Photos from a railroad signal maintainer
These photos and views are my own and do not represent those of my employer.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Moonshot
This picture was taken around three in the morning with a full moon behind the subject.
I had to rush the shot because there were too many skunks in the area.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Dragging equipment
Something dragging off one of the railroad cars peeled back the cover of one my hydraulic switches. I am constantly amazed at the power of trains!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Just a good picture!
I have been starting early to work since it has been so hot and got this picture before sunrise. It is a southbound "autorack". That is shoptalk for Auto Carrier.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Painting Signal Backgrounds
I got to borrow a bucket truck today. I used it to paint the backgrounds on our signals. After the backgrounds start to fade they need to be painted black again. It is more cosmetic than a necessity but, it looks good when you are done.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Encounter
Sometimes when I am Hi Railing (that is railroad lingo for riding the track) I encounter trains on the adjacent track. Does this look scary? Believe me it can be. For those of you who might be wondering why the crossing gates are not down, this train was stopped.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
In the clear
Sometimes this is all the clearance I have next to a fast moving train. This one was traveling 50 miles per hour! This is quite disturbing considering all that can happen. Trains can have banding dragging,they lose brake shoes off cars, shifted loads, and hopefully, no derailments!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Vandalism
There are times when the Signal Maintainer is dispatched to trouble and finds that vandals have left their signature. In this one vandals have shot up a relatively new installation. Glad I was not home!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Pole Climbing
This is another dated photo. We used to have to maintain pole line, sometimes 30 miles or more. Thanks to technology and the advancement thereof it has all been eliminated and I get to stay on the ground.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Train Orders
The agent/operator would type up train orders. These orders needed to be given to the conductor. The agent/operator would roll the orders up, tie the orders to a post with twine. As the train was moving by the station, the conductor would reach out from the moving train and snatch the paper train orders from the post.
They used this method for decades until the arrival of computers. This photo is about 32 years old. They no longer transfer train orders by this method.
Friday, July 23, 2010
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