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There's been a new & renewed push to have the city implement a quiet zone for the Ann Arbor Railroad. If Ann Arbor wants to establish a federally approved "quiet zone" to get freight trains to reduce their horn noise while passing through the city, it may cost city taxpayers several million dollars....

Why the CSS&SB has never been the answer to NS congestion seems puzzling. Politics? CSS&SB not wanting to give up control? NS not wanting to give up the tax dollars improving its own line for Amtrak and coincidentally its own freight? There's not really any good spots to get back over to Union Stat...

Not really much of a revelation... the fact that they've been operating on a waiver since they entered service wasn't exactly unknown; just not common knowlege. To be clear, these are the OLD Talgo trainsets that are non-compliant. The new Talgo trainsets do meet the standards (hence that ugly cab)....

350 just passed Dexter. Had 2 PV leading, a PRR square-end observation & and Northern Pacific dome car.

You can get VCR to USB devices; using a decent video editor software, you can rip the VHS to a digital format where then you can burn it to DVD or keep it as a digital file. That's the process I used to rip the P42 overview video I have on my YouTube page. Although for that, I used my school's equip...

Anyone been monitoring the Michigan Line today?

I'm pretty certain I heard 2 trains go thru Dexter in the 12-1pm time frame, one just moments ago. Normally there is only one.

peter

NS3322 wrote:Although it was hard to photograph for some reason...

LEDs refresh at a certain rate, similar to a TV/Computer/Smartphone screen, at a rate that isn't noticeable to our eyes. You have to adjust your camera settings (namely shutter speed) to match the LED refresh rate.

peter

WB Amtrak 352(?) is running a bit late, just passing Dexter now.

KenB wrote:I hear there may be an Amtrak PTC test train in Jackson. Anybody know where they will be going to test today?

Hopefully this means we're getting much closer to having the Chargers on the line!

peter

Update: we're holding at Albion for 355… in town now, not quite to the station, stopping just west of Albion St.

Peter

I'm on 354, we're going to swap crews with 355, when we meet ~1hr east of the normal crew change station, Battle Creek.

Peter

They also said that there would be special determinations. My guess is that if a charter/excursion is already signed up, paid, etc to run it'll run; but they won't do any new ones.

peter

Usually with married pairs or semi-married pairs. You can still uncouple them, it's just more difficult than traditional couplers. Often requiring use of a shop. So with a bad order, it would be possible to swap out one of the two cars in the married pair.

Peter

Super Chief wrote:Who was the clean-up contractors? Corman, Hulcher or private?

I think the crane in the second picture says "RJ Corman" on it... but the logo is partially obscured by a plant.

peter

The turn table is in a little triangle of "wooded" area north west of the yard. On Google Maps it looks like an odd bit of track disconnected with anything else. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2680216,-83.7451332,68m/data=!3m1!1e3 Last time I was out there, in '12, it was essentially an overgrown c...

Is the turntable still in place? A few years ago it was. There hasn't been much work, if any to the yard in quite a few years. Haven't been back in there recently. Technically it's still an active yard, but there's only 1 yard track connected to the main in it. AA drops cars there occasionally (the...

Does anyone think that's a baggage compartment on the cab car between the cab section and the seating section? It would be nice to have that service return to Michigan service trains. I'm leaning towards "no." Namely because there are vents in the roof above that section. If I had to guess it's som...

Also, does anyone know if these cars are going to be able to be hauled by older locomotives? I've seen quite a few comments around the net saying they are only able to be coupled to the Chargers. Seems shortsighted and inflexible? Why would they not be able to? The Chargers can haul existing cars, ...

It's a trap. They want you to get drunk in Michigan so they can nab you. It's illegal to be intoxicated on a train in MI. http://www.dumblaws.com/law/1318 In an "offensive state"... If the intoxicated people weren't so obnoxious it wouldn't be against the law. It's also only illegal to be drunk on ...

GreatLakesRailfan wrote:Isn't Indiana dry on Sundays?

This, Amtrak follows the state's drinking laws that the train is currently in. Indiana has more stringent rules on Alchohol than it's surrounding states. Also the Bar car is never open for about an 30/45mins after the train leaves the originating station.

peter