aloneinbigrapids
Third time's NOT the charm
I was out doordashing (a sidehustle that I like to do) when all of a sudden I got a call from a friend of mine saying "if you're near Opdyke, head on over". I inquired why, and his awnser had me surprised.
Q116 had gone through two emergency stops between Durand and Pontiac. One in Durand proper and one in Waterford, both due to an airhose snapping. Then they went into emergency again just south of Pontiac, which led to their headend sitting on the Opdyke and Kensington Road railroad crossing in Bloomfield Hills, and at the worst possible time of the day.
During rush hour, this crossing sees a ton of vehicle traffic, and when things go sideways with a long northbound train battling up the hill or the crossing being blocked, it resonates for miles, especially with the I-75 north on-ramp at Square Lake being closed at the time.
Anyway, I pulled up, and setup for a few shots of the train while it was stopped (I only had my phone with me, so these are iPhone photos). I was pleasantly surprised to see that the second unit was a GE Tier 4 demonstrator locomotive. Later, L513 would pull up next to the stopped 116 with an SD40-2W leader, they had picked up 116's conductor from the parted airhoses and took him to the head end. 116 in the end made it to Flat Rock with basically none of their 12 hours left.
Third time's NOT the charm
I was out doordashing (a sidehustle that I like to do) when all of a sudden I got a call from a friend of mine saying "if you're near Opdyke, head on over". I inquired why, and his awnser had me surprised.
Q116 had gone through two emergency stops between Durand and Pontiac. One in Durand proper and one in Waterford, both due to an airhose snapping. Then they went into emergency again just south of Pontiac, which led to their headend sitting on the Opdyke and Kensington Road railroad crossing in Bloomfield Hills, and at the worst possible time of the day.
During rush hour, this crossing sees a ton of vehicle traffic, and when things go sideways with a long northbound train battling up the hill or the crossing being blocked, it resonates for miles, especially with the I-75 north on-ramp at Square Lake being closed at the time.
Anyway, I pulled up, and setup for a few shots of the train while it was stopped (I only had my phone with me, so these are iPhone photos). I was pleasantly surprised to see that the second unit was a GE Tier 4 demonstrator locomotive. Later, L513 would pull up next to the stopped 116 with an SD40-2W leader, they had picked up 116's conductor from the parted airhoses and took him to the head end. 116 in the end made it to Flat Rock with basically none of their 12 hours left.