Saturday, February 18, 2023

Railroad Defect Detectors


This is pretty cool, especially if you live near railroad tracks and have a little bit of radio-fu:

It works just like the Google maps we're all familiar with by now, and shows the locations of RR defect detectors as clickable links that give their status and broadcast-to-train frequency.  Any old analog scanner or wide-band VHF walkie-talkie is enough to pick these up if you're close by.  Or you can get more range with a discone scanner antenna on maybe an outside mast if your situation warrants.

Anyway, a lot of people are worked up about a flaming tank car rolling unheeded through their towns for tens of miles a few weeks ago – and rightly so! – but what could they do about it?  Well, here you go, now you can at least know when a fiery disaster is coming to a ditch near you.

I don't live near any tracks these days, but here's a screen capture of my old area, showing two relatively nearby defect detectors:

The Internet: It's good for something more than memes and cute cat pictures.

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