Coal headed east on the CNW main, I mean. Years ago it ran thru Omaha, presumably to avoid the 1.7 miles of 1% grade on the route east from Fremont. Does it still? If they do climb east from Arlington, what power do they have, on how many cars?
timz Coal headed east on the CNW main, I mean. Years ago it ran thru Omaha, presumably to avoid the 1.7 miles of 1% grade on the route east from Fremont. Does it still? If they do climb east from Arlington, what power do they have, on how many cars?
Depends on the size of the coal train. They run some the "short way" via Blair. Others via Omaha. It also depends on traffic considerations.
135 cars with a two by one locomotive combination will make it over Arlington. It'll top the hill about 10 to 12 mph. They've even ran some of the double coal trains via Blair.
Jeff
Thanks -- I was hoping to hear what you had to say. Any idea how fast the 135-car train needs to hit the foot of the hill to be doing 10-12 mph over the top?
The fastest run for the hill can only be 40 mph due to a permanent speed restriction at the bottom. Recently some track relocation removed one 40, but only gained about a mile and a half more room from a different permanent restriction.
Years ago a conductor told me of a tech riding a coal train with hime gathering data. The condr asked how fast they, with a 135 2x1 coal train would top the hill. The tech said his program predicted about 12 mph. And they did just that.
The condr asked what speed they would do if the 135 car train had all engines in the front. The tech ran the program and said it predicted a speed of 3 mph. However, it also predicted that such a train would have a separation, knuckle or drawbar while cresting the top of the hill.
Thanks. A 135-car train couldn't hit the hill at much more than 40 mph anyway, could it? The approach is too level.
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