Why do circuit breakers go up for on and down for off?

Feb 11, 2023 Last reply: 2 years ago 1848 Replies

Only in the USA.

There is more than one rail company, and set of rail lines.

A company that is not capitalized properly, can't really afford to fix anything.

The tracks that are used for passenger rail, are likely better than some of these little spur lines.

*******

When the Hudsons Bay line flooded out, and there was a lot of track damage, the owners didn't want to fix it, so a group bought the line, and that group paid to fix it up. That's mainly for grain shipments, via the port at Hudsons Bay. This shows you what a rail line looks like, after flood damage.

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And that's an example of a rail line, with a lot of challenges, because mother nature doesn't want a rail line there. You can see how they tried to build up the rail bed, above grade a bit.

It seems they're still pouring money into that line.

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"The railway has been prone to disruptions, in part due to the remote boggy terrain it runs through. Railcars sometimes have had to slow to a near-crawl, and area residents complained it was not being maintained properly."

Sounds normal to me :-) You don't always get to choose where a rail line goes.

And the fools want to run oil trains on those rails. Who are they kidding ? :-) Regular tracks don't like oil trains, what chance does that rickety mess have.

Paul

At least the US is better than Canada...

"The score for railroad infrastrucutre quality is based on only one question. The respondents are asked to rate the railroads in their country of operation on a scale from 1 (underdeveloped) to 7 (extensive and efficient by international standards)."

The rail system in the US is extensive, I'll give it that. It probably is fairly efficient. They don't lose too many boxcars but then a boxcar can't stray too far from the rails.

I may be a little prejudiced. I briefly worked for Penn Central during its two year path from merger to the largest at the time bankruptcy.

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It was before my employment but I worked at the Selkirk yard where they mislaid most of Maine's potato crop.

It was sad. When I was a young kid you could take a train from Union Station in Troy NY to Boston or NYC and expect to get home the same day. By the time I was in my teens the station was gone, but you could take the train to NYC from the station in Albany if you didn't have any pressing engagements in the city. You might get there someday, and in the winter the cars might even have heat. You did get to admire the scenic Hudson at

20 mph, which was what the track was good for in many stretches.

I was pleasantly surprised when I took the train from the Rensselaer station in the mid-80s after it had become AmTrak. On time, and with comfortable, modern cars. I think it owed that to being an extension of the AmTrak corridor loved by Biden to the NYS capitol.

They stole that idea from Wilson, Keppel and Betty.

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This is a wonderful book:

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The baddest tunnel, Tunnel 6, is a great hike near the Sierra summit.

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The California Zephyr is a very scenic tourist route. Passes through Truckee and under Sugar Bowl.

One would think.

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As often happens the cause was 'under investigation' until the news cycle moved on to the next squirrel sighting.

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Being contrary, I started at the Pearson trailhead on the Idaho side and pedaled uphill. It's a gentle grade so that was no problem. A bike light is required so I bought the cheapest one REI had. Mistake. After going through nine shorter tunnels as blind as a bat when I got to the mouth of that one I turned around and coasted back to the car.

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That's another chunk of the Milwaukee Road near Butte. It has tunnels but I walked it. Walking in the dark is a lot easier than trying to ride a bike in the dark.

There is another stretch near St. Regis that convinced me a suspension seat post was a good idea. It's also open to motorized vehicles so it's not all that appealing.

There's something magical and eerie and sort of sad about the old railroad tunnels.

Tunnel6 used to be open to vehicles (it needed a jeep) but I don't think it is any more. There was a rumor that it might be re-tracked and used for trains again.

We drove a jeep about 4 miles, starting on the west entrance, through the tunnels, and then through miles of snow sheds back into daylight. Very cool.

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They built the transcontinental railroad with muscles and mules and black powder. No GPS, no flashlights, no CAD tools.

The old Lincoln Highway is just below the tunnel, running below the Rainbow Bridge.

531 according to
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But that's misleading, it's called the incarceration RATE, yet it isn't a rate. It's the percentage of people in jail right now. What about how many have ever been in jail? What if we count Joe Bloggs because he served 5 years a decade ago? What about people who went in overnight to cool off?

Did you really write maths correctly? We're getting there.

You're lucky to only have 13%. I bet you in 30 years, more than 50% will be Muslims. UK and USA.

How about if they kill one of their own kind, you don't jail them? That would cut costs and their population.

:-)

I did not have Muslims in mind. I'm not sure something like Nation if Islam is even recognized by Muslims.

That is effectively the case in many large US cities but the population percentage remains stable. The Chicago PD released an in depth analysis of homicides in 2011. To summarize less than 4% of the cases involved whites as either the perpetrator or the victim. It hasn't improved in the intervening years.

Ironically the Chicago blacks have come to the realization that unchecked immigration means more mestizos to dilute their political power. That 'people of color' label starts to unravel when you realize that each subset doesn't care all that much for the others.

We have the Kim Williams trail which is another chunk of the Milwaukee Road. It runs along the river so is a gentle grade, with one exception.

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The new state park is nice but railroad went under the mentioned overlook through Tunnel 16 1/2. It's a short tunnel and from what I can see is in good shape but the state is risk adverse and has fenced off the entrances. That means a steep climb up the ridge and down the other side. I hike it fairly often but I don't think I could have done it on a bicycle in my younger days.

There are other stretches with tunnels that are accessible but aren't even formal trail to trails with some really shaky looking tunnels compared to

16 1/2.

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It's not as well known as the Northern Pacific or Union Pacific but for something that started as a short line from Milwaukee to the river it had big dreams.

Pretty.

We have the Foresthill Bridge.

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There's a group of people who post little colorful inspirational notes along the footpath to dissuade suicides.

Tunnel6 would be tough on a bike; it's tricky to walk. The floor is gravel and mud and the railroad cinder things, puddles in places, dripping from above, pitch black in places with a dull glow from one end. Fun acoustics.

If you're ever out this way, hike it.

It's not super human if anyone can do it.

Can't say I can hear many of the words....

You're an idiot. I've gone in 32F water for hours. The myth is you die in 15 minutes, but just try it for yourself, don't believe the bullshit. The correct answer is the average person is fine for 2 hours. The US Marines say 6 hours. Myself, I don't even shiver for 30 minutes. But then shivering makes heat....

I have days and days. On bad days I'd be walking very gingerly. I had no problem walking across the Golden Gate but that doesn't have the visual relief.

There was a small airport on the north side of Ft. Wayne. One takeoff from one of the runways you climbed past an WOWO's AM antenna array. It was a strange feeling visualizing yourself on the antenna rather than the cockpit of the Tomahawk. Somebody has to change the light bulbs but it ain't me.

The CN Tower in Toronto is another one. I've been in tall buildings like the John Hancock in Chicago but something in that needle like structure caused my reptilian brain to say "NO!"

I do, depending what I'm doing. I don't like lugging 12 litre steel scuba tanks far from the car. But I'll stick a snorkel in a bumbag and go running for 15 miles to a lake.

I've walked and run and cycled the west highland way, but the weirdest person I met was doing the whole thing on bicycle, with an enormous trailer, big enough to look like it should be towed by car. He said he liked to have luxuries with him, I said I preferred to expend less energy and live a simpler life. No cooked food, no cooker required. No tent or sleeping bag, just lie down on some grass (but I do take insect repellant!)

I was riding a steep chairlift a few weeks ago. The guy with me asked if we could pull the safety bar down, almost apologetically. We started talking and I asked him how old he was. 42.

I had zero fear of heights when I was young. About the age of 40, I started getting intense vertigo. I couldn't walk along a cliff (the cliffs of moher were intense) and it was scary to climb a ladder. And it gradually faded away, mostly gone now. I've had other guys say the same thing, fear of heights kicking in around the age of 40.

The guy and I agreed that it didn't affect our skiing.

This doesn't bother me now.

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Sounds too much like Gillian, a girl's name.

Sounds like Dwaine Dibley (see Red Dwarf).

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