Millers Falls interchange yard

jaymac wrote:For those wishing to recalibrate their instrumentation, the preceding measures a 10.9 out of 11 on the ISO Sarcasm Scale.

One louder?

10 was the old ultimate, but at least some Marshall amps, following the lead of Spinal Tap, have controls that go to 11.

MEC407 wrote:

blueyeqq wrote:Yes we get it you all like choo choo trains. We do to...

Really? You like trains too? Interesting. In previous posts you wrote the following about trains and the railroad:

"pain in the ass train"

"I hope they shut the rail down"

"stinky, noisy worthless train"

"crappy train"

"close this rail down"

"stinky smelly train"

"I hope it gets shut down"

"let the games begin"

So, perhaps you'll forgive me for not believing your "we do to" [sic] statement.

I'm sure you've discovered by now that the majority of people on this site are pro-rail. It's OK that you're anti-rail -- we don't discriminate here -- but at least be honest about it. Don't say nasty things about the railroad and then say that you like trains; no one is going to take you seriously if you do that.

Ok so let me make my self more perfectly clear....
the only thing I like about trains..is the fact that they are moving goods around america. As I said..as long as they keep moving and dont stop in town and piss off the natives by doing the things they shouldnt be doing like blocking road ways and causing havoc..we like trains.

newpylong wrote:Au contraire, I do know how it is. I used to be the one in the middle of the night making a paycheck by making the loud noises you hear on the railroad. I was offering you my suggestions on how to deal with it legally, which I am glad to see you are doing.

There is no excuse for roads to be blocked that long. But I can tell you with 110% certainty that there is nothing that you can do that will stop the banging from happening. If the railroads are nice enough, they may adjust their schedules so they only need to do work there during the day, but not likely.

How can you have lived there for 50 years if you think this is a new thing? We moved a lot more cars in and out of Millers Falls in the 80's than they do today. Compounded by the fact that the trees weren't as big back then surrounding the track, the noise was much louder. The track was only reactivated in the past 2 years, so that is why this is happening.

Just because people like "choo choo's" doesn't mean they are unreasonable. There are some things that are reasonable and some things that are not. There is such a thing as quality of life, but there also is such a thing as responsibility. You accepted the responsibility of living near active railroad tracks. The railroad has the responsibility to not block crossings.

---I can tell you that I was born in this town and at no time in the last 50 years have we had trains idling for no reason, hours at a time or blocking road ways or hearing loud booms in the middle of the night.

And there are lots we can do about it. Even the Rail ways have to abide by town by laws even if it has to go to the state level. In Andover mass as an example. A by law was passed that trains can not blow whistles after 9 pm and guess what THEY DONT. So the local towns will be getting together and go to a state level to see what can be done about Idling trains and rail ways being blocked.

Yes we have lived here all our lives and have dealt with trains going through town, but never once in the 31 years that I have owned my house have I had to shut my windows in the summer time because of diesel exhaust and noise from a train sitting on the tracks at 10 pm and not moving through town.
As I said ...we like trains ..as long as they are moving through and moving goods..Sitting across road ways, or on the tracks idling for hours at a time and waking the whole town up in the middle of night..does not make for happy natives.

In the 50 years I was referring to the noise from pickingup and setting off cars, not the locomotive idling. You shouldn't have to deal with that - like I have said. Other communities have complained of idling trains and the RR does not do it in those areas anymore.

Mr. Millers Falls resident:

Trains don't idle in Millers Falls. It's not a spot where trains are outlawed or crews are changed by either Pan Am or New England Central.

I have watched the freight interchange several times. The New England Central might block a couple of the streets in town while they are switching the interchange. It's not for the length of time you are exaggerating it to be. It is under 5 minutes for each switching move. Although they may be working at Millers Falls for an hour or two, they are not blocking roadways the entire time. And there is always an unobstructed route into and out of town.

You should educate yourself before you start complaining. There are 2 railroads that run through Millers Falls. Pan Am (Southern) runs east and west. New England Central runs north and south. When the Amtrak Vermonter changes routes in a couple of years, it won't have any effect on freight operations. They won't be shutting anything down.

You can contact as many town and state agencies as you wish. It will not put an end to the two railroads interchanging freight in your town. That is the true cause of your complaints. You are going to have to deal with it.

amazing. coupler banging is, simply, employee laziness/ lack of train handling skill. engine idling? log events then call mass epa. no one should suffer exhaust. when not working, shut down the engines. no engine should run if unmanned. if oganz dumps are feared, install kim hotstarts. starting unmanned engines requires a bit of effort. so what? do it. i suspect railroad employees are acting out. time for them to realize that their operations do have a negative impact on the envinronment. i never let our engines idle overnight. 'souping' was enough of a deterrent. perhaps the necr/pas 'interchange should be in the state paid for east deerfield yard. horrors of horrors- necr crews running to and fro on 'state supported' track. how will railroad arcania survive? talk to millers falls elected officials. there is no stb dog in this hunt. ken patrick

KEN PATRICK wrote:amazing. coupler banging is, simply, employee laziness/ lack of train handling skill. engine idling? log events then call mass epa. no one should suffer exhaust. when not working, shut down the engines. no engine should run if unmanned. if oganz dumps are feared, install kim hotstarts. starting unmanned engines requires a bit of effort. so what? do it. i suspect railroad employees are acting out. time for them to realize that their operations do have a negative impact on the envinronment. i never let our engines idle overnight. 'souping' was enough of a deterrent. perhaps the necr/pas 'interchange should be in the state paid for east deerfield yard. horrors of horrors- necr crews running to and fro on 'state supported' track. how will railroad arcania survive? talk to millers falls elected officials. there is no stb dog in this hunt. ken patrick

I am trying to decipher what you're saying here, but what I do see are a lot of assumptions.

So you've never made a rough hitch? I find that hard to believe. The bangs could also be from releasing hand brakes. They would be on the cars sitting in the interchange and they would be on the balance of the train left on the main when they go get the cars on the wye. Some of them (especially those centerbeams with the big levers that they interchange) drop as loud as any hitch.

No trains are left unmanned there, so shutting down the engines is irrelevant. All they are doing is picking up or setting off.

Employees acting out? What does this even mean? I never knew anyone who liked to piss the people off of any town. If the horn wasn't an FRA reg we wouldn't have even used it at night.

What do you mean you never let your engines idle over night? Weren't you governed by company policy whether you were supposed to leave them running or shut them down?

What "state supported track" are we talking about? No public money has been spent on the Pan Am Southern mainline.

good rebuttal. east deerfield is state-owned. rented to pas. i've argued that the state provides too much to pas and should use the funding power to order changes in pas pricing.
i believe manual brake releases are not what is at issue here. chain-rattling is different than slamming couplers.
we owned our engines. i directed adding kim hot starts ( plug-in power only available) plus i got good pricing from conrail altoona who sold us the engines. also added remote control to one but found it not effective in one operation. (employee fear).
i'm not a pas fan. their pricing is a knock-off for new waste business. ( $1600/car csxt , $3000/car pas) .
i sympathize with the millers falls folk. ken patrick

My only experience actually AT Miller's Falls on the NECR was a work train on an unusually hot April day back in '02. My conductor and I broiled for what seemed forever before the MOW guys were ready for us to come out onto the main and drop rock to bolster areas eroded by heavy rain. Any other time I would have been going through without stopping. I remember Miller's Falls as being postcard worthy and even thought about moving there or somewhere like it near enough to the tracks to hear a train; but far enough away that a hopper car loaded with crushed limestone for Koff-Koff would not roll over into my yard...like the night I was the conductor on 602, and we tipped a couple of them over in front of the Amherst depot, pelting the building with ballast and setting off the alarm.

Blocking a crossing for 45 minutes? Yeah, I've seen that happen for a variety of reasons/conditions (not always good ones). Never done it as a conductor, unless it was a derailment, or some unusual situation. Sometimes it just can't be avoided: If the railroad has a speed restriction of 5 MPH over a certain section, and the train is over a mile long, and you have to set a car out that's in the middle of the train...AND the temperature is minus 10 degrees F...and there isn't territory enough anywhere to keep the train off a crossing SOMEwhere without eating up so much time you would dog every night in the middle of nowhere, and thereby backing up every job on the system for a week....(YOU DO THE MATH). I don't believe crews have in their job briefing, "Millers Falls? I hate that @%$*&!ing town! Let's block it tonight!

Sounds at night just seem louder too....like the C-17s and F-15s taking off 500 yards from my rack; but I volunteered for this, and can't complain. And not that I'm particularly worried; but there is always a slight chance of indirect fire. It could certainly be worse. So by all means, curse the railroad, and enjoy living in the USA.

perfect information. why 5 mph? 3 new ties per 44' ( $75 ) makes all moves faster and less obnoxious. my point is that guilford is getting a free ride when the state is spening millions to keep them in business without demanding changes in pricing and operations. seems that every rail fan is guilty of excusing guilford for malfeasance. get these folk to level the playing field. the citizens should not have to suffer guilford myopia. also, doesn't 5# of brake pipe air and #2 power setting before brake release eliminate slack run-in noise? ken patrick

I am still confused as to what the state has to do with anything here. Besides being the Real Estate holder for East Deerfield (which in reality means nothing), Pan Am pays them to operate there. Just because the state is the owner, it doesn't mean they have any control over operations. This is not an MBTA/MBCR relationship we're talking about, where there are performance requirements, etc and so on. It is strictly real estate leinholding.

5 lbs and 2nd notch to eliminate run in? Me thinks you've been running tourist trains : )

I'm fairly certain the idiot posting this crap on here about millers falls is the same person that is cutting our air hoses and uncoupling our train as we are trying to do our JOBS so if it is in fact you Mr. vandalism. We are going to be there a lot longer when you damage our operating equipment. we aren't going anywhere. sorry. If you don't like the noise near the railroad tracks.....perhaps you should move. I'm fairly certain the railroad was there long before you moved in! As for trains idling....If a crew outlaws in millers falls....as we did last week one of our 4 engines was left running to keep air on the train. until a re-crew can arrive to move the train. If I can help you to understand what goes on please pm me. I would be happy to educate you.

blueyeqq wrote:No one in either town Millers Falls or Erving want or are happy with a stinky smelly train, idling for no reason. Go park it in the Deerfield train yard. And blocking the road ways are illegal. God forbid a fire truck needs to get through and cant the rail road might find them selves in a law suit for blocking a major through way / highway. I hope it gets shut down.

I hate to pop your bubble but why would anyone want to make such an ignorant statement as the ones you have been making? It sounds like this "I don't want those men out working supporting their families because it interferes with my life." If you don't like living near an operating railroad.....MOVE. I dont like listening to trains at all hours of the nights either.....so I live far enough away from it. Imagine that

KEN PATRICK wrote:perfect information. why 5 mph? 3 new ties per 44' ( $75 ) makes all moves faster and less obnoxious.

5 mph on the west connection track at Washington Ct. Hse, OH (coming off the former DT&I onto the Midland Sub), around a very tight curve on an old timber pile trestle. I'm sure it was originally designed with a 40' car in mind; that and it's now being used as a main line, and not for the occasional transfer move. Almost everything moving between Lima and Cincinnati on the IORY rolls over this "choke point."