Great rails of fire

 

[VIDEO] So far Chicago has experienced one major cold snap this year. And I learned over the last few years that to keep Chicago's rail lines in operation that fire is used to keep the switches from freezing up in the winter time. You read this almost three year old article about this process from The Atlantic.

We see a track worker in Chicago starting this process in the wee hours of the morning. This was captured today on the Railstream YouTube channel. I think this scene took place on the tracks going through Chicago's west side.

Desert lightning...

[VIDEO] I want to take my mind off of this pandemic. The posting as of late on this blog almost always involved any news on the pandemic. Indeed anything that lets me know that we're closer to the down curve with regards to coronavirus infections.

I started yet another YouTube channel which I've branded to my old Yahoo! GeoCities username which was lbj79us. Right now I plan to post old video shot by myself over the years that has never before uploaded. My original YouTube channel that I have shared with you in the past, I don't have much plans for it beyond posting more current videos.

What develops beyond that who knows, however, as I've often said the point is to just get started if one wants to gain traction especially with YouTube. Feel free to subscribe and even have a box for that purpose in the sidebar.

This could be one of those "My Mind's Eye" episodes that I had been talking about doing lately. My videography wasn't very good in July 2005 when I shot this video on board Amtrak's Southwest Chief. I was sitting in the observation lounge going through the Arizona desert - probably on the way to Flagstaff, Arizona. I knew to keep any eye on the sky because there were lightning strikes, and made sure to record a few near the end of this almost ten minute video, if you want fast forward to about 8:30 in this video.

Trains #PolarVortex

I had no idea railroads have their own answers to any potential hazards of extreme winter weather on the rails. I never knew that here in Chicago Metra our commuter rail system could literally set the rails on fire at certain points.

The vid below is courtesy of the BBC. [VIDEO]

Just as easily as it's best to de-ice an aircraft so that it could perform properly in cold winter weather rails especially needs to be "de-iced" to be able to perform properly in the winter time.

If you see fire along Metra tracks during the winter, don't panic. The Chicago area’s commuter rail service is fighting the cold with fire to keep switches working, and help with track repairs.

Winter weather can cause snow and ice to clog switches, which control which rail trains run on. Clogged switches can bring trains to a halt until the blockage is cleared.

To combat the problem, Metra uses a gas-fed system that runs adjacent to the rail, generating heat in areas where switches are supposed to make contact. This system is used in normal winter weather, not just extreme cold , explained spokesman Michael Gillis. The system is turned on when the temperature is between 40 and 32 and stays on when it’s below 32.

 Extreme cold weather can cause steel to contract, causing breaks, said Metra spokeswoman Meg Thomas-Reile. While Metra uses continuously welded rail on most of the system, there are some locations near switches and some crossings where the rail is bolted together. Those areas are the most vulnerable to separating in frigid temperatures, although breaks can happen anywhere along the line.

Here's a graphic with regards to how Metra fights ice on their rails from Chicago Tribune Graphics

If you see fire along Metra tracks today, then don't panic.

It's how the Chicago area’s commuter rail service keeps switches working during the #PolarVortex freeze: https://t.co/rvb5iTBSTT via @marywizchicago #ilwx pic.twitter.com/YA08K0fWOd

— Tribune Graphics (@ChiTribGraphics) January 30, 2019

I'm glad that for now we're out of the woods as far as the polar vortex and just remember next month will represent the start of spring. Warmer weather will be around the corner before we know it!

BTW, for an encore here's a video courtesy of Virtual Railfan showing something like what you see from the BBC. This time however in Deshler, Ohio [VIDEO]

Snowday on the south side and no snowday for Metra

[VIDEO] On Friday I shot this video on my iPhone along 95th Street from between Michigan to State. 95th & State is actually the location of the 95th CTA terminal. All the same just scenes during this past weekend's snow storm. I had actually posted this to my more visual blog at My Mind's Eye (you might actually remember that name though in a different iteration).

Via Railstream on YouTube, a video of a Metra train during this past weekends snow storms leaving Union Station. The title appropriately enough was "No snowday for Metra". Alas no embed for this one so just click this >>> [VIDEO]

The Railstream YouTube channel will on occasion have webcams featuring railroad action. Unlike Virtual Railfan - visit their two live webcams feeds here on this blog - they seem to have a free preview of the week that seems to go from location-to-location. This week they have a cam in Fostoria, Ohio. Once they also had a free preview live video from Chicago where you will see trains leaving Union Station. Like Virtual Railfan they also have a paid subscription website where you can view other live video of trains around the world.

How did you fare in this recent heavy snowfall?

A rare Chicago tornado

Found out Chicago had its last tornado in 2006. Why do I know about this now because on Tuesday with no rain or storms in the area a tornado touched down on Chicago's southwest side near Midway Airport. It stayed in one place and remained stationary according to reports but it's still what they call a landspout tornado.

WGN has some pictures from their camera at the Sears Willis Tower

This piece of trivia I found very fascinating and to recall I used to be terrified of tornadoes until I learned how rare these storms are especially in our city. Not sure I'd want to experience this in the sticks. All the same I'm sure there are media reports of this 2006 tornado.

I could still look but then I found this 2006 video of a tornado near Loyola University Chicago. So when this video was uploaded to YouTube I had been at Morehouse for a month already.

Out of hibernation...

[VIDEO] Well we finally have our warm temps here in Chicago and artistmac talks about that. The snow that fell on Super Bowl Sunday this year is finally melting. Hopefully the cold temps that kept our young people out of school for at least 4 days within the past two months are nothing more than a memory.

Even better daylight savings time has passed as of this Saturday and then in the next week or so the first day of spring. It seems we've had a miserable winter this year and the end is only around the corner!

The weather

On my Instagram account I have the tendency to post screencaps of the temperature and weather radar. Sometimes because it's of interest and mainly because I want to show the weather here in Chicago at any given time. Besides I've always been interested in the weather.

I used to say warmer weather is just around the corner and now it's here. In fact summer is this month, we've had a very harsh winter this year with temps going often below 0 that I'm sure many of us were wondering if the winter is over. Well it is over and many of us have survived.

Now we may be dealing with higher food costs because of this. Heh, this is where I only wish I had a better grasp of economics and the many forces that affect an economy. Of course there are probably other after-effects of this past winter to be concerned about.

In any event, summer is around the corner and unfortunately here in Chicago warmer weather means more crime because local headlines are already showing the violent incidents occurring in my fair city. While we should always remain safe, I'm still glad that this harsh winter is behind us. May there be peace during the course of this summer!

#Chiberia in downtown Chicago...

The top picture was at Madison St. and the bottom picture was on Michigan Ave. While this isn't exactly the first time I've seen ice on the Chicago River, it never occurred to be how frozen the river can get. Almost looks good enough to skate on although I'm not sure it's recommended.

BTW, this is a pic I saw taken during the recent "polar vortex" cold snap. That pic looks thawed compared to this one. This was shared with Chicago's ABC affiliate.

Post by ABC 7 Chicago.

I felt the bite of a "polar vortex" this week...

Temp on Monday

Had myself an interesting week. The weather has finally warmed up earlier this week the temperature was as low at 16 degrees below zero. I still had to work that day which was Monday and I was feeling the cold for certain.

It was not long after the snow had ended and because I had to work not enough time to really dig out which I eventually did on my day off. And at that school was out for the last two days in light of the weather although at first it seemed CPS was willing to stay open and force students to get out here in the elements.

Well, there are no complaints on my end, I stayed as warm as I could getting outside. I survived and hopefully many others did. And for Chicagoans - polar vortex or no polar vortex - weather like this is nothing new. Thankfully while we have at least two more months to go for winter, we should remember that spring is just around the corner.

It seemed that one or two days of very low temperatures was only temporary and it was. It seemed in spite of all the concerned, things got back to normal quickly. Even better the weather will warm and and all this snow and ice that accumulated will melt in the future.

BTW, sometimes I just get lazy to shave it coincided at the right time with the weather. The fuzz on my face kept it warm because once I had shaved and my face felt the bite of the cold. Though thankfully on that day it wasn't as cold as it had been on Monday. Still now, I'm glad to have shaven it off! :)

Weather video shot by me in Chicago

[VIDEO] I don't think I've ever seen the Chicago River this high! And another fun fact, the Chicago River normally flows to the Mississippi River. It has been this way since the turn of the 20th century when engineers changed the flow of the river away from Lake Michigan. Today because of the recent rains and flooding around the area the flow of water has been reversed back to the lake as the storm drains (or a deep tunnel that holds up to 2.3 billion gallons of water) are at capacity. Over the past day 5 inches of rain has fallen and according to WGN's meteorologist Tom Skilling that amounts to 80 billion gallons of water. WOW!

The video you see here I shot on the LaSalle Street bridge today looking west. The flow of the river is heading east towards the lake. As states earlier the river was a bit higher than usual.

VIDEO: Chicago Blizzard 1967 in Historic Pullman

This video takes you closer to my part of town. The Pullman neighborhood famous for originally being a planned community before it became just another Chicago neighborhood. Here's a description:

On January 27, 1967, a massive blizzard hit Chicago. In Historic Pullman, Al & Marilyn Quiroz picked up their shovels and cameras to capture the event.

Found via Lee Bey, where he has a couple of other videos from both 1967 and 1979.

VIDEO: Chicago Blizzard 1979

Found this on the CapFax in their morning videos post with a wintery theme of course there are some summer scenes from the Illinois State Fair last year. Description from YouTube:

"Chairs" by Nick Despota, John Mabey, and Bob Snyder. During the 1979 Chicago Blizzard, people saved shoveled parking spaces with chairs.

If you want to know what I see this morning in my neighborhood two cars on the street have been PWNED and so has thegarage looking from the backyard. :(

OH YEAH, as an added bonus check out this spoof of a 1979 mayoral campaign ad. In 1979, Jane Byrne became the first female Mayor of Chicago defeating incumbent Michael Bilandic. I've got to check out this website MediaBurn.

Since we're supposed to have a serious snow storm the next two days...

Let's check out how Chicago did snow removal back in 1907 according to Unknown Chicago. Streetcars did the plowing and manual laborers shoveled what the streetcars couldn't plow. Backbreaking work I can only imagine, especially if you had to do this around the city.

Unknown Chicago: The Blizzard of 1979 (1-14-1979)

Traffic snarl from Unknown Chicago

Believe it or not in one of my albums there are plenty of pictures of my parents cleaning snow from this blizzard. Thanks to the Unknown Chicago blog I know more about this blizzard. Politically this snowstorm meant the different between incumbent Mayor Michael Bilandic and the eventual Mayor Jane Byrne. There is a comparison between two snowstorms approximately 12 years apart the 1967 & then 1979. I found this quote telling:

Okay--so in 1979, the city had three days to clean up.  And by Tuesday, everything was back to normal.

No, it wasn't.  As soon as the snow started coming down, Mayor Michael Bilandic was all over TV, talking about the heroic job his administration was doing in this weather emergency.  But the public could see he was wrong.  The snow was not getting cleared.

The City That Works wasn't working.  Mike Royko, the newspaper columnist, put the blame squarely on the mayor.  According to Royko, city crews didn't know how to deal with the snow because their skills were too specialized--specialized in cranking out votes at election time.  That was the real job of Chicago payrollers.

Bilandic was running for re-election.  He was being challenged in the Democrat primary by Jane Byrne.  Now Byrne began hammering Bilandic about snow removal.  In one of her commercials, she was filmed with snowflakes falling around her.

Byrne's message connected with the voters.  Six weeks after the blizzard, she beat Bilandic in the primary, then went on to win the general election.

In 1979 Chicago's Democratic Machine didn't serve the city very well. Royko earned his pay back then, that line in bold was priceless. Needless to say though the Machine couldn't save Bilandic back in 1979 as he didn't serve his own full term as mayor.

Stunning images as storm breaks over Chicago

From the UK Times online, Pictures of lightning strikes on Willis (Sears) and Trump Towers in Chicago from the storms of the past week. They have seriously battered our city. In fact in my backyard there's still a branch from a tree that I haven't removed yet. Either way the pics depicted there are breathtaking so you should take a look!