The brutality of Sand Patch grade

[Mario_v]

Hello all ;

Here's an hour long movie shoing the custumary action thru Sand Patchgrade. In three words, its Fantastic, brutal & breathtaking.

Is it my impression, or there's a bunch of older power on CSX?

watch?v=tOid0s5PgWM

[GP40-2]

Here's a Sand Patch clip with some even older power:watch?v=c2BoMFZcnDI

Turn the volume way up to get the full effect!

[MP173]

I watched the first 33 minutes, thanks for posting it.

What were the trucks on flat cars on Q368 at the 28 minute mark?  Were those DoD movements?  Interesting with the smoking brakes at the 31 minute mark on Q352.

Ok, never been to Sand Patch.  About how many trains per day are there?  What is the mixture of manifest, coal, auto and intermodal?  Is there a recommended on line guide to Sand Patch? 

I just put it on the my list of things to do....perhaps known as bucket list. 

 

Great video.

Ed

[Firelock76]

Older power on CSX?  I don't know, it may depend on where you are.  Here in the Richmond Va.  area I see mostly newer units, SD70's, ES44's and so on.  There are the occasional GP38's on local switch jobs, and some SD40-2's in run-through consists, but nothing really old, at least not that I've seen.

[BaltACD]

Mario_v

Hello all ;

 

Is it my impression, or there's a bunch of older power on CSX?

 

The primary road power on CSX these days are the GE CW44AC's - the first of which came on the property in 1994 and the most recent, numbered in the 3100's, are still being received from GE (yes - I know they are ES44AC's).  There is a fleet of GE Dash-8's that came on the property in the late 80's.  What Dash-7's there were, I believe have all either been scrapped or sold to leasers.  The ES40DC's began coming on the property in 2003.  The SD-50's & 60's all date from the 80's.  Mother & Slug set ups use GP38's, GP40's as mothers are from the 70's and a number of GP30 car bodies as the slugs which date from the 60's.

[eolafan]

MP173

I watched the first 33 minutes, thanks for posting it.

What were the trucks on flat cars on Q368 at the 28 minute mark?  Were those DoD movements?  Interesting with the smoking brakes at the 31 minute mark on Q352.

Ok, never been to Sand Patch.  About how many trains per day are there?  What is the mixture of manifest, coal, auto and intermodal?  Is there a recommended on line guide to Sand Patch? 

I just put it on the my list of things to do....perhaps known as bucket list. 

 

Great video.

Ed

Yes, those military "trucks" at the 28 minute mark appear to be APC's (armored personnel carriers)...note the 50 cal. mounts on the roof of each APC.

[BaltACD]

MP173

I watched the first 33 minutes, thanks for posting it.

What were the trucks on flat cars on Q368 at the 28 minute mark?  Were those DoD movements?  Interesting with the smoking brakes at the 31 minute mark on Q352.

Ok, never been to Sand Patch.  About how many trains per day are there?  What is the mixture of manifest, coal, auto and intermodal?  Is there a recommended on line guide to Sand Patch? 

I just put it on the my list of things to do....perhaps known as bucket list. 

 

Great video.

Ed

The military vehicles have one of two destinations, Letterkenney Army Depot for storage or the port of Balimore for overseas shipment.

Normal traffic over Sand Patch is 1 Amtrak,  2 Intermodal, 3 Autorack and 5 Merchandise dailey in each direction.  Additionally there will Coal and empties, Ethanol - both loads and empties, Grain - both loads and empties, plus the occasional MofW trains (unit Ballast trains, welded rail trains and Gang equipment movement trains).  Helpers are frequently used in both directions, either because of absolute tonnage or because of excessive trailing tonnage (the tonnage behind long cars exceeds the maximum specified by TTSI).  The calling of Helper assisted trains is governed by the availability of Helper engines and crews.

[MP173]

Thanks for the info Balt.  Pretty busy stretch of railroad with the coal, ethanol, grain, and helper movements. 

Ed

[caldreamer]

Letterkenny does not store equipment.  They do repairs and upgrades.  i live nearby and worked there for a number of years.

  Ira

    

[nabils2405]

Fantastic. Turned up the volume!

[samfp1943]

Mario_v

Hello all ;

Here's an hour long movie shoing the custumary action thru Sand Patchgrade. In three words, its Fantastic, brutal & breathtaking.

Is it my impression, or there's a bunch of older power on CSX?

watch?v=tOid0s5PgWM

Mario v: 

Here is a link to a Forum Thread that had as its subject the CSX's Heavy ballasted  CW 4400 AH Diesels.  Their development and use was covered int a previous TRAINS Magazine article, referenced in the linked Thread. 

                      @   http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/741/t/160437.aspx  

   I don't know the specific month and issue at this time...Possibly, some other Poster might be able to provide that. I am sure that it would be in the CD collection of previous TRAINS  magazine articles

    CSX seems to be possibly the biggest user of "Mother and Slug" sets  in the US, although other railroads have them (NS for sure) .  Don'ty think UPRR has any in road service, if at all?  When I lived over in SE Kansas, There used to be soem of the Mother/Slug sets that were run-through on the UPRR from time to time. Most of them are comprised of  GP-40's, and GP 38 variants ( B+B ).    See the linked Thread for more details.