Quentin
UP still seems to be short of equipment, although it does not appear as bad as it was a few months ago.
That said, I've on occasion seen helpers pushing long coal trains eastbound -- over the top of the hill at Creston -- which is about 3-4 miles east of Rochelle's diamonds. Not a regular occurence, though.
Another rarity -- one day I was in downtown Wheaton and a long eastbound coal train stalled trying to climb the grade that appears to start just west of the Wheaton train station. The conductor called West Chicago yard, which sent out a helper.
The "pushers" you see on the coal trains are DPU (distributed power units) that are remotely controlled from the lead engine. It's unusual to see any pushers on the UP Geneva Sub as the grades don't warrant it. I can't remember seeing any true pusher service (Metra doesn't count) although I did see a couple of yard engines get tacked onto the end of a stack train for a ride to the W. Chicago Yard once. The only significant grade that I'm aware of near Wheaton is the drop down to the Fox River directly west of the Kress Interlocker in W. Chicago.
CC
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Speaking only from the BNSF standpoint - here lately, we have seen 6 engines on the front of an empty coal train. We have seen two DPU's on the end of a coal train - (we always see two on point or one and one.
We saw 6 engines on a freight - granted freight is heavy, but normally 2-3 handle it very well.
We have also seen an absolute abundance of grain trains. Lots of variety that we haven't seen before.
So......maybe they are moving power around? We check it closely and not all of it is "helping".
ook?
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
UP has a yard in Rochelle just east of the diamonds and a BNSF interchange as well. I seem to remember seeing quite a few strings of covered hoppers stored on sidings in that general area as well. They might have switching moves. What kind of power?? I've never seen DPU's or pushers on the UP Omaha line or the BNSF racetrack around the Chicago area.
Fellows....I might have misstated the covered hopper bit....I just had a quick glance at the train as I turned to the web cam....The "end" was already in the pic when I got it turned on...It's possible they were coal cars but I really doubt it as they were all {all that I saw}, whitish in color. Not the usual for coal cars.
The 2 engines I saw {pushing}, were not wide cab units...Can't really tell you what they were except that.
It sure was a surprise to see them as I've been taking a peak at this location for a long time now and this is the first I've seen "pushers"....
Another comment: I was turning to the cam every few minutes last evening and almost each time I "found" a train...headed east....Seemed to be an exceptional amount of traffic that direction. I thought, just a bit more than "normal".
That's about all I can add.
chicagorails wrote:...one way they increase capacity is to get dem heavy coal drags moving faster.and with edelstein il. coming on line in october may be another 6-12 trains added to east-west mainline.
Can you clarify that? What's coming online at Edelstein? You're talking about Edelstein on the (ex) ATSF north of Peoria, right? Thanks!
Gluefinger wrote:Once in a while I'll see photos of UP local trains with engines on each end, but I'm not entirely sure what's going on there either. However it sounds like what you're describing.
Well, one example, if the train is heavy, their will be a pusher engine. A second example, maybe the engines win't go onto the turntable, and their might be a single engine in the front, and one in the back. Another example, I have seen this a couple of times. If a coal train, is comming from Rochelle to chicago (WEST-EAST) In West Chicago, the train will cross the junction, and then backup onto the spur line onto The J to go to Waukeegan.
It is my assumption based on what you have said that the train you saw was a yard move. As far as I know there are no standard cab UP units that are equipped with DPU, only newer EMD and GE widecabs (SD90MACs, C45ACCTEs, C44s, etc.) Since you state that you saw standard cabs and not widecab units- this would not have been a DPU train.
It is not unusual to see UP locals at Rochelle pull east through the interlocking to switch Del Monte or the yard - then shove back west to give the appearance of "pushing"- I am going to guess that the train you saw was "pushing" westbound? I recall as a kid the CNW local that switched Del Monte would make moves back and forth through the interlocker while switching- much to the annoyance of the BN. If the train was "pushing" eastbound- it could have very well been a train backing out of the yard, then far enough east to clear the interlocking and the crossings in Rochelle proper. (I don't think the dispatcher would be that courageous to do something like that though.)
As for Edelstein- the CNW Peoria Sub. passed under the ATSF mainline there in the middle of a farm field west of town. UP is constructing a connector track there so they can route their trackage rights intermodal trains off the BNSF (ATSF) and up the Peoria Sub. to Nelson- then over the main east to Global III. This saves the UP a good chunk of money in trackage rights fees to get those trains off at Edelstein rather than suburban Chicago.
It's not surprising to see more than one DPU on the rear of a coal train- it's just not as common as a 2 and 1 or the ubiquitous 1 and 1. When the train run is either excessively long (PRB units trains average 125-133 cars) or the weather is unusually cold, extra engines will be added. In winter it's more common than Spring.
As for calling these units pushers I would hesitate to say that DPU units are true pushers. A more accurate way of describing it would be a "regulator"- the DPU unit's job in addition to providing a push on the end, also is capable of running independently of what the lead unit is doing. That means when the train is descending a hill the DPUs can actually pull a little and hold the train back, keeping the slack out and adding traction. The units in DPU mode keep the train stretched out and running at it's optimum ability (which saves fuel among other things)- on flat track two conventional units up front can handle this, but on non-compensated grades and hilly profiles, DPU can be used to help smooth things out. For the most part, there are a few little hills on the Geneva Sub, but nothing that would regularily warrant a pusher. Dixon Hill in CNW days would occasionally get a train stuck and require a shove from the local up the hill, but it was not very often that would happen.
But since these were standard cab units that modelcar saw, I will reiterate- this was not a DPU train..
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