# Mystery Train Richmond, VA



## Steeeeve (Sep 10, 2008)

Hi guys, 

This might be worthless but I am trying to identify a train I saw at 8:50am this morning crossing the James River Railway bridge in Richmond, VA.


So basically I was driving to work and at the corner of my eye I saw a yellow passenger type car driving itself across the bridge. I thought Doodlebug but I haven't seen any pictures of a pure yellow one that looked like this. Any ideas on what this might have been? It was slow moving and I couldn't get a photo in time . Ugh, what a poor description huh! 


Pictures would be helpeful.


----------



## Steeeeve (Sep 10, 2008)

Might have been this, rather it looked like it....the bridge is a CSX line. What does this thing do or was it something else?


----------



## kfrankl3 (Feb 27, 2008)

Basically it runs slowly over the track, and using induction test equipment test for defects in the rail, i.e. cracks in the head or webbing. These cracks can lead to a failure of the track and possible derailment.


----------



## kfrankl3 (Feb 27, 2008)

Ah I just found a link I knew I had somewhere on the subject! Detecting Rail defects Btw This is one of THE best railroading history sites Mike's Railway History Page, Railways as they were up til 1935


----------



## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Many of those Sperry Rail cars are very old "doodlebug" cars! 
from several different railroads..1920's and 1930's vintage. 


Doodlebugs! 
SEVEN Lehigh Valley Doodlebugs still survive in 2003! 
they are owned by Sperry Rail, and are track inspection cars. 
LV 14 - now Sperry 123 
LV 15 - now Sperry 128 
LV 20 - now Sperry 124 
LV 26 - now Sperry 125 
LV 27 - now Sperry 131 
LV 28 - now Sperry 130 
LV 29 - now Sperry 129 

Here is the Sperry roster: http://www.railfanusa.com/rosters/srs.html 
And here are some recent photos of the LV cars: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/sperry.html




quote from: http://www.frontiernet.net/~scottychaos/LVRRsurvivors_other.html 

Those Lehigh Valley Doodlebugs are actually the oldest known pieces of LV rolling stock! 
LV 14 was built in 1929. 

Many of those Sperry cars are the oldest pieces of railroad rolling stock still in use today.. 










Scot


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Sperry has also added high rail trucks to do rail testing also. Rails are tested ultrasonically. They detect internal rail defects such as Transverse fissures, compound fissures, Piped rail, detail fractures and more. These defects can be very dangerous as can not be seen by the naked eye. Later RJD


----------



## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Years ago, while sitting outside of a facility on the N&C south of Nashville (could not stand the smell of the inside) I was on a loading dock, and would watch the occasional train pop by while doing paperwork. 

Eventually, heard a flat 'blat blat' sounding horn. Knowing it was not the typical CSXT multi chime horn, I kept an eye open, and yup, an old Sperry car came by.


----------



## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

I just drove from Portland to Seattle. Sometimes the main line is near the highway. At one point i can look down about 1/2 mile of straight main line track for a couple of seconds.

I am just amazed at how irregular this track is. The rails have dips, humps and bends in them all ove the place. Amtrack passenger trains travel on this line. Sometimes I wonder how they are able to stay on the rails as rough as they seem.

How much of a defect does it take to derail a train?

I know on my railroad it doesn't seem to take much and I am using much larger flanges!

John


----------



## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Two points... 

1) "Perspective" from your viewpoint is causing the track to look worse than it is.

2) Our "toy" trains are a whole lot lighter than a real one. The flange on a 1:1 wheel is about 1 inch (more if the tread is worn) but even an empty car is heavy enough to keep it from bouncing over an inch in the air... 

Yet I have SEEN cars going airborne when traveling too fast over a grade crossing that had a bit of a hump to it. 
The most memorable was when I was railfanning at the Beverly Yards. A train was on the downtown spur (about 3/4 mile east of the crossing) waiting to enter the main line to go west. I heard the Dispatcher say that one more eastbound and he could go. 

The eastbound came through. It was a short train (20 to 30 cars) of empty automobile carriers and was rattling and banging along at a very good clip; I'd guess over 60 MPH (they often highball the yard at near the mainline speed limit of 79 MPH). 

The cars traveling over the grade crossing were going airborne as they exited the crossing. Not much, but noticeable! 

My radio scanner was on and I heard the waiting train call to the eastbound and say in a low, almost whsipering voice, "Keep 'em on the rails." (He said it almost like he thought the Dispatcher would not hear him!... whispering on the radio doesn't help!)

No more than 2 seconds later the last car was over the crossing and it got high enough and the car in front of it compressed its springs enough upon landing, and the couplers were just loose enough that the last car's coupler slipped up over the preceeding car's coupler and they separated. 

The air hose separated and both the trailing car and the rest of the train immediately went into emergency. Sparkes flew everywhere, but the trailing car came down on the rails and continued after the train (wheels locked). It slowed faster that the train and so did not collide with the train when the rest of the train came to a stop, but came within a few feet it.

The waiting train called to the eastbound, "Your train has seperated." (I must assume the waiting engineer knew it simply by the loud "bang---sisssss" as the brake hose glad hands seperated) The eastbound engineer acknowledged that he had gone into emergency.

Of course this was all on the main Dispatcher's radio frequency so when the eastbound called to him, he already knew what had happened. The waiting train's crew helped to get the car re-coupled and there was some discussion of whether the second to last car had a wire wrapped around the lift pin to hold it down... some comment about it being noticed that it was loose and needed some help to remain down. The conductor on the waiting train said it appeared to be intact and tight.

They opened the coupler of the last car and backed the train only a few feet to couple to the car. The conductor then hooked up the brake hose glad hands and they pumped up the brakes and left.

The waiting train then took the mainline and left to the west. 

They took it all in stride... just part of a day's work.

I was thanking God that the car remained on the rails and didn't land on ME! I was in my automobile parked about 20 ft from the rail on the down side of that ski-jump crossing! I SAW it happen right in front of me! I park a bit farther away now-a-days, and if there is automobile traffic I start my car's engine and put it in gear to drive away rapidly if some driver tries to beat the train to the crossing.


----------



## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Steeeve,

I worked at Sperry Rail's Danbury shops from 1995 to 1999, during semester breaks. On the rail cars, they use a combination of ultrasonic and induction testing. I believe the new hi-rail trucks are now also doing ultrasonic and induction testing. Not all of SRS's fleet is old doodlebugs, some were built at the old St Louis car shops in the 1970s. A couple were Mack railbuses built for the New Haven (but never used by the RR). All have been updated with diesel engines and modern outfitting. However, it is my sense that the time of the Sperry Rail Car is about over. Trucks are a lot cheaper to own and maintain, plus they don't necessarily tie up the mainlines. Crews get paid more on the hi-rail trucks, and they get to sleep in hotels every night. Living on board a rail car is a different experience. Kind of sucks getting woken up at 3 AM by that passing coal train with flat wheels... 

I did have the opportunity to drive SRS 127 through moffat tunnel at the breakneck speed of 8 mph in 1995. Kind of scary for a kid just out of high school. We were working on high speed data capture so that SRS cars could operate at speeds up to 35 MPH. They built one car for that service and sent it to Sweden. (I helped out with the mechanical design). I think they adapted the software so they could also do that data capture on NYCTA subways at those speeds, as well. 

Mystery solved.

I thought you were going to post about the train trapped in the tunnel in Richmond...


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Most Major RR have geometry cars to detect track imperfections. This is not done with Sperry equip, two different animals. Amtrak also has there own car. Route are check frequently to make sure the track meets the FRA Track Safety Standard for the designated class of track. The RR specify what classes of track they wish to operate at. The track is then inspected at the class specified using the carriers standards which are more stringent than FRA standard. FRA also operates 3 Geometry cars on all the major RR. These cars use the FRA standards which are more relaxed compaired to the carriers. 

Geormetry cars check the following track condtions.

Gage

X-level
Right and left rail alignment

Warp
Curvature.

Right and left rail profile.

The geometry cars can nspect the track at what ever the track speed is designated as. 

Later RJD


----------



## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Semper Vaporo on 06/09/2009 11:39 PM
I was thanking God that the car remained on the rails and didn't land on ME! I was in my automobile parked about 20 ft from the rail on the down side of that ski-jump crossing! I SAW it happen right in front of me! I park a bit farther away now-a-days, and if there is automobile traffic I start my car's engine and put it in gear to drive away rapidly if some driver tries to beat the train to the crossing.





I live near a major CSX line (former New York Central mainline in Western NY)
and while the track always looks to be in excellent condition, I still always leave more than a car's length between me and the car in front of me, if I am close to the crossing when a trains comes by..
because those trains HAUL through here! really fast..
If I see a derailment happen, and freight cars coming at me at 70mph, I want to be able to quickly turn the car's wheel and drive out into the open field AWAY from the tracks!
I can get out of the way quickly in my car..but not if im bumper to bumper with the car in front of me, and another car on my rear, wedged in..
so I always leave some space in the front..just in case..

Scot


----------



## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

I doubt that even by leaving space between your car and the one in front of you that you would have enough time to avoid an oncoming railroad car if it decided to derail at the critical time.

I think you would be at the mercy of God whether you lived or died.

I have often wondered what would happen if I were driving down the highway at 60 miles an hour and an oncoming car swerved into my lane. Depending upon how close the two cars are you might have less than a second to take any evasive action. I doubt that most "normal" humans could react that quickly.

John


----------



## Steeeeve (Sep 10, 2008)

Thanks guys...I'd never seen it before so it was extremely interesting to me. Too bad it was only in passing on my way to work. I certainly see a lot of interesting trains in Richmond on that bridge...everything from the circus to this sperry car....hopefully I will see the Amtrak Christmas Carol train when it comes by  Which I knew the exact timing of that thing.


----------

