BNSF Operates 10,000 Foot Intermodal Train

This past May BNSF operated a 10,000 foot train from Los Angeles to Chicago. A news article http://www.altamontpress.com/discussion ... 6#msg-4916 is the second story from the top tells that this train departed May 12, 2007 from Los Angeles arriving in Chicago May 15, 2007.

It sounded to me as if BNSF wanted to do this on a regular basis. I'm not sure if they did thou.

BNSF CEO Matt Rose mentioned this at an employee town hall meeting in La Crosse, WI a couple of weeks ago. The company does plan on running 10,000' long trains on the Transcon.

As Mr. Santucci has mentioned in his column on more than one occasion, running such long trains may be a problem when the weather gets colder.

Well we have a sup that thinks we can tie two coal trains togther and run them from Lincoln to galesburg with only 4 motors ( thats a goal maybe we will just use 3 ) But we have three hills on our division ( ottumwa) and Red Oak that I know of on the Creston.

However we all know that underpowered over tonnage trains bog down everything. Also like you said in cold weather its a mess. Had a V PTLBLU that couldnt hold its air cause of temp once. SUCKED!!!!!!! What a lousy trip is all I am saying about that.

Let them run 10,000 footers I am sure Corwith will love it. we will be 3rd out at Nerska tower and still be in joliet

"However we all know that underpowered over tonnage trains bog down everything. Also like you said in cold weather its a mess. Had a V PTLBLU that couldnt hold its air cause of temp once. SUCKED!!!!!!! What a lousy trip is all I am saying about that. "

It had a couple locomotives running in the rear for distributed power I believe. Wouldn't that would help with the cold weather problem?

It's interesting to see that railroads are just catching on to CN's operating practices. 10,000ft. trains are the norm on CN now. Intermodal and general freight.

There is an article about this 10,000' stack train in the BNSF company magazine, Railway. This train had a total of six units. Four up front and two DP units in the rear.

You can help the cold weather problem by DP'ing them like they do grain trains out of Gallup and Needles. 3 up front, 2 in the middle and 2 on the rear. That give you three sources of air to pump the train up with. Still, that is a whole lot of train to pump up. If you handle it like a Z with limited color, it should go pretty smooth. Should, not will, should.

10,000 FT intermodal trains are not totally foreign on CSX....especially on trains from Boston like Q115 and Q117. Intermodal trains with UPS Cargo from North Jersey usually do not have the length because they are hotter trains.

Lakeshore Dave

Saw a thread on the Train Orders web site that the UP ran a 15,000' stacker. Does anyone have any details on this?
Not only are trains getting longer on the BNSF, some are getting heavier. I have recently gotten some west bound stackers that were well over 100 TOB. The containers were filled with grain headed for China.

I was looking at ABTH 104.11 (Air Brake & Train Handling Rule). Here are some of the maximum & minimum times needed to charge the air at different train lengths:
5,000 ft. 20 minutes (min.) 40 minutes (max.)
6,000 ft. 26 minutes (min.) 55 minutes (max.)
10,000 ft. 71 minutes (min.) 125 minutes (max.)
11,000 ft. 80 minutes (min.) 160 minutes (max.)

running such long trains may be a problem when the weather gets colder.

What's the problem in detail?
the tensile strength of metal?

5,000 ft. 20 minutes (min.) 40 minutes (max.)
10,000 ft. 71 minutes (min.) 125 minutes (max.)

Would be a 10,000 ft train with engines on both ends handle like a 5,000 ft train in terms of Air Brake & Train Handling Rule?

The cold causes a couple of problems. In weather 10 degrees F & below the metal air line contracts & causes leaks. The rubber air hoses stiffen up & can cause air leaks in between the glad hands. The air brake control valves on cars may freeze up.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, ditributed power (DP) does help reduce the time it takes to pump up the air, since air is being pumped in from both ends of the train. Why more long trains don't have DP during the Winter is a good question that I do not have an answer to.

10,000 ft is normal on CN, not just the intermodals.

Does the CN often run distributive power (DP)? A couple of people mentioned that the CN frequently runs 10,000'+ trains. I have noticed this too. I don't think I have seen any of these really long trains with DP.

No hawko, but I wish they did and it would sure make the engineers job easier. Actually, 2 big units (c44-9, GEVO, sd70) is standard on these monsters. Crazy eh? No wonder CN is the most financially sound railroad.