Hi all
Just some thoughts that ya'll might be interested in.
Ran out of sleep this am and to keep from screwing with computers I went out of town about a ways and sat on the BNSF right-of-way at MP1330. It was pretty dark, no moon in sight; although the stars were pretty bright. Besides being dark, it was also quiet. I could hear the distant roar of Kootenai Falls, along with occasional traffic on HiWay 2.
I could see the CS signal at East Kootenai Falls that was pointed toward me ( east ); when lit of course, and if I looked and squinted me eyes, I think that I could see the indication reflection of the west pointing signal on the trees in the background. CS was about 9/10 of a mile away. In the hour I just sat out there, I witnessed 4 movements, 2 east, 2 west with both eastbounds having to take the siding and wait for a few minutes.
I guess that I am sharing this with ya as it is completely different then the ...ahem... normal ( if train nuts are normal ) rail fan'n during the day. Besides the prime mover, I could hear the different compressors on the power along with hum/rattleing of the traction motors when they came by along with a close up of all the running lights, indicators and such. I also could hear the refrig compressors on the boxes as they passed. Sure, you always hear the bad bearings on a few of the cars along with the wheel/rail squeel, but have you heard this in complete darkness? I guess that during the day you have sensory overload and miss most of this stuff. When completly dark, all the stuff you would normally see in the daylight isn't there and you end up focused on the noises. You don't really realize how bright the FRED is and how far you can see the thing in black.
East bound movements could be seen before I could hear them as the headlight cut a pretty big swath on the mountain in front of me on the other side of the river. When the eastbound came out of the siding, you could hear the hogger moving to the different run positions. I suspect that by the time the power got to me they were doing 30 to 40 mph. By the time the end came by - 50mph or more. Westbound movements could be heard just before the headlight could be seen on the trees near me and these went by at speed, looking into a green over red at the CS.
I can just imagine what the crew(s) thought when they saw that there was indeed someone in that 4X4 @ 3:30ish am.
Looking forward to run'n out of sleep again!
later