Leaf Residue (Pectin, Slip/Slide, Waterworld, Sanders, and Lasers to Prevent Flat Spots

FL-9M 2011 went buy Stamford today around 1 p.m with 8 or ten M7's in tow to New Haven with SEVERE flatspots. At about 20 miles an hour, they still sounded really bad!!

thanks for the replies

CSX Conductor sends another update; 2024 and 2016 are on a northbound Waterworld in the Bronx/Westchester area.
Dana

Ok what line, your report is not very specific.

New Haven; they passed East through Mamaroneck at 10.45pm. It was 2026 and 2016, not 2024.

Dutch, how far East do they typically work on one line, before turning around and heading back West on another line? I know they work some kind of out/back/out/back routine...

Mike

Depends on where the slippery rail is reported, furthest east I did was Bridgeport, as further east was not as slippery.
in later in fall weeks like now only the west end is needed.

With the flat spots being worse, and with it dark longer, you can see sparks coming from the wheels and not just the 3rd rail shoes.

The sparks have nothing to do with flatspots but do show the rail contamination of leaf residue.
Since wheels are return via rail of same current that enters at the Third rail shoe the sparks are from poor contact, with clean rail you don't see sparks.

Boy oh boy they are sure making hay about the flat spots in the press. I heard it on WBGO FM (of all places) this afternoon and then just now on ABC. Plenty of video including a wheel being trued at the shop. Wondering if this is something that Metro-North sends out a release about, in anticipation of service shortfall.

brnxvill wrote:Boy oh boy they are sure making hay about the flat spots in the press. I heard it on WBGO FM (of all places) this afternoon and then just now on ABC. Plenty of video including a wheel being trued at the shop. Wondering if this is something that Metro-North sends out a release about, in anticipation of service shortfall.

Here is the link to the segment. Acording to the segment 32% of MNR cars are out of service for flats.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=4784900

here fox 5's verion
http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/Home ... geId=1.1.1

I always find if funny how the news puts a spin on to everything "smelt the smoke and thought the car was on fire" come on that guy doesn't even know what a flat spot is.

Railroader wrote: Here is the link to the segment. Acording to the segment 32% of MNR cars are out of service for flats.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=4784900

I think it's priceless that not only did the reporter get it wrong (the engineer is not slamming on the brakes), but she also managed to find the dumbest people on the platform to talk to.

O by the way, did anyone catch that the FOX5 reporter said that 2 cars have to be pulled off every 10 car train.

Now come on, how many of us know that there are very few 10 car trains on MN, let alone ones that are M7s. The impact is much greater than that. Most M7 trains are now 4 cars, even some that were usually 8, so if my math is correct, that makes 4 cars in some instances being pulled off.

To reiterate, I have not see a 8 car train in about 2 weeks. Even the two busiest trains AM MU trains on the Hudson line are 6 cars: 740 out of Ossining and 744 out of Croton. These trains are usually standing room only, so with two cars less, I can only imagine.

The Journal News ran this as their first page article the other day. It was tipped to them from a rider as described in the Journal News' Local Desk Blog.

The story ran on the 21st.

Journal News: Caren H. and the facts seldom meet each other. But who needs facts when you have anecdotes for clueless commuters! The one about the fainted lady is priceless. That's a piece of Subway lore that goes back years...

-otto-

Karen Halbfinger has been wrong on everything she ever reported on MNCR,she still owes a lot of MNCR employees a apology and untill she does so her credebility is NILL with us.
Her lies are plentyfull in her articles, and on MNCR her name is MUDD.