Oklahoma part 3: Ada on 7/21

This is where the good stuff kicks in:

Okay, so we have been paralleling this 12-train-a-day line for over an hour, and no luck, so as we approach Ada, I see headlights in the distance. We pull over. The signals go off two minutes before the train crosses:

Then, a big treat emerged from the curve. The only things on this entire consist were two locomotives, but great ones:

Leading it was ATSF 3791, one of the few remaining ATSF C30-7s in the world:

Then, Burlington Northern 1524 (sadly, patched)GP20M IS AN Operation Lifesaver locomotive!!! :):):)

This was great, at first I thought it would be the best catch of the trip, but boy was I wrong. Stay tuned for some amazing stuff.

Oklahoma part TWO: Nowhere on 7/21

Well, there you have it. :)

Oklahoma part 1: Ardmore on 7/21

First of all, at this crossing, this a "double crossing" setup. It is where there are four signals, two for each crossing, and regardless of which track the train is on, the two outer signals go off and the gates go down at the same time, but, the only inner signal that goes off is the one on the crossing that the train is on. And then, that inner signal's gate goes down five to ten seconds after the outer gates begin going down

Main Street: The signals going off for a train that would take 30 minutes to cross

The Norfolk Southern triple crown roadrailer approaches:

The train crossing:

Some of da good stuff

I am posting this from Oklahoma. Crossing-wise, I have seen some interesting things, such as a bell that there is a few of left in the country. Here are some pictures:




To me, every day is April fools day. Expect pictures to start coming tomorrow.

Through the passes 2011 day ONE part FIVE

With my birthday being in the past week, I got a gift that I can not get off of. I, though, thought that I should not leave you guys hangin'. No, not every part has to be about signals. ;D

Welcome to Boron!

...And Kern county!

There is a crow on top of the sign!

Through the passes 2011 day 1 part 4

I continued a couple of minutes down US 58, I promised that I would not stop at this crossing. Promise broken

An overview of the crossing. If you look closely at the signal to the left, you will see that there is a broken gate light. It was reported on the scanner the next day:

I did not wait at this crossing for two reasons:
1. I was hungry
2. The road is busy.

I sort of chuckled when I saw this sign:

A rear view of the signal with the broken gate light.

Due to both the highway and the track being busy, there are advance warning signs with lights that flash yellow whenever a train comes by.

New poll

Actual polls are back! No, you do not need to refer to another post for this one! It expires on 7/28/11 at 9:37 Central time. If you need an example of what one of these signals looks like, then don't be afraid to shoot me a comment, and I will be more that happy to post a picture of that signal.

failroadtracks.com Salt Lake City webcam

1.No, "Failroadtracks" is not a typo

2.Yet another webcam with sound! Here is the link:www.failroadtracks.com. And, below the cam, which is at the very top, there are multiple videos, hilarious videos, showing why the website is called "failroadtracks". A lesson: slow down when you cross railroad tracks. The primary carrier at this crossing is Union Pacific, although two Amtrak California Zephyrs come by a day. Unfortunately, this crossing is in a quiet zone(trains can't blow their horns, because the people who live there can't deal with it). Just one more thing, the sound on the cam is a bit off, for example, when the third car of a slow train just passes the cam, you can hear the locomotives go past the cam. The bells at this crossing are quiet, however, you can hear them quite well still.

Enjoy!

Through the passes day 1 part 3

I purposely blew a UP crossing on the way to Kramer Junction(I was currently on US 395) because I was so eager to get to the crossing that won the Boron Poll(the US 395 crossing). After 30 minutes of what felt like riding on a roller coaster, I finally reached this:

I finally made it to the Mojave Sub. And the crossing that won the poll.
The relay case:

(haha, Milepost 777.7)

After 45 minutes of waiting, and nothing, I was worried that there was trackwork somewhere. But, I did not hear any mention of this area, and the Union Pacific defect detectors on that portion of the sub were active, so I did not stress that. Maybe traffic was light? After 15 minutes of going bananas on Google trying to find an answer, I saw a
 distant light. I was so unprepared at the time, I sprinted out of the car at the same time as I took this picture:

Enjoy the rest!

Oh, yeah, I forgot  to mention, this crossing is one of the few to have the gates with completely vertical stripes on it!

And, this crossing has a problem of people blowing the gate:

The train finishes soon after:

Then, I picked on some watermelon, then I continued onwards...

Question poll over

...And... if you looked closely... you would have found the bell right underneath the left light. Too late to change the vote, though!

Trainztalk

If you are interested in this blog, then check out Trainztalk(click the word"trainztalk, or this, for the link). Trainztalk is devoted to screenshots of fake trains from my train simulator, Trainz. There is also an active (quiz)poll on Trainztalk. If you are interested, then check it out!

Another hint

As I said in my reply to the Family Curator's comment, look for a cylinder on that signal. The placement is unique to Union Pacific, and very few crossings have that bell placement. The bell type is General Signals.

A teaser

Hint: The bell is NOT on top of the signal like it is most commonly found. The placement of the bell is starting to become a Union Pacific(UP) staple. The answer will be released when it expires.

Nice blog run by a signal maintainer

He only posted in August/July of last year, but this is a great blog. Thanks to Amy Coffin for referring this blog to me. This blog is run by a signal maintainer. He posted some posts of crossings, some of defect detectors, which are my two favorite things of railroads. Click here for the link. The blog is called "Photos from a Signal Maintainer", and it is run by Bill Cundiff.

Vote!!!!!

I see that the poll has three days left, and there is only one vote... I am very sure that there is more than one viewer that understands English that reads this blog. I hate having to direct you to the poll over and over again. If you view this blog, please vote! The poll is the first thing from the top on the sidebar.

Google

It appears that every search term used to find this blog this past week had to do with the fireworks show in Fostoria, OH.

Through the passes 2011 day 1 part 2

After 45 minutes of no luck at the busy Devore, I migrated to Swarthout Canyon Rd., which is also on the very busy Cajon Pass.

The signal with the 20" backgrounds:

A blurry overview of the crossing:

The relay case:

And now, it is time for a Through the passes extra! Guess what happened right after I left the Swarthout Canyon crossing? This picture should tell you most of the story:

Oh, but wait, that train appears to be on the 12 train a day UP track instead of the 95 train a day BNSF track... And I had been camping out at the BNSF track for a full hour... hmmm...

Fostoria, OH fireworks!

With the location of the fireworks and the angle of the cam, we should be able to see them! They are tonight at dusk Eastern time.

Through the passes 2011 part 1

Last year's series was called  "Up the Tehachapi Grade 2010". This year's is called "Through the passes 2011". I changed the name because I got shots of the Union Pacific(UP) tracks south of Mojave, and of stuff at Cajon Pass. If you want more updates, go to Traintalk. Anyhow, for this part, crossings are the only thing, as I battled the winds in Devore, CA:

Note: I did not get any shots of the BNSF crossing, just the BNSF relay case. If you want to see both crossings clearly, then click here(the closest crossing is the BNSF crossing)

A terrible, wind-battling view of the UP crossing:

The UP relay case:

The BNSF relay case:

A good view of the UP signal furthest away from me:

Now, I am going to start a poll. It will be a Yes/No question. Check the sidebar to see it! 

Sorry...

Sorry for the inactivity lately... I can't seem to remember to get my camera with all of the Mojave Sub pictures on it out of the car... I will get it out this afternoon. ;)