Author Topic: Joe Fox at his day job...  (Read 20921 times)

Keith Taylor

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #30 on: November 13, 2017, 08:12:45 PM »
In Conrails NJ Division Superintendent’s office was a piece or rail on display. The engineer on the third trick humper at Allentown had fallen asleep while humping a train. The retarder operator grabbed the train with the retarders and stopped the train’s movement forward. By the time the crew had walked to the engine close to a mile from the top of the hump....the engine had burned through the rails in eight spots. When I say burned through the rails...not only the head of the rail...but halfway through the web of the rail!
It took a crane to pull the locomotive out of the holes it had dug. It didn’t do the heat treating of the wheels a bit of good either!
Keith


Wayne Laepple

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #31 on: November 13, 2017, 08:32:48 PM »
On a railroad I worked on, the line ran along a river for most of its length, and it was under and near trees. Especially on cool fall mornings, the combination of condensation and wet leaves on the rail set up any unsuspecting engineer for trouble. You'd be rolling along in the third or fourth notch and suddenly notice the speedometer was showing 35 mph and you were slowing down. All eight wheels of the engine would be slipping on the leaves without tripping the wheel slip relay, and you often had to come to a complete stop before you could gain control of the spinning. Sometime, even with sand, it was very hard to get moving again. on more than one occasion, I had to have the conductor stand on the front step and hold a switch broom on the rail to sweep the leaves away and give us half a chance of making forward progress!

Joe Fox

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #32 on: March 12, 2018, 02:02:30 PM »
Heres a few video clips of a loaded slurry train I was on. 56 cars, 7300 tons.

https://youtu.be/ptfXeKwusFU

https://youtu.be/O9frtvFFVIs

Bob Holmes

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #33 on: March 12, 2018, 06:50:48 PM »
Joe, why is limestone slurry valuable (or not)?

Mike Fox

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #34 on: March 12, 2018, 08:20:12 PM »
Used in papermaking Bob. They haul the unit train to South Portland, then the cars are sent out to the mills throughout Maine on seperate trains
Mike
Doing way too much to list...

Wayne Laepple

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #35 on: March 12, 2018, 09:00:35 PM »
I believe the limestone slurry is used in manufacturing coated papers, such as those used in high-end magazines and books. Publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian and even Trains used coated paper, which holds inks better than plain pulp paper.

Joe Fox

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Re: Joe Fox at his day job...
« Reply #36 on: March 12, 2018, 09:36:06 PM »
That is correct. Some of these cars will go to Rumford to be rolled into giant gloss print for things such as Ocean State Job Lot ads, and many other things. At one point the mill in Rumford had the National Geographic contract, but that has since been contracted out to China.