.....Another unusual train {for me to see}, was eastbound this evening on our double track CSX. It was a train of double stacks....TOFC....COFC.....and all orange trailers and containers from Schneider Trucking Co.....All of them. About 3/4 mile of it.....2 6- axle engines in command.
Quentin
Willy
....No Willy, sorry I did not. Actually we were over at the McDonald's parking lot having a coke {sitting in the truck}, and the NS, Frankfort district track is right next to it, so we do that quite often in the evening but this evening it was quiet.
So heard this {Schneider train}, coming {scanner, etc...}, and we could go that way to head back home and the highway/steet parallels CSX there and it passed just as I got to the tracks. We were driving west and it was headed east....2 engines in command. It was an unusual looking train....all of one co. boxes and trailers, all the same color...Quite a site.
I should start putting the little digital in the truck. Do keep the scanner in it.
I believe this train runs pretty regularly and is joint CSX/KCS train. Q107/106 on CSX, IVNKC/IKCVN on KCS and it runs between Marion OH and Kansas City. CSX turns this train over to KCS in St. Louis.
I've always wanted to catch this train myself. Solid orange is something I long to see....
Tyler
....Yes, it was a neat sight to catch.
Schneider basically "charters" daily trains between central Ohio and Kansas City.
Because of its central location in relation to the US population the Columbus, Ohio area is a major distribution region. I've heard it said that "if you're going to have one distribution center for the US, put it in Columbus, Ohio."
A lot of those Asian imports need to get near Columbus. A good way to do this is on existing rail service from the Pacific port to KC, then on to the Columbus area. But there was no adequate rail intermodal service between KC and central Ohio.
So Schneider bought their own train. I'm glad to hear it's doing so well.
I live by the CSX Vandalia line and see Schneider trains passing through here several time a week, east and west. Sometimes there'll be an KCS in the mix, mostly its CSX or UP engines pulling. I thought I had some photos, but can't find them if I did. I know I didn't have any of the KCS, but I have tried to catch one
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
.....I can say a CSX GE was in the lead but really can't recall what the 2nd engine was. It was running east and I was driving west here on a parallel street/road and actually was shocked of seeing a mix of Containers, both double stacked, singles and TOFC's and all painted orange. So didn't really pay attention to who's engines were in command. The CSX unit was up front though.
I believe CSX calls it "the on time orange". I see it pass through Terre Haute frequently. I believe there is one East bound & one west bound every day.
Every once in a while the engines will be Mexican
Rob
Most often the train runs w/ CSX power, but KCS power will be used sometimes and they'll sub in KCSM (former TFM) power at times as well. Train runs 6 days / week. It started up in June 06. If you look for pics on http://www.railpictures.net/ you'll find a bunch of photos, but the key is to search in multiple directions (use keywords Schneider - but also use Schnieder (mispelled) as well as the train symbols mentioned above Q166, KCVN, VNKC.)
The other big leap, in addition to the all orange train is that Schneider has a private ramp in OH. All orange there too. Its at the Marion Industrial Center. Their switcher provides power to move cars around (see link below for ramp pic.)
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=150212&nseq=21
W/ new paint scheme KCS
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=187000&nseq=1
A few other nice shots
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=190057&nseq=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=164917&nseq=2
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=170490&nseq=1
.....Yes, a bunch of nice pic's.
....Can't answer the Marion question but it was between 8 and 9 pm as it passed {east}, thru Muncie.
I wonder if it was a result of that construction on the interstates?
Must be all those "Orange Barrels" reaching critical mass. =)
Heck I didnt know the Orange folks had trailers able to go that fast on the railroad. In fact I think they used the railroad to go faster and meet thier schedule.
I better shut up now and go back under my wheel.
GTW4914 wrote:I am thinking of going to marion,oh does anybody now what time Q106 and Q107 go by the depot in marion. thankyou.
Normally expect the westbound to be released at Marion about 8 PM. CSX can go west any time after that.... but it may not be immediately. The EB train will have a little more variability as delays anywere from KC to Marion could slow it down. Should be there by 0300, so probably through town between midnight and 3.
Safety Valve wrote: I wonder if it was a result of that construction on the interstates?Must be all those "Orange Barrels" reaching critical mass. =)Heck I didnt know the Orange folks had trailers able to go that fast on the railroad. In fact I think they used the railroad to go faster and meet thier schedule.I better shut up now and go back under my wheel.
The deal is that at the loads being handled by that train would normally move on the highway between Columbus and St. Louis or Chicago. I believe that the western and eastern lines have some intermodal trains that run through the east/west gateways. However, if there isn't enough traffic moving between a pair of terminals, one east and one west, any loads moving between such points will be rubber transfered at the gateways.
Lets say you have a load coming from some far west point on the BNSF going to say, Lancaster, Ohio (which is maybe 35 miles southeast of Columbus) via the Chicago gateway. If you wanted to go beyond Chicago via rail you would have the cost of offloading at Chicago, carting through Chicago, reloading on an eastern carrier intermodal train, offloading at Columbus and carting to Lancaster. Bottom line is it's likely to be cheaper to haul the load over the road from the BNSF Chicago terminal direct to the consignee.
The good news is that the Schneider traintakes a few loads off of I-70 between St Louis and Columbus and probably some off I-65 between Chicago and Indy. Not that you would miss them...
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
jeaton wrote: The good news is that the Schneider traintakes a few loads off of I-70 between St Louis and Columbus and probably some off I-65 between Chicago and Indy. Not that you would miss them...
Most of the traffic reduction would be Chicago to / from the Columbus area. As you note, most of this traffic would have to flow though Chicago prior to the routing the Schneider/CSX/KCS put together. Then the freight suffers the delays associated w/ the Chicago rail congestion.
Quick math - the train runs 6 x per week x 2 trains each day (1 east, 1 west) x has been running since last June x 75 loads per day each way (estimate) = over 50,000 loads off of the highway.
.....I have been traveling I 70 for decades from Richmond east....and I'll say....any...reduction of semi's on that route would be helpful. Sometimes it's not too bad, but many comparable times it's infested with 18 wheelers and traveling in strings, and one pulls out to pass doing a half MPH more, and one must set, and wait until it is once clear again to move on beyond them.
So, in my opinion, any reduction in the lines of truck traffic is helpful.
As a frequent traveler on I-65 between Gary and Indianapolis, I wouldn't mind if there were even more trains to pull loads off that piece of highway. Instead of one, say ten or twenty.
I might as well wish that Chicago and the surrounding cities were moved 50 miles west so they wouldn't be between here and my travel destinations. (Some of my neighbors, especially those who are Packer Fans, might prefer Chicago moved about 15 miles east, but that's another subject.)
Modelcar wrote: .....I have been traveling I 70 for decades from Richmond east....and I'll say....any...reduction of semi's on that route would be helpful. Sometimes it's not too bad, but many comparable times it's infested with 18 wheelers and traveling in strings, and one pulls out to pass doing a half MPH more, and one must set, and wait until it is once clear again to move on beyond them. So, in my opinion, any reduction in the lines of truck traffic is helpful.
You can thank the safety minded self-insured companies raking in the savings on having casterated... err.. governed rigs.
Scrap the draconian schedules and you will find that many drivers will slow down and cruise instead of fighting to be first to the rush hour gridlock.
And finally I lay the blame on Governments too cheap and thrifty to build proper 3 and 4 lane freeways and all must elbow each other through 40 year old obselete two laners with split speed limits retired 25 years ago no less.
I say build a ternimal.. in Omaha and another in ... Seville and stick everything moving through on a train between those two points. By pass the interstates all together and reduce the Costs, risk by the number of drivers and tractors not needed to handle that traffic.
Years ago we had a system in the lab where the first driver and his rig was connected to 10 more behind him or her by way of duplex communicating software using digital Microwaves to carry the signal from master vehicle to all the other slaves in the assigned group. The idea was to have one driver drive allowing the other 9 to sleep or the whole thing running by computer only on dedicated pavement isolated completely from the problems associated with today's drivers and cars on the interstates.
Later on we had more horsepower availible and were able to bypass I-70 and other roads completely. Or planned our transit at 3-4 in the morning when no one else was around. The bypassing took the form of using a nearby state's road and a slight variance in routing with a few hundred miles here and there carefully chosen in advance, particularly on both coasts.
We used to be able to run around the woods in New Jersey (And not pay a penny in tolls) on the smallest two laner roads imaginable until they put a stop to that practice.
....It appears the rigs with "governed" speed are quite able to still drive the speed limit. Some action from the drivers, beyond that, should be to use common sense and not creat these "strings" of units that as I mentioned above start to "try" to pass one another and tie everyone up on the slightest grades.
If trucking co's. impose these "restraints" on such rigs, and drivers then have to push every corner of the envelope to make a living....it's time for some of these rigs to move to rail transport.
Truckers and vacationers competing for the same space under peak and summer driving situations can be on the edge for most of the trip across a stretch of interstate and it's just a matter of time until something happens and injury or worse is the result. Railroads are available to haul large and heavy commerce....Let's use them.
jeaton wrote: (Some of my neighbors, especially those who are Packer Fans, might prefer Chicago moved about 15 miles east, but that's another subject.)
(Some of my neighbors, especially those who are Packer Fans, might prefer Chicago moved about 15 miles east, but that's another subject.)
We're more specific than that... we wish it was 15 miles northeast. After all, you don't want Indiana getting stuck with it... said the man wearing his cheese head hat.
They usually can if attention is paid to the engine's specific power chart versus the transmission that is actually used. If it is done right the speed will be set somewhere ahead of high horsepower in the truck's top gear and allow for lugging down to torque.
The rest of the issue for consideration basically goes back a number of years where Schnider, JB Hunt and others of that range failed to consider the terrain and became a liability, blocking the right lane and slowing everyone down.
But that was then. Trucks are built with a goal that they are "Driveable" without excess shifting down to keep it against the govener.
With railroads we dont have to worry about any of that.
The power does layover at the Marion Industrial Center. Usually behind the warehouses, but not on the ramp. Marion Industrial has an SW1200 / 1500 - something like that and I think a GE 44 tonner. They're usually out doors as well.
Quite welcome - happy hunting - if you get some good pics - please share them w/ us.
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