While eating a late picnic lunch, I saw a 130(approx) car unit coal train west bound... nothing unusual about that, except it was a loaded coal train... around here (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.P. mainline, former C&NW) unit coal trains are loaded when EASTbound and EMPTY when WESTbound!
All the cars were rotary dump style that I see on all the unit coal trains around here, but had the UP shield. The contents sure looked like the same stuff that I see in unit coal trains going East.
Anybody got any idea what has happened? Did the engineer veer to the right when he was supposed to bear left? Somebody at the power plant refuse delivery?
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Is Newcastle west of Cedar Rapids?
That reminds me--a few months ago I saw a loaded coal train on UP on the Rochelle cam, then not long after there was a loaded coal train going in the opposite direction. I don't know much about coal, but was wondering about types of coal. Isn't eastern coal more suited for metalurgical use and western coal burned for power generation (low sulfur)? Just guessing.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
54light15 Is Newcastle west of Cedar Rapids?
Newcastle, CO has no way to handle coal anymore, once it gets here. (Coal mines went away with the Colorado Midland)
Somebody may be mixing coal for credit.
I think it was coal for ADM. They get coal from the east (I think from Kentucky or southern Illinois mines) and blend it with Powder River coal. At least I heard that's what they did once. I thought most of it comes via the Iowa Interstate/Crandic, but I know UP has had them on occasion. (I had one once out of Clinton. I remember it because, as you say, it's unusual for a westbound load of coal. Also the EOT's hose came apart throwing us in emergency.)
Jeff
Where were you eating lunch at, SV? If it was coal for ADM, and he was at track speed through Beverly, he better be hitting the brakes hard...
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
blhanel Where were you eating lunch at, SV? If it was coal for ADM, and he was at track speed through Beverly, he better be hitting the brakes hard...
All interchange of unit trains to the Crandic usually takes place at Fairfax now.
I was at the west end of Beverly Yds. I believe it came to a stop after the tail end crested the hill between Beverly and Farfetched (err, sorry... Fairfax). so maybe it was preparing (drop the conductor off to throw the switch) to back into the CRandIC connection.
Makes sense now... maybe...
Still, strange to see coal going west!
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