Are they still practical verses single cars? If one part of the string needs service then 2 or more cars are OOS. What type of car is still being produced? Single or articulated?
Don't have the numbers for you, but reviewing Greenbrier intermodal offerings, it seems their single unit stack cars (Husky Stack) can have higher well weight capacity (169Klbs per well) vs articulated units (124Klbs per well).I do like that they still offer all-purpose (trailer/container) single units, those look cool although some on this forum have reported they are problematic for loading trailers...
NYBobWhat type of car is still being produced? Single or articulated?
5-unit 40's and 3-unit 53's are definitely still being produced. I think 53' singles are too. A lot of older 48' singles have also been rebuilt to 40' or 53' cars, so there's a lot out there.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Those well cars don't nessasarily have to be taken out of service. When I lived in Needles next to the BNSF main they would change out trucks on the main in well under an hour. They did it 3-4 times a week.
Railcar wheel changeout. AKA Insane Repairs - YouTube
If they run single well cars then a train with the same number of wells as an articulated make up is longer. Also running articulated has way less slack action buff forces. Most containers are not loaded heavy enough to get up to that 125K weight limit per well unless you are doing 20 foot containers.
Intermodal cars - singles to 5 packers - are the most intensively maintained of all car types that railroads handle.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Slack action isn't much of a problem for most intermodal (stack cars) equipment.
There are also three and five pack drawbar connected cars out there. Not all of them are articulated.
Jeff
I agree, and the relative lack of slack make intermodals a lot easier to run than some other trains. It's pretty hard to rip even a long one apart, though Trip Op and Leader have managed to do it.
I remember one of the drawbar connected sets getting ripped apart a few years ago, the only time I can think of where this has happened. They tried blaming the crew until our local ESO (Engine Service Officer, CNese for Road Foreman) pointed out that there were no train handling violations involved and this should be regarded as a mechanical failure.
Heavy loaded intermodals with lots of articulated cars can brake rather poorly, because a 5 pack carries the weight of, well five regular intermodal cars but only has the brakes of three.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Jeff, SD70Dude,
Thanks for sharing your real life experience with slack action with respect to articulated and drawbar equipped intermodal cars.
Back in the late 60's and through the 70's, I remember reading a number of articles on the perils of slack action as part of "track/train dynamics". One of the advantages John Kneiling cited for his integral trains would be a dramatic reduction in slack action. With the introduction of articulated intermodal cars in the late 70's, I would expect that reduction in slack would have been a design goal.
I also suspect that the problems with slack action in the 50's through 70's was the proliferation of cars with extended travel cushioning devices as part of the draft gear.
SD70Dude I agree, and the relative lack of slack make intermodals a lot easier to run than some other trains. It's pretty hard to rip even a long one apart, though Trip Op and Leader have managed to do it. I remember one of the drawbar connected sets getting ripped apart a few years ago, the only time I can think of where this has happened. They tried blaming the crew until our local ESO (Engine Service Officer, CNese for Road Foreman) pointed out that there were no train handling violations involved and this should be regarded as a mechanical failure. Heavy loaded intermodals with lots of articulated cars can brake rather poorly, because a 5 pack carries the weight of, well five regular intermodal cars but only has the brakes of three.
An articulated 3 pack equals 2 brakes, the 5 pack equals 3 brakes as he said.
Because of this, PTC has train type choices when initializing because of the braking characteristics of various trains. Any train with 5% or more of articulated intermodal (or the articulated autoracks) equipment and the "intermodal" option is selected.
I think it also needs to compensate for the difference in operative brakes. So PTC doesn't think the mismatch between cars and operative brakes means there are defective brakes in the train.
The "black box" downloads have saved probably as many engineers, maybe more, than it's condemned for train handling "events."
Since the companies are quick to blame humans for those "events" it's getting rare to find company officers willing to stick up for their crews. Especially the younger ones in these times of PSR induced cuts. Company officers are not immune to being shown the door to meet PSR goals.
jeffhergert... Company officers are not immune to being shown the door to meet PSR goals. Jeff
Company officers are not immune to being shown the door to meet PSR goals.
'Ground Level' Officers on the Class 1's are the "Indentured Servents" of the industry. Paid less than those the supervise and not subject to any form of Hours of Service protections on the working times their superiors expect from them.
BaltACD Paid less than those the supervise
I think that has changed the past few years. At least from what I see locally*. And the ones we have actually get regular off days (if there's not a manager(s) missing at a location).
*- I mean, I still don't think they are paid enough, but neither are we.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
SD70Dude how's everything going on the West end of the System? CN's been gaining some traffic here on the East end.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.