Midnight Well-Lit train?

Here in Ames, IA at just a couple minutes before midnight, a fairly short train (<15 or 20 cars) came through. What was odd however was that every single car had what appeared to be two fairly bright lights lighing up the side of the car and the ground below- presumably to detect boarders. The last car appeared to be something like a caboose, but had a big video camera pointed off the back end. As the train made its way by (perhaps 30 mph), it just screamed high-security. I couldn't make out any people-like shapes, but I wasn't close enough for the first 3/4 of its passing as I was driving up to the crossing.

This train was westbound, and as I mentioned heading relatively slowly.

My first guess is something like nuclear waste, but I'm insanely curious what it was. Towards the end, it had one car that appeared to be like the ones that usually haul corn-oil, but the rest seemed to be unusual boxcars- the lights were too bright and distracting to really make out what the cars actually looked like. Despite all the light (mostly focused on the ground), the cars themselves were very dark colored and hard to see.

Has anyone else seen this train (perhaps on a later date than this posting) or seen ones like it? I've seen a lot of trains go by, and I've never seen one lit up like that.

Sounds like a rail grinder to me.....

CN_Hogger wrote:Sounds like a rail grinder to me.....

These were all basically boxcars, and no light was on the rails, just the couple feet on each side of the train. There was no grinding sound or anything, was quiet as can be..

Worth noting too (as above) all cars were painted very dark (perhaps military olive or brown)- not the UP yellow I would think you'd find on a railgrinder. None of these looked like equipment at all.

I suppose what you suggest is possible, but "rail grinder" was absolutely the most distant thing on my mind when this went by.

Well its obviously something you'd get shot at for trying to approach... Probably DOD.

themallard wrote:Well its obviously something you'd get shot at for trying to approach... Probably DOD.

Does the UPRR routinely (or ever) allow usage by 3rd parties? Say something like that were true- would it have been driven by UPRR employees?

My curiosity has been piqued bigtime and I'm dying to know what it was. Could have just been a funky train they're trying out, but I've never seen a train with lights like that- though admittedly, I'm far from an expert.

I have a two year old who is obsessed with trains, so we're out after dark watching them go by before bed quite a bit. We've been out at all hours of the evening/morning, and that was a sight to remember.

I was hoping to hear it had been sighted passing through other states and/or that someone knew exactly what it was. It was the equivalent of a railroad UFO to me and the suspense is killing me! =)

sounds like a railgrinder in transit

Would a "black" movement use so many lights though? Seems like they would want to paint the cars solid black and try to run dark.

gprimr1 wrote:Would a "black" movement use so many lights though? Seems like they would want to paint the cars solid black and try to run dark.

I don't know, it seemed obvious to me that they were keeping the perimiter lit up to detect boarders, but I know nothing about trains, so I could be wrong.

They seemed sort of like passenger cars, but with no windows, an the lights were mounted towards the top of the cars along the sides, and semed to be pointed down only, probably under some kind of hood to keep light from going outwards from the train or up. Looking back at the train after it went by, the ground on either side of the tracks was lit up for just a few feet.

I conceed, I don't know enough to say it wasn't a railgrinder, but my intuition says that can't be right. There was no light actually on the tracks, aside from the light cast forward by the engine. The attention was most definitely not on the tracks.

In any case, I may be making a big deal over nothing, but it was so interesting a sight that my curiosity is driving me mad!

Most likely a rail grinder in transit. The locomotive is operated by the rail grinder company with a UP crew on-board to "pilot" the movement. Most of the time the conductor is in one of the crew cars with the kitchen drinking coffee and goodies while the hogger is sitting in the locomotive. Last time I had to pilot this gig my seat from Yermo to Las Vegas was a lawn chair inside the cab! Yeah, a lawn chair! The eqpt. was not kept up as well as UP eqpt. is, which is not saying alot, but a lawn chair. I just had to laugh the entire trip about that one.

Smashing PopCans wrote:

gprimr1 wrote:Would a "black" movement use so many lights though? Seems like they would want to paint the cars solid black and try to run dark.

I don't know, it seemed obvious to me that they were keeping the perimiter lit up to detect boarders, but I know nothing about trains, so I could be wrong.

They seemed sort of like passenger cars, but with no windows, an the lights were mounted towards the top of the cars along the sides, and semed to be pointed down only, probably under some kind of hood to keep light from going outwards from the train or up. Looking back at the train after it went by, the ground on either side of the tracks was lit up for just a few feet.

I conceed, I don't know enough to say it wasn't a railgrinder, but my intuition says that can't be right. There was no light actually on the tracks, aside from the light cast forward by the engine. The attention was most definitely not on the tracks.

In any case, I may be making a big deal over nothing, but it was so interesting a sight that my curiosity is driving me mad!

did it look anything like this:http://www.trainscan.com/news/scan/s0405/img_grind.jpg

or this: http://www.iaisrailfans.org/photos/Rail ... .sized.jpg

?

themallard wrote: did it look anything like this:http://www.trainscan.com/news/scan/s0405/img_grind.jpg

or this: http://www.iaisrailfans.org/photos/Rail ... .sized.jpg

?

There are some similarities to the iaisrailfans.org picture, except I can't see the back of the train enough to say for sure. Are there railgrinders on the UP line that aren't painted yellow, and have their lights mounted up at the top edge of the boxcars?

Also, would they run with their lights on if they weren't actively griding?

Maybe it is that simple- I do appreciate your time trying to figure this out with me. Wish I'd gotten a picture, then I'd know for sure.

Black Bag stuff is so much more interesting than railgrinders!

There are no "black" trains running around, like some scene from " The Wild Wild West". I have operated the Thiokol Rocket train, on several occasions. It's a pair of engines, an occupied coach car, with armed guards and kitchen staff, and rocket motors for the Space Shuttle. It isn't all lit up, and if we did stop, the guys would peek their heads out, or monitor the train, from mounted cameras. M-16's were their weapons of choice, although I would have been partial to an MP-5, myself. Military trains run every day, somewhere. A lighted train, such as the various rail grinding trains, that also run every day, somewhere, keep all of the external lights on, during dusk to dawn hours. Guys might be making repairs, crossing between cab, and coach cars, or caboose, and it's just lit up, for safety. The flames, and "light show" shooting from the undercarriage, would be highly visible, if they were in fact, grinding. I piloted one, from Meridian to Montgomery, in February, and it was lit up, even through the daytime hours. One thing that really sucked, the cab was so far back, on the "locomotive/power car", that a camera was mounted on the nose, and the operator ran the train, by watching a TV screen. Very lame, to say the least.........

HHT Pandrol Jackson has a Railgrinder painted dark blue. Perhaps?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=68498

Living adjacent to the former MILW west main through Northern IL for a few years now, I've seen the grinder come by on several occasions (same jointed rail in place since the last 'Hiawatha' came by...). Most recently, a nighttime movement very much like the one which Mr. Popcans describes. I was about 300' away, but the whole thing was lit up like a Christmas tree - rather hypnotic actually.

Of course, the one that came by while hard at work one winter morning at dawn really sticks in my mind - got me out of bed just in time to see a fire breathing beast crawl by. My vantage point was about 60' away!

I imagine the FRA has some sort of special rule set for this type of trainset and a fully lit roadbed sounds about right...

TT

Hey GA, i dogcaught the Morton Thiokol Rocket Booster Train a couple weeks ago, conductor was on the ground with the guys talking before we moved while i was up there doing his job, copying all the meets DANG IT!!! I was surpized on how heavy that train is for its length. Has a weird feel to it doesnt it, like a power transfer. Where did you get to run her at? Never worked for the KCS, or have you?