Deep in 'Gator' land a Prairie dog slumbers

[mickoo]

Found this little beastie on the ballon track at Taft, fair made my holiday, managed a mini walkaround and some underframe detail shots, didn't get too close, it'd not be good cricket to get arrested on my first day! Some things are real casual out here, others very controlled.

Certainly did not expect to see a UP loco this far south in CSX territory, did catch a glimps of some CSX GE units and bagged the afternoon Amtrak leaving Orlando. SWMBO and the kids did the malls, I did the railroads big all round.

 

[Dog Star]

Not at all jealous, in any way whatsoever....

Do not believe you!

No responses yet from our 'UK only' contingent....

ZZZZ

Pointing out that the average British diesel is only as tall as the low hood ... of US locos usually puts the size of these machines into perspective.

My initial reaction was "narrow gauge"... which might be due to the camera lens / angle of subject. And then I thought... Orlando, Texas, so why the snow plough?

Being serious, someone please explain all of the dangly bits on the front.

regards, Graham

 

[mickoo]

Jordan,

I knew US locos were big, but bloody hell, this is just a baby and it's massive! Off out shortly to bag the Silver Star and hopefully last nights locos on the ballon track.

Graham,

All US locos have ploughs, it's a common pool policy, locos can turn up anywhere but it's not common to see a mid West loco this deep in gator land, even rarer are North West BNSF locos but they do turn up occasionally.

On the front of the loco, the yellow cable is the MU plug and cable, above it is a yellow steel bar called an anti climber, its to stop buckey couplings climbing up over the footplate and piling into the cab. Below the MU cable is the buckeye coupling and below that is the train air brake pipe (fat hose), the six small hoses are I believe for loco MU control but would need to check. The two lights on the footplate are called 'ditch' lights.

 

[lancer1027]

Very nice loco although i have no idea what it is where it runs etc.

But if Jordan thinks its mint then it'll do for me as " he's the man " when it comes to Yankee doodle stuff

Rob

 

[Steph Dale]

Interesting pic Mick!

Perhaps it's not traveled quite as far as you might think - it's an Ex-SSW (Cotton Belt) GP60 isn't it? Good spot...

Steph

Edit; checked roster lists. It's definitely an Ex-SSW machine, in fact I think it's this one:

 

[mickoo]

Just another quick update from 'gator' land.

Managed to get a raw converter as i shoot mostly in raw with the odd jpg if I've time to change format.

From yesterday,

The north bound Amtrak 'Silver Metor' (Train 98) piles on the power as it departs Orlando station, stupidly the station has a zero railfan policy yet you can walk across the street and stand right next to the unfenced main line and take as many pictures as you like!


Todays pictures
A trio of CSX locos shunt in Taft yard, this was as close as they got so other than the lead unit the rest are UID


The morning south bound Amtrak 'Silver Star' (Train 91) blasts through Taft. In the back ground UP 1949 sits on the southern end of the wye from the intermodal balloon track


A trio of CSX heavy GEs sit on the balloon track, photos taken from grassy knoll next to Rachels adult establishment, y'all can work out what that is I'm sure, I'd not wander round there after dark thats for sure, but day time....deserted. Should've used the polarizing filter, hopefully once home the OEM RAW file utility will work better and get better tones and colours! Nice of them to give me left and right sides for a ES44AH photo shoot!!.


Shooting straight into the sun....uggh but out of time to let it come round a bit in a few hours.

No locos were present here yesterday (but it appears a common location from other sources) so it looks a bit hit and miss, sometimes they are here, sometimes across the road on the wye which is a bit more difficult to access.

And finally our old friend the prairie dog comes down the rip track ready to back into the Autorack sidings (just to left out of shot), I missed all the shunts across the road whilst photo'ing the trio of GEs up the road but it looks like a daily occurance which I'll grab one day soon. Again poorly washed out colours and tones.

 

[Osgood]

....And finally our old friend the prairie dog comes down the rip track ready to back into the Autorack sidings ....

Pardon me, boy is that the Chattanooga choo choo?

 

[mickoo]

Another little update, getting the hang of the area now, spent a good hour yarning with a CSX MOW manager gave me the low down on all movements and best times to get them, seems they really open up when they hear an English accent and you talk half knowledgeable about railroads.

First up is the morning Amtrak 'Silver Meteor' (Train 98) south bound, she has just swung off the main and onto the passing siding just south of Taft FL, doing only 15mph whilst she waits for the north bound 'Silver Meteor'.


A few moments later the north bound Amtrak 'Silver Meteor' (Train 97) blasts through.


At the North end of Taft a pair of GE heavys start to assemble their train, here they draw forward to the crossing before setting back to get the middle portion of their train, then they will draw all that forward and back onto the last third and block the crossing and one or two others, todays load is 97 cars.


An hour later the train is rollin north of Taft and is just about to clear town limits where she can be opened up, currently doing around 20mph at this stage.


Just before they hit the last crossing and the tail of the train has cleared Taft sidings she can be opened up and boy do these big GEs chug when they dig in!


And a short while later she's gone, the locos well past over the horizon.


Also missed the double stack leaving past Rachels as I was gassin up across the street, $50 to fill up a 16gal tank, just over $3 a gallon here . CSX guy said it leaves every day between 13:30 and 14:30, got a couple of little spots I want to grab it .

 

[Phill Dyson]

When I sometimes go back to watching UK freights on DVD, it always sticks out to me just how short they are....

.... and what the Americans could've done with trains if Brunel's Broad Gauge had become the 'Standard' - imagine the width those Autoracks wold be, never mind the height!!!

The Great Central could have been a good freight route too with I believe much more generous loading gauges than the norm for the UK

 

[Phill Dyson]

Those 'Amtrak Silver Meteor' are quite nice looking loco's IMO

 

[mickoo]

Those 'Amtrak Silver Meteor' are quite nice looking loco's IMO

Phil, they're GE Genisis locos, P42 something or other and yes I like them too, but they're not that popular out here, ugly looking things to many LOL, I like their letter box windows, much like the DSB MZ-IV.

The 'Silver Meteor' and 'Silver Star' are the train names like 'Master Cutler', 'Devonian', 'The Royal Scot' etc, they like to name most of their passenger trains (varnish trains they often still call them.....from the good old days when coaches were wood) with names, many as far back as when the railroad opened. Passenger trains out here are the rare beasts, only four a day down the central Florida line (A Line) and I don't know of any on the west S Line either.

Theres more freight over on the S, but far fewer places to photo as it's mostly out in the open country in this part of the route (40 miles west of here), though Dade City has more access it's another 20 miles on, may take a punt if I have a whole day to myself, but probably stick around Taft now that I have a feel for the area and train times.

http://trainweb.org/usarail/silverstar.htm
http://trainweb.org/usarail/silvermeteor.htm

The only other varnish in this area is the Sanford Autotrain but access and places to photo this are very tight if I've read the web right, not worth the 60mile trip on guesswork.
http://trainweb.org/usarail/sanfordauto.htm
http://trainweb.org/usarail/autotrain.htm

 

[Simon]

Is the Sanford train what was called the "auto rack" when I visited (20 odd years ago)

We were stopped at Palatka returning to Orlando from St Augustine one day and caught this train by pure chance -mighty impressive

I also drove out to where the Miami and Tampa trains divided one morning (was that Dade City?) and photographed the whole thing from an old grade crossing. The MoW guys who came out to do the switching were friendly and helpful, all F40ph power back then.

I watched an old U boat shunting in Orlando too on one day, the station staff weren't bothered by me and my video camera back then

Great to see what's going on over there now - keep 'em coming

Simon

 

[mickoo]

Simon, the Sanford train is the 'Autotrain' linked above, 'Autoracks' are the big triple deck new car wagons seen in the last shot of the train going away. The UP loco seen in my previous is doing all the Autorack terminal shunting, the MOW manager agreed it's rare to see a UP loco here, especially for the shunting, usually they blow in and out on the coal...very hard to get that one as it's a 'Q' service, any time, any day sort of thing, I.E. no fixed schedule.

Dade City is indeed where the S line splits, it's about 50-60 miles south west of me, too far for a quick out and back, I can do Taft in 35mins so can grab that whilst the rest of the family are either getting ready for the 'mouse'! or shopping in malls, Dade City is a card I'll have to play close to the chest LOL.

As I said previously, some areas are zero railfan tolerance, and I mean zero, cameras confiscated and a trip to the local sheriffs office to explain and get it back, but other areas are almost free to do as you wish so long as your sensible, the smart thing to do when approached is not demand your rights as a free country to take photos of what ever you want, you'll soon find their rights to detain you over rule freedom rights LOL. They are not used to seeing many railfans out here, its not as popular as say in the UK so they are bound to get curious and just ask what your doing, so far all have been very helpful.

The crossing where CSX 7913 is shunting, is ungated or lit and mid last year there was a fatal truck grade accident, where the Amtrak photos were taken, there's a RIP cross, man of 40 died at xmas, drunk and wandered onto the tracks I believe, you don't have to go far or be around the tracks for long to see signs of accidents or deaths, not suprising as none of the tracks are fenced, the MOW manager was amazed when I told him that almost all our trackage is fully fenced in.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3308910
http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...cles/cfn/2012/11/29/amtrak_train_hits_du.html

 

[Dog Star]

Land of the 'gator... hmmm, those NFL matches which we watch on ESPN, they feature a giant cup labelled "Gatorade"... so is that what the Alligators drink?

 

[mickoo]

OK, not a lot today as it's Saturday, but that does mean the curfew north of Taft pushes what little freight there is south, and into the sun, good for photography, today I followed the double stack train (R170) and caught a local switch job by luck too.

First up the power for R170, as usual ariund here, three big GE's


Head end will be this massive 6000hp monster! I wanted the low shot with the clouds but 5mins before the crew turned up, so I figured this side of the long grass was the smarter of the places to photo from LOL.

Not a great shot but they're now tied onto the end of the first half of the train in the yard.


Here she comes with the first half of the train, 50 wagons in total and over a 3/5ths of a mile long and will draw forward and block three roads for a good 30mins.


Half mile down the road the big GE is still lugging out the first half, she will draw just past me and then set back to couple to the second half, it takes 20mins to pump up the second halves air, all the time blocking three roads


Once joined the whole train will draw forward onto the siding above, clearing the two main roads but blocking another two side roads, she will sit there waiting for the path and making sure the train is secure.

Once cleared she will head south, the siding is 15mph long and about 2 miles long, below we're now 4 miles south of Taft and the big GE is slugging up a slight 1:1000 grade, train R170 is 105 cars long, over 6200' by my rough guess work and almost fully loaded with at least 200 containers and a rough weight by my calculations of over 8500tons, only the two lead units are working, the third is shut down, but thats still 10,000hp on tap. At the moment she is still doing 15mph because the tail end is still in the siding. A long 300m cropped zoom gives a good view of about half of the train and still a safe distance from the slow moving train.


Closer now and finally clear of the siding the power is wound on big time, by this time the big GE is nice and hot and barely a trace of smoke from the twin stacks as the power is applied. I've moved to the side now so as to not scare the crews, a local railfan tipped me off, when they start hooting for the crossing and the barriers go down, it's good manners to visible walk back a few yards, makes the train crew relax.

 

[mickoo]

Part deux, the local switch job.

By luck more than skill I blundered across the afternoon switch job, even though I'd been tipped off, finding it was another matter, theres a dozen sidings and back yards covering at least 20 square miles south of Taft, many not showing on maps or Tom Tom, nor roads either, a real cat and mouse game! Most have no public access, but by sheer luck this one did and a little gem of a place it is, perfect shunty plank prototype.

First off, our old friend the prairie dog is ambling along pushing a trio of box cars at 3mph, most crossings here are half barriers and the number of cars that dodge the barriers is beyond belief, even with horn blaring the locals just ignore it and scoot across less than 50yrds from the train, hence the 3mph speed and wagon brakes wound on by several turns....stops almost instantly the power is dropped off, does mean that it has to run in run 4 or 5 to move, looks and sounds strange to hear it running so hard and only moving at 3mph, brake squeal is pretty loud too LOL, and hot!


And past the crossing


Now where the darn is he going!


Quick whizz around the roads...there he goes.


To be fair he aint too hard to find with sqealing brakes and hand on the hooter more than not, a hooter you can easily hear a mile or more away! A quick dive down some back streets and bingo, here he is ready to spot some box cars.


A bang and a crash and a big shove and he begins spoting them along side openings in the warehouse

He'll push up to the 4th box car then draw that back over the road and then push it back onto the left track, then it'll be back over the road, throw the switch and then back down this road again to place the three empties he's just shoved round and line them up with the warehouse doors, once that's done he'll shunt back the the left track, pick up the single loaded and then go back to the main siding, which will then switch and he'll head south to another siding a few miles away for some more loads.

Tomorrow is Sunday and these roads and industrial estates are dead so I'm hoping to drop by and grab some modeling detail shots, there's also a scrap siding up near Taft and a whole load of street sidings in south Orlando I want to explore, mainly for modeling details but also any wagons I find kicking around. Picked up some nice shots of some stone Gondolas parked road side the other day, the whole place is crawling with little byous, nooks and crannies packed with atmosphere.

Example, the lead track to where the UP is spotting box cars,

and that's about a 6' radius curve in 7mm!!, no 6 axle or 70' autoracks round here, this is short loco and 50' wagon country, mind, they do push some very big stuff around some stupid tight curves that if you modeled would be claimed as train set curves, I reckon the curve out of the intermodal/autorack yard where it crosses the road is pretty tight.


Row of discharged gondolas.

 

[Phill Dyson]

Great stuff Mick

I have been studying some of those long haul named passenger trains with a view to traveling on one in the future

All the best

Phill

 

[hrmspaul]

Just one "like" button nowhere near adequate...

Awesome stuff, many thanks indeed for posting, Mick!

... and just to remind our UK Viewers that the open door in the nose of the 684 (2nd pic, post#19) is a full-height door, not some kind of hatch. Won't even mention the double-stack containers...

Why not? They give a much better idea of what is possible http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/americanwagon/e5d22e044

Paul Bartlett

 

[mickoo]

Just one "like" button nowhere near adequate...

Awesome stuff, many thanks indeed for posting, Mick!

... and just to remind our UK Viewers that the open door in the nose of the 684 (2nd pic, post#19) is a full-height door, not some kind of hatch. Won't even mention the double-stack containers...

Your welcome, I've probably under estimated R170s length and weight, each wagon carrys two 53' containers so I'm working on 65' wagons and if all containers are loaded then 30t a container (can't see them loading more than a standard 45' for structural reasons.....actually a 20' loads to 32t and a 40' loads to 31t due to the flex in the middle due to the extra length.....but I'll try and find a GWT sometime this week....ohh and there bloody long on a road unit....I'll try and grab some truck shots for you ) plus say 10t for the wagon, so I'm guessing between 7500 and 8200t, I should say that all the shunting was done with only the 6000hp lead unit working, only when the train was fully assembled did they start the second unit before entering the main.

Also forgot to say, R170 head end passed me at the crossing doing 15mph, tail end passed me doing 40mph+ so plenty of power there to accelerate up the grade.


You can just see the top of the grade in the distance.

 

[mickoo]

OK folks, big update today, unlike the UK it's full bore work here on a Sunday, certainly on the main line, but many local industries are deserted, muhahahaar, perfect for sneaking around and getting detail shots!

First off the main line and again taking advantage of trains heading south into the sun we start with R170, weather was a little hit and miss but I seemed to find the most sun and spent 40mins under a tree by the road side / rail side chatting to the local Sheriff and under study explaining what an earth I was doing by the side of the road rail with a camera, very pleasant chaps but very very cautious, full details taken, even height and weight, a body, camera bag and vehicle search for weapons or anything else, and a rental vehicle number scan and check, as I say all very polite but nervous and apart from the body frisk never stood closer than 4 feet away and always each was 120deg either side of me. Good thing is that my vehicle and me are logged in the system as a railfan so if any other Sheriffs roll by and do a scan it explain all and I'll probably never be bothered again. So, back to R170.

Outside 'Rachels' again todays traction is resting, unfortunately what would be the lead unit is backward, so instead of using the balloon they will have to run down the main and back into the intermodal terminal across the road.


And from the rear....or what should of been the front


A short while later the units run down the main siding ready to back into the yard


Backing up


And over the road


A short while later UP 1949 blocks the road for a good 20mins with setting back and cutting a rake of 30 Autoracks.


I did take some pictures of R170 leaving, ironically just after the Sheriff had left, but this is going to be long enough as it is LOL, so a short while later I set up camp on the town outskirts, todays R170 is only one cut so straight out and making sure the tail end is clear of the two main crossings draws to a stand and awaits the arrival of the brake man who has rest the switches once clear of the yard, he's brought upto the head end by a CSX truck and deposited at the locos.

R170 waits on the main siding for the brakeman to arrive, todays load is only 67 cars.

Once the brake man arrived I legged it south to a new location, well two really, but the lights were against me and I missed the second location......there's always next weekend! Still, was pleased with this shot of R170 passing under the highway on the main, but still doing 15mph as the tail is still in the siding.