Detroit Railfanning

[ogauge47]

8/11

Lincoln Street Art Park, Detroit

CN M384



CN M385

[ogauge47]

8/12

NS 171 at Delray



CN A451 at CP George



8/14

NS 21N in Wyandotte



NS 421



CN M391



CN M384



M384 in Detroit, over Michigan Ave

[J. S. Bach]

8/12
M384 in Detroit, over Michigan Ave

The lead end (rear, really) of the trailing unit reminds me of a favorite non-US locomotive (although most were made here as export units), the Class 66:

England Freightliner 66503.jpg (123.59 KiB) Viewed 7675 times

[ogauge47]

9/18
NS B73 outside Romulus



10/8

CP T28 returning to Windsor, ON with three SD33ECOs



NS BD09 shoving back to Oakwood Yard with an old N&W caboose





NS 176 passing Delray tower



Delray Connecting RR bottle train on the CN Marsh Track

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Lucas, Do you know if those Bottle Cars are in-service or being taken away for scrapping?

It's nice that you take those pictures of real-life trains and share them here. Some of us would never take ourselves to such vantage points to be able to observe and photograph those trains.

Be well and safe, always. And continue to have a life full of success and prosperity.
Murph

[ogauge47]

Lucas, Do you know if those Bottle Cars are in-service or being taken away for scrapping?

It's nice that you take those pictures of real-life trains and share them here. Some of us would never take ourselves to such vantage points to be able to observe and photograph those trains.

Be well and safe, always. And continue to have a life full of success and prosperity.
Murph

Thanks!
Yes, those bottle cars are in service. The Delray Connecting RR transports them between Zug Island and the US Steel plants downriver. The northbound run is empty, hence the cab end close to the railcars. Even empty they are quite hot, you can feel the heat radiating off of them.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

And that radiation of heat occurs even with the lining of brick that those cars have to protect the cars from their own contents, which has been my understanding from being among them back in the 60's in Pittsburgh.

Also, Allan Miller, of OGR, mentioned to me, some time ago, that the engine was usually separated from the cars by a freight car, such as a gondola, to provide some distance between the men and those hot metal cars. I see they are not separated in that train; perhaps, because the contents have been emptied (?) The occasion of his mentioning that factor to me was his seeing this photo of my having a train of them, along with some "Ladle cars" on my layout, which as you can see, has no freight car separating the engine from Bottle-cars. In my imagination, they are being taken to a scrap yard, long out of use and empty.
Thanks, again.
Murph

[G3750]

And that radiation of heat occurs even with the lining of brick that those cars have to protect the cars from their own contents, which has been my understanding from being among them back in the 60's in Pittsburgh.

Also, Allan Miller, of OGR, mentioned to me, some time ago, that the engine was usually separated from the cars by a freight car, such as a gondola, to provide some distance between the men and those hot metal cars. I see they are not separated in that train; perhaps, because the contents have been emptied (?) The occasion of his mentioning that factor to me was his seeing this photo of my having a train of them, along with some "Ladle cars" on my layout, which as you can see, has no freight car separating the engine from Bottle-cars. In my imagination, they are being taken to a scrap yard, long out of use and empty.
Thanks, again.
Murph

Yes, steel mills regularly insert spacer cars (gondola, flat car, something) between the locomotive and torpedo (hot metal), slag pot (thimble), or ingot buggies. In the photo below, I failed to do that.

S-2 & slag cars.jpg (76.79 KiB) Viewed 7611 times

The 1:48 engineer was hopping mad (all 1.5" of him)!!! He filed a grievance with the union and we had to pay a fine.

George

[ogauge47]

And that radiation of heat occurs even with the lining of brick that those cars have to protect the cars from their own contents, which has been my understanding from being among them back in the 60's in Pittsburgh.

Also, Allan Miller, of OGR, mentioned to me, some time ago, that the engine was usually separated from the cars by a freight car, such as a gondola, to provide some distance between the men and those hot metal cars. I see they are not separated in that train; perhaps, because the contents have been emptied (?) The occasion of his mentioning that factor to me was his seeing this photo of my having a train of them, along with some "Ladle cars" on my layout, which as you can see, has no freight car separating the engine from Bottle-cars. In my imagination, they are being taken to a scrap yard, long out of use and empty.
Thanks, again.
Murph

Yes, steel mills regularly insert spacer cars (gondola, flat car, something) between the locomotive and torpedo (hot metal), slag pot (thimble), or ingot buggies. In the photo below, I failed to do that.

S-2 & slag cars.jpg

The 1:48 engineer was hopping mad (all 1.5" of him)!!! He filed a grievance with the union and we had to pay a fine.

George

For the loaded runs on the Delray Connecting they run cab forward, with the engineer operating the locomotive off the front steps with a belt pack. I guess they want to be as far away as possible!

Random sidenote: the current Conrail timetables specifically mention crews are not to approach those bottle cars on foot or move them with a locomotive whatsoever. I believe CN and Norfolk Southern crews are directed the same.

[rogruth]

Lucas,
Then how do the cars get moved?

[ogauge47]

Lucas,
Then how do the cars get moved?

The cars are only permitted to be moved by the Delray Connecting Railroad and their crews

[rogruth]

Understood. Thanks.

[MYmoo]

... For the loaded runs on the Delray Connecting they run cab forward, with
the engineer operating the locomotive off the front steps with a belt pack. I guess they
want to be as far away as possible! ...

12 inches to the foot scale Lionchief operation!.

I've observed similar operations on the Union Pacific in their N.Platte, NE yards, moving
locos in and out of their repair building.

I was informed that the U.P. uses over a million gallons of fuel per day for refueling and
operations in that yard alone.

[ogauge47]

9/21

NS 121 at Delray



CN E280 was right behind



CN M384 a few minutes later



And finally CN M385

[ogauge47]

9/22

CN M384 in Wyandotte



CN M391



NS 332