Railroad Forums 

  • Could it be 3 miles long?

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1517861  by SST
 
I'm sitting at the Frontier Yard and enjoying the view. Good timing today. It really busy. One train has caught my attention. It is a very long stack train with 2 engines on the front and 2 engines operating in the middle. Crew change and departure westbound about 7:20pm.

While I'm writing this an eastbounder is departing the yard. I think this maybe longer than the westbound. But with 1 engine leading and one in the middle.

Are they combining trains together or do we have a good economy still going?
 #1517863  by C2629
 
The west bound you saw sounds like it probably was a normal Q003. Not sure about the eastbound but CSX runs some very long trains, both freight and stack.
 #1517871  by charlie6017
 
SST wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 6:34 pm I'm sitting at the Frontier Yard and enjoying the view. Good timing today. It really busy. One train has caught my attention. It is a very long stack train with 2 engines on the front and 2 engines operating in the middle. Crew change and departure westbound about 7:20pm.

While I'm writing this an eastbounder is departing the yard. I think this maybe longer than the westbound. But with 1 engine leading and one in the middle.

Are they combining trains together or do we have a good economy still going?
Yep -- as C2629 says, CSX is running longer trains now with the advent of distributed power and precision railroading. Norfolk
Southern is doing similar things on the Southern Tier and their other lines. It's not uncommon now to have trains 17,000 ft. and
possibly even longer.

Charlie
 #1517927  by tree68
 
I watch the Deshler, OH rail cam - many trains through there are running to (and over) 11,000 feet. DPUs are getting to be the norm.
 #1518328  by Matt Langworthy
 
NS has run some trains in excess of 17,000 feet on the Tier. This has allowed them to remove 36T and 37T from the line but there are drawbacks. For example, NS attempted to run 309 with length of 17,000+ ft and no DPU a couple weeks ago. The train was unable to exceed 30 mph. NS 309 has generally been a morning train between Bingo and Buffalo of late, but that 17,000 ft monster didn't get to Bison Yard until after dark.
 #1518409  by SST
 
Matt Langworthy wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:24 am NS has run some trains in excess of 17,000 feet on the Tier. This has allowed them to remove 36T and 37T from the line but there are drawbacks. For example, NS attempted to run 309 with length of 17,000+ ft and no DPU a couple weeks ago. The train was unable to exceed 30 mph. NS 309 has generally been a morning train between Bingo and Buffalo of late, but that 17,000 ft monster didn't get to Bison Yard until after dark.
I've see the equivalent of that eastbound crossing CP Draw. LONG!
 #1518550  by RMB357
 
17,000 feet is just insanity. If they try this nonsense in the winter it's going to completely backfire on them. Who the heck would even try walking that if it got stopped by a dragging equipment detector?? Broken air hose? Imagine trying to change a broken nuckle at just the middle.
 #1518682  by lvrr325
 
Conrail used to have temperature car handling protocols, when it got below a certain temperature they limited the number of cars, usually when it was 10' or below.

DPUs may alleviate the need for that though.
 #1518917  by newpylong
 
RMB357 wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 10:21 pm 17,000 feet is just insanity. If they try this nonsense in the winter it's going to completely backfire on them. Who the heck would even try walking that if it got stopped by a dragging equipment detector?? Broken air hose? Imagine trying to change a broken nuckle at just the middle.
No one in their right mind would. That is why they have more roving carmen now, and more company vans ready to move the conductor around. More times than not it will work out to the benefit of the RR though.
 #1519005  by pumpers
 
newpylong wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:05 am No one in their right mind would. That is why they have more roving carmen now, and more company vans ready to move the conductor around. More times than not it will work out to the benefit of the RR though.
To further that point, with a ROW that was once probably at least 4 tracks, now with generally 2 tracks, there is probably a path for a RR pickup truck along side the tracks for just about the entire way across NY, so that any point requiring a new knuckle, air hose, etc can be reached without the train crew having to get out and walk.
 #1519068  by tree68
 
pumpers wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:43 am ...there is probably a path for a RR pickup truck along side the tracks for just about the entire way across NY, so that any point requiring a new knuckle, air hose, etc can be reached without the train crew having to get out and walk.
Maybe a tracked vehicle in the winter time...