Norfolk Southern 11J Caught by Hotbox Detector!

[nsfan96]

What might the frequency be for the Myerstown/newmanstown/richland area? Thanks!

[TheCSXfan12]

Ha the 3rd locomotive #7510 come through Richmond In. yesterday

[danny25824]

how long does it take the bearing to cool down?

[SittingMooseShaman]

...I remember the old days- When a "hot-box" was exactly that! The axle-bearing oil box literally flamed w/fire 'n' smoke- Was quite the sight goin' by. I usedto live almost next to ConRail(later CSX) main-line, ~8mi. west of Batavia, NY. The detector was ~5mi west out of Batavia. Had my scanner on 24/7. Picked-up NS out of Attica, too. Plus both rails' dispatchers ... Kinda miss th' ol' robot-voiced watchman... "ConRail,Batavia: Track 2; No defects. Total axle count, 4-9-2... Over!"

[graverobber35]

ask the engineer if you can toot the horn!

[cammiedave]

what brand of scanner do you use?

[RailfanTube]

I've watched SOOO many of your videos. You are just about the luckiest railfan ever. You catch everything known to man in NS railroading. Great vids!

[gecx6000]

hi, i have a scanner and was wonddering what kind of antenna do you use?

[derail14]

There are also talking DED detectors and those do not give a axel count, you just have to walk the train and look for the problem,, The former conrail hot box detectors were the best as they would also give out the train speed, NS took that feature out of the HBD,S

[tomahawk368]

Kind of odd that 11J derailed this April in Greensburg.

[leemcd56]

That engineer sounds so lethargic lol

[jockeyhanes]

are they ten kilometers long? wonderful, very american!

[lokalexi1]

Nice catch!

Do they have an infrared gun or do they feel it?

[iceman977th]

@lokalexi1 If you can't feel a burning hot piece of metal, then you have no business being near a train...

[pianomanmaestro]

Some  of NS Engineers are cranky!

[johntuckerCANTdie472]

The guy sounded like he hated his job.

[doubleutubefan5]

its easy to count the axels since each car has 4 of 'em

[shadynebey]

Wow...that dispatcher sounds REALLY bored.

[hubzcaps]

@shadynebey hes pissed cuz he has to stop the train and find the bad bearing

[boo7297]

ok counting the axles 1 2 3 4 boring oh look 257 lol

[killerbees177]

This a great behind the scenes look of how they inspect stuff. How do they know which axle to look for or do they have to look at each one?

[csxketh1]

It said the hotbox was at axle 257 so the crew pretty much just counted the axles.

[intscout4x4]

huge train

[graysonator123]

i saw a smoking axle today...pretty bad too. and of course the defect detector a quarter mile away didnt pick it up

[mjet401bnsf]

what is a hotbox

[superduty7979]

I thought I posted this yesterday but it isn't showing up.

A hotbox is an overheated bearing. This can lead to a derailment. Detectors look for hot boxes and other defects.

[DioHolyDiver83]

oh man thats not good, i think we had that proplem once at the BNSF Rail Road and they had to send a repaire man over there to get the track hammerd up and wont Dereailed.....

[Guser223]

A hotbox is simply a detector on the tracks that can tell the dispatcher if the train has a bad car on it, say an axle, or a coupler or anything like that.

[birddoggarton]

I made the long walk in the cold ass rain one night because of a detection.

Ended up being a brake that someone set at our last siding. I guess they thought it would be funny. Was no fun that night.

[genester71]

cool video. I.m adding it to my favorites list.

[FlyBikes089]

Sweet video!

[ns927]

that must have made people mad

[notredamerox009]

what does the hot box detector look for? what was the problem with this train?

[datsingleguy079]

A hot box detector gives a heads up to the conductor and engineer for defective or problematic equipment on the train such as a faulty axle or brakes. It can also alert the conductor through the railroad company's intranet which rail car has a fault so they can locate the problem and fix it so they can get going again.

[datsingleguy079]

The hot box detector also gives off the location of the detector, the speed of the train, the axle count as well as the temperature of the faulty equipment compared to sorrounding temperature. The detector also has a preset temperature which it compares to the reading to determine wether or not to send out an alert.

[o00o00ozy]

The one's on NS just do milepost, rarely will some still have axle counters. It also anounces after the train has gone through, I know on CSX sends an activation message when the lead engine passes over the block, NS detectors do not do such a thing.

[Guser223]

I know when Conrail used to run up in Emporium, PA they did axle counters and continued when NS took over, and they still do it with the shortline that runs through there

[rockguitarist946]

yeah, wasnt the point of conrail to bring back competition to the northeast for the rails? and then the government let CSX and NS take it over? didnt that kind of defeat the purpose of creating in the first place??? i mean, im not for bigger and more restrictive government, but really, letting conrail get bought out defeated the purpose of creating it in the first place

[railfanner91019]

The engineer sounded like he was high the way he was talking when he radioed in!

[acelakid94]

Really? Any cheaper and of equal quality?

[superduty7979]

You could just knock the conductor over the head and take his when he walks the train to find the hot box.

[acelakid94]

ROFL

[DH082008]

Well im a engineer for Union Pacific. and in the state of Arkansas, its the law that we have to pull a caboos. on my train. i pull a Mopac Caboos in arkansas

[golfingrobert]

Me and my dad were going to pizza k, not even railfanning, but when we were about to cross the tracks a train came by, and next to the tracks were like 3 csx employees. a smoking car came by and they hosed it down with a fire extinguisher before stopping shortly there after. my dad in, were in shock cuz it was so cool.

[acelakid94]

Where did you get the dtector from? I MUST have one.

[o00o00ozy]

If you have a scanner, you can hear it fine if you're on the channel the railroad uses in your area.

[acelakid94]

Don't have one,where can I get one?

[Caltrain927]

Radioshack

[acelakid94]

Thanks!

[sirdorkster]

@o00o00ozy

New to railfanning. Is that scanner legal to have? Just trying to parallel it police scanners. Thanks.

[brainerdrebel]

This is the reason cabooses should be on trains. Trainman for 25 years, we didn't sleep on the caboose either. The railroads are about profit not saftey. Southern Railways was a great place to work, Norfolk Southern sucks. Some detectors are sensitvie than others,if the train had been braking somethimes shoes stick. The EOT can't talk,have pulled cars for severeal thousand feet on the ground, in the middle of the train, without a caboose we would have turned several cars over.

[dieselducy]

yes.. norfolk southern definatley does suck.. i work for them as well.. it is a shame that all BIG BUSINESS cares about if profit!!

[SeniorMinch229018]

Thats the basis of capitalism. If they can't make a profit then their gone.

[GUMSOLE]

how did you get up so high in the vid?

great job by the way

[o00o00ozy]

A high-way overpass.

[tprdfh51]

That train is approx 8,000ft long. Axle 257 was the 60th car - the conductor will have to walk almost 2 miles round trip to check the defect plus check another 16 axles either side of the reported defect if she finds nothing. You must use a Templstick heat crayon to check the axle - try doing all this in the middle of a rainy night when dog tired plus watching out for trains on the other track and tresspassers! Conductors don't just sleep on the engines ya know.

[NsRailfan083]

it was at the first axle at 1:48. Yellow BNSF car.

[petro062]

Enjoyed your train video. Thank you.I got a few.

[Landaux]

Im a bit confused here, most hotboxes I hear report / announce the fault or error. So its a error on NS when it repetes this or what?

[Hiei2k7]

the Dispatch sounds real awake...1 step short of yawning while he's tellin em to bring it to a stop.

[Automcanic]

most of them sound like that

[WVBBBOOOYYY]

Awsome! You are lucky you caught that good job!

[rommel1833]

it happens all the time. last axle on the 59 car. remember to count the axles on the engine. 2 in a row or 2 out of 3 and the conductor finds nothing, they will make a cut in the next siding they can fit in.

[ANDREWAMTRAK]

If all the railroads are mostly the same all the conductor has to do is look at a piece of paper to find out where axle xxx is

[russell379x]

so are there sensors all over the cars???? how do the detectors work...thanx

[o00o00ozy]

The first scene where I am taking this video, it is built into tracks one and two (the third (closest) track is Lancaster and Northern) at MP 64.6. If you walk up and look at them, you will notice a long horizontal block through the rails, also pads which wheels pass over, and other electronic goodness, and a lot of wires. Plus there is usually a small antenna for the radio transmission sent off after all the cars have passed over.

[o00o00ozy]

There are also High Car detectors. These detectors are a box usually mounted on a cantilever over the tracks. They send a signal horizontally over the tracks at a certain height; let's say 19 feet for example. Any car exceeding 19 feet will break that beam when it passes through, thus sending off an alarm, like a HB/DE detector would if it catches a bad axle. Height detectors are important for lines with low tunnels or bridges. Machines can fail. A roll-by will often catch what detectors miss.

[russell379x]

thanx a bunch

[381381rgl]

Great video. Those dang false alarms!

[CSXDixieLine]

Well done, very informative. A must for my favorites list!

[DASCO2136]

The culpret is seen at 1:47. A group of 4-5 UP autoracks was where that hotbox was.

[o00o00ozy]

It was the BNSF, first axle.

[DASCO2136]

oh i see

[Kennedale01]

Walking the train counting hundreds of axles? I've got a little more respect for conductors now.

[BRIANamtrak]

ouch!

[mojotim]

how do you kno which wheel do you have to check everyone????

[o00o00ozy]

No, the conductor walks back to the axle with the suspected hotbox. The conductor has to count so they know they are at the correct axle, in this case it was axle 257. So that is somewhere around car 59.

[mojotim]

cool im thinking about becoming a conductor looks intresting

[railfanner91019]

that would suck to lose count! lol

[Hickler90]

I bet this got your adrenyline going eh? Id be excited trying to catch it all!

[o00o00ozy]

I was sitting in the car chuckling evily that the conductor had to walk the train in that immense heat (90F+). I would have given her transport but the roads didn't reach back to the engines =D. It was the first time I have witnessed such an event, but false alarms happen often at 64.6 and .8.

[pbmja]

whats the hotbox

[o00o00ozy]

What is a hotbox?  A hotbox is a bad or jammed wheel bearing or axle that becomes VERY hot and will literally steam and they are very loud. Obviously no defect here, but the detector did not know otherwise.