I found a site that I can listen to railroad radio traffic and is very interesting to hear.
Ive listened to the frequencies listed for railroad on my home scanner but i never hear a dispatcher as i do when i listen to the in other states over the internet. Is this because my city is too small ?
The other thing I found interesting is what sounds like a automated detector marker post that annouces speed, temperature, axel count.. Ive never heard this locally. Is this only in big railroad yards?
Thanks
Alan

adofmsu@aol.com

And this has what to do with railroad preservation?

I found a site that I can listen to railroad
> radio traffic and is very interesting to
> hear.
> Ive listened to the frequencies listed for
> railroad on my home scanner but i never hear
> a dispatcher as i do when i listen to the in
> other states over the internet. Is this
> because my city is too small ?
> The other thing I found interesting is what
> sounds like a automated detector marker post
> that annouces speed, temperature, axel
> count.. Ive never heard this locally. Is
> this only in big railroad yards?
> Thanks
> Alan

> And this has what to do with railroad
> preservation?

> I found a site that I can listen to railroad

My oh my, Richard, this has everything to do wth it. Alan, from what I have read in other posts he has made, is young. he is learning. And he is enthusiastic about being a part of the preservation comunity. He is asking here because here is where he finds experienced people that know what he is talking about. It may not directly have to do with a preservation project but it has a lot to do with the people who will be succeeding the present generation. I may be wrong about Alan's age, but even if I am, I don't ever want to be afraid to ask people with more experience a question, even here. Consider it a compliment. I hope nobody thinks I'm ranting, I just don't want people turned away and frightened in a community where they should feel welcome. Remember, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask.

Just Train Crazy,

-Angie


Ladypardus@cs.com

my thoughts exactly Angie...


unfunkyufo76@hotmail.com

Richard: did it take more of your precious time to type out a callous response than it would have to skip on to another post that interested you?

Alan: You may want to post your question to the "Trainorders" message board at www.trainorders.com. I am also a scanner novice and I recently posted a question to Trainorders. I was gratified with the quick, helpful responses. (No endorsement of Trainorders is implied, etc., etc.)


davew833@yahoo.com

Alan;
First, on your home scanner you may want to consider mounting a good high gain antenna outside for better reception. The reason you don't hear dispatchers at your home may be because you are not located very near a repeater. Thus, you may hear signals transmitted from a nearby train, but not the response to the train.
Same with the 'hotbox detector' you are apparently hearing on the web site. There is probably not one near your home. A good antenna mounted as high as possible should improve reception greatly. Hopefully this will allow you to listen to both sides of a conversation, and the detectors. Mark D.



mnmach@lakes.com

Concerning automated hotbox detectors and steam equipment - ex. CPR #1201 always got caught by these things - we'd be steaming along, waiting for the automated call - it always found the cylinders and firebox. Something like Axles 2 and 6. (it has been a long time) They have (had?) a local radio signal so that it does not go too far.

Rules stated that we'd have to stop. We would verify the axles during the stop anyway. One evening, after a long day in Metcalfe and surrounding territory, I climbed down and checked the firemans side during one of these stops. Imagine my surprise when one of the tender axle boxes was running very, very warm! Surprised the stuffing out of me, actually... The powers that be treated it to liberal doses of oil and that hard grease you put in hotboxes, and it did not act up again.

I'd presume that all steam locomotives would have this problem. Do they have to stop and verify???

John Stewart
Ottawa, Canada.

> And this has what to do with railroad
> preservation?

> I found a site that I can listen to

john.stewart@crc.ca

Thank you Angie!
You are right on the mark.

And thank you Richard, now I know to not ask you anything.

Alan

adofmsu@aol.com

Well, what I've seen would indicate they all will set off a hotbox detector. The exhausr from the steam heat to the lubricators will usually cause an axle 2, on either or both sides. The firebox, when good and hot will cause an axle 6.
The steam locomotives with roller bearings on all axles are unlikely to actually have a hotbox, and in the case of one I am familiar with there is a special order allowing them to ignore a hotbox in the first eight (I think) axles. In the case of multiple defects, they still stop. Mark D.


mnmach@lakes.com

OK folks, a reminder to all:

Terms of service for the Interchange include:

"The INTERCHANGE discussion board is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of relevant information about the successful operation of railroad history museums, railroad history groups, and other related organizations."

So strictly speaking, David is correct, Alan's inquiry is not within the scope of this board and is more suited to Trainorders, et. al.

However, the Terms also include:

"Constructive, polite criticism, and polite responses to same, are acceptable.

No flaming. There will be zero tolerance for this, one strike and you're out."

David was a little snarky in pointing out the original Terms issue with Alan's post, but several folks who responded defending the post were also, alas, pretty snarky in their remarks.

Please, everyone, be polite and constructive--turn the other cheek--keep this the most courteous and productive Board in the preservation field. If you have issues with a post, feel free to bring it up with a moderator for a ruling.

(FYI--yes, I too have feet of clay and have been a little snarky myself at times, thought better of it afterwards, and apologized. Let's all think a little before hitting "Submit.")



eledbetter@rypn.org

Frisco #1522 has a monitoring system installed on all axles with a readout in the cab. This allows them to constantly monitor the axle bearings, and prevented serious damage a few years ago when the main driver bearing problems happened. Any steam loco crew thinking about main line operation should install such a system. It makes it possible to get a special rule on hotbox detectors as you can verify your status on the move. Otherwise you probably will have to stop at each one.

Museum of Transportation
rdgoldfede@aol.com

I'd also like to point out a feature of the Interchange software I am not certain everyone is aware of.

If you leave a password when you post, you can then later delete the post yourself. So, if you say something you later regret, it's a simple matter to self remedy the probelm.

Just a suggestion.

Direct link to the Interchange
hkading@rypn.org

Alan

First, I would like to say that a friend of mine recorded radio traffic on the old PRR and NYC lines (in early PC days) in northern Indiana and it is very interesting to listen to, Especially since most of the recorded traffic is from 5-10 years before I was born.
The scanner is a very interesting and useful tool used mostly by railfans. It gives railfans a clear indication as to when, what, and where the next train will be. It also gives us something interesting to listen to between trains. To answere the question about problems hearing radio traffic in your local area, it could be one of many things. Some railroads call out each and every signal they come accross and have multiple hot box detectors, other railroads might only use the radio to give up blocks and such. The modern day aspects of this don't really fit in to the grand scheme of this board, so I won't go into anymore detail here. If you would like, you are more than welcome to email me off list.
On a side note, Hopewell Productions EXCELLENT! video "Runnin' That New River Train" with NKP 765 has a segement where Rich Melvin talks about the hot box detectors always going off. Sorry for the lengthy post.

Mike Stickel
Bloomington, IN

> I found a site that I can listen to railroad
> radio traffic and is very interesting to
> hear.
> Ive listened to the frequencies listed for
> railroad on my home scanner but i never hear
> a dispatcher as i do when i listen to the in
> other states over the internet. Is this
> because my city is too small ?
> The other thing I found interesting is what
> sounds like a automated detector marker post
> that annouces speed, temperature, axel
> count.. Ive never heard this locally. Is
> this only in big railroad yards?
> Thanks
> Alan


masticke@indiana.edu

I'd be curious to know to know if you have any steam exhausts blowing near the cylinders and the firebox. On the Milwaukee Road 261 the steam heat for the air pump lubricators exhausts just ahead of the fireman side cylinder which generally sets off the reading of a hot #2 axle on the firman's side. We also have a steam heat line for the lubricator lines that run under the boiler which exhausts just in front of the ash pan just behind the #6 axle which used to often set off the #6 hot axle reading. Last Spring we repiped our lubricator steam heat line to the old cab heat valve which could then be controlled from inside the cab. (Previously the lubricator steam heat line came off a valve on the front of the turret which had to be adjusted from outside the cab.)When we ran last summer, each time we knew we were coming up to a detector, we would shut off that steam heat line and we could prevent that exhaust from setting off the detector. Then by throttling down the steam heat to the air pump lubricators we could also keep the #2 axle call from getting us. If my memory serves me correctly, we did not get stabbed by a single hotbox detector last summer when we used that technique.

edselinsky@prodigy.net