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Last post 07-23-2007 8:26 PM by cacole. 9 replies.
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07-21-2007 8:49 PM
Offline CRguitardude243
Not Ranked
Joined on 04-24-2007
Posts 10

NS invaded by baretables?!

2 weeks ago on this years Railfest in the Altoona area, i was in the area for four days, and on every one of them, I noticed that on many of the many intermodals, there would be a long string of empty baretables on the ends of the trains. In addition, the full portions of the trains were considerably shorter than most intermodal trains I have seen previously on the Pittsburgh Line. Is NS suffering a drop in intermodal business or something? Because in this day in age, I wouldn't think that east-west intermodal traffic would be at any less than a premium, or was it just coincidence that there just wasn't as much moving that weekend as on other weekends.

Did anyone else in the area that weekend notice this too?

-Mike 
07-21-2007 9:01 PM In reply to
Offline JoeKoh
Top 25 Contributor
Joined on 04-06-2003
Defiance Ohio
Posts 7,984

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

I was along the line the weekend of the 13th and noticed the container trains were quite full both westbound and eastbound.so maybe they were taking the extras where they were needed.

stay safe

joe
07-21-2007 10:13 PM In reply to
Offline canoncityxp
Not Ranked
Joined on 04-06-2007
Leavenworth
Posts 67

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

I witnessed a UP a few years back west of Kansas City that had a handful of double stacks behind the engines and then at least a mile of naked frames with a lone covered hopper at the tail.  At first I was intrigued by train and then I thought how dangerous this could be for the general public.  Some grade crossings (especially at night) could fool an inattentive driver into thinking the flashers had malfunctioned and t-bone the train.
07-21-2007 10:54 PM In reply to
Offline J. Edgar
Top 500 Contributor
Joined on 10-28-2006
heart of the Pere Marquette
Posts 861

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

 miles of MT tainer trains = mountians of MT tainers......mostly in Jersey or where ever the end of the line is for loads
07-21-2007 11:01 PM In reply to
Offline snagletooth
Not Ranked
Joined on 01-14-2007
Posts 729

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

 It's more than likely just a repositioning of empties. It actually happens alot. Some terminals have more outgoing than incoming, some are heaveir during certain days of the week, yada-yada. BN used to run an empty train into Chicago a couple times a month (from St. Louis, or the Twins, can't remember) to cope with upsurges.
07-22-2007 6:32 PM In reply to
Offline J. Edgar
Top 500 Contributor
Joined on 10-28-2006
heart of the Pere Marquette
Posts 861

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

some far-eastern countries find it easier to just build/buy a new tainer then pay to ship a MT across the country then the ocean....China Shipping and OCCS are the biggest "offenders" here hence you have tainers stacked up on the east coast and MT flats heading west
07-23-2007 3:39 PM In reply to
Offline SALfan
Top 500 Contributor
Joined on 04-18-2002
Northern Florida
Posts 870

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

My understanding is that most container ships tend to offload eastbound full containers in LA/Long Beach, and load westbound full containers in Puget Sound.  This results in large numbers of baretables in the Pacific Northwest, so UP and BNSF have regular runs of baretables southbound in Oregon and California.
07-23-2007 4:36 PM In reply to
Offline jeffhergert
Top 500 Contributor
Joined on 03-26-2003
Central Iowa
Posts 1,149

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

Once in a while you will see a train of westbound empties meet a train of eastbound empties.

Jeff
07-23-2007 6:17 PM In reply to
Offline BaltACD
Top 150 Contributor
Joined on 05-02-2003
US
Posts 2,313

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

Traffic flows on any railroad are rarely equal in both directions....this is especially true when it comes to intermodal traffic, either over the road trailers or international containers....empty equipment is moved at the direction of the owners of the equipment, this applies both to the TTX equipment and the containers and trucks that may or may not occupy the TTX equipment.  Every party involved is trying to maximize the loaded (freight paying) mileage the equipment travels.
07-23-2007 8:26 PM In reply to
Offline cacole
Top 25 Contributor
Joined on 07-23-2003
Sierra Vista, Arizona
Posts 8,593

Re: NS invaded by baretables?!

I've noticed several long strings of empty container well cars heading west on the Union Pacific Sunset Route through SE Arizona lately.  For some unknown reason it seems that many loaded containers that are moved east don't return to the west coast ports.

 
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