Crescent sat in sight of Tuscaloosa station for 2hrs!

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

Today I was at the Tuscaloosa train station to pick up a friend on train 20. It was on-time the entire trip from NOL to TCL, The station attendant announced the train, We all got onto the platform. The train was about 5 mins early as it rolled into sight and to our surprise came to a stop and dimmed the headlights.

We waited for a little while, I stayed fairly close to the attendant so I could listen in on his radio. Turned out to be a signal problem, the train radioed the dispatcher. The dispatcher returned saying they should have a clear through Tuscaloosa. After a few minutes they discovered that someone had stolen about 3 foot of copper wire out of the signal system.

NS sent a crew down to fix it, but they refused to let Amtrak proceed. The dispatcher told Amtrak's crew they'd be there for at least an hour and a half, the engineer and conductor erupted into a fit about how they had been on time all morning, etc.

ow

The train finally rolled in an hour and 33mins late, and delayed train 19 another hour.

Two questions,

Why didn't the dispatchers allow Amtrak to pass through the block at restricted speed, knowing full and well the only other train was at least 15 miles away?

and

How bad of a problem do the railroads have with people stealing copper?

According to the NS employees at the station they've had to replace the wires on that signal about 5 times this month for the same reason.

 

[MrEd]

In a related story, Savannah police say a homeless man was electrocuted after apparently trying to steal copper from wires on a utility pole.

The Savannah-Chatham Metro Police say the man, whose identity was withheld until notification of relatives, fell from the pole near the Amtrak station Sunday night after he tried to cut live wires at the top.

 

[AlanB]

RR's have been seeing an increase in copper theft, as have cities seen an increase in people stealing copper wire from the street lights. It hasn't hit epidemic proportions yet, but it is still a big problem, and a problem that I expect will continue to grow.

As to why NS wouldn't let Amtrak continue on at a restricted speed, I can't really answer. But frankly there were would appear to be no good reason for them to hold Amtrak just because of this. The dispatcher should have been able to verify either by signals or radio that no other train was in the block and given Amtrak permission to pass the either red or dark signal.

 

[VentureForth]

...which is how they handled the Southwest Chief in Los Lunas when they were re-signalling that line for the Railrunner. Train had to stop at each red light for nearly 15 minutes for specific permission and then creep along to the next signal.

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

RR's have been seeing an increase in copper theft, as have cities seen an increase in people stealing copper wire from the street lights. It hasn't hit epidemic proportions yet, but it is still a big problem, and a problem that I expect will continue to grow.
As to why NS wouldn't let Amtrak continue on at a restricted speed, I can't really answer. But frankly there were would appear to be no good reason for them to hold Amtrak just because of this. The dispatcher should have been able to verify either by signals or radio that no other train was in the block and given Amtrak permission to pass the either red or dark signal.

The signal was for a diamond with a small shortline that crosses NS to store cars on a spur that won't fit in the shortlines tiny yard. So since it was diamond and not just a standard block they may have held it for that, but it still seems odd to hold them when all they had to do was verify that the shortline wasn't using the spur at the time.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Since its not an NS line, here is what I imagine going through the mind of the NS dispatcher: What happens if, just as I give the go-ahead, a train comes barrelling through, t-bones an Amfleet, and kills 60 people? Boy am I ever going to be fired!

 

[AlanB]

Since its not an NS line, here is what I imagine going through the mind of the NS dispatcher: What happens if, just as I give the go-ahead, a train comes barrelling through, t-bones an Amfleet, and kills 60 people? Boy am I ever going to be fired!

And as noted by Crescent ATN, that problem could have been sovled by a simple 2 minute phone call to the short line.

 

[had8ley]

One thing that comes to mind on this one. Someone could have cut a piece of rail out of the main line, or misaligned the track as in the Arizona incident, and the dispatcher was waiting for a Roadmaster to high rail that section of track. Better safe than sorry.

 

[nr272]

I know that copper theft is a huge problem here. With all the foreclosed/abandoned homes, people are breaking in and stripping them off their copper. A lot of area scrapyards have been told not to accept copper pipes, etc.

noah

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

Since its not an NS line, here is what I imagine going through the mind of the NS dispatcher: What happens if, just as I give the go-ahead, a train comes barrelling through, t-bones an Amfleet, and kills 60 people? Boy am I ever going to be fired!

Neither railroad barrels through TCL, the Shortline is limited to 10mph on that spur and NS is limited to 30 through the diamond. It would have only taken a couple of minutes to call Alabama Southern (Watco) and check on their trains, then a couple more to high-rail the mile long signal block. There were atleast 5 Hi-rail trucks parked at the NS portion of the station while all this was happening.

Both Crescents were significantly delay today also between Meridian and Tuscaloosa. Apparently a freight train blew a traction motor and Amtrak had to use on of its engines off of 20 to help tow it to a siding about 10 miles away, between that and the traffic backup train 20 was just under 5 hours late out of Tuscaloosa, 19 left TCL 27 minutes late at 1:38pm and as of 5:20 has yet to arrive at Meridian.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

RR's have been seeing an increase in copper theft, as have cities seen an increase in people stealing copper wire from the street lights. It hasn't hit epidemic proportions yet, but it is still a big problem, and a problem that I expect will continue to grow.

Some believe copper theft IS an epidemic. Digging around a bit, I learned that copper ore and scrap prices are up 140% over the past three years, making theft an attractive economic proposition that by some estimates costs U.S. businesses $1 billion/year.

A comprehensive (and lengthy) look at the problem:

Fighting the copper theft epidemic

Unfortunately it's not comprehensive enough to include railroads in the litany of victimized industries, but aside from that it's an eye-opener.

EDIT: On the non-ferrous filching ladder, copper is on the top rung, followed by brass and aluminum.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Fighting the copper theft epidemic

What's a whole in a gas line?

In addition to the safety issues that copper theft has created at electric substations, there have been numerous media reports regarding the theft of metal and how it has resulted in the explosion of homes after an unwitting culprit accidentally knocked a whole in a gas line. Fire officials in California have also reported seeing vital fire sprinkler system parts being stolen and sold for scrap.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Fighting the copper theft epidemic

What's a whole in a gas line?

In addition to the safety issues that copper theft has created at electric substations, there have been numerous media reports regarding the theft of metal and how it has resulted in the explosion of homes after an unwitting culprit accidentally knocked a whole in a gas line. Fire officials in California have also reported seeing vital fire sprinkler system parts being stolen and sold for scrap.

50% more than a half in a gas line.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Fighting the copper theft epidemic

What's a whole in a gas line?

In addition to the safety issues that copper theft has created at electric substations, there have been numerous media reports regarding the theft of metal and how it has resulted in the explosion of homes after an unwitting culprit accidentally knocked a whole in a gas line. Fire officials in California have also reported seeing vital fire sprinkler system parts being stolen and sold for scrap.

50% more than a half in a gas line.

Really? If that's what it is, wouldn't it be 100% more than a half in a gas line?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Really? If that's what it is, wouldn't it be 100% more than a half in a gas line?

So sue me. Wasn't a math major. A whole in a gas line is twice as much as a half in a gas line, okay? Sheesh!