I was in town the other day in which the Norfolk Southern mainline from Columbia to Charleston passes through. A train happeded to passing through so I watched. It had 4 wide cab locomotives.( I'm not a good loco identifier) The lead locomotive was a Union Pacific and the rest Norfolk Southern. Why was the UP on NS's mainline? BTW, i got to see many renumbered fallen flags rolling stock.
willy6 Why was the UP on NS's mainline?
One of three things:
1. Run through agreement for the specific train.
2. Equalizing run hours on locomotives (railroads loan out locomotives to each other (run through agreements) if there is unequal run time, one railroad will owe the other).
3. NS was outright leasing the UP locomotive due to motive power shortage.
My guess is number 2
You forgot another reason.
Norfolk Southern is buying locomotives from Union Pacific and slowly renumbering them. Like the SD90Macs.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
That is nothing new. Here in Ohio on the NS you can see solid BNSF or UP locomotive consist,UP,KCS,CP,CN,leasers and CSX units almost daily.
The reason is simple the railroads are pooling their engines so,there's less time switching and transferring complete trains.
What this means the railroads can downsize yards,eliminate transfer runs, shutter yard offices and eliminate switch crews and supporting yard jobs..
A train bound from L A to (say) Conway can be made up by the UP and cars can be added or removed enroute and the UP units may stay with the train to Conway.
The railroads been trying for years to get "seamless" routing and after the mega mergers it looks like they succeeded.
Even Conway has been downsized!
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Thank you, they were all great answers and I learned something. Also about 2 years ago, I saw a train on the north / south CSX mainline on the coast being pulled by two UP locomotives.
angelob6660 You forgot another reason. Norfolk Southern is buying locomotives from Union Pacific and slowly renumbering them. Like the SD90Macs.
I thought the former 9043MACs were staying in the Altoona-Harrisburg area until rebuilt at Juniata? May not be correct on that. I road through there last november (on the Pennsylvanian) and saw several 9043s in the dead line including one of the INRD locomotives.
I highly recommend the eastbound Pennsylvanian trip (Horshoe Curve is in daylight)
The use of other railroad locomotives no longer surprises me after all I have seen CSX and NS locos together and aren't they competitors?
Joe Staten Island West
joe323 The use of other railroad locomotives no longer surprises me after all I have seen CSX and NS locos together and aren't they competitors?
Under the old school way of thinking yes but,under the new way of "profit first" they pool engines to cut jobs,close and downsize yards.Never mind that terminal dwell time can be as high as forty hours at some congested yards.
The railroads are currently pushing hard for one man road crews.
BRAKIEUnder the old school way of thinking yes but,under the new way of "profit first" they pool engines to cut jobs,close and downsize yards.
As long as the "new" starts in the 1930's because that's at least how long railroads have been pooling engines. Diesels just made it easier.
If you don't think profit is important, when was the last time you saw a Milwaukee or Rock Island engine?
Never mind that terminal dwell time can be as high as forty hours at some congested yards.
Run throughs decrease terminal time. The UP makes trains at N Platte, NE with blocks for Selkirk, NY. The train runs through Chicago, direct to Selkirk. The CSX builds a train at Selkirk with blocks for N Platte. The train runs through Chicago, direct to N Platte. ZERO hours of switching time at Chicago in either direction. Then comes Harrison, he stops the run through trains, now all the trains terminate at Chicago, all the cars terminate at Chicago, Chicago now has to make the N Platte and Selkirk blocks. 24-48 hours of switching time at the nations most congested terminal vs. zero with run throughs. How do you figure that not switching cars in a terminal takes longer than switching cars in a terminal.
Don't know if they are pushing hard or not, but the technology exists to use one man crews in certain areas, and I'm sure you are going to see it in the future. PTC will remove many of the barriers to having 1 man crews. Amtrak operates many passenger trains with defacto one man crews (as do most commuter agencies), having only one man in the cab of the engine/control car. The Lac Megantic disaster wasn't as much a one man crew problem (although that gets a lot of the blame), it was more of a poor training, poor evaluation and poor practices problem. If the rules say to apply 10 hand brakes then regardless of whether there is one person on the crew or 20 they will set 10 handbrakes. If every day they count on the train brakes to hold the train, then they will count on the train brakes to hold the train whether there is one person on the crew or 20.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Dave,It seems that "Seamless Transportation" is working out quite well considering the yards that has been closed or downsize and the number of railroad jobs lost.
I suspect the professional iconoclast John G. Kneiling would be all smiles.
I recall when it was a big deal to see a foreign road engine on the local railroads now,it so common nobody gets excited.
Profit isn't a bad word except when cutting corners means cutting safety just to make a exta buck in order to please the shareholders..
As far as the Lac Megantic disaster they charged the engineer but,it was the firefighters that shut down the locomotive after putting out a fire in the locomotive and the air bled off.
I fully agree there should have been more then one hand brake set.
Run-through agreements aren't anything new, but they are more common now. Here in St.Paul MN I often see Norfolk Southern engines, hundreds of miles from NS trackage, taking part in a run-through agreement with BNSF dating back to a New York Central - Burlington Route agreement from c.1960.
Not sure if on the net or in one of my books: I have seen a photo of three or four Southern Pacific locomotives in New York City.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
wjstixRun-through agreements aren't anything new, but they are more common now.
Indeed..Railfaning today is like nothing I can recall since you never know what road name or leasor you'll see on the next train.
I can still recall the excitement when PRR leased some Santa Fe 2-10-4s.
How much excitement?
Think about seeing a Y6 under steam on the NS when they finish rebuilding it.
I'm not sure that formalized run-through agreements are more prevalent now than in the past. I think with the easier record keeping through computerization that locomotives change railroads more often now than in the past. Trains that at one time might have changed locomotives when handed off no longer do. Once a foreign line engine arrives at the destination terminal, it may not go directly back to the home road. It might "wander around" a bit, generally heading towards the home road. It might be paying off owed horsepower hours, or it might be accruing them for the foriegn line.
In addition to the locomotives themselves, certain items also seem to wander around foriegn roads. Radios and/or handsets, EOTs and the head end devices that control them for the most part are interchangealbe. I was once on a UP engine heading out on a branch line local that had a BNSF head end device and an Amtrak radio.
Jeff
jeffhergertIt might "wander around" a bit, generally heading towards the home road. It might be paying off owed horsepower hours, or it might be accruing them for the foriegn line.
I've seen a locomotive consist of DM&E, a LTEX ,CP and NS engines on a Eastbound tank train on the CSX through Fostoria with nary a CSX engine in the consist.
Gotta love today's raolfaning.
Just got home from a little railfan trip to Berea, Ohio. Caught a westbound mixed freight with 4 locomotives, 2 BNSF & 2 Union Pacific. Hereto, no NS in sight.
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
tcwright973 Just got home from a little railfan trip to Berea, Ohio. Caught a westbound mixed freight with 4 locomotives, 2 BNSF & 2 Union Pacific. Hereto, no NS in sight.
Could be run though power being returned to the home road?