Progress on the 557 is going nicely. We have acquired some sandblasting equipment and will start cleaning up a lot of the parts. The equipment is not big enough to do the major components of the locomotive, such as the boiler or frame, but it will accommodate many of the more portable parts quite nicely. Additionally, the cab was sent out to a company that donated the labor to sandblast and paint it. We just got it back this week, in green primer. The biggest task remaining is to replace the firebox, which happens to be the next major task actually. Hopefully that will be complete before the weather gets cold. The engine house is not heated.
At the local model railroad club, we had been having some pretty serious and unpredictable electrical problems. The sustainability of the layout was questionable, and normal operations were severely compromised. I suggested we basically rewire the entire thing. It was built about 30 years ago, and designed to run on a direct current power system. Once DCC came into the picture, it was rewired for that, but using some existing wire and some new. Nothing was color coded and very little was labelled. Since it was built, all troubleshooting occurred with no color or labeling and no standardization. All of this made finding and solving the problems difficult and highly impractical. The way the club operates most of the time is when someone suggests a project, they are designated the leader by the rest of the membership. That made me the leader on replacing the electrical system. It was decided that we would only do a portion to start, so that the layout would still be functional, in some form, during the project. Also, any changes or modifications to the track work or scenery would be done simultaneously. This was because almost every layout system ultimately relies on the electrical system. A color code was developed and standards were adopted, and we went to work. As of yesterday afternoon, the section we started with is complete and operating. It has seen a few significant upgrades, including the addition of its own power district, circuit breakers, energized switch frogs, a line change, and the removal of one tunnel and replacement of one bridge. We removed an estimated 3,000 feet of wire and replaced it with less than 300 feet, yet increased reliability and performance. We accomplished all of this in three weeks less than planned.
Work is where I have been spending most of my time, it seems. In July, they started running three person crews on almost every train. This was good because it gave Brakemen, including myself, the opportunity to see some of the railroad outside the yard. I went to Fairbanks three times, Whittier once, and Seward once. Fairbanks is a pretty easy trip, but it is long. The passenger trains run during the day, so to help prevent congestion, and potential delays, the freight trains primarily run at night. There is a freight train that operates northbound and one that operates southbound, between Anchorage and Fairbanks, almost every day of the week. Usually they depart their origin at around 8:30pm, and arrive at their destination 11 to 12 hours later. The trip is 358 miles, and includes both mountain grades and much more gentle river grades. The scenery can be spectacular, when it is light out, which, in the summer, is most of the night.
Whittier was certainly interesting. It is much closer to Anchorage, and freight trains only go there a couple times a week. Whittier is where the Alaska Railroad interchanges with other railroads. There is no direct rail connection between Alaska and the Lower 48 or Canada, so the interchange traffic moves on barges. These barges are huge, about 450 feet long, with eight tracks side by side. There are stantions between the tracks that support containerized cargo above the rail cars. The containers can be stacked four or five high. The barges operate between Whittier and Seattle and between Whittier and Prince Rupert, BC. They carry about 15,000 tons of cargo on the week long voyage. Usually, we operate freight trains to Whittier only when a barge will be in town. When I went to Whittier, we spent the day switching out our train and unloading the barge. We spent that night in a hotel in Whittier, and the next morning, we loaded the barge, built a new train, and brought it back to Anchorage with all the freight we had taken off the barge.
When I went to Seward, we had been assigned to relieve the coal train crew. When we arrived, they were still dumping the coal out of the train. They finished that up, and then we put it together and left town northbound. We brought it back to Anchorage. The coal comes from the Usibelli Mine, in Healy. It gets stockpiled in Seward and periodically loaded onto a ship, which takes it to South Korea. Typically there is a coal ship in Seward about once a month. It takes 24 hours to fully load the ship.
I have also worked a few other trains. To me, the most interesting have been the passenger switching jobs, in the yard. In the evenings, as the passenger trains get in, the yard crew goes out and meets them at the depot. The road crew gets off as soon as they pull in, and the passengers disembark. While still parked behind the depot, the cleaning crew gets on, and the first thing that gets done is a truck comes along and pumps all the toilets. Once that is done, we take the train to the yard. The evening crew is responsible for making up the trains for the next day, so that the morning crew is not delayed and the trains run on time. All the switching happens with the cleaning and food staff still on board, as they get things cleaned and put away for the night. On a typical night, there were three trains to switch and put away. Usually that kept us busy for six to eight hours. Once they were put away, the cleaning crew would wash the exterior. Alaska Railroad takes great pride in its trains, particularly its passenger trains, and they get washed after every trip. Usually they are so clean you can see your reflection in them!
More recently, I have been working the morning passenger switching job. That one basically just moves the trains from the yard to the depot, since the night crew has already put them together. There are a lot of little things to do on that though. The movements are pretty simple, pull out of the yard, wye the train if needed, and park it in front of the depot for the road crew to take over. But we also have to make sure the doors on the platform side are open and the doors on the opposite side are closed. We have to make sure the trap doors, exposing the steps, are in the proper position for high level platform boarding or low level boarding. We also have to make sure the end doors on each car close properly and that the last car has a gate to keep people from stepping out the end door. In the morning, the food service staff are on the train, and the dining cars all smell like breakfast. The cooks get a head start on preparing breakfast, because that will be what the passengers want as soon as they get on the train. Once at the depot, we have to place jump plates between the high level platform and the train, to eliminate the gap between the platform and train. There are barriers on and around the platform that must be positioned to keep people from wandering off where they don't belong, and guide them to the train. Those all have to be repositioned for each train, because each train has a different spot at the depot. So the movements are simple in the morning, but there are a lot of other little things to be done. After all the passenger trains have departed for the day, we usually do a little freight switching and then head home. I like both passenger jobs, which makes me a little different than most. Passenger cars can be frustrating to work with, because they are big and delicate, and the space between cars is filled with wires, hoses, walkways, and other utilities. There are a lot of extra safety rules when switching passenger equipment, especially when it is occupied, but it is something new and different for me.
In the next six weeks, I expect work will be tapering off, as the summer season comes to a close. Most of our passengers will be gone, until May, and our freight will see a bit of a decline as the construction season winds down. Hopefully, this will mean my time to commit to this blog and website will increase, and you will hear from me more! I do have several things in the works, just very little time to work on them!
As always, do not hesitate to email or leave a comment if you have any questions or comments! I promise I will respond!
1 comment:
Thank you for continuing the blog at any frequency. I'm looking forward to more work and hobby updates.
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