NS Railfan Touring: NS Landers a short stop, not much to see, but you might catch something interesting!

The thought about doing my first railfan trip was to go someplace that was not too active and maybe get a few video shots. This someplace has to be a place with nearby good eats. It was Saturday (11-11-23), so I expected it to be slow, and I headed to the Metra benches next to NS tracks that run next to Columbus Avenue. From there you can look down the tracks and see perhaps a beautiful train coming out and backing up. I sat near El Chilaquil Mexican Restaurant and ordered some carry out. What wonderful homemade tortillas they use for their tacos, not-so dry-refried beans and fresh salsa. They'll let you park in their lot, while the Metra parking costs about $1.50 for 4 hours. Ok, because what happened around viewing NS locomotives on a Saturday centered around the tracks down Columbus Avenue.

Landers is not much to see, unless you follow the tracks to the East. It's probably more active on weekdays. The majority of railyards in Chicago of all the railroads have limited views, are surrounded by walls and barbed rail fences. Most of the tracks go over elevated land and bridges and there are few actual crossings.

It was, for me, a more interesting scouting trip than I expected. I saw this neat Illinois locomotive "working together for a cleaner state!" Sounds good and what a beauty! I'm a simple railfan who loves the looks, power and engine sounds, and doesn't know or want to fret about "what's the model of that damned locomotive(?)." I don't get to spend a lot of time with close looks at Norfolk Southern locomotives, so "Frothing in the Bushes" in the parking lot of an apartment complex was safe fun. Watching an NS locomotive back up and pull up was something to savoy and, yes, frothing and exciting for me, yea! Hand me a bottle of water, please!

When setting up a camera in the median strip, a car came around the gates, around the front of the locomotive, and would have hit me if I was not alerted by the train crew. Yes, they probably saved my life. This shows that Norfolk Southern crews are professional, quality railroaders that put the safety of everyone around their train first place.

Trainfanning NS in Milwaukee

 I live about three blocks from the Chicago and Milwaukee Subdivision, C&M Sub, tracks that are owned by Canadian Pacific (CP or now CPKC). I remember watching Amtraks and Soo Line trains on these lines when I was 12 years old.  I also live over 100 miles from any Norfolk Southern owned tracks. It is, however, possible to see Norfolk Southern trains and locomotives here in Milwaukee, on both the C&M Sub and the Union Pacific's Milwaukee Subdivision.  If you take a look at the "Growth" video from Norfolk Southern, at :43, you'll see the C&M Sub in Southeast Wisconsin.

The picture to the right is a screenshot from NS' video that shows the "western partners' network." NS trains have been reported by NS railfans who live out in Washington State. What a thrill it is for them too! To note that on the C&M Sub, there is a variety of locomotives from all American Class I railroads: CSX, BNSF, Union Pacific, and, of course, Canadian Pacific its newly acquired Kansas City Southern. 

I love those horse heads! So, when can I see a Norfolk Southern train in Milwaukee?!  The answer: At anytime, on Waterford Avenue (crossing 387-975K) Up until lately, I have seen them at night, while coming home from work, at after 10 pm. An NS train is usually coming around the corner slowly, crossing over the Howard Avenue trestle. NS trains can be quite noisy and downright spooky cutting through the dark with black locomotives. They then emerge out of the dark and into the street lights with their white graphics. It's quite breathtaking!

Another time for NS trains in Milwaukee, Waterford Ave., is at about midday starting at about 10 am anytime during the week.  Anytime during the weekend, but especially afternoons, is also a time for NS trains.  The best way I know they're out there is with my scanner, and they usually have a track warrant, call out the train number starting with "NS" (ex. NS 102), are called "Norfolk" by the dispatcher. If you just want to see an NS locomotive, there could be conversation with a train crew where the call out the numbers! Listen for NS and a number, like "NS 1092."

Our First Amendment rights as railfans and train photographers!

A huge topic: Our First Amendment rights as railfans and train photographers! The topic will be discussed here on NSRailfan.com is the First Amendment right to photograph trains and railroad activity. YES...you have First Amendment rights to photograph trains!  This right may also extend to just standing on a public sidewalk and watching a train cross a road. You might be made to feel like a criminal and a terrorist, but you are not a criminal or terrorist!

My personal experience in the recent weeks has been a tough one.  When I go to my favorite railfan place, I'm watched and followed, and not by police, but by people who live in my neighborhood. The other night, I confronted a lady who lives in a subdivision and frequently watches me from her white pick up truck. She has also followed me. When I told her that stalking is a crime is Wisconsin, she looked at me as if "how dare you accuse me of that." She was hysterical about me, and I could not reason with her when I told her about my train watching.  This woman needs to seek the help of a mental health professional.  That's all I can say...

The chief cause of this Nazi-like watching and reporting other Americans engaged in First Amendment protected activities is the Department of Homeland Security and its state level fusion centers. They're try to snoop and criminalize daily activities, like railfanning and train photography, and maintain the fever swamp of watching people interested in trains, even as aviation has been attacked by terrorists far more than railroads.

At the airport here in Milwaukee, there are at least two observation decks where you will find photographers taking pictures of airplanes, and nobody bothers them.

Unlike Railfanning, which is being criminalized and going in the direction to make railfanning difficult to do. Note the reasons for the coming ATCS train tracking system, with the need for computer programs and exclusive website memberships.  Its rational is to thwart "terrorist attacks," but it's other purpose is to make railfanning more difficult. In this day and age of FlightAware, we should have "TrainAware."  We should be pushing for something like FlightAware for railroads (TrainAware).

DO NOT give up your railfanning just because some people, including members of law enforcement, think you're a terrorist!  Railfanning is a great American pastime and we should pass it down to the next generations! Railfanning and train photography should not be subject to the fever swamp of Homeland Security and neighbors who are probably clinically paranoid should be under the care of a psychiatrist.

Tell that neighbor who likes to stalk you when you exercise your First Amendment rights to call their doctor, not the local fusion center!

On TrainsLife.com there will be discussions on railfan and railroad photography rights:

1. Your right to watch and photograph trains and railroad activities while standing on public property (public sidewalk, public park)  where everyone is allowed to be, which is protected by the First Amendment.

2. Why railfanning is being criminalized, not in actual laws (yet), but in the promotion of suspicion and paranoia among police and the general population.

 3. What can be done to educate and inform both law enforcement, the public, and especially elected leaders that railroad hobbies are not terrorist are criminal interests.

4. Define Railfanning as a hobby that is practiced by adults who follow safety rules and laws with respect to private property. As it's seen now, especially by railroad police, Railfanning is a potentially criminal activity of trespassing and doing "crazy shit." Time to end that, railfans!

Useful links to understand your rights as a railroad photographer:

ACLU. "Where's the Suspicion in Government's 'Suspicious Activity'  Reports?" October 30, 2013.

ACLU of Delaware. "Train Photography: A Protected Free Speech Right." April 15, 2013

ACLU of Pennsylvania. "Know your Rights When Taking Photos and When Making Video and Audio Recordings." Date Unknown.

Firillo, Victor. "PATCO: Photographers Are Probably Not Terrorists." Philly Mag. January 12, 2012.

Hemphill, Evie. "Can you take a photo on Metro? 1st Amendment questions are common, and complicated." NPR/St.Louis on the Air.

Download, print out and carry this information sheet on photographers rights from the ACLU.

Norfolk Southern "poisoned East Palestine" myth: Doug Mastriano's bashing of Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw over vent and burn.

There is the myth out there that Norfolk Southern "poisoned East Palestine" just so it can "keep the trains moving." This persistent myth is centered around the other myth of that Norfolk Southern demanded and made the exclusive decision to vent and burn railcars, but this was not ever Norfolk Southern's sole decision to make as part of the Unified Command structure. 

Thinking that Norfolk Southern made that decision is ignorance of what a Unified Command is... 

According to the National Response Team's hand book on the Unified Command concept (link below), a Unified Command serves as a forum to make consensual decisions.  No one party in the Unified Command has the sole right to decide and all the agencies of the Unified Command over what to do about the railcars, which were believed to be rising in temperatures and, according to the experts of the scene, was going to end in wiping East Palestine off the map, along with many of the village residents and responders. 

Yes, Shaw is right, correct and telling the truth. It's Mastriano who is wrong, mistaken and just ignorant.

So, when CEO Alan Shaw tells Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano that the decision to vent and burn was made by the Unified Command and hinted that it was East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick, which is the TRUTH. What CEO Shaw got was an accusation that he was "blaming a local fire chief." Mastriano and other Pennsylvania "fakeleaders," like members of Congress (Sen, Whitehouse), expected CEO Shaw to be an expert in chemicals, polymerization, environment hazards, the effects of hazardous chemicals on the human body. 

Mastriano also engages in classic, politically left conspiracy in accusing CEO Shaw of "wanting to just get the trains running again..."as if CEO Shaw is just some Grinch-like bean counter, "unconcerned about the health of the people of East Palestine." Mastriano "finds it hard to believe that a local fire chief would be the one to make the decision to ignite the fire to set off carloads of chemicals." Shaw then stated, as he has again to this circus of political animals, that "[M]y understanding is the unified command was aligned on this." 

The Unified Command made the decision to vent and burn, because this structure requires all members to be in agreement, and it was, indeed, East Palestine fire chief Keith Drabick that was the "trigger man." This decision may have prevented East Palestine, and everyone in it, from being wiped off the map. There was no "Norfolk Southern poisoning" and East Palestine is still there...

These myths were molded by these political animals back in March, but now they have morphed into the "Norfolk Southern poisoning" accusation that serves as a mean spirited, left wing, cynical attack against Norfolk Southern and all it is trying to do for East Palestine. 

References 

Ahmadi, Mahsa. "5 things to know about responding to a chemical emergency like the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment." APHL. 17 August 2023. 

National Response Team. Unified Command Technical Assistance Document. Publish date unknown. 

Scicchitano, Eric. Pa. Lawmakers grill Norfolk Southern CEO over train derailment. CNHINews. 

Stevens. Bill. "NTSB East Palestine hearing centers on decision to vent and burn tank cars of vinyl chloride." Trains!, 23 June 2023.

East Palestine Derailment: It's the wheel bearings stupid!

What was the exact cause of the East Palestine Derailment?  Well, you may know that a railcar in Norfolk Southern's Train 32N had a wheel fall off and derail the train, and spilled hazardous chemicals, like vinyl chloride. It's important to know facts, as some attorneys, like Ohio's AG, David Yost, seem to believe that there's enough negligence when it comes to "holding Norfolk Southern accountable" to win in a court of law where FACTS of THIS derailment (not others) matters.  Well, Yost is probably, as of this date, October 23, 2023, going to fall short when it comes to duty of care.

A slow, flaming end for Railcar 23's wheel.  These wayside defect detection devices, or hot bearing detectors (HBDs), send a real time audible alarm to the crew to stop and inspect the train when detected temperatures exceed a set limit.  HBDs can and do give false and wrong readings, and there is better technology out there.

There are currently no federal laws that mandate how far apart these defectors are to be placed and no mandated temperature limits to be reached before action is taken. The railroads set their own standards. Norfolk Southern (NS) has equipped its rail networks with systems of temperature detection devices that measure the temperatures of the wheel bearings of passing trains. These HBDs along Norfolk Southern's tracks were working as intended and not "broke," "stuck", or "turned off" or whatever, on February 3rd.

The  2023 Railway Safety Act addresses the perfect storm of incidents that collectively lead to the the East Palestine Derailment.  It's a perfect storm of the failed wheel bearing, it's burning of grease, flames, then the total failure when the crew applied the brakes when it was hot enough to trigger Norfolk Southern's HBCs. and this is not any kind of negligence by Norfolk Southern.

Train 32N passed three of the detectors in a 30 mile span (average of one per 10 miles) near East Palestine, and it was only when Train 32N passed the third detector that the temperature 253F was detected, well over the 200F limit set by Norfolk Southern, which would require the crew to remove and set out the defective railcar. The distance between HBDs and the temperature that would trigger the alarm for overheated bearing are addressed in the 2023 Railway Safety Act.

The HBDs errors and bearing failures.  The flaming failure of wheel bearings in Railcar 23 is the reason and cause of the East Palestine derailment. People who witnessed Railcar 23's troubles called 911 (and not a railroad emergency number).  According to Jim Scott, a railroad consultant with five decades of experience, was the eventual result of the grease of the axel burning off which lead to Railcar 23's flaming wheel as its moving on the tracks. When the train crew began the process of stopping the train, the wheel fell off and began the derailment:

"At that point, grease is burning. That's what we believe. All the lubrication has gone from that roller bearing and that's why it's heating up, It's failing. And when it's gone, it's gone. It will eventually just fall off" Jim Scott, railroad consultant (1).

Then, there is the question as to why the HBDs, especially the first two of the three, did not "properly detect" the "correct temperature" of Railcar 23's flaming wheel.  There is one who believes that the crew received an alarm, but the dispatcher "told the crew to keep going" (2).  However, HBDs are known to give faulty readings, according to a study on HBDs:

"Generally, wayside HBDs tend to underestimate the temperatures of bearings in field service operation, which is not surprising given the simple one-point calibration procedure that is used to calibrate these devices. Underpredicted temperatures can have disastrous consequences, especially if a defective bearing goes undetected by a wayside HBD" (Tarawneh 2020: 282).

Train 32N had 594 axles and the journal box could (box with the bearings), and did, fail at anytime during the trip down the Fort Wayne Mainline.  In fact - Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has said that between 2010 to 2018, there were 124 incidents of railcars with bad bearings, resulting in 117 derailments.  The US Department of Transportation has credited HBDs with reducing accidents by over 80% since 1980.

According to the FRA, a wheel bearing can burn off in about 1 to 3 minutes. National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy commented during a briefing that “roller bearings fail, but it’s absolutely critical for problems to be identified and addressed early, so these aren’t run until failure."

Experts argue that relying on HBDs alone to prevent accidents can be "crapshoot" according to Tarawneh, as HBDs alone are faulty and unreliable. Experts like Tarawneh believe temperature is not the best primary way to measure the condition of a rotating object, but a good secondary way.  So, Tarawneh thinks it does not matter how close we place our HBDs. Placing HBDs 10, 15, 20 miles apart if not going to matter. What the experts and researchers believe is that acoustics, listening devices, should also be used...and that sensors should be on the railcar itself.:

"[T]emperature alone is not a good indicator of bearing health. Based on that, the authors have been developing a system that utilizes temperature, load, and vibration sensors mounted directly on the bearing adapter for continuous monitoring of bearing condition. Laboratory testing validated by field testing have shown that this system can reliably detect the onset of defect development within a bearing and track its deterioration with service operation. The authors believe that systems like these will shape the future of bearing condition monitoring" (Tarawneh 2020: 282).

Where's Norfolk Southern's fault with Railcar 23? The  2023 Railway Safety Act addresses the perfect storm of incidents that collectively lead to the the East Palestine Derailment.  Railcar 23's demise was a perfect storm of the failed wheel bearing, it's burning of grease, flames, then the total failure when the crew applied the brakes when the bearing were hot enough to trigger the third HBD alarm. The railroads set their own standards and Norfolk Southern's standard is not illegal, as stated, there is currently NO federal law that regulates HBDs use.

According to the NTSB, Norfolk Southern's HBDs were operational and working as intended during the night of February 3rd.

The experts say that the HBDs in use by the railroads have a tendency toward faults and are unreliable. The reason why this derailment got so much attention is the involvement of hazardous chemicals. The  FRA has said that railcar wheel bearings can fail and burn out in 1 to 3 minutes. Some believe that the reason for the flaming on Railcar 23's wheels was from the grease burning itself out, where the end would come when the wheel fell apart.

To add here, the experts also say that adequate inspection of sealed wheel bearings would mean ripping them apart, but that's for another post.

The perfect storm of events that lead to Railcar 23's demise appeared to not be some outright negligence by Norfolk Southern. Despite sometimes being faulty, HBDs have reduced accidents, and the Norfolk Southern HBDs were working, according to the NTSB report. The crew was not at fault, wheel bearings can fail at any time, HBD's give faulty readings, HBDs are unreliable, the temperature is not hot enough yet to stop the train, grease burns in failing wheel bearings, and a failed wheel bearing set leads to the wheel eventually falling off, causing derailment...starting a chain reaction where the other railcars behind Railcar 23 also derail, some are tank cars carrying hazardous materials.

Nowhere in this perfect storm of wheel bearing failure could we see the tornado coming. 

 

Notes

1. qtd. in Bill Stephens, 6 March 2023.

2.  In Pennsylvania Senate hearing on the derailment,  Bob Comer, a railroad crossing accident investigator,  accused Norfolk Southern dispatchers of "ignoring temperature alarms" as Railcar 23 passed HBDs with a flaming wheel.

References

Anderson, James.  "East Palestine Derailment: It’s in the Bearings. Overheated bearings are a common cause of train derailments." Engineering.com. March 13th, 2023.

Constantine Tarawneh, et al. (2020) " An investigation into wayside hot-box detector efficacy and optimization," International Journal of Rail Transportation. Accessed online: October 4th, 2023.

Levin, Alan.  "Ohio Train Crash Puts Spotlight on Heat Sensors Panned as Unreliable." American Journal of Transportation. March 2rd, 2023.

NTSB  Norfolk Southern Railway Train Derailment with Subsequent Hazardous Material Release and Fires. February 3, 2023.

Stephens, Bill. "Wheel bearing expert: To prevent derailments, railroads should equip freight cars with sensors.Trains.com. March 6, 2023.

Saenz, Marisa. "3News Investigates: Railway experts weigh in on axle inspection after East Palestine train derailment." WKYC.  February 24, 2023.

Sullivan, Becky. "Here's the most thorough explanation yet for the train derailment in East Palestine." NPR. February 23, 2023.

Wallace, Greg and Laura Ly.  "NTSB says videos of Ohio train derailment include one showing wheel bearing in ‘final stage of overheat failure.' " CNN. February 21, 2023.

Winsor, Morgan and Meredith Deliso.  Ohio train derailment: NTSB chair issues 'plea to those spreading misinformation'. ABC News. February 18, 2023