Hot Times on the High Iron for January 2008

I retrieved this from one of the many mailing lists that I subscribe to and thought it would be of interest to the readers of the blog. So here are some notes and thought from the cab of a diesel. I found it fascinating.



From: "Joseph Santucci" <thetuch7@comcast.net>
Subject: HTOTHI for January 2008
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:41:08 -0600

Hot Times on the High Iron for January 2008

Welcome to the New Year and to another year of HTOTHI. It seems like
only yesterday I began to crank out these little diatribes. This
September will mark nine years of effort. Whodda thunk it?

Well first off, the Santa Train was another rousing success. We had
nearly 3400 total visitors for the weekend plus the employee night at
Woodcrest. Not too shabby considering the weather was terrible on
Sunday morning with an ice storm and all. To those of you that came
out to visit, thanks for making the effort. We the volunteer elves
had a tremendous time as usual and are already looking forward to
next year.

I hope the Christmas and Holiday Season was a safe and happy one for
all of you. Didn't get what I really wanted for Christmas again this
year. The word "Emperor" still fails to precede my name. In light of
what some folks ask Santa for Christmas, I don't believe requesting
global dominance is out of the question.

Enough of that then and now for something completely different.

I had begun to write a January column back in December but the
happenings of recent trip inspired me to change themes. It has been
known to happen in the past so why not the present?

As some of you along the HTOTHI network are aware, we had some
vicious storms sweep through the Midwest on Monday January 7th. The
Chicago area and state of Illinois were not exempt. A tremendous
amount of rain fell upon the region in a short period of time causing
floods and all sorts of other chaos. In some areas there were
tornadoes and high winds to wreak havoc along with the rain and flood
waters. Let's see, it is January, winter time and 57° F. What's wrong
with this picture?

My only wish was that this rain would have all been snow instead. So
what if it would have been a foot of the white stuff? I like snow.
And as you read on, you'll discover why it would have been better to
be snow.

My day at work started out bad even before I arrived there. It is
never a good sign when the trip to work is harrowing. As I cruised
northward on I-294 (aka the Tri State Tollway) that Monday evening,
it began to rain. On the radio the weather guessers were talking
about severe weather warnings as serious storms with high winds, lots
of rain and possible tornadoes were rapidly moving into the region.
Several tornadoes had already inflicted damage in some parts of
Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin and it sounded like more were
likely. As my drive continued, the rain that was now falling began to
increase in intensity. Within moments it was of deluge proportions,
the kind that might inspire one to undertake construction of an arc.
It quickly became nearly impossible to see the road as the rain was
falling in torrents and being blown sideways by the strong winds now
accompanying it. Cars were pulling off the interstate and onto the
shoulders. Those still moving had quickly reduced their speed to15-20
MPH. Fortunately for me my car has fog lamps. The low level light was
illuminating enough of the road that I could see it as well as the
car in front of me so I kept on rolling along. Well, creeping along
actually.

As you can probably surmise, I made it alive and in one piece,
although I was a bit wound up from the trip. And somehow, I wasn't
late; almost but not late, always a good thing. This is the advantage
to allowing an extra half hour of running time on my trip in to work.
It normally takes around an hour at that time of the evening, but I
usually leave an hour and thirty minutes before the on duty time as
you just never know what you might encounter en route.

When I headed out to my power for this evening's trip on train 336 it
was raining, but not pouring. I boarded my lead unit, the IC 6130,
and began my routine inspection of the power before having at the
doubling up of the train. Nothing looked amiss and both units were in
date and therefore did not require a daily inspection. Of course we
all know that looks can truly be deceiving. Once ready, we began to
assemble our train. The rain actually let up to the point where it
stopped. Unbeknownst to Conductor JJ Niemann and me, this would be
the calm before the storm as it were.

Once doubled up and air tested we worked our way across Chicago and
south to Markham Yard. As we converged on Markham and the south end
of the yard at Homewood, the heavens again opened up. We went about
the business of setting out and picking up in some fairly heavy
rains. While I was tucked away all warm and dry in the cab (or so I
thought), poor JJ was out there getting drowned like a rat. Once the
work was completed and while waiting for the cab to bring him, the
paperwork and the coffee he had picked up for us to the engine, I
detected the sound of something dripping; something like water. Upon
further revue I discovered water was very slowly dripping in from the
top of the frame for the sliding windows on my side of the cab. Just
a harmless little drip, not a river flowing. No big deal, right?

Once JJ was all aboard along with paperwork and coffee, we departed
for Champaign. At this point in time it was really coming down again,
sort of like that proverbial cow peeing on a flat rock. The cab
windows were beginning to steam up from the humidity. The humidity?
Usually with the box or forced air heaters in the cab operating, even
on low, the humidity is almost non-existent in the cab as these
things tend to dry out the air completely. JJ noticed when he stood
up that he was standing in water. He turned on his cab light to
discover an ocean of water on the cab floor. It was pouring in
through both the top and the bottom of the front cab door. He made
attempts to plug the leaks with but moderate at best success. It was
also leaking through the ceiling of the cab. And of course, that
little drip around the top of the window frame on my side had become
a bit of a flow too, and from more than one spot. My feet were now
sitting in a puddle of water that had accumulated under my seat and
in front of the control stand.

"Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!"

The cab heaters were now on full blast in the attempt to dry up the
water and defog the windows. Only problem was it was 57° F outside so
it was getting extremely warm in the cab. So it is going to be one of
THOSE kinds of nights. Oy!

The windows were still fogging up and paper towels were fast and
furiously wiping them clear every several minutes. The ocean on the
cab floor reached one of my grips as well as one of JJ's. This really
isn't good. And if this wasn't enough, the front wiper on my side
decided to act up. It would slow down to a crawl and then stop. I was
coaxing it by hand but it would stop again. If I turned it off and
waited a few minutes and then turned it on again, it would work for a
little bit but then quit again. I could hear air leaking from the
system, around the knob that controls the wiper and also the air line
that feeds into the wiper motor. Well ain't that just friggin' ducky?
I find it amazing that a locomotive worth the money these things are
and what it costs to buy a new one that we have 19th century
technology for wipers. I suppose it is better than the old vacuum
system they used to use on automobiles years and years ago. But the
air powered wiper system is a joke as it is prone to failure often
owing to air leaks and also the oil in the motors leaking out.

"Oh it gets worse."

The second unit was facing the opposite direction so we couldn't
switch them out anywhere to get a dry unit, not that I'm sure I
wanted to do that as the rain was coming down full force with high
winds pushing it sideways. At least it wasn't coming down on my head
anyway.

So here we are zooming down the main in the pouring rain with the cab
filling up with water, windows fogging up and a temperamental wiper.
I created a quote some years ago that applies to our situation;

"There is no situation so bad that it cannot possibly get worse."

Please feel free to use this and cite me as the source. Maybe I can
make some money from it.

In addition to the rain and wind, we were now getting some fog.

Almost sounds like that old Cowsills song from years ago; "The rain,
the park and other things." I really wasn't counting on that flower
girl to appear in the midst of all this. And believe me, she didn't.
Although had she shown up, it just might have taken the edge of what
was becoming a trip from hell. Nah, probably not.

So with visibility being hampered both from within and without, we
encounter our first approach (yellow) of the night once we were on
the single track railroad. Block signal 37.9 that governs the
approach to the control point at North Peotone, also the sight of
Peotone siding was telling us to expect a stop signal at North
Peotone. Great, now we have to prepare to stop before passing the
next signal, one that is hard to see even when the weather is clear
owing to its poor placement and now we have to find it through the
rain and fog. The fog lifted a bit and visibility on the outside
improved somewhat. I was able to spot it from about half a mile away
and observed a clear (green) signal. Of course I had already
committed to slowing the train and preparing to stop. You cannot ever
assume that you will get the line up. If you do, we'll be reading
about you getting fired for passing a stop signal and possibly
plowing into another train. I kicked off the brakes and when they
began to release, started to accelerate the train. So this was a
waste of effort, brake shoes and now, fuel.

We rolled along past the Manteno detector which told us "No defects,"
something we really want and need to hear on a night like this. This
would be the first of four such messages we would receive tonight.
And that was one of the few good things of the evening.

As I approached signal 52.5, the one that governs the approach to the
control point at KX, formally known as Kankakee, I see it displays an
approach aspect. So again the slow down begins. We have to stop
further back from the signal here so as not to block road crossings.
When the weather and the cab windows are clear you can normally see
the signal at KX. Tonight with all the weather and foggy windows, we
couldn't. I had reduced the speed of the train to about 12 or 15 MPH
when KX started to come into view. We could see a stop signal. KX is
the location of the south end of Kankakee siding and also where the
railroad formerly known as Conrail crosses and connects with us. So
there is a distinct possibility of opposing or cross traffic here.

Within seconds of its appearance from out of the fog and rain, the
signal at KX changes from a stop signal to approach diverging (yellow
over green). This is a proceed signal that tells me at the signal
following KX, the control point at Gar Creek; we will be entering the
siding. I kick off the brakes again and when they release, begin to
accelerate a bit. We are rolling on a descending grade here as we
drop into the Kankakee River Valley and the speed limit drops from 60
to 30 MPH at KX and through Kankakee, so I don't have to work too
hard to get some speed back.

After a meet with a northbound at Otto, the south end of Gar Creek
Siding, we are on the move again. It is still pouting like crazy, the
windows are still fogging up, and the cab floor is an ocean. Perhaps
the "Gorton's of Gloucester" fisherman can toss out some nets and
make a catch. While waiting on the meet at Otto, I contacted the
Mechanical Services Rep; more affectionately referred to as the
"Diesel Doctor" and report all the problems we were experiencing with
the wind, the rain and other things. I told him that he should put
into the computer that the 6130 should never lead when rain or snow
are predicted. He laughed and said he would. I know I showed it on my
written report. Some of these guys have a good sense of humor which
you need there as it is a high pressure job. They receive phone and
radio calls from all over the CN system in both the US and Canada.
And they are kept jumping most of the time. I've told a couple of
them they should tell their friends and families that they are
"Doctors of Ferroequinology," sounds far more classy than Diesel
Doctor. They really get a kick out of that one too.

So we are back off to the races. Another approach is encountered at
67.3, the distant signal governing the approach to North Ashkum.
ARGH! Are we going to play this game all night? As we closed in on
it, the signal improved to clear. I could see a headlight shining on
the horizon in front of us meaning that we were going to meet
somebody at Ashkum. When the signal at North Ashkum came into clear
view among the rain and fog, it was approach. Our meet here was
pretty good as we did not have to come to a stop. The northbound
cleared and we received a clear at South Ashkum before I had to stop.

From this point on it was fairly smooth sailing until we reached
Rantoul where we were headed into the siding. The Dispatcher informed
us that she didn't know how long we would be there. This is the last
siding before Champaign Yard, so oftentimes we hare held here as the
yard cannot handle us. Tonight would be no exception. We met two
north bounds while we waited. The rain had let up a bit and the cab
had a bit of a chance to dry out. Not like the desert, but a
significant improvement. After the second northbound and about two
hours passed, we got the line up to proceed and headed south and on
to Champaign. Out time was getting low and instead of performing the
work of setting out and picking up, we pulled the train to the south
end of the yard at Bradley Avenue and secured it. We were then picked
up by the cab and headed to the hotel to get rest.

Upon arriving at the hotel I discovered one of my bags sustained an
intrusion from the water that was pouring into the cab. So everything
came out of it to allow it all and the bag the opportunity to dry
out. I hung the bag from the closet door to give it promote the
drying process. Several magazines within had sustained heavy water
damage and became part of the Champaign County landfill. An extra
pair of pants also got pretty wet so they got hung out to dry as
well.

While this was a bad night, it could have been worse; we could have
had to wear our raincoats inside the cab. Fortunately, the roof,
which did have a few leaks, was not leaking that bad.

See, if all that rain would have been snow, it is likely the cab
interior wouldn't have flooded out. We might have had a ski resort
instead. And now you know the rest of the story.

And so it goes.

Tuch

Hot Times on the High Iron and the HTOTHI initials are both ©2008 by JD Santucci