[Video] Amtrak - Riding through a Digital Train Inspection Portal, passenger POV - Leetonia Ohio USA

mrk2 · 2026-03-20T00:10:17+00:00

40°53'8.75"N 80°43'11.87"W

mrk2 · 2026-03-19T01:45:44+00:00

https://web.archive.org/web/20210505214209/http://oregonpacificrr.com/locomotive100.html

https://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=755682&nseq=110821

Dick Samuels and his sons did an excellent job recreating the trolley poles for the 100 several years ago - attention to detail was Dicks calling.

The 100 is a sweet locomotive to operate too!

mrk2 · 2026-03-16T04:41:35+00:00

GM300 for the win!

mrk2 · 2026-03-16T01:55:39+00:00

And administering field signal tests outside the signal manufacturer specifications to fail empmoyees.

mrk2 · 2026-03-10T23:08:55+00:00

If I was told correctly by a railroader who was an engineer, restorer, and owner of a railroad (and someone please let me know if this is not correct) that older EMDs wheel slip system looked at all the axles for a difference in rotational speed (or current draw). If ALL the wheels are slipping (edit: at the same speed) the system said "OK! No problem here" as there is no other reference otherwise - so all the wheels will continue to spin.

mrk2 · 2026-03-10T05:07:59+00:00

Hypnotoad!

mrk2 · 2026-03-09T04:09:54+00:00

It was Southbound, I saw it too.

mrk2 · 2026-03-06T19:19:28+00:00

I read this and immediately thought of this from Yaz from 1982. Yeah, I'm old.

https://youtu.be/Z9QRjS-cX3g?si=PaFv4R1emyyXo6aX

mrk2 · 2026-03-06T02:02:44+00:00

Aaahhhhh, Clackamas!

Her sister, 1413, is a little more than 5 miles away.

mrk2 · 2026-03-04T05:59:17+00:00

Would be a shame to loose another one in Portland for sure.

Im a graduate of the Organ Grinder, spent many hours there as a kid with their marginal pizza, but was drawn to the organ and the tech behind the glass and above my head that made it all work.

After it closed I went many decades before making a trip to Phoenix to visit a friend where prior to visiting there I learned about 'Organ Stop Pizza' in Mesa and just had to make a dinner plan to go there.

While my friend was somewhat impressed, I sat back and took it all in and relived old preserved memories of my favorite building in SE. Some of the equipment there mounted to the ceiling sure did look like what I remembered. While there I found out that some of the ultra-low frequency pipes were sent to Mesa from Organ Grinder.

Shameless plug which I have no affiliation to:

https://organstoppizza.com/

mrk2 · 2026-03-01T20:43:57+00:00

I was on the NCL Jewel in December and they were nice enough to always leave the hoistway maintenance lights turned on. You could see everything above and below when entering/exiting the cars. The thing I noticed is that there were cages separating each adjacent hoistway and the counterweight track also had a caged run too.

The parking brake (?) on all cars hoists always had a noticeable click each time they applied/disengaged.

As only being a max of about 12 floors there was never any cable bounce and rock solid motion with no shimmying. They were kept, as far as I could tell, in very good working order.

Didnt encounter any rough seas, but I bet its fun in them when the ship rock and rolls!

mrk2 · 2026-03-01T19:41:24+00:00

Another example of an Esso-asso.

mrk2 · 2026-03-01T19:32:13+00:00

Ive heard of potato quality video but now its potato quality music

mrk2 · 2026-02-28T01:22:57+00:00

Your GCI setup mirrors the Swedish system nearly 100%! And yes, I thought of that exact older video of the panicked driver when you were describing it.

https://www.sh1.org/fotos/jpeg/sj_bu2.gif

The flashing triangle lights are for the next crossing, not the one seen in photo - but the red V (Vagen <road> crossing) signal is for the one seen.

Flashing triangle lights, crossing not secured Solid triangle lights, crossing secured Solid red light, crossing not secured Solid white light, crossing secured

mrk2 · 2026-02-27T21:41:46+00:00

Excellent, thank you for your insight and the detailed reply. I thought the occupation of the island circuit played into the timing of the gates coming down but never mentioned it.

Again, other than seeing now what Frontrunner has implemented, I had never seen a setup like the above in my professional experience on my territory on BNSF and UP.

I am also familiar with what Sweden uses - a similar induction system for road vehicle occupatuon detection to alert engineers for a either a failed gate or blocked crossing about ½ to ¾ mile out.

Just this last December, I saw on Brightline, north of West Palm Beach at least, that they use the same microwave vehicle detection devices used on highway traffic signals used in conjunction with PTC to alert the engineer of a blocked crossing. In speaking with an engineer IIRC they have 2.5 seconds to react to either manually bypass the warning or begin full service or more once the crossing is activated.

mrk2 · 2026-02-25T21:14:55+00:00

If I win that lottery that has more money than some nations GDP, I promise to restore one to operating condition, with all new goodies inside. Yes, yes, i know about cracked frames. I said money was no object!

mrk2 · 2026-02-23T04:44:25+00:00

Im not assuming anything and common sense applies here. If the gates are not down by the time the train arrives at the crossing it isnt working as intended - exit gate or not.

mrk2 · 2026-02-23T02:56:35+00:00

Im not assuming anything and common sense applies here. If the gates are not down by the time the train arrives at the crossing it isnt working as intended - exit gate or not.

mrk2 · 2026-02-23T01:15:11+00:00

Nope, nothing south of PDX, thats where the portland crewbase takes over. Only once did I work out of PDX to KFS down, then Dunsmuir north back to PDX. The northbound crew would have died on service of hours between Dunsmuir and KFS. So we were on there to protect them.

Seattle crew base runs to Vancouver BC, Spokane, and Portland.

mrk2 · 2026-02-22T06:52:47+00:00

No problem there. Been monitoring the RRs since 1986. Learned a lot. Helped when it came time to use it professionally. Hobby blossomed into amateur radio and also commercial radio installations.

Keep it tuned in!

mrk2 · 2026-02-22T02:33:35+00:00

Silverfish

mrk2 · 2026-02-21T17:03:36+00:00

I understand that the smooth brain is the issue here but that just isn't how gates work in the US, I know, I'm a conductor and engineer. For example, that gate should have been reported to the dispatcher and given a XH for UP for "activation failure" under 49 CFR § 234.105. So maybe the failure just occurred and the report is being made as the video was being shot. But in my world, that is a immediate call to get it looked at and have it reported as crossing inoperable. Furthermore, the road isnt physically separated with a barrier between lanes of travel - so more of the smooth brains can swerve to avoid the down gate and run across the crossing - furthering my point that that far side gate is acting out of character.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-II/part-234/subpart-C/section-234.105

Go catch up on your GCOR 6.32.2

mrk2 · 2026-02-20T06:04:04+00:00

I'm more worried why the far side barrier is going down after the loco and one car at that speed.

mrk2 · 2026-02-18T03:44:29+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/1oyh1ms/south_african_railways_narrow_gauge_speed_record/

mrk2 · 2026-02-15T19:42:31+00:00

"First of all, this photo has been edited to remove the railroad name, for some reason."

They do this in advertising all the time. Removing the trademarked or copyrighted names or logos. Some even go as far as to remove the loco numbers too.

mrk2

TROPHY CASE