Life on the Rails

[Savonarola]

I think it's pretty universal. The more bumper stickers on a car, the more likely the driver is terrible.

In my experience bumper stickers correlate with slow and safe.

In these cases it wasn't just bumper stickers, they had full campaign signs like the type you'd put on your lawn pasted onto their cars.  Some even had the side windows covered.

[Savonarola]

A dude with his cones.

The locomotives in the picture are C18s, a model that was made by GE in the 1960s and 1970s.  Drummond is the only mine that runs those trains, most of their fleet, and all of Prodeco and CNRs trains are C21; which is a model still in production today (although most trains on the line are ten to twenty years old.)  So, (as a plug for my former employer) if you're in the market to buy a locomotive, you should consider GE, their trains run for fifty years.



I don't recognize the crossing; but there are a total of about 55.  I only spent any length of time at the three I wrote about.

[Savonarola]

about everything one does produces CO2. But isn't the purpose of using coal to have a certain amount of the carbon bind with the metal in order to make it less brittle?

Yes, I believe that's correct.  I'm not familiar enough with the steel making process to know how much CO₂ it produces relative to power generation.

[KRonn]

The locomotives in the picture are C18s, a model that was made by GE in the 1960s and 1970s.  Drummond is the only mine that runs those trains, most of their fleet, and all of Prodeco and CNRs trains are C21; which is a model still in production today (although most trains on the line are ten to twenty years old.)  So, (as a plug for my former employer) if you're in the market to buy a locomotive, you should consider GE, their trains run for fifty years.

Cool stuff Sav, you know your trains! 

[Savonarola]

The locomotives in the picture are C18s, a model that was made by GE in the 1960s and 1970s.  Drummond is the only mine that runs those trains, most of their fleet, and all of Prodeco and CNRs trains are C21; which is a model still in production today (although most trains on the line are ten to twenty years old.)  So, (as a plug for my former employer) if you're in the market to buy a locomotive, you should consider GE, their trains run for fifty years.

Cool stuff Sav, you know your trains! 

Only the ones I've worked on.   

[Savonarola]

Hiking After Midnight

Railroad technology doesn't move forward quickly.  Even in Colombia there's a great need for safety; any product used in the field must go through rigorous testing.  Also the major railroad companies are simply slow to change and both suppliers and smaller railroads have to work at their pace.  Consequently our technology isn't the most advanced.  This became an issue for us on our last trip when we needed new software loaded in the switching units.  It would have been a long and difficult process to connect directly to the switching units; but at the same time it was impossible to simply remote into them from the back office.  The only way the back office could remote into the units was if they were given control at the local unit.  So we ended up going from case to case over the entire system over a two night period.

We had to do this at night for safety reasons.  Changing the software takes the switching device temporarily out of commission.  Fewer trains traveled at night, but we always had to radio in for permission to make the changes to verify no trains were coming.  The excitement came as we went from case to case in the dark.  All we did when we got to the cases was push a button and wait for WD to tell us that he was done.  Then we went on to the next case.

Problems arose because the cases weren't always in easily accessible areas.  Our northernmost case is on Drummond property.  We can't drive onto their property from the two track so, in order to reach that case, either we have to go through the port; which is a colossal hassle, or hike about a kilometer up the track.  We chose to hike; the path leads across a rail bridge which has no walking path, you must walk down the ties.  Fortunately it's not open trestle on one side of the bridge.  It's still a difficulty in the dark, for there we were far away from city.  There was a faint glow from the port, but nothing else.  Everything else was lit by the moon or our iPhone flashlights.

A lot of the countryside was dark.  We didn't expect any problems in Funcacion, even though our case lies down in a cut far from the road.  The towns like Fundacion are well lit but as we were coming into the neighborhood near the case we passed through a thick cloud of greasy smoke and the air was filled with the stench of burning plastic.  When we got to the trailhead to our case we found that all the houses were dark.  A transformer had exploded, and we had driven through its cloud.

It was a cloudy night, and there were no lights now, so we had to hike down into the dark along a path.  I made a misstep and ended up face first in a creek.  Fortunately it was a mostly dry; it was filled with debris.  I ended up in a pile of wet, dirty leaves.  I used to leap into those deliberately as a child; as an adult it wasn't so much fun.

We got to the case to find that FeNoCo had changed the locks.  Originally all the cases had a single lock type so a master key would open them all.  As time passed some of the local station managers had started changing locks on their own; but they didn't tell headquarters or us which ones they had changed and which ones still used the master key.  Unable to get into the case, we marched down to the station about half a mile away.  They gave us a key but because there was a train coming they told us to go back the way we had come in by car – past the blown transformer.  The entire neighborhood was now standing at the charred black spot where the transformer used to be.  As soon as they saw us they mobbed us and asked us when we were going to repair it.  They saw our hardhats and safety vests and assumed we were the power company.  Fortunately I was there with an ET Solutions guy who could tell the crowd we were with the railroad.  Power outages are serious business in Colombia, one of the cities had civil disturbance and blocked the highway when the power was out for 48 hours.

We got all the work completed in our two night window, but the new locks continued to plague us on that trip.  In Aracataca they didn't even have the key at the station.  We were forced to wait an hour as the security guards hunted down someone to bring us the key.  We stood there sweltering in the Colombian heat suffering the Colombian disco.

[Savonarola]

Prado Plaza

Downtown Santa Marta is filled with one or two story buildings, mostly built in a row.  FeNoCo's headquarters are in a five story building called Prado Plaza.  It stands out by being so tall, but also by being set apart from other buildings.

FeNoCo occupies the top floor of the building.  Most of the office is cubicles.  They had a separated general office for the local management.  WD took over part of that office and set up the work station that I had smuggled in on my first trip.  He could monitor and update the system from there.

I went to Prado Plaza only for meetings.  Usually I was there because I needed something from Bill and I had to sit quietly until the meeting ended.  The meeting room was a fishbowl in the middle of the cubicles.  I spent my time watching people pass by as Bill drifted ever further off topic.

The office was well maintained.  In order to encourage bathroom cleanliness they have a passive-aggressive sign up in their bathroom which told everyone to be fair and to be human with regard to their use of the bathroom.  It seemed to have worked, the bathroom was always sparkling, but the building itself was run down.

"We wanted to leave," said Pat, the head of operations, "But the building is owned by a drug lord."

The building was one of his ways of laundering money.  The rent was low, but they had an elaborate way of paying it.  The landlord demanded to be paid in cash, put in a sealed envelope, delivered to a bagman at a set hour on a set day.

The conglomerate which ultimately owns FeNoCo is out of Canada, and Pat is Canadian.  He got wind of this payment policy and said "No."  Instead he had his accountants cut a check and send it by mail.  The landlord was, reportedly, furious.  Pat is hoping that the landlord will just kick them out.  The rest of us are hoping they'll at least find Pat's body so his widow will have some sort of closure.

I don't know how many other tenants were in the same situation as FeNoCo.  Some of them are fronts for the drug lord.  There's a good sized shoe store.  Pat said "Have you ever seen anyone buy shoes there?"

I hadn't, I'd never seen anyone in there but the clerks.  The shoe store is just another money laundering scheme.

Pat would talk about this because he was a foreigner.  Colombians themselves never mention the drug trade.  One time, when we had the conversation about Trump being America's Maduro, another Colombian mentioned that Trump was building a hotel in Medellín.  I said "So he's not the next Maduro, he's the next Pablo Escobar," and all the Colombians grew really quiet.

That was my faux pas.  The drug trade is the thing that the gringos find fascinating.  As part of our transition to Alstom we got a new human relations manager.  As she was introducing herself I told her that I was working on the Colombian project.  She said, "Oh, I want to go there, I want to see the zoo."  I had to tell her that Pablo Escobar's private zoo was long gone.

[MadImmortalMan]

I really should get into South American real estate.


I got guns. 

[Savonarola]

I really should get into South American real estate.


I got guns. 

From what I learned, in Colombia in order to be successful you must either:

A.)  Constantly socialize everything you are going to do that will have an impact to the community and, if needed, be willing to offer token amounts to those impacted or
B.)  Kill people.  Frequently.



If I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I might be tempted to do business in Colombia.  There were a lot of frustrations; but it also looked like there was a lot of opportunity as well.

[Malthus]

I really should get into South American real estate.


I got guns. 

From what I learned, in Colombia in order to be successful you must either:

A.)  Constantly socialize everything you are going to do that will have an impact to the community and, if needed, be willing to offer token amounts to those impacted or
B.)  Kill people.  Frequently.



If I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I might be tempted to do business in Colombia.  There were a lot of frustrations; but it also looked like there was a lot of opportunity as well.

You don't say which strategy you would employ.

[Savonarola]

You don't say which strategy you would employ.

Interestingly enough, despite the crime associated with the drug trade and the ongoing war between FARC and the government, the Colombians don't consider their country to be dangerous; unlike Brazil (and probably the United States, but they were to polite to say it to me) where street crime is random and violent.  They say that "In Colombia there has never been a bullet without someone's name on it."

In my opinion that's a little over generous to Colombia, the metro in Bogotá is notoriously dangerous for women.

[Savonarola]

Muling Drugs

In the United States only doctors are allowed to write prescriptions, but in many other countries pharmacists can as well.  This came as something of a surprise when my wife and I were visiting China.  Her knees were hurting, so we went to a nearby drug store.  The pharmacists spoke no English, and we spoke no Mandarin but through gestures we managed to convey the issue.  I was expecting them to give us something like Advil, but instead we got a prescription for medication for rheumatoid arthritis.  That worked wonders for her.

Colombia has a similar setup where pharmacists can prescribe drugs; also drugs are considerably cheaper in Colombia than in the United States and many medicines that are available only by prescription in the US are available over the counter in Colombia.  Consequently a number of us were asked by our coworkers to bring pharmaceuticals back into the United States.

Gary had me bring him back some topical ointment.  On a slow work day I went to a pharmacy with a picture of what I was looking for.  The pharmacist didn't carry it, but knew where we could get it.  Rather than telling us where to go, she sent her delivery boy out on his motorcycle.  My driver and I hung out at the drug store for about half an hour.  The driver made small talk with the pharmacist and I looked at their merchandise.  I learned you can buy hard liquor at Colombian drug stores; for those self-medicating.   They carried aguardiente in rectangular paper cartons; some the size of juice boxes; others were a full liter.

On another trip Rick asked Bill to bring him back Viagra.  That requires a pharmacist's prescription in Colombia, but with the help of our drivers and a friendly pharmacist Rick was sure he could do it.  Throughout the trip he kept texting Bill pictures of Viagra, or things like "The little blue pill," "Cesar knows where you can find it," and "You got to get it for me."

With the money Rick gave him (I think it was about $200) Bill ended up with twenty boxes of Viagra.

"What are you going to say if you get searched by customs?" I asked.

"I'll tell them it's not mine.  I bought it for a friend," said Bill.

"Like they've never heard that before; how about, "My wife is very demanding?'"

Fortunately they didn't search Bill land he got his drugs into the country.

One of the stranger perks of going on this project was getting anti-malarial pills.  In the US health care system if you have insurance you pay a reduced rate for treatment and a medicine until a certain deductible is met.  Our shots and anti-malarial pill were both paid for by GE and counted against our overall deductible.  It seems strange to find delight in a perk like that; but everyone on the project did.

[KRonn]

Sav, you do get into some interesting things and info on your job.

[Savonarola]

Luis Fernando

My baldness has become quite prominent; so prominent that on separate occasions both Jeff and Luis Fernando asked me if I was Jewish.  I am not, though my bald spot would be perfectly concealed by a Yarmulke.  Luis said that it was okay, if I was Jewish than he was a Muslim (since he shaves his head.)

Luis Fernando was one of the ET Solutions gang.  Originally they had all worked together all the time.  By the end of the project they had their individual areas; Luis Fernando handled the field work.  Originally he was from Medellin; when he was young he had studied engineering at the university there.  His grandmother died and with the financial strain her death put on the family he was forced to abandon his studies.  He went to work in a bank for 16 years; until the bank collapsed.  At that point he decided he had enough of banks and became a technician instead.  Technology was his vocation after all; he learned quickly and he was good at what he did.

We worked together on installing repeaters.  On a train there's a device on the locomotive and on the back end of the train (EOT or End of Train device) that delivers a handshake every so many seconds to another device in the locomotive (HOT or Head of Train device.)  This is to ensure that there hasn't been a break in the train, and that all the cars are still there.  (This system is why there are no longer cabooses.)  These devices can communicate directly by wire (in which case every car must be wired specially) or by radio.  Our devices worked by radio.

Felix told us that the first project he had worked on the customer insisted that these sorts of devices be installed on every train; even if it was a single locomotive.  He was unable to convince the customer that it was impossible for there to be a break on a single car; so every locomotive that was moving around the yard had its own EOT.

The devices we were using had issues.  We had designed them to be used on an 1800 m trains; they were marginal at that distance.  When our customer started making trains that were 2400 m our devices failed routinely.  In order have successful we needed repeaters to receive and rebroadcast the signal at a higher power.  Luis Fernando and I went to the field to install the repeaters.  We put the hardware in the shelters; FeNoCo had a team of tower climbers who went out in the field with us.  The first site we did was in Rio Frio.  There was an enormous tree which was growing next to the tower.  It must have been there since time immemorial, since a branch was used to support the cable tray.  It was now so large that its branches grew straight through the tower.  We lost sight of the climber as he got midway up the tower and didn't see him again until he made it to the top.

That wasn't the worst tower climbing adventure.  At Loma Colorada our tower climber made it about 30 feet up, stopped and rushed down.

"There's a giant bee's hive there," he said.

It was a hive filled with African killer bees.  We had to wait a couple days for the bee removing crew to arrive, fumigate and remove the hive before the climber could go back.

The worst adventure we had, though, was at Canoas.  There had been a heavy rain the night before and the two track going in had turned to a thick field of mud.  Luis Fernando drove his own truck, and I was riding with Cesar.  Every so often they'd get out and studiously observe the mud puddles before them.  They kept deciding to go; but they ran into one, Luis Fernando's car sank into it and got stuck.  We gathered all sorts of rocks, sticks, palm leaves and debris to wedge under the tires, but it wouldn't budge.  We had some coaxial cable remnants in the truck, Cesar lashed those to his bumper and to Luis Fernando's hitch eight times around.  It was a fine example of Colombian engineering.  The cable snapped almost as soon as Cesar put it in reverse.

Finally Cesar and I got at the hood and pushed Luis Fernando out, getting sprayed with mud in the process.  Cesar and Luis Fernando thought that me getting sprayed with mud was the funniest thing.  "You don't do this every day," said Cesar.

With Luis Fernando's car safely out, we decided not to take any more chances with the mud puddles.  We grabbed our radio equipment and hiked to the tower.  It was about a mile with heavy gear under the Colombian sun.

"Study, study, my Mother said," said Luis Fernando when we got there.

The FeNoCo people showed up a couple minutes later.  They had arrived without issue.  When we told them about our ordeal, they asked "Well, why didn't you just go on the other side of the track?"  It turns out the other side was perfectly dry and they had made it without a problem.

[Savonarola]

Sav, you do get into some interesting things and info on your job.

Yeah, this project was a great experience.  I learned a lot, and got to do a lot of things I never had before.  My only regret is that we almost never had free time, so I never got to hike in the Sierra Madre de Sante Marta mountains or see Bolivar's house and his original tomb.