caldreamer I have noticed that in most videos that there are very few trains with a single locomtive on the head end. Most trains that I do see have multiple engines on the head end and/or DPu on the rear. I assume that this is due to the heavier cars and the fact that trains are heavier and longer with many more cars than there used tobe. Am I correct in this assessment.
I have noticed that in most videos that there are very few trains with a single locomtive on the head end. Most trains that I do see have multiple engines on the head end and/or DPu on the rear. I assume that this is due to the heavier cars and the fact that trains are heavier and longer with many more cars than there used tobe. Am I correct in this assessment.
I think the whole 'power' issue speaks directly to an individual railroad's corporate policies (?). In this area we have two 'regular Class 1 tennants'. BNSF and UPR. WATCO has also got a presence in some area corridors; otherwise they rely on 'trackage rights/ or other agreements.
Observations of BNSF are fairly easily done as they are the area's predominent carrier [on and off the major E/W routes] UPR operated through here on the OKT sub [nee; RI ] North/South through Wichita. UPR seems to favor a pair of more modern power, 6 axle,etc. on Road Trains. If they use a DPU it is generally a single unit.
BNSF seems to favor multiple unit head-end Power on trains (to a combo of 3 to 4 units), generally. If a train(on BNSF) has any DPU's they are generally a pair, very seldom is a DPU a single unit. That same formula seems to work on their interchange trains BNSF to UPR ( over on the former MKT in Southeast Kansas, as an example.)
Saw my first (BNSF) single unit move while writing this,it was an eastbnd baretable move. Usually, even these have at least two units for headend power.
Both railroads,BNSF and UPR seem to favor six axle road power; with older four axle units reserved for uses on interchanges, and jobs requiring switching moves.
In the steam era, as trains grew longer and heavier, locomotives grew with them because each locomotive required an engineer and fireman. Multiple locomotives have been typical since the occurrence of dieselization. Because they can be operated with just one engineer, diesels did not need to match the horsepower of the largest steam locomotives. Instead, diesels could be coupled together in a consist under the control of one engineer, and attain the sufficient horsepower.
That premise exists today even as the individual diesel horsepower has increased. Train tonnages have increased with it. A single diesel on a train has always been relatively rare, and typically for light trains such as switch runs or long drags running at a relatively slow speed.
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