Electric Freight Lines

[Anonymous]

Not so long ago in a galaxie very near by there was this railroad called the Milwalkee ( sp) Road which I beleive was electrified from Seatle to somewhere in Montana. When diesels came along the first thing they did was pull out the catinary because it couldn't compete with the cost of running diesels. A 4400 horse power diesel pruduces about 5 .2 Mega Watts of power . To pull a freight it takes maybe two diesels at a minimum so it doesn't take to many trains and the railroad quickly finds that It won't be able to buy the power necessary to move its freight so it has to go into the power generation business. I doublt that the numbers mentioned to electrify included building power plants too. The North East of course was already electrified by the Pemsylvania and the New York Central and Amtrak buys power from the utilities that evolved from the Pen Central company

[Anonymous]

Not so long ago in a galaxie very near by there was this railroad called the Milwalkee ( sp) Road which I beleive was electrified from Seatle to somewhere in Montana. When diesels came along the first thing they did was pull out the catinary because it couldn't compete with the cost of running diesels. A 4400 horse power diesel pruduces about 5 .2 Mega Watts of power . To pull a freight it takes maybe two diesels at a minimum so it doesn't take to many trains and the railroad quickly finds that It won't be able to buy the power necessary to move its freight so it has to go into the power generation business. I doublt that the numbers mentioned to electrify included building power plants too. The North East of course was already electrified by the Pemsylvania and the New York Central and Amtrak buys power from the utilities that evolved from the Pen Central company

[TH&B]

Electrification is clearly most suitable for relatively short and dense routes or networks. It is fun to think about how it would be to electrify the Chicago to California freight line (Santa Fe), but you have to ask what would the goal be?
Electrification is also very risky, choosing the wrong voltage and system could spell dissaster. Technoligy can change and you're stuck with an obsolete system before it is even completed.
I think electrifying the main lines in LA for the comuter trains and maybe even freight trains could be a solution to smog (if the electricity comes from a clean source that is). Is a diesel passenger train driving around in LA not contributing to smog there?

[TH&B]

Electrification is clearly most suitable for relatively short and dense routes or networks. It is fun to think about how it would be to electrify the Chicago to California freight line (Santa Fe), but you have to ask what would the goal be?
Electrification is also very risky, choosing the wrong voltage and system could spell dissaster. Technoligy can change and you're stuck with an obsolete system before it is even completed.
I think electrifying the main lines in LA for the comuter trains and maybe even freight trains could be a solution to smog (if the electricity comes from a clean source that is). Is a diesel passenger train driving around in LA not contributing to smog there?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

An article in TRAINS in about the mid-1960's about New Haven's re-electrification of freight service implied that it's worth using the wires if they are already in place. NH had MU suburban service and some EP-5 powered through passenger trains but freight service was dieselized. New electrification probably won't happen based on initial cost and lack of standardization regarding voltage & frequency. Electrification would imply a mixed fleet of straight electric and diesel locomotives since yards, branches and secondary mains probably wouldn't get electrified, so maintenance costs of motive power would go up.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

An article in TRAINS in about the mid-1960's about New Haven's re-electrification of freight service implied that it's worth using the wires if they are already in place. NH had MU suburban service and some EP-5 powered through passenger trains but freight service was dieselized. New electrification probably won't happen based on initial cost and lack of standardization regarding voltage & frequency. Electrification would imply a mixed fleet of straight electric and diesel locomotives since yards, branches and secondary mains probably wouldn't get electrified, so maintenance costs of motive power would go up.