odd rail bending behavior in Earlville, IL

[Tony T.]

My brother and I were out trainwatching in Earlville Saturday. This is where the old Q main crosses an old CN&W branch and the BNSF now has a left and a right cross over for the 2 mains.

Anyway, the western end cross over kept cycling open-closed for a period of about half an hour. Sometimes a minute would pass between cycles, other times nearly ten minutes would pass, but the points would switch again. I did not see any obstruction on either end, but naturally kept my distance. Westbound Amtrak #3 passed just as we were leaving, and made the cross over, but I was worried it might cycle just as he was moving through!

Can anyone clue me in as to what the dispatcher may have been up to? No track or signal men were in the immediate area.
TT

[spalmer]

Prior to the arrival of the train, one of the switches may have "latched up" (safety protection feature of the switch machine) after a previous train went through. The latch out function of the switch may have tripped at some point, due to something dragging from the train, etc.

With "minor hiccups" such as this, the dispatcher can release the latch-out by cycling the switch back and forth. The display on dispatcher's console will tell him/her whether or not the switch is locking properly at the end of a switch movement.

So, just off-hand, that's probably what you witnessed.

Regards!

[Tony T.]

I imagined that this is what was going on, just never saw it before. Which seems odd, recalling all those hours waiting for trains....

Glad the problem was cleared up prior to stopping Amtrak, they have enough opportunity for delays as is.
TT