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Railway Slide Fence
Part of a railway signaling system, a slide fence is a fence whose purpose is to prevent trains from being derailed by rockslides in mountainous areas where rockslides may occur without warning. The fence is designed to be displaced by a rock slide, causing the signaling system to display a stop aspect on nearby signals. As an alternative, a structural fence is designed to physically stop falling rocks from reaching the tracks. Operation Mechanical The mechanical slide fence consists of a series of tensioned wires strung about 10 inches (25 cm) apart on poles. When a rock slide occurs, the rock breaks one or more of the wires. When a wire breaks, heavy weights attached to either end will fall. This mechanically triggers the protecting signals to the 'danger' position. Electrical There are two types of electrical slide fences in operation. One type of electrical slide fence consists of a series of parallel conductive wires strung about 8 inches (20 cm) apart on poles that create a f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Signalling
Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormous weight and inertia of a train, which makes it difficult to quickly stop when encountering an obstacle. In the UK, the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 introduced a series of requirements on matters such as the implementation of interlocked block signalling and other safety measures as a direct result of the Armagh rail disaster in that year. Most forms of train control involve movement authority being passed from those responsible for each section of a rail network (e.g. a signalman or stationmaster) to the train crew. The set of rules and the physical equipment used to accomplish this determine what is known as the ''method of working'' (UK), ''method of operation'' (US) or ''safeworking'' (Aus.). Not all these methods require the use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over in 2010, more than any other North American railroad. The BNSF Railway Company is the principal operating subsidiary of parent company Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad's parent company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska. The current CEO is Kathryn Farmer. According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo, including enough coal to generate around 25% of the electricity produced in the United States. The creation of BNSF started with the formation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avalanche Control
Avalanche control or avalanche defense activities reduce the hazard avalanches pose to human life, activity, and property."Mitigation and Land Use - Avalanches" , Colorado Geological Survey Avalanche control begins with a risk assessment conducted by surveying for potential avalanche terrain by identifying geographic features such as vegetation patterns, drainages, and seasonal snow distribution that are indicative of avalanches. From the identified avalanche risks, the hazard is assessed by identifying threatened human geographic features such as roads, ski-hills, and buildings. Avalanche control programs address the avalanche hazard by formulating prevention and mitigation plans, which are then executed during the winter season. The prevention and mitigation plans combine extensive snow pack observation wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named for the commonwealth in which it was established. By 1882, Pennsylvania Railroad had become the largest railroad (by traffic and revenue), the largest transportation enterprise, and the largest corporation in the world. Its budget was second only to the U.S. government. Over the years, it acquired, merged with, or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies. At the end of 1926, it operated of rail line;This mileage includes companies independently operated. PRR miles of all tracks, which includes first (or main), second, third, fourth, and sidings, totalled 28,040.49 at the end of 1926. in the 1920s, it carried nearly three times the traffic as other railroads of comparable length, such as the Union Pacific and Atchison, T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Track Circuit
A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on rail tracks to signallers and control relevant signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters. Principles and operation The basic principle behind the track circuit lies in the connection of the two rails by the wheels and axle of locomotives and rolling stock to short an electrical circuit. This circuit is monitored by electrical equipment to detect the absence of the trains. Since this is a safety appliance, fail-safe operation is crucial. Hence the circuit is designed to indicate the presence of a train when failures occur. On the other hand, false occupancy readings are disruptive to railway operations and must be minimized. Track circuits allow railway signalling systems to operate semi-automatically, by displaying signals for trains to slow or stop in the presence of occupied track ahead of them. They help prevent Train dispatcher, dispatchers and Manual block, operators from ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Train Dispatcher
A train dispatcher (US), rail traffic controller (Canada), train controller (Australia), train service controller (Singapore) or signaller (UK), is employed by a railroad to direct and facilitate the movement of trains over an assigned territory, which is usually part, or all, of a railroad operating division. The dispatcher is also responsible for cost effective movement of trains and other on-track railroad equipment to optimize physical (trains) and human resource (crews) assets. History Charles Minot, a Division Superintendent on the Erie Railroad is credited with the first effort to control the movement of a train beyond the rule book and operating timetable, when, in September 1851, he sent a telegram to a railroad employee at another location directing that all trains be held at that point until the train Minot was riding could arrive. From that beginning, a system of train dispatching evolved. The operating rule book, later standardized for all railroads, contained the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Falls, Montana
Columbia Falls is a city along the Flathead River in Flathead County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,308 at the 2020 census. Columbia Falls has been ranked as one of the best and safest places to live in Montana. History The area that would become the city of Columbia Falls was first settled in 1891, in anticipation of the arrival of the Great Northern Railway. On April 26, 1909, the city of Columbia Falls was officially incorporated. The first residents requested the name "Columbia" for the U.S. Post Office, but the element "Falls" was ultimately tacked onto the name in order to avoid any confusion with the already-named Columbus, Montana. The Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls has served veterans since 1896. Its current housing facility was opened by Montana Governor Forrest H. Anderson at an official dedication ceremony in 1970. An E. M. Viquesney statue of a World War I doughboy was moved to the front of the Veterans' Home in 1972. The statue "or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bad Rock Canyon
Bad Rock Canyon is a Canyon, river canyon lying east of Columbia Falls, Montana. The Flathead River, flanked by U.S. Highway 2, flows through the canyon and enters Montana's Flathead Valley. Rock slides occur frequently along the northern side of the BNSF Railway tracks that run through the canyon. History For centuries the canyon was a part of the buffalo trail leading through the Rocky Mountains to the buffalo hunting grounds on the Great Plains. Towns nearest the canyon are Hungry Horse, Montana, Hungry Horse immediately to the east and Martin City, Montana, Martin City father to the east. The town of Coram, Montana, Coram lies a few miles father northeast, about 5 miles from the western entrance of Glacier National Park (U.S.), Glacier National Park at West Glacier, Montana. Indian buffalo hunts The plateau tribes—Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Kalispel, Pend d'Oreilles (tribe), Pend d'Oreilles (Upper Kalispel), Spokane Indians, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and Kootenai Tribe of Ida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marias Pass
Marias Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains in the western US state of Montana. Lying on the southern border of Glacier National Park, it is traversed by US Highway 2 and by the BNSF Hi-Line Subdivision. The pass is the lowest crossing of the Continental Divide between Canada and central New Mexico , and is the northernmost pass in the US open to automobile traffic year-round. Geography Marias Pass traverses the Continental Divide in the Lewis Range, along the boundary between the Lewis and Clark National Forest and the Flathead National Forest. The pass forms the southern limit of the Continental Ranges, a major grouping of the Rocky Mountains which extends as far north as McGregor Pass in the Northern Rockies of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Great Bear Wilderness in Lewis and Clark National Forest is south of the pass and Glacier National Park is to the north. History As a low pass through the Rocky Mountains, Marias Pass wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hi-Line (Montana)
The Hi-Line is a railroad in Montana running between Havre and Whitefish. It serves as a portion of the BNSF Railway Northern Transcon. Originally the mainline of the Great Northern Railway, the Hi-Line name has its origins in the railroad line being the northernmost transcontinental railway line in the United States. While the modern BNSF Railroad has only named this portion the Hi-line, the term is colloquially used for other portions of the Northern Transcon. Hi-Line also more generally refers to the area of northern Montana near the Canada–United States border and U.S. Highway 2. The route is served by one passenger train daily in each direction operating between Chicago and either Portland, Oregon or Seattle: Amtrak ''Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glenwood Canyon
Glenwood Canyon is a rugged scenic canyon in western Colorado in the United States. Its walls climb as high as above the Colorado River. It is the largest such canyon on the Upper Colorado. The canyon, which has historically provided the routes of railroads and highways through western Colorado, currently furnishes the routes of Interstate 70 and the Union Pacific's Central Corridor between Denver and Grand Junction. Location The canyon stretches from near Dotsero, where the Colorado receives the Eagle River, downstream in a west-southwest direction to just east of Glenwood Springs, on the mouth of the Roaring Fork. Most of the canyon is in Garfield County, with the upper portion near Dotsero lying in Eagle County. Geology The canyon was formed relatively recently in Pleistocene time by the rapid cutting of the Colorado down through layers of sedimentary rock. The upper layers of the canyon are sandstone from Pennsylvanian and Mississippian. Sections of the lower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
