For various reasons we are renting a house in another part of the state of Veracruz, and will be splitting our time between our home here in Tuxpan (where there are no trains) and our "casa de campo" up in Cd. Mendoza. I still can't believe my luck in finding this small place to rent, right where we were looking. I'm even luckier that the wife agreed to rent it. The Ferrosur (FSRR) mainline between Veracruz and Mexico City runs right in front of us. Here's a shot showing you what we see from our front door. And here's one giving you a better idea of the arrangement. That's the double track mainline to the left. That narrow strip of concrete between the toe of the ballast and our Blazer is the street. And you can see the same black front gate that shows in the first picture. I measured it and the tracks are about 40 feet from our bedroom window. When they are heading downhill (to the left) they are sounding the horn for the crossing when they are right in front of the house. Yup, it gets loud. Heading uphill, the horn isn't so bad because it sounds quite a bit to our left, but the locomotives and helpers are going full out up that 2+% grade. Fortunately, it's welded rail, so if the wheels aren't flat and there are no bearing problems then the train itself passes pretty quietly. While there's no set schedule that I can make out, I'd venture that we get between 15 and 20 trains a day, at all hours of the day and night. Plus several light engine moves as the helpers run back downhill on their own. I love it. Regards Ed
Wow! That is VERY CLOSE to the tracks! :O My wife-to-be would NEVER agree to that! You have a very understanding wife!!!
Someday I will find a way to come down an visit you and your family... :tb-cool: :tb-cool: :tb-cool: :tb-cool:
Ed: How fast do the trains go by there? Is it high speed rail or have they slowed for the populated area? Thanks. Sure is a great place! :thumbs_up:
Yup, I really do. And she goes along on any and all of my railfan outings, supports my (unfortunately currently inactive) model railroad hobby, and actually seems to enjoy it all. I'm truly blessed. Ed
Like we've discussed before, we're usually up for a road trip, as long as it doesn't interfere with our 2 or three trips north each year. Lots of good railfanning spots near here. Or we can do Mexico City! Come on down! Ed
Hard to judge as I'm so close to the tracks, but it sure seems fairly fast some times. Of course they do more heading downgrade than they manage going uphill. Some of those helper moves really seem to be moving. We're about 7 or 8 km from Orizaba, which I think is a major helper base. I'm not sure but I suspect that many of the trains make a stop there. I want to see if I can get a copy (even a xerox) of an employee timetable from this division, and maybe I can learn more. Regards Ed
My wife supports my hobbies as well. But somehow I don't think she'd go for such a trackside arrangement. Boxcab E50
I've just started to wander around the area looking for some good railfanning locations. There certainly are a bunch of good places, but the shots I've taken so far don't do the place justice. So while I try to come up with some better shots to post in Rail Images, I just want to give you a couple of links to the website of Nate Muhlethaler. He's a US railfan who has traveled extensively down here, and has taken some great shots. The first two links are from shots he has taken on Ferrosur's Acultzingo District, which includes the area where I am. In fact, the second to last photo in the first linked group is the station that I can see from my front gate. http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/2009/01/ferrosur-distrito-acultzingo.html http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/2008/08/ferrosur-apizaco-to-orizaba-distrito_30.html Here's the link to his main page: http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/ Regards Ed
Wow, that's some pretty awesome scenery, Ed. I hope you find the spots you are looking for. Looks like it will be worth it. :tb-biggrin:
Excitement in front of our house!! Yesterday afternoon, quite by accident, I became aware that one of the Sperry Rail Services detector cars was working the line near here. I figured it would be passing in front of our house sometime today, so the only question was when. As luck would have it I caught it coming close just before lunch time. Here’s a shot of it as it comes down towards the old abandoned Santa Rosa station. After passing the station I caught a shot at a better angle. And I got a wave from one of the technicians who recognized me from yesterday. They continued on a short ways until they registered a fault, and backed up a bit to verify the location. More to come... .
The techs have to get down with a portable ultrasound device to verify the exact location and severity of the fault. They mark the location with tape, paint, and a written code on the side of the rail. Having completed the checking of this fault, they packed up and headed on down the line. See the house behind the black gate just in front of the unit? That’s my house. Yup, we had a front row seat to the show. And they head out of town, continuing south (geographical east) towards Orizaba. Here they are crossing the main street of Cd Mendoza. But wait, there’s more to come! .
Right behind the SRS car came this hirail unit with it’s crew. They pulled up the marks indicating the fault, and got out to take a look and size up the situation. Quickly they unloaded their gear. They had to remove a couple of rail clips and nuts in order to have space for the repair. That’s a pretty powerful hydraulic drill they have clamped on the rail. And that’s a pretty sharp drill bit they have. It made short work of drilling a pair of holes through the rail flange. More... .
Quickly they placed a couple of fish plates and bolts. Some fast torqueing with the hydraulic impact wrench. And the final tightening with the old open end wrench. Voila! A quick repair. I suspect that this is just a temporary fix until they can come through and do something more permanent. I should point out that the fault was not a visible crack, so this was probably more of a precautionary measure. Yesterday, another crew welded a rail where the detector car found a fracture, so they are doing more significant repairs where they deem it neccessary or urgent. In any case, it was neat to see the show right in front of our house. It was fortunate that I learned of the SRS car being in our area. If I hadn’t been watching for it today, it could have easily passed by without my even being aware of what was going on. Guess I was just lucky. Regards Ed .
