Strange train stuff

[kolechovski]

I have a vast series of questions...

First, before NS took over Conrail, our coal trains that ran to the Keystone generating Station ran trains of about 80 coal hoppers per train on average, though the most I've counted was 122 on a train. They usually had four smaller units on each end of the train, though I was too far away to tell exactly what type they were, I believe they were SD40-2s. When NS took over, they got rid of all those smaller locomotives and just stuck 2 SD80MACs on each end of the train, and have been running that way since. Another note-the trains now average 100 carloads, though i've never counted specifically any time. Why the switch? Sure there are benefits of the larger units, but still...

Second, sometimes when a train is coming in, a few minutes before it arrives at the crossing of Ruote 156 in Shelocta, PA, a van pulls up near the tracks and waits for it. Usually a couple minutes after it has arrived and started to go by, it tnen leaves. What is the job of the guy in the van, and what info does he write down on whatever papers he has? BTW, rarely is it ever used for crew changes, so that ain't it. On that subject, though...

Third, sometimes when the train is coming into the plant, the bring the train a decent way in, then park the train, and the crew bails out. I've then seen the train of fully loaded hoppers sit as much as a week. Often though, they bring it in and begin unloading immediately. Within a little over 3 hours, they are going back with the empties. Why do they sometimes leave it for so long?

Forth, I've seen some very stange movements,a nd am wondering what could possibly be going on. The most common of these starnge moves, though still rare, is that they will bring the train in, past the crossing of 156. Then after a couple minutes, they bring the train backwards, back across 156, and then park it there. What's the point of moving the train back across, and why didn't they just leave it there in the first place instead going over the crossing 2 times? In one very strange instance, they brought a train in with 5 smaller locos on the front, 4 gondolas (which I have never before seen used on this line), and 2 more locos on the back? What could be the reason for this unsuual sight? Finally, recently on one of the trains, I saw a Union Pacific SD70M on the back of one of the trains as they left the plant. It was the first I've ever seen a "live" UP engine. Why did they bother to lease this engine, especially when there are hoards of others?

Any input/ ideas/ knowledge is welcome. Thanks for your time.

edit-I forgot to ask one other question. What became of those smaller locomotives once NS took over?

[mvlandsw]

The van may be protecting the crossings. I don't believe there is much traffic on this line and the rail may be rusty. The reason for the reverse move over the crossing is probably to get the gates to go up or the crosing flashers to shut off. If a train pulls up to a crossing on the approach circuit and stops the warning devices will remain activated unless they have a timeout feature. If you go completely over the crossing the cycle will be completed for both directions and the gates and/or lights will shut off.

[edblysard]

Start with the van...Most likely a employee of the plant, checking the head cars against the train sheet generated by the AEI scanner.

Park it and leave..maybe two things at work here...one the plant dosnt need the coke just yet, and it is cheaper and easier to store it in the train than on the ground, and two, the crew might be on the housr of service law, and have no choice.

Drag across, and then back up...see above,,,the plant might have decided just then it didnt need that train unloaded just yet, or the crew has been on duty long enough that they do not have enough time left to drag all the way into the plant..

Couldnt tell you how many times thats has happened to me, drag 90 empty covered hoppers out to Phillips, run around them and start to shove the plant, only to find no empty tracks to spot them in...then the plant manager come running out to lets us know they missed a production run, and dont need the cars yet...all it takes is one person forgetting to communicate...

Ed

[DPD1]

Can't answer all those, but as far as the units... The overall feeling of the big roads over the years has seem to be, the less units you have, the better, and the less individual trains you have, the better. Less units, less maintenance... Less trains, less traffic and meets on the system. But the 'larger and less' concept seems to have reached a peak, and maybe even reversed a little, as far as the locos go at least. Seems like they started realizing the 'bigger is better' style of running less units, with each unit having more horse power, didn't work out as well as they thought. I think mainly because, if you have one unit break that's responsible for half the power in the train, you're screwed. Where as, one unit down out of 4-6, will still probably be enough to get you where you need to go. I think that's why the big 90 series high horsepower style units didn't take off as much as they thought they would, and the smaller 70 series became so popular. It just gives more flexibility.

As for train lengths, they are always experimenting with that stuff... Management changes, and what was tried by three guys before the new guy, gets tried again because he thinks he's got some brilliant plan nobody ever thought of before, and then it fails again. I know UP has been doing the DPU thing more on coal trains recently... Some may stay that way, others may go back to normal.

As to sitting trains at plants, that could be all kinds of reasons... Unloading equipment breakdowns, contract problems, labor disputes, max storage levels met at the plant.... I don't know what your climate is, but sometimes the coal is actually frozen in the car, and they have to wait for it to thaw.

Dave
Los Angeles, CA
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline

[kolechovski]

Sorry, I've been away all week. First, to reply to mvlandsw, it is a good idea, but that's not the case on this line. Before the past several years, the coal trains used to run only during winter. Beginning several years ago, they have been running year-round since, and the train traffic has been seen constantly. Especially these days, with 5 trains per week, the rails are always polished, and don't even have a chance to rust like they did. Although there are back road crossings along this line, I never saw anybody exit the fan and flag the crossings, and the one along Route 156 has flashing signals, so there is no ned to protect it. About the reverse move, also a good thought, but that isn't really the case. For one thing, whenever the signals are left flashing from the train having tripped them, they are almost always left flashing all night long with no attempts made by the crew to get them to shut off. Whenever they do, they don't need to actually cross the road. They just pull right up to the road to where the shut-off switch is (I don't know if it has a technical term or not, but that's what it does), then reverse it, and it shuts off. I believe many of the responses helped greatly. As for DPD1's comment about the freezing, it's seems true that more often in the winter this happens, though edblysard's probably right as well. You'd think with a power plant, there would be no lack of communication with the railroad about these things, but it seems communication even among the railroad is often terrible (I've seen many of these instances). Anyway, thanks to all for your help.

[Anonymous]

The ex-Conrail SD40-2's are still in service in helper, local, and some coal train service (for instance, NS uses three SD40-2's on the PP&L Strawberry Ridge trains). As for the SD80MAC's, NS hasn't really run the SD80MAC's in the service they were made for, frieghts! For some reason they mostly use the MAC's in coal train service now. [:(!][V][:(]

[Anonymous]

NS is also using the 80macs in local service around altoona. They put one on each end so there is no runarounds. I was surprised to see a 10 car train with a 80mac on the front and one on the back. SD80macs and sd40-2 make up most of the helpers around altoona. I also saw a 4 sd80mac light engine move to pick up a fifth unit and then added to a consist of a freight coming up the mountain.
Andrew