Snow High Valley Distr Ctr (High Resolution 950x532) Approx

[blueodessey]

New Freight on the move, Ckg the Rails n Bridges in Sky Blue Mtn Beauty

Well its is bright and Sunny on Lovette Mtn Pass, no broken Rails, we are on the move today, lots of Shunting to be down, Coal will be loaded on all available empty's.

Need to make some minor adjustments to some switches on Gradient, no biggy.

Thinking about adding some more Trees here and there. not over doing it.


Coming round the Curve and you see my access tunnel to Coal Mine Operations on other side. Nice shot of small lake below, which is Snow Melt.


Below is cross view of Parallel Wood Truss Bridge, originally was only one, but it created a severe bottle neck , so I split the tracks and dropped a second, everything flows good now.



Little under view of the Bridge Span below.


Now you can see a better Side View of the massive Bridge spanning the deep Gorge, I think it works OK, if you think I should use a different Bridge Setup let me know, I'm open to suggestions.


Out morning local is headed across the deep ravine below.

 

[blueodessey]

New Freight on the move headed to the top of Lovette Mountain

We continue our trip to the the Top of the Mountain, today will make Some Shunts, drop Loads and pick up Coal Loads Etc from local industry's. Tracks are good so far, Signals working as indicated.


First Stop to drop off Empty Gons for Coal, will clear with Local Crews here, and head up the Mountain further, to Freight and Diesel Facility where we drop off loads. With extra Track-age installed there's room for several trains to pass, load or Stop, also we are under local Dispatch here, we have Passenger Trains coming thru too!


Dispatcher and Yardmaster checking Freight movement, making sure everything is as it should be.


Crew is dropping empties, and will come back and pick up loads on way back from upper Freight Yard Job.


Loads are dropped, now we head round the mountain for our final destination to the Top.


Yup, there's a classic car out front, don't hit Scratch or Touch, LOL, or you'll be reassigned to Harbor Yard Duty with all the Chemical Plant's definitely not as nice up here in the Crisp Clean Mountain Air!

Auto belongs to Big Boss of Rail Ops up here!

 

[blueodessey]

Trouble on Upper Main, Ice on Tracks, Broken Signals, Trees down, B/O Switch!!!

Well, I'm calling Signals, MOW,

We have some major issues due to all the construction, My Local is going to be delayed, will hold him up here till I get things sorted out with the respective Dept's! and some heads are going to fly too!!!!

Below we just got to the Bridge, when we found several Trees fallen over the Main line, obstructing our move to upper Freight Station.

We also found an unstable Track parallel to the main, we may have Drainage or ICE channeling issues? That track is immediately taken out of Service for now!!


An Open switch not removed from the Main when Track Work was changed, could have caused a derail.

We have a Signal Gantry with all Red, no permissive, and tracks are clear, so even if we wanted to pass we can't, something is wrong in the Circuitry somewhere.

Not going to be good day unfortunately, and I have to report all this to Head Dispatch in the Valley Division. Corridor Mgr is going to want some answers fast, as this will have some affects on Loads and Thru Traffic that passes thru the Mountain Via I Portal Control.


I think I forgot to mention it, but we have some Warm Springs Water up here too, you see just below the Large Rail Bridge overpass we r stopped on.

Below we Ran into Fallen Trees on the Main, have to clear the Obstruction.


Track on Right side has settled really bad, we have something wrong with the under base, Track is now out of Service till MOW can get in her and advise what's going on?


Ice buildup on the Rail, could have derailed this Caboose in reverse move to Freight Station, 2-3 feet thick and frozen solid, nothing new for this altitude....But we need to have these Tracks checked more often now, this could have been ugly if we derailed and push out over the side of the Cliff, its a 50 foot drop to the bottom!!!!


There was a connection point here, but MOW didn't remove the Switch after extending the Tracks????, this shouldn't have happened, someone is getting written up and put on 5 Days suspension without pay!

 

[blueodessey]

Derailement at Lovette Mtn (Safety Lockdown+Bridge Failures, no Inj or Deaths!!!)

I simply don't know where to start first with Tragic news from the Mountain:

We had a runaway Train from Coal Mine area, Brakes failure, or not Tied down properly?

Overpass Bridge at new Passenger area, had Earth movement shift, and was out of Height correspondance, also took roof off of our Local headed up to Diesel Summit area, scared the Engineer half to death as he heard terrible scraping from roof top of Engine, was barely able to stop in time!!!!

He was able to back Train off Bridge and back into Safety clearance free of the Bridge!

I suppose you could say we were lucky this time? No Crew Injuries, or Deaths, but this has been one crazy week for the Lovette Mountain Division.

We have the whole area closed now till we finish the in Depth investigation of what happened with Bridge Failure and separately with Runaway on Coal side of Canyon, if I find out the Crews didn't tie the Train down right, well, someone might end up on 6 months off without pay or worse for this potential Safety Violation.

As for the Bridge, apparently it is Hybrid of 2 Bridges put together? But one part of it settled into the Ground out of Height Correspondence! It was done long before I came to work up here.

So will let the Crafts sort this out, get it replaced, and will interview the Crews the Runaway and due a Field review of the Train Forensically to see what our investigation reveals, we have special investigators just for this detail , I want to know the answers asap so I can protect my Workers. I don't want to point fingers till I get all the answers in place first.

Below you can see the carnage from the Runaway, fortunately the Train picked a Switch and it stayed on the Track and not tumble over the cliff and kill someone in Buildings below., thank the Lord.


Trains as they looked the day before.


Bridge settled and shifted here, Train went into full emergency, as you can see the Tracks are pushed to the left side, its a wonder Conductor in Caboose survived, and didn't end up in bottom of Cyn below, the Train God was with the Crew this day. They were in reverse move at 6MPH!!!!

You ask why Signal wasn't red, apparently Wires were still intact and stretched enough not to Break contact at base?


This is how other end of Rail Gons looked day before as they are Staged for Shunting.



This where Caboose stopped, you can't see all the Scratches from on other side of Caboose and consist as it dragged along left side of Bridge.


I guess on Bright side, we removed Snow buildup on Tracks, and Fallen Trees yesterday, but we weren't prepared for what happened today, after survey tracks on other side to Diesel Spur, we found they had moved some too, and Grade was off by 2%, we r going to get our Geologist out here to see if we have Groundwater movement underneath or something that's causing this shifting and settling of the Road bed.


This area will be closed for at least a month till we get things sorted out.

All the damaged cars and Locos will be transported on Flatcars will be moved to Shops for Investigation and Inspection, repairs, or possibly sent to Scrap Yard if beyond repair?

Big bosses are already bending my ear right now, wanting to know when we can get this Division open, along with that, the Feds are poking around here too, wanting answers.......Talk about a bad situation, only bright light if you will, they have faith in my experience to resolve issues just like this, it just takes time and tenacity, I have one, but not the liberty of Time.

That's all for today, and it's not a Good Friday weekend, everyone is working as I order removal Caterpillars for wrecked consist removal.

 

[blueodessey]

New Bridge, Signals @ Lovette Summit, Tracks re aligned, Derail Investigation Results

Well its 6 months later in the Time Line, So here the results, both good and Bad from our Incidents.

Our Geologists found out we do have underground Springs in the area, and the original Bridge Pilings had become compromised because they weren't not set deep enough into the Bedrock, also we didn't have enough information at the time the Bridge was installed back then! (who knew)

Now we have a much stronger and better designed Bridge in place, and Pilings are twice as deep and better supported with 4 pillars vs the 2 of original.

Grade is reset, and it varies from 2-3.25% this being the top of the Summit, it's our highest point in the mountains, but our Locos we use our geared for the climb. We could even have 4% but we never want to work our equip't at that %.

As for the derail, our consist wasn't tied down correctly, and some cars did not have there manual Brakes set, we were at an angle that Brakes eventually slipped into a slow roll, as will, we have installed a Derailer now to negate a repeat of this Incident.

We also found out 2 of workers had never worked in Mountain Grade conditions and required additional Training to make sure everything is tied down correctly when Cars are setting at incline Grade Conditions.

There is enough fault to be shared with by Mgt. and Workers alike. Will learn form our mistakes and move on!!

Picture below, our local is moving across the new Bridge and everything feels solid now. Our Engineer is back on the Job.



Due to Bridge out of aligment in past, that is what caused these Signals to not be working, now with Tracks and new Bridge, they work spot on as we climb into to Summit Spur.


Looking over the line ahead of New Bridge, also we have lots more Trees planted in this area too.


We are finally at the end of Spur here at Lovette Summit and have restricted Diverging Switches at enter locker Signal, all good, we have lots of Shunting and Spotting for local industry, will lose 1/2 half our Train here, and then go back and pick up Coal and Ore loads across the Canyon at Coal mine. It's beautiful up here in the Northern part of Lovette Division.

Things are getting back to normal and that's good for me, I'm getting promoted and transferred out to another Division, I don't know where yet, But I have learned a lot from this High Ground operation. Now a new guy gets to learn from me for a month, before I move on.


Nice view of our new Bridge as the Local pulls Freight up the 3% grade to Lovette Summit!

 

[blueodessey]

Shunting on Lovette Summit

Up in the remote Mountainous areas like this, they use a lot of Diesel for everything, so extra on demand supply is important, because the bridge was out, Diesel had to be trucked up the mountain rather than Railed in!!!

Not very efficient but it works when your in a pinch, we did bring Tankers up to a lower Spur point and Fuel was off loaded there, so it worked, now supply will come in by Rail to the Summit, were Tanks and Pipes will distribute to the Town as needed.

We drag our load up, and then do a end run around the Train and shunt the cargo where it needs to go.

It's a beautiful day for now, but I hear a Storm is brewing and comes into the mountain tonight, so we better get the move on. Wait 5 min's and the Weather will change in a moments notice.


Moving to the other side, we see Fork Lifts hard at it, moving Cargo Boxes around.Getting ready for the new cargo we've brought up today.


Getting ready getting ready for the runaround now.


Tanker Cars have been spotted, and more will be brought up tomorrow, as Storage Tanks are pretty much empty.
1

Run around is done, we are getting ready to shove the consist up and spot everything into place. Grade is good, Signals working as intended, so far, so good

 

[blueodessey]

We Shunt, then we Change the Puzzle again? Work is never done!


After Shunting up at the Summit, I didn't like the flow of the Tracks, I needed more space, more power, and a XCrossover added to the Puzzle.

The Stub Tracks where just to Short, the approach Tracks from the bottom, too long.

So I didn't rip everything out like I normally do when I am frustrated, this time, I thought it threw and started Dragging switches down the hill, extending, checking Grade Height measurements, etc, when you mess with tracks this close together, something is bound to get out of alignment, and that's exactly what happened, but that's OK, because experience has finally sunk into my little brain.

Below you can see the XCrossover from left to right at bottom of Track Puzzle.


It took a good hour to get it the way I think it should look, and level and align all the tracks, I also ripped out some the Freight Platforms and redid them.

Removed 3 head signal for inter-locker control, and took at Dwarf too on Freight spur, I was thinking I have lighted switch stands, I'm just complicating things here.

I have the Gantry main signal at bottom of Yard before dual tracks merge into main, that's all I need.


Different view here so you can see how I changed it.


I also took out short XCrossover on middle Stub at back here too, just to cramped and it confuses things. more of hindrance than help when switching.


Flyover view of Coal and Summit Yards in Aerial View, so you can see how it ties together.

I have a new Shunting session now, I'm running 3 SD45's along with Extra Tanker Diesel Cars to fill the near empty Diesel Storage Tanks.

 

[blueodessey]

Shunt in progress on new Tracks Pt 2


Continuing on, I'll run 3 Loco consist with this 2-3% grade, works a lot better, and we are bringing more Tankers with Diesel with new Traffic and Tourism.


Getting up the Grade nice and smooth, will stop at 1st X crossover here and do our Train Runaround for Shunting by Shove.

I have enough room between Puzzle switches to allow for extra Loco too.


Coming down the Grade will switch at bottom and shove back up hill, spotting all the Freight where need be.

Wow I can see my front and back of Train,,,,,,,I didn't scratch or hit anything today!


Had just enough Clearance to get Caboose past Switch so I could do the runaround here, great Conductor on-board today!


This older picture showing where the Enter Locker Signal used to be, it has been removed along with Dwarf on Freight Spur to Right, you can't see that part.

Now we have all Lighted and Directional Status CNR Switch Heads in place, it's the KISS philosophy in use, sometimes one's best ideas just don't pan out. But hey you don't know till you experiment a bit, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thanks for Dropping by Folks, I hope my Pictures and Stories will help, or at least give you a little humor in your day.

Have a great weekend.

 

[blueodessey]

SD45's side shots, Lovette Summit Track Changes

:mop: I had to stop and take some Track side Photos of my Beloved SD45's, they operate so clean and reliable at least for me.


We have finished the Shunt at Summit, and now we headed back down to Coal Mine, where we will pick up a lot of loads of Coal for the Ports.


What an great view of the mountain, I like the Trees I added.


Here is what I needed to do, was take out the X crossover Track and move it down in the area closer to Gantry Signal.

From what changes I made the Shunting really improved the spotting of moves it takes half the time now, and with this minor change in the location of X Crossover out of the Puzzle up ahead, it should do the trick. Everything else is ship shape.

It bugs that it took me so long to figure this out, but Time is Patience and Solutions do present themselves when they are ready too.


Closer Shot of the relocated X Crossover from Main #1 to Main #2.


I have to field test tonight again and see how it all works out, confidence is high that this last change ought to button everything and we can move on to other needed Projects on the Planning Table. This ole mountain has seen a lot of Changes in the last 6-8 months.

It just takes time and persistence.

Good night all and a blessed Sunday come tomorrow.
F

 

[blueodessey]

Track Realigment at Lovette Coal Mining Camp, X Crossover added


Well Lovette Summit is in good shape, now we start working our way down the mountain, and I know where my next project will be?

Ok, now since we had lots of Track work here due to Derailments Etc. We made some minor changes, and added a small X Crossover below on the Curve just to left of Green Clickity Clack Wheel Sound symbol.


All trackage in this area was realigned and slightly adjusted for potential Car to Car Clearance issues.


Here if you look directly above Aurora Lovette Mtn Storage Track Jct marker, you see the small X Crossover that connects the Mains for better access.


Here you can see how everything comes together from Summit Bridge and connectors to Coal Mine Ops, lot of stuff going in a compact area.


Here you see SD45 Local coming back from Lovette Summit with 4 Gons, 2 Loaded with Coal unfortunately, and they got stranded up here, but ayt end of day, all the Coal Loads will be finished, consolidated into 1 Train, and taken back to Port and or other Industry's.


Weather is changing as Fall is not far away, we never have a Summer up here, Altitude is too high, But like anyone knows, you take the good weather when you can.

So next thing is do a shunting test with new Tracks and X Crossover to see if I need to make any other Changes. Then it's off to the Races in another part of the Route.

Thanks for coming to Visit.

Wishing all a great week ahead as the Olympics comes to closure.

 

[blueodessey]

Supplies coming into Lovette Coal Mine

Well we are in high gear up here in Lovette Coal Mine District, much needed supplies are being spotted by Erie Lackawanna Power, and lots of Coal Cars will be filled shortly as we get a Coal Drag ready for the Ports as soon as these Supplies are unloaded!

New X Crossover is in and working perfectly, I think we've conquered the mountain for now.? But never get to confident up here on the Mountain!


2451 is on the move and one happy engineer getting things in order.


Dropped off wood and Timbers, Mining Supplies Etc for the Coal Co.


These heavy logs will go into the mine to reinforce some of the Mine walls so they don't collapse on the workers.


Empty Gons on the left will be filled shortly with Coal Ore.

 

[blueodessey]

I'm going to share a little of my past about my passion with the Railroads,

When I started School in the 50's I had the Privilege of Southern Pacific going thru my City and literally behind my School, literally I got the see the SW1200 Switchers, and occasional Black Widows etc working on the other side of the School Yard. For me that was fascinating, and I really wanted to work for the RR's but that was not to be for another 40 years!

During that time, I played with Wooden Trains, HO, and O Gauge etc, built 6 different layouts, then had to move a bunch of times, finally my large HO layout got Broke during the move to the new house, and has set 30 yrs, I never got back to fix it?

Raising a family, working 2 jobs, and 60 some years later, things have changed a lot, health etc, now there is Trainz in my life, so I with much regret have to move into the Digital Age and for my health issues, it is for the best.

You see I really like the Railroads, as their ability to Construct, build change, and move one heck of a lot of Cargo. I always hope we have the RR's just like the Trucking Industry, without, this nation would crumble, yes the Airplanes too. When I read about the WEED line from Montana to Washington (posted here recently) It was sad that a 2000 Mile RR was scraped, We need good Transportation in this country, and it is not a good thing when you close the Rails, trying to reopen later or rebuild like we have in Los Angeles, can cost you, all of us Millions, remember the Red and White Cars, it was 350 Miles from Sea to Mountains, to the Desert, I saw them growing up, terrible Travesty, and they call that progress, I call it backwards progression at what cost.

I got to work around the RR's for 25yrs and, it is the best experience I ever had over any of my other Jobs in life.

Support your Railroads, and have fun with Trainz, it is the best Simulator I have ever played with, excluding Steam Games 10 yrs ago....I'll stick with Trainz.

I really like the this Forum too,

 

[davesnow]

There is absolutely no need to have all that stuff ^ in your posts. Use "host then post". see my tutorial here:

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...-quot-Host-then-Post-quot&highlight=host+post

(( It's really too bad this was never made into a STICKY.))


Cheers,

Dave

 

[blueodessey]

Thank you Sir Dave,

I've been having a problem with that part of it.....

Much appreciated.

 

[blueodessey]

Fixing Pasting error, caused by Firefox Addon! Enterclue (who knew) LOL

Evening Sir DAVE,

I figured out what was causing all the extra Text at the bottom of my Pictures, a while back, 3-4 mos, I don't know, I put in an Addon to Firefox something called Enterclue, it checks links, and tells you if they're invalid, dead etc, somehow, someway they don't get along with Host Then Post, I hadn't noticed till tonight, because the Geek that I am, I new something was funny when I do editing here in my messages with Copy and Paste motions, I noticed funny characters popup when I move my Cursor over Paragraphs, what I didn't put together until tonight, was the word Enterclue in the Path commands of my Picture links, then it Thunderstruck me in the head, hey, that's the name of one of my Addon's?

:hehe:Go Figure, anyway, I'm working backwards on my messages and cleaning out the junk at the bottom of Pictures where this stuff appears so it's more presentable to the Viewers here.

Thanks again for pointing out an issue.

Probably take 3-4 nights, but I'll get the stuff tidied up.

I got about 15 tonight.

 

[maruffijd]

Take your time, This is basically your thread and is at the mercy of your time or whims. We are not going anywhere.

 

[blueodessey]

Thanks and much appreciated too, glad you folks enjoy it....

 

[blueodessey]

Coal N Freight Ops are in full Swing


Freight ops are in full swing, as word from the Yardmaster, MOW is coming to work on our Tracks for Maintenance Windows, so we have to have certain areas clear for MOW Work Windows of 1-2 Days, all part of RRoading 101, don't defer too much Maintenance or it come back to haught later.


Engineers view as we round the corner spotting empty's in place.


My leased Power is somewhat Smoky to operated, I hope to get some better Tier Power in the Future.


We gave a lot of much needed Supplies to Coal, now lots of Empty's headed back to Yards in the Valley.


Pulling some trash scrap Wood Chips from Mining ops.

 

[blueodessey]

Plasser MOW has arrived, oh boy, now where do I hide my Freight Cars?

I go home yesterday and come back this morning, is this the same place I left yesterday, where did all this special MOW in Yellow come from. They weren't kidding about making room up here!


Some interesting contrast of Colors and Type of Equips side by side?


Better get those Crews up here ASAP, so MOW can get their Jobs finished, I never hear the end of it from the Corridor Mgr if I don't.


They sent up 3 complete Machine Groups for each large area, they'll undercut the Tracks, clean the Roadbed, replace Ties, and anything else needed, and the machines are quick too. Should only take a week to complete. Better make sure I have a portable Kitchen brought in to feed these guys, and they do eat. Got to keep their Calorie Levels up.

Night all, and thanks for coming by.

 

[blueodessey]

MOW Track Crews on the move,,all hands on Board, Snow Removal equipt at the ready!


Crews were on Duty by 3:00AM today, why so early, it takes time to get your orders, Time to move this unusual Equipment into location, then check everything over making sure this stuff doesn't brake down in the middle of Rail Replacement and or undercutting procedures!

Look at all the Workers below, checking every last detail.


All Locos and Cars have been moved off the MAINS into Stub ends, no Traffic is allowed up the hill for the next 12-24 hours while 3 MOW Crews prepare the mountain, only Mother Nature can cause a foul today. Weather is forecast no Snow or Rain for next 5 days!


Passengers at Station are looking in amazement, what kind of Passenger Train is this they're going to ride, they don't have a clue, and they didn't read the special bulletin we put out 2 weeks ago about no service today,,Ouch, r they going to be mad when I tell them no Train Service during a maintenance window of this magnitude! And Cost.


Yup, we have our Snow Plow, in case we encounter any Avalanche problems, I don't know for 100%, but just in case, we have to be prepared.


Everyone is ready, it's light at 6:00 AM and we are ready to roll, lets get these tracks cleaned up and ready for all the loads coming to the mountain.