Problems with SU-99, 12/19/2005

It all started out simple enough...they had 4 engines... 3010, 3672, 3634, and 3014... lost three of the four between Hawthorne and Midland Park.... 3634 shut down in Hawthorne... got Restarted.... 3010 set off alarms and developed major air problems.... it was suggested that the second unit, the 3672 be set up as a leader, then move the train to Campgaw where they could switch it to the lead position..... one problem..... 3762 has an inoperable horn..... so the 3634 dies again at MP..... they get that started, then the 3672 shuts down...... get it started and now the "control" circuit breaker keeps tripping on the 3010 and as a result the engine(and train) can't hold its air and as soon as the CB trips, the train loses 30 #s of air instantly..... At this point, they somehow got the train to move(they had Goffle Road blocked for most of this)..... and got as far as Wyckoff......so, the WS-6, with the 2064 and 1802 come up and tie on to take the train back..... hey couple up, take the air, and start to pull....
So the train came screaming into Little Ferry at about midnight.. and the SU-100? They were recrewed at Stockholm and sent home, so last night's 99 crew went BACK into the hotel, and will try it again tonight, with the power from todays 100 added, plus no doubt additional freight...... If all the power that came down both days go out, it will be 8 units.... 57 cars from last night, plus whatever is added for tonight.....Stay Tuned......

So is this coming my way by chance? I can't remember which is the 99 and which is the 100...

I'm thinking the 99 is the westbound.

Train has 7 engines, 59 Loads, 34 Empties for a total of 93 cars.
Tonnages is 8601 and length is 6360 feet... Power: 3016-3668(oil on walkways)-
3020-3672-3014-3674-3634.

I wonder if the engine i saw yesterday smoking like it was on fire was the one with most of the problems? I mean I could see it from 46/grand in little ferry. I thought a house was going up. Got over the bridge and nothing but white/bluish smoke billowing out of the stack. Anything east/se of it was just inendated with smoke.

But yea they had 10 engines in the yard yesterday afternoon. Might go over later.

just looked at the only clear shot of the engine and 3634 was the smokey one.

2005Vdub wrote:I wonder if the engine i saw yesterday smoking like it was on fire was the one with most of the problems? I mean I could see it from 46/grand in little ferry. I thought a house was going up. Got over the bridge and nothing but white/bluish smoke billowing out of the stack. Anything east/se of it was just inendated with smoke.

But yea they had 10 engines in the yard yesterday afternoon. Might go over later.

The people who live up on the bluffs between the railroad and that main street between 46 and Bogota get really angry when that (heavy blue smoke) happens. I was up there taking pix one day and 3-4 people came out to complain about it to me. I think they figured I was from the newspaper or the government.

The railroad facility is relatively new, maybe 15 years old. It went in when NYSW sold its Little Ferry yard to CSX intermodal. I'd be pissed if somebody moved in next to me and built a slaughterhouse or chop shop adjacent.

I would be pissed too. It wasn't so much near the house's on the cliff but more towards 46 overpass, the Rescue squad and the few houses next to mobil. But when i first got there, it seriously looked like a huge working fire somewhere. Was a burning the throat smoke too.

3634 is giving our crews up here hell, as it's throttle is messed up (when they go to Notch 1, the reverser goes the opposite way) and it can't keep up brake pressure (last I heard, it was losing ~10 PSI a minute) and they were headed to the enginehouse to replace it with something else for the BH-X.

Thats too bad.... now they' re gonna have to divert some effort that they put into the recent rehab(top to bottom) of car 509, the "popemobile". Guess they really have a perverted sense of priorities up in Cooperstown.... Money and effort to overhaul a private car, while the fleet just continually limps along.. Of course, it should be noted that the railroad also "doesn't have" the money to settle its labor agreement.... what a piss poor way to run a railroad.....