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Post Info TOPIC: BNSF Everett Wa.


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RE: BNSF Everett Wa.
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The Krink wrote:

I always await the next major railroads need for extra
locomotives and where they come from. I got a lot
NREX locomotives in trains before 2008. That whole fleet
never to be seen again. So where will "horsepower by hour"
come from in 2013? Who has a rental fleet today.


 NREX are all over the place out here.....Used primarily by UP for industrial shit and switch jobs....

 

Worst fucking locomotive by far EVER was the LMX 4 axle piles of shit that used to roam the BNSF in the early, early 2000's



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 the speed on the track is 10 mph and its restricted speed, so at 10 on that blind corner they had a banner set up....





The Forum Celestial Advisor

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I was looking up something else but come across a
picture of a structure/depot at Everett Jct. Never
ever heard of anybody talk of it. I'm sure the GN
prior to getting into CTC and power-switches that
this was a manual-interlocking job that was very
busy. Great view there at Everett Jct. I worked in
a building half that size at the bridge. Everett has
some history to it.

 



-- Edited by The Krink on Thursday 17th of October 2013 01:26:15 AM

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The Forum Celestial Advisor

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My first visits to Bridge 10 in Everett were in 1973-4 when as a yard checker
had to go out there to deliver supplies or retrieve something. This tiny office
was full of "levers" back then. The Delta Jct Interlocking and the bridge was
all lever activated. I was asked to use some of my "brute-strength" by this
one lovely bridgetender one-time to "move this one lever". I got it to move.
FF to 1983 and the levers were long gone and now everything was done by
"electrical manipulation" from this shack hanging on the outside of this
railroad bridge. The Bridge 10 Story is so rich in railroad lore. Around 1976
or so the Everett Depot opr job got cut so Bridge 10 became the only
operator job in Everett. Bridge 10 opr had a 50-mile transmit/recieve
area. Bridgetender/opr could be heard from a long ways away.
I started at Bridge 10 in 1983 off the extraboard and owned many
jobs on all shifts for 15 years. The BN in the 80's changed Bridge 10
into "Bridge 37" to correspond to the actual "MP number" measured
from Seattle. That took a while to adjust to for me. Bridge 37 or
Bridge 10...same thing. You cant believe how many dreams I have
over time of being late for work at the bridge or disaster dreams
while being on this bridge.

Since Bridge 10 sat right next to the Weyerhauser Kraft mill and I
smelled all the smells from this place and had to go through their
security checkpoint every shift to get to the parking lot of the
bridge. This huge stinking mill is completely gone today. They
took it apart piece by piece and shipped it to Korea for re-assembly.
This Weyerhauser Mill was the signature "stink" of Everett.
When this mill shut-down in mid-90's, the Everett-Marysville area
gained a 100 thousand people in 10 years. So now we trade
"stinky air" for "traffic jams" every day.

In the mid 90's a new "office building" was created to sit

atop the bridge. Very modern and spacious compared to

what was for the the last 70-80 years. It was begining

of the end times for my railroad career and I dont

have any photos of it. The top view just dint offer-up

the photo-ops you'd think. Glad that the tiny-shanty

days are over. It's like a palace sitting atop the bridge

now and much better working conditions.



-- Edited by The Krink on Saturday 19th of October 2013 02:28:47 AM



-- Edited by The Krink on Sunday 20th of October 2013 12:54:00 AM

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The Forum Celestial Advisor

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Right now the GPNW is in a perpetual "foggyness" and that means
every railroad/highway bridge that needs to open does so with the
least visability. This has been going on for the last 5 days/nights
and many more predicted. This is tough times for those who that
man the railroad and highway bridges. Working in a fog...is very
challenging.

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Uke


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Has that bridge become remotely operated, or is it still manned?  Ballard Bridge over the ship canal is still manned... In fact three of  the roundhouse electricians work it right now. (Escaping the roho/management bullschitt is why they stay out there). Busy place, with its  unpredictable train arrivals, and unscheduled marine traffic.

Guess they monitor Ft. Worthless, and local DS, plus trains...and the locks, and the two other bridges further east... Damn now I get it! Anything BUT boredom!

Have ya ever worked out there? Actually four (4) roundhouse sparkies are working Bridge 8 at Ballard. Forgot the graveyard shift dood!



-- Edited by Uke on Thursday 24th of October 2013 05:58:24 AM

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The Forum Celestial Advisor

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I was thinking of some of my night shifts at the bridge
when MIR was in effect and a couple weeks of working
in dense fog above the river. Besides monitoing 3-BN
radio channels and working with 3 different dispatchers,
the bridge had a marine radio that we monitored 24/7.
Sometimes the marine radio would go all "static-ee" and
during MIR you had to turn it low. But with MIR the trick
is to turn it back up again which usually got overlooked
during transfer. I inherited some do or die situations
once I started answering the marine radio after its been
turned down so low as not hearing it. No way I want to do
another 3rd shift in the fog at Bridge 37. I have plenty of
experience to draw from.


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Bridge 4 Ballard (BNSF mainline north of Seattle)
is a crucial bridge. Always been manned by the B&B
craft. Actually Bridge 37 in Everett is probbly the only
exception where the clerks/oprs still run things. Its
a "grandfathered arragement". Since Delta Jct was
created, Bridge10/37 was called upon to move traffic
through this Jct. In the last 2-yrs, Delta Jct is now
hot-wired into the dispatcher console now and now
they line-up all the switcher movements from Delta to
Bayside and all the other arrangements. So it seems
the bridgetender at Br 37 has been stripped of quite a
few responsibilities not having to operate an interlocking.
But the job will survive because this crossing of the
Snohomish River needs a monitor.

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Uke


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Guess what... Bridge 4, is NOT only B&B manned. Roundhouse electricians "own" FOUR jobs there. Why? Lack of personnel. The shortage (due to downsizing) of the B&B craft, fewer members are available, or willing to bid bridge tender jobs.

Bridge 4, built by GN has that grandfather clause as well. BNSF doesn't like the arrangement, but alas, they are powerless to change the facts. It is what it is. They're stuck with ALL craft agreements dated March 1970 from the Burlington Northern merger.

Krebs team tried ta undo those agreements, and failed in federal court. Uncle Warren's bunch decided not ta fight it. Meanwhile "electricians" either B&B, system guys, or roundhousers, man Ballard (Bridge 4) Drawbridge.

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The Forum Celestial Advisor

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There had to be an operator at Bridge 4 at one time but I
suppose over the years they figured out it could get by
without one. I mean a train leaving Seattle north/eastbound
is going to have all the paper-work they need to get to
Wenatchee. Bridge 4 Ballard is an important bridge to
keep in good operating condition and maybe the why
for so many different crafts involved in the upkeep.
Old bridge like many in the GPNW.



-- Edited by The Krink on Saturday 26th of October 2013 01:24:57 AM

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Uke


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Speaking of Bridge 4... Essentials were replaced/rebuilt in 2011. Main pivot bearings, gears, main drive motors, and some electrical controllers tu.

That Bridge 4 is an essential piece of GPNW railroading has never been in doubt! Simple reason; boat traffic, rail traffic...and to a lesser degree, road traffic up-stream (at Ballard Bridge) and the Fremont Draw. Very little would move without 'em all!



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It's Uke's fault, same thing happened to that bridge that happened to the wheel machine. I knew more of the story would come out.

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Uke


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The few times I visited Bridge 4 was after one of our roho sparkies bid out ta the bridge. He's still out there...

Couple other times drove out ta board a high-rail to check power with problems north (east) of the bridge. Once another machinist and I hadda check a train that ran over a boulder... (Smashed the plow, first two motors were scraped up, and the tank)...but the real damage was the plow. That train ended its ride in Chicago.

But the bridge... Interesting job out there. Yer never alone. Ya got the radio, visits from raccons, sea gulls, crows, and MOWs... An 8 hour shift only ends when you're relieved by the next operator! Otherwise you may end up doing 16. Which is illegal under federal laws.


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The Forum Celestial Advisor

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Sure the BNSF can bear any of the costs of keeping Br 4
in operating condition. Without Br 4, nothing goes north
out of Seattle. Hi-stakes crossing.

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Bridge 4 has been a position for Electricans since before I started for BN

back in '74.. When the bridge was converted too Electrical controls and

interlocks it was decided by a local agreement that electricans would be

the operators..  At that time the people retained their Electricans senority

and established a new job title with senority of Bridge Operator on the Division

Electricans roster..  Over the  years when you were filling a  Bridge postion

you received approximently a buck less an hour.. The Union kept pushing

for full Electrican wage scale through the system council until it was given

back probally 7-10 years ago..  B&B is who manages and pays your wages

out there and they figured that we should be on their wage scale.. That process

took close too twenty years too come around.. The sad thing is that one the 

the men that was on the bridge when I started got things set-up for a change

of job title and wages so no one would come out there and bump him or the

others in case of a lay off at the RH...

It was originally envisioned that as the rest of the bridges were converted

too Electrical controls and interlocks that they too would be assigned

Electricans but by that time B&B figured out that we were governed by a

agreement that they didn't particularly care for and B&B and the Clerks

kept the other bridges in the area...



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The Forum Celestial Advisor

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I love it mntman when you expell your knowledge.



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