September 2011 Memphis Buff

THE MEMPHIS BUFF

VOLUME 38, ISSUE 9

NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

September 2011

ATCS Monitor – What Is It? California State Railroad Museum New Meeting Location

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Memphis Chapter Officers President – Walter Lang

walterhlang@yahoo.com

Vice President – Bruce Smedley Director – Bill Strong Secretary/Treasurer – Thomas Doherty Program Co-chairman – Carl Lancaster Program Co-chairman – Don Weis Yahoo Group Co-ordinater – Terry Redeker Newsletter Editor – Tom Parker

williambstrong@bellsouth.net TRDoherty@aol.com DBWeis@aol.com tkredeker@hotmail.com tscottparker@gmail.co

Last Month's Meeting Canceled – This Months Meeting At a New Location This space is usually reserved for a report on the previous month's meeting and an announcement of the program for the upcoming meeting. As most everyone is aware our last month's meeting was canceled due to a change in library hours.

Due to budget cuts, the City of Memphis has started closing the libraries at 7:00 PM instead of 9:00 PM. Consequently, we are now looking for a new meeting place. Walter Lange has made reservations for the meeting room at the Germantown Library, 1925 Exeter Road. The September meeting will be at 7:00 PM, September 8 th. Please note that the October meeting will be on Tuesday, October 18th instead of the usual second Thursday. Sam Pergoy's program on the Book of Rules which was scheduled for last months meeting will be presented at the September meeting.

The Germantown Library is pretty much booked up for the foreseeable future except for Wednesdays, so we are in need of a permanent location so we can get ourselves back to a regular schedule. If you have any suggestions, let Walter know.

Upcoming Events Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum "50th Anniversary Weekend" September 2nd-5th http://www.tvrail.com/pages/railfest NRHS Memphis Cookout/Membership Drive @ Kentucky Street with OLS presentation by BNSF Police – September 25th.

Meridian Railfest, Meridian Mississippi - November 5th.

Dispatcher Display of ATCS Monitor – Union Pacific Memphis Subdivision

3 available, field monitoring is local to the individual computer.

ATCS Monitor – What is it?

By Tom Parker

Over a year ago at a NRHS meeting I was asked if I had ever heard of a system available to the public that would allow watching real time train movements on a train dispatcher type display on their personal computer. I had not, but it sounded interesting, so I decided to see what I could find.

As it turns out , just like the Iphone commercial says, “there's an app for that” and it's called ATCS Monitor.

To explain ATCS Monitor, first you need to know a little something about ATCS. ATCS is an acronym for Advanced Train Control System, initiated in 1984 by the Association of American Railroads and the Railroad Association of Canada. The basic principle behind ATCS is to provide a cost efficient, safe, modular, train control system. Much, if not most of the communication between elements of ATCS is via radio .

ATCS is used by three railroad in the Memphis area. BNSF uses ATCS on the Thayer and Birmingham Subdivisions, the UP from Kentucky Street westward except for the Brinkley Subdivision and the CN North of Hollywood Yard and South of Harrison Yard.

Dave Houy, a computer/HAM radio/rail enthusiast created ATCS Monitor, a free PC based program which utilizes the data in ATCS radio transmissions to

Whether using a permanent server or a laptop, it is necessary to have a “layout” installed for the particular railroad line being monitored. At this time the available layouts in the Memphis area are UP between Bald Knob and Memphis created by Mark Loewe (complete), the BNSF Memphis Terminal by Bart Youngblood, (almost complete) and the BNSF Thayer, MO, to Memphis

by Steve Miller.

Signal building at Kentucky Street with ATCS antenna T.Parker Photo

drive his program.

In order for the program to function, it is necessary to intercept the radio transmissions, decode them and make them available on the internet. This is done by installing radio equipped servers (computers) near locations where ATCS is operational. While has been done at many locations across the country, none have as yet been set up in the immediate Memphis area.

An alternative to permanent land based services is “field monitoring” of ATCS transmissions. Field monitoring requires a laptop with ATCS Monitor installed connected to radio receiver(s) equipped to receive ATCS transmissions. While permanent servers are connected to the internet and train movements can be monitored anywhere an internet connection is

Individual enthusiasts like the three mentioned above have installed servers, created layouts and maintain the system nationwide, usually at their own expense. I had the opportunity to meet with Mark Loewe on a rainy Saturday afternoon last October at Kentucky Street.

Mark, who is from the Chicago area, was railfanning between Texarkana and Memphis, taking pictures and field monitoring along the way. Unfortunately, the weather was particularly crummy and trains were largely absent when he was at Kentucky Street, but I was able to get a look at his ATCS setup.

In an email a few months ago, he said that he was currently working on the CN from Fulton to Memphis. Mark set up the server in Bald Knob and is very interested in setting up servers for the UP and CN in Memphis if he could find suitable locations and individuals to host them.

4 In ATCS Monitor, occupied tracks are red, green tracks indicate permission has been granted by dispatcher for a train to enter the track .The following sequence shows a train moving from the Memphis Sub to Main 2, a train moving on Main 1 towards the Hoxie Sub, and finally a second train showing up on the Memphis Sub heading towards N. Little Rock. In ATCS Monitor, occupied track are red and green tracks indicate that permission has been granted by dispatcher for a train to enter the track.

Train on Main 1 moving towards Dexter.

Trains on Mains 1 and 2 about to leave Monitor screen.

Train moving from Memphis Sub to Main 2 towards N. Little Rock. Dispatcher has granted permission on Main 1.

Train on Main 2 is off the screen. Permission granted on part of Main 2, probably for train coming off Memphis Sub.

Train has moved off Memphis Surd To Main 2. Still no train on Main 1.

Train on Main 1 is off the screen.

Train enters Main 1 on left headed towards Dexter, MO.

More information on ATCS Monitor can be obtained from the ATCS Monitor website at: atcsmon.com/. The ATCS Monitor, layouts are unloaded from the ATCS Monitor yahoo group at: finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ATCS_Monitor/. You must be a member of the group to access any of the group's the content .

Someday we'll sit trackside at Kentucky Street, and monitor train movements on our laptop or possibly on our smart phone. Or maybe while chasing trains trains in Mississippi or Arkansas we'll be watching our ATCS Monitor Screen instead of listening to the scanner. The tools are available.

Another train appears coming off Memphis Sub.

5 California State Railroad Museum (CSRM) Sacramento, CA By Tom Doherty

There are a few things that railroad museums seem to have in common no matter where they’re located. There will be various artifacts shown in display cases, usually the museum will be housed in some type of railroad structure and there will be rolling stock anywhere from fully restored to a pile of rust.

Most of which will be outside subject to attacks from Mother Nature from outside display.

While this statement is true for most RR museums the CSRM is a nice and pleasant exception. It is housed in the old Southern Pacific Sacramento round house; all of its rolling Entrance to CSRM stock is displayed inside providing protection for the restored pieces of equipment. It also covers many aspects of RR history including toy trains, advertising, and various support activities that make a RR work. Many pieces of equipment are displayed in vignette’s showing what the historical times were like when this item was in actual use. They have deacons placed to help explain the historical importance of many of the displays.

The museum came into being during Ronald Reagan’s term as Governor of California. The Governor was a train buff and when legislation was past providing state up front seed money to start the museum, he signed it into law. Thus were the roots of the CSRM.

Station Agent

As you walk about the museum you can’t help but notice how lifelike and different the mannequins are.

They add a great deal of realism to the display. The artist who made the mannequins used a different approach to create each one.

He asked people on the street, who had the general characteristics he was look-

Lionel Layout CSRM

Hobo Riding in a Boxcar

6 ing for, to pose. He then coated them in a seaweed mixture that set up in about 10 minutes. Once removed this made the mold from which he would produce a mannequin. After the mannequin was made came the process of painting, dressing and putting hair on, etc. He only made one mannequin per mold. The end result is no two mannequins are alike and it gives the display the feel of actors posing for the show.

The museum displays the history of the transcontinental railroad from the western starting point and the push eastward. The various railroads that came to the area and their contribution to the development of the west are the focal point of the museum. The center piece display is the SP cab forward, the only surviving one. As with many of the various items of equipment on display, you can climb into the cab and explore. Like it’s fairly larger cousin Big Boy, the actual size of it overwhelms you when you’re next to it or in it.

While all the items in the museum are interesting, this one item makes the whole trip worthwhile!

Southern Pacific Cab Forward

Again like many RR museums there is a train ride of about 3 miles along the Sacramento River.

Leaving the station (adjacent to the museum) you’re

Museum’s Tank engine

Train Ride Coach

pulled by a Geep; at the end of the line a tank steam engine will pull you back. The entire ride lasts about 40 minutes through Old Town and along the river.

As you walk through the Pullman sleeping car, to add realism, the car gently rocks and you here the clicky clack of a moving train. You’ll cross from this car into a dining car that has various place set

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Replica SP Depot with family

tings from the RR’s serving Sacramento. If you’re into collecting RR china you will be drooling at everything.

An interesting description of a westward train journey was reported in the August 25, 1877 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper : “You will be worn out with fatigue. You will be cramped and stiff with the confinement. You will turn blacker than Ethiop with tan and cinders and be rasped like a nutmeg grater with alkali dust. You can never sleep a wink for the jarring and noise of the train, and never will Comfort Class Travel in Late 1800’s be able to dress and undress and bathe yourselves like Christians. Above all, your nearest and dearest, under the influence of fatigue and monotony and discomfort, will be ready to turn and rend you before you get down into the Sacramento Valley – and you will desire nothing better than to make a burnt offering of them and everyone insane enough to shut himself up seven days and nights in a railway car!”

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In the Round House

Galley

Dinner Place Setting

If you’re planning a going to the CSRM give yourself a whole day to enjoy this museum. There is too much to see to limit yourself to just a couple of hours.

CABOOSE

L&N 6162 – Wartrace Tennessee Carl Lancaster Photo Meeting Schedule September 8, 2011 October 18, 2011 The September and October meetings will be held at the Germantown Public Library 7-9 pm.

1925 Exeter Road Germantown, TN 38138

Contact the Editor Tom Parker 3012 Wood Thrush Drive Memphis, TN 38134 tscottparker@gmail.com