General railway discussions

[Metroscapes]

This is a story out of Poland, but as we enter a new age of software being critical to anything and everything, I thought it'd be of interest.

Think of an MP40/54 bricking itself because GO sent it to a repair shop that wasn't run by MPI / Wabtec.

How a Group of Train Hackers Exposed a Right-to-Repair Nightmare

Polish hackers were hired to un-brick a train. Then the legal threats came. Now they're steering the right-to-repair movement right into Poland's train yards.

gizmodo.com

 

[dowlingm]

Does anyone with knowledge of the history of the CP Belleville construction know what the reason behind the route between Oshawa, Darlington and Bowmanville is? Every time the GO extension comes up I end up looking at it.

It just seems a weird southward bend without obvious justification (like reaching the shoreline), and even weirder that there wasn’t a move more recently to position it a touch more northerly with a new bridge over 418 so that the 418/401 junction didn’t have to be built with freights and (soon? Maybe? One day?) GO trains threading through it.

 

[dowlingm]

This is a story out of Poland, but as we enter a new age of software being critical to anything and everything, I thought it'd be of interest.

Think of an MP40/54 bricking itself because GO sent it to a repair shop that wasn't run by MPI / Wabtec.

How a Group of Train Hackers Exposed a Right-to-Repair Nightmare

Polish hackers were hired to un-brick a train. Then the legal threats came. Now they're steering the right-to-repair movement right into Poland's train yards.

gizmodo.com

My understanding based on discussions on American rail boards is that one of the reasons the GE P32/40/42 passenger locomotive fleet will be far outlasted by the likes of F40/F59 is that EMD and GE seem to have very different ideas about who can make parts for their engines

 

[crs1026]

Does anyone with knowledge of the history of the CP Belleville construction know what the reason behind the route between Oshawa, Darlington and Bowmanville is? Every time the GO extension comes up I end up looking at it.

It just seems a weird southward bend without obvious justification (like reaching the shoreline), and even weirder that there wasn’t a move more recently to position it a touch more northerly with a new bridge over 418 so that the 418/401 junction didn’t have to be built with freights and (soon? Maybe? One day?) GO trains threading through it.

I don't have any specific information about that stretch, but the intent of the line was definitely to compete head on with both the Grand Trunk lakeshore line and the Canadian Northern Ontario line which was built around the same time.
So I can certainly see why driving the line through the center of Bowmanville (which neither GT nor CCNoR had done) made sense - it was a growing town at the time, and being in the center of things would have been desirable.
I am sure that grades may have also been a consideration. I wonder if river crossings were a consideration. And, the GT alignment has changed a lot over the years so the intent may have been to gain position over some earlier GT alignment.
Lastly, the territory by that time was in fact well settled and the CLO+W (the line's original name) had to expropriate a certain amount of land just to find a route. So land prices or areas of resistance vs willingness to sell might have been in the picture.
As to why the alignment hasn't changed - same problem: land acquisition costs and process. The route is not considered adverse, so no benefit in changing things.

- Paul

 

[lenaitch]

This is a story out of Poland, but as we enter a new age of software being critical to anything and everything, I thought it'd be of interest.

Think of an MP40/54 bricking itself because GO sent it to a repair shop that wasn't run by MPI / Wabtec.

How a Group of Train Hackers Exposed a Right-to-Repair Nightmare

Polish hackers were hired to un-brick a train. Then the legal threats came. Now they're steering the right-to-repair movement right into Poland's train yards.

gizmodo.com

I had to look up the term 'bricking'. Right-to-repair has been an issue pretty much since computer modules starting controlling mechanical systems. In the early days of ECMs (engine control modules) in passenger vehicles, fault codes and reading software were closely held by the manufacturers, cutting out independent repair shops. It took right-to-repair legislation to break the back of that. More recently it is an issue with agricultural machinery. I imagine all of the major manufacturers do it but John Deere has borne the brunt of the wrath. When you are in them middle of planting or harvesting a gazillion acres in middle of Iowa and your machine quits, waiting a couple of days for a JD tech to show up can cost thousands of dollars. Some farmers have resorting to pirated software out of eastern Europe. On the other side of the coin, I have heard that JD has been able to remotely disable a number of the ag equipment that Russians had seized during their 'special military operation' in Ukraine.

Does anyone with knowledge of the history of the CP Belleville construction know what the reason behind the route between Oshawa, Darlington and Bowmanville is? Every time the GO extension comes up I end up looking at it.

It just seems a weird southward bend without obvious justification (like reaching the shoreline), and even weirder that there wasn’t a move more recently to position it a touch more northerly with a new bridge over 418 so that the 418/401 junction didn’t have to be built with freights and (soon? Maybe? One day?) GO trains threading through it.

In addition to what Paul said, I imagine grade avoidance was a bigger issue back in the days of steam. Both passenger and freight trains were shorter and probably operated at close to the same speed.

For the ROW to have been realigned to 'uncomplicate' the 401-418 interchange area, I assume it would have come at a cost to province since it essentially had to build around the railway. Land acquisition costs would have been significant.

 

[just east of the creek]

I had to look up the term 'bricking'. Right-to-repair has been an issue pretty much since computer modules starting controlling mechanical systems. In the early days of ECMs (engine control modules) in passenger vehicles, fault codes and reading software were closely held by the manufacturers, cutting out independent repair shops. It took right-to-repair legislation to break the back of that. More recently it is an issue with agricultural machinery. I imagine all of the major manufacturers do it but John Deere has borne the brunt of the wrath. When you are in them middle of planting or harvesting a gazillion acres in middle of Iowa and your machine quits, waiting a couple of days for a JD tech to show up can cost thousands of dollars. Some farmers have resorting to pirated software out of eastern Europe. On the other side of the coin, I have heard that JD has been able to remotely disable a number of the ag equipment that Russians had seized during their 'special military operation' in Ukraine.



In addition to what Paul said, I imagine grade avoidance was a bigger issue back in the days of steam. Both passenger and freight trains were shorter and probably operated at close to the same speed.

For the ROW to have been realigned to 'uncomplicate' the 401-418 interchange area, I assume it would have come at a cost to province since it essentially had to build around the railway. Land acquisition costs would have been significant.

In some circles the refrain is now ‘anything but a Deere’. There have been lawsuits. Another result is the general move to acquiring late model tractors, pre ecm if you like, with the idea that we can fix them ourselves. But yes, whether you are farming thousands of acres out west or hundreds in Ontario, this is a problem. (There are many, many upsides to the increasingly higher tech nature of ag, but the increasing complexities, the increasing costs, and the need of timely support, are major challenges to the farming community, and your food bill)

 

[smallspy]

My understanding based on discussions on American rail boards is that one of the reasons the GE P32/40/42 passenger locomotive fleet will be far outlasted by the likes of F40/F59 is that EMD and GE seem to have very different ideas about who can make parts for their engines

If you are implying that GE is somehow more apt to lock out other vendors of their products - that's not the case.

The Genesis model was designed upon the idea of being a bespoke design for passenger service with no concessions. It was built to be light, fast, safe, and do as little damage to the track as possible. The F40 was designed around the idea that it would could be cheaper to operate and maintain by borrowing from then-current freight loco designs.

The parts commonality between an F40 and its contemporary EMD freight loco is almost 100%. The parts commonality between a Genesis and a contemporary GE freight loco is only a bit above 50%.

Dan

 

[drum118]

Jan 12
Catch this power on an eastbound local at Bramalea station and rare to see them both ways, let alone period.

 

[Krypto98]

Won't speculate on the cause, but the details that I noticed in the vid were - the CN locomotive appeared to have a heavy brake application (smoke and sparks from wheels before impact) and the considerable distance that the EXO train moved after impact - ie a forceful collision and not just a bump or slight miscalculation, or minor defect in the loco brake that might have affected stopping distance.

- Paul

Also note the red lighting in the cab, means they put the train in emergency. (The GE evolution series locomotives do this).

 

[Bojaxs]

Jan 12
Catch this power on an eastbound local at Bramalea station and rare to see them both ways, let alone period.

I work at Brampton Intermodal. I see them quite often. Usually moving trains around at the yard. Not sure why they would be all the way at Bramalea.

 

[drum118]

I work at Brampton Intermodal. I see them quite often. Usually moving trains around at the yard. Not sure why they would be all the way at Bramalea.

Haven't rail fan much the last few years and when I do, only find the run of the mill stuff. Seeing old colour schemes is great when some look better than today stuff.

These days I try looking for short line stuff which is hard to do.

They were on a local switching train coming from the west and you could tell they were more yard units than mainline. Mostly hoppers with about 15 cars on it.

Have seen the blue style at Etobicoke North station a number of time doing the switching there.

 

[Krypto98]

Haven't rail fan much the last few years and when I do, only find the run of the mill stuff. Seeing old colour schemes is great when some look better than today stuff.

These days I try looking for short line stuff which is hard to do.

They were on a local switching train coming from the west and you could tell they were more yard units than mainline. Mostly hoppers with about 15 cars on it.

Have seen the blue style at Etobicoke North station a number of time doing the switching there.

Those are from the same roadswitcher power pool from macyard, they also have a beltpack mode which is why you can see them in bit yard.

 

[smallspy]

I work at Brampton Intermodal. I see them quite often. Usually moving trains around at the yard. Not sure why they would be all the way at Bramalea.

This is a roadswitcher based out of MacMillan Yard - it has gone as far west as it is scheduled to, and is now making its way back to Mac, likely serving some industries on the way.

Dan

 

[NW87]

Units awaiting scrapping at SLM Welland, Ontario

 

[drum118]

View attachment 533437

It must be out west as it looks like eleven power units on that train with a BC Rail leading. Haven't seen an BC Rail unit in some time