October Trains, Page 44

[Anonymous]

Since retiring, I have renewed my interest in railroading, but need to catch up on some basics. I live within 300 yards of a CSX mainline in WV and am intrigued by the amount of power used on the coal drags. Most of the 80-100 car trains are powered by AC 4400CW's which I believe are rated at 4400HP each. Assuming 100 tons/car, the HPT works out to roughly 1:1. According to the table on page 44 of October "Trains", the average BNSF trains were running at HPT ratios well in excess of 1:1. Is this difference attributed to the western terrain and/or higher speed, or are there other reasons?

Secondly in the same table, I think the column headed "status" infers that trains were either ahead or behind schedule. If that is the case, was BARTULI 14 really 3 days behind schedule, or am I missing something?.

[ericsp]

You didn't say how many AC4400CW s are used per train. I am assuming 3. For 100 100-ton cars, this gives 13,200 HP and 10,000 tons. This makes 1.32:1 HPT ratio, which is on the low end of the BNSF range. It seems like CSX also has AC6000CW (6000 HP), could they be on these trains?

Things to factor into the HPT are grades, helpers, and maximum speed the will be traveling.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I should have said there are normally two engines. They are AC4400's because its written on the side. There are no helpers, and the speed is around 50MPH. Grades are typical for central and eastern WV.

[CShaveRR]

Acually, Jonath was closer with his 1:1 ratio, because a loaded 100-ton car has a gross rail load (the weight of the coal, plus the car itself) of almost 132 tons (263,000 pounds is the standard figure--131.5 tons).

I doubt that those trains are doing anywhere near 50. But they're probably in no danger of stalling, either, if the power holds up.

[mvlandsw]

Where are you located? In some locations two units will run 50mph with 100+ loads. CSX uses the minimum horsepower needed to move their coal trains. I've been down to 5mph and below on some hills. If the rail conditions and locomotive performance are not good you have to double the hill or wait for a pusher. Either situation ties up the line and makes the dispatcher unhappy.