tree by cutting it in pieces using a chain saw.

(I believe that Alan had a scanner, so correct me if I am wrong).
 
We were on the California Zephyr in July during a storm. Apparently a tree fell onto the tracks. We stopped. I heard that the conductor got out onto the tracks and removed the tree by cutting it in pieces using a chain saw.

(I believe that Alan had a scanner, so correct me if I am wrong).
Where did the conductor get a chain saw from?
 
We were on the California Zephyr in July during a storm. Apparently a tree fell onto the tracks. We stopped. I heard that the conductor got out onto the tracks and removed the tree by cutting it in pieces using a chain saw.

(I believe that Alan had a scanner, so correct me if I am wrong).
Hah!

That's kinda badass.
 
We were on the California Zephyr in July during a storm. Apparently a tree fell onto the tracks. We stopped. I heard that the conductor got out onto the tracks and removed the tree by cutting it in pieces using a chain saw.

(I believe that Alan had a scanner, so correct me if I am wrong).
Where did the conductor get a chain saw from?
Heck...Probably not a chain saw but that FIRE AXE from the vestibule!
 
Hmm. It seems like there's sort of a minimum price for scanners, roughly $80-$100. I'm looking at the Uniden BC75XLT and the BC125AT -- the latter looks nicer and, frankly, almost the same price. Sound like either would do? (Or are they both too cheap to even be worth trying, given that andersone's crapped out?)
 
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Either will more than adequately do the job for RR monitoring. The latter has some additional frequency coverage, can be programmed to select operations using certain types of security tones, and has extra channels for storage along with some other bells and whistles. Neither has 800+ bandwidth listening capabilities, advanced digital decription or digital security tone capabilities (which some public safety systems and others use) nor can they follow trunked systems from what I can tell looking over the specs.

For the price and your interests, both (but the latter, especially, if you wanted to stretch out your radio monitoring beyond railroads) are good and reasonable deals with a lot to offer.
 
It has been a few years,I was on the last trip of the Houston section of the Texas Eagle and had my scanner when I heard the defect detector say "Stop the train,something dragging".Made a quick stop,and the conductors walked the outside of the train.In no time we were off.The rough track must have caused it.The rest of the detectors gave temperature,speed.number of axles and NO DEFECTS.......A word on scanners.....Dont leave dead batteries in the scanner,even if you are powering off charger.No need to ask how I know.(Batteries leak)
 
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Hmm. It seems like there's sort of a minimum price for scanners, roughly $80-$100. I'm looking at the Uniden BC75XLT and the BC125AT -- the latter looks nicer and, frankly, almost the same price. Sound like either would do? (Or are they both too cheap to even be worth trying, given that andersone's crapped out?)
Ditto everything NorthShore said. I have the 125, bought it to replace a pretty old scanner that was getting worse and worse range as operations around me switched to narrow band. I like the pre-programmed bands and much smaller size than the old one. Also like the USB charging instead of huge transformer on AC cord that covers up all neighboring sockets.
 
A full service ("emergency") brake application will often produce an odor similar to that of burning insulation because of the friction between the brake shoes and the wheels. When the train is stopped due to a hotbox detector or a dragging equipment detector, it is very rare for the operating crew to stop the train more abruptly than a normal stop, so you usually get little or none of that odor. A near miss seems to be a more likely explanation for an emergency application. The most likely explanation is probably a trespassing pedestrian or a vehicle fouling a grade crossing. An inspection of the entire train is required after an emergency stop because of possible damage to the equipment. It is rare for a passenger car to be set off due to a hotbox, although it does occasionally happen. The hotbox detector tells the crew exactly which axle has set off the alarm, so they know which car to check. The conductor has a testing kit that helps to determine how hot the bearing is. Usually, the bearing is allowed to cool and the train may then proceed at restricted speed. If the next detector identifies a problem, the same procedure is followed. I don't know how many times this procedure is repeated before the crew must resort to the extreme measure of cutting out the car. This is probably governed by an FRA rule, but I don't know for sure about that.

I'm inferring that the incident occurred around 4-5 pm. It seems strange that the Conductor did not make an announcement to explain what happened. If it occurred in the middle of the night, it would be ridiculous to unnecessarily awaken passengers to give an explanation; but an announcement should probably be made during waking hours.

With autumn fast approaching, it might be worthwhile to mention that leaves on the track can occasionally produce a burning odor when they come into contact with hot wheels and/or brake shoes, although I'm not aware of any actual significant fires resulting.

Tom
 
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We were on the California Zephyr in July during a storm. Apparently a tree fell onto the tracks. We stopped. I heard that the conductor got out onto the tracks and removed the tree by cutting it in pieces using a chain saw.

(I believe that Alan had a scanner, so correct me if I am wrong).
Where did the conductor get a chain saw from?
Heck...Probably not a chain saw but that FIRE AXE from the vestibule!
Well, Alan, who heard the whole thing on his scanner can fill in the details. But I distinctly remember him saying that the Dispatcher was very surprised to learn that the Conductor carried a saw around with him, and was also relieved I suppose, because it would have taken BNSF several hours to get a crew out there in the middle of the night.
 
The USB charging capability would be the deciding factor here... so many of the other toys use it... have installed a quad USB port in the touring car so as to easily keep the cellphone, camera etc charged... so much nicer than having to drag around the wall-warts or table-warts and having to find a 110v outlet... on last week's CZ sojourn, had a 110 to twin-head USB adaptor which kept my toys going, plus was used by the gentlelady behind me to keep her phone charged... bottomline: USB has/is becoming the lingua franca of power adapators.
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I think I will also look for one of those multi-usb chargers like gmushial got, since we're beginning to pile up the gadgets...
 
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