Not something you expect to see

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NYSW F45

NYSW F45

Active Member
I finally got off my ass and went out railfanning yesterday for the first time in a while. Well other then a few blocks from my apartment anyway. I drove up to Iona Island,NY on the CSX Riverline. This is a very popular location amongst railfans in this general area. So when I got there i didn't expect to be by myself. It was nice, nobody around but the birds, US Army helicopters (West Point Military Academy) and other things making noises in the bushes.

After catching a northbound barely make it past me that I originally saw by my apartment 90 minutes earlier i thought about leaving. A little blurp on the scanner said otherwise. Waiting and waiting I start to hear the distinctive chug of a ge, then a horn, then..........................SMOKE!! Followed by flames, followed by more smoke. I was like WTF? Took my lens and zoomed and that is when I saw it.
CSXIonaIslandFireapril27th.jpg


I have like 8 other pics from when it finally crossed over a trestle till it got to me. But this is my best and favorite.
I also have VIDEO!
 
Yes that was .. great that is. Fantastic footage. Uhhh .. you COULD edit out the first two minutes .. but .. that was great video of a beautiful scene in itself! :)
 


Dang. If those had been ethanol tankers back there, I wonder what might have happened. I guess they'd have an idler car between the engines and any hazmat though.
 
Thats normal for a GE , lol. We use to do that with B39-8's. When running in the 6th notch quickly throttle down to 0 then back to 6-8 and you get the flames.
 
ok, watched your vid...
NYSW F45 said:
nahhh, builds up the anticipation. LOL
Click to expand...
no, it only dilutes the content and loosing viewers who are not willing to fast forward. with that, the vid is otherwise very well done.
it really makes me happy that there is at least someone who realizes that just because camcorder has zoom button does not mean it has to be always used. guys, look at the detail and quality of the picture, tree leaves are visible, the entire atmosphere is crisp. yes the nice sunny day had to do with this but, sorry, i will have to emphasize this:

thats a TRIPOD being used for you. (or some other mean to stabilize the cam whatever they might have been).

it is proven over and over that one can not pan or pull zoom and/or focus without tripod (or steadycam + appropriate skill). it is impossible. yet people still try and create jerky, out of focus , fuzzy, epilepsia inducing crazy zoom vids. but then of course there is even worse,some feel there should be a narrative:
"oh, thats the UP engine you seeng. yeah. thats the engine right there. it is going. on rails. and it is big and yellow.and you see it has wheels. and here too. and look a that, its a car that its dragging. let me zoom in really close so you can see it better (to a point that nothing is visible with all the shake). " yep there you have it, its a railraod car right here..."

remeber, just because one has a camcorder doesn't mean he has to shoot and post stuff on the tube. no footage at all is loads better that crappy footage.
so, keep the picture simple, use tripod and get good results.

sorry , got carried away [/rant off]
 
Last edited by a moderator:


Yep. With a GE locomotive, up to the AC series, (although I heard that the GEVOs did it too) if you slap the throttle up to max from a stop, the turbo lag will produce the flames (kind of like how the alcos used to blow a lot of smoke because of the turbo lag)

Amtrak's P32s and P42s also do the same. Since the GEs load so slow, Amtrak tells the engineers to slap it into 8 to get the train moving ASAP. Because of that, you will see a lot of fireballs. When CDOT bought the used Amtrak P40DCs, they took them out of service when they saw the fireballs because they thought that the engines broke down.

It's perfectly normal although it isn't very good for the exhaust manifold which isn't designed to vent FLAMES.
 
Thanks, I had no idea they did that. :)

So, who's gonna be the first to wire a decoder to a Bic lighter and replicate this awesomeness? :D
 
The problem I see with that .. is .. "Hey guys .. check THIS OUT!!" ... * click * .. * flick * .. * wooshie * .. "OH COOL! That's like that photo of the CSX loco .... "

meanwhile the model goes into a tunnel on the layout .. and derails. You hear .. * click * .. * flick * .. * wooshie * .. * WHOOMP * ..

haha
 
ok ok i'll edit the video later. Good thing I didn't erase it from teh camera. Well its one of those little flip mino cameras. Its like the size of a cellphone. And it was on a tripod. The zoom sucks on it. I dont even bother with it. I put the plate attachment on, put it in the tripod head and just leveled it off as best as I could and just left it there till i would hear something coming around the mountain.
 
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