I'm still curious as to which route this train will take out of Wallula. When I drove up I-84 through Eastern Oregon recently, there were trains parked everywhere along the UP line e.g. it looked like things were rather congealed. How is a new time sensitive service like this going to keep to the schedules with the current state of congestion along the presumed route?
Also, is that the new facility just north of the rail-to-barge grain elevators and just south of the paper mill? Saw quite a few white-ish rail cars (presumably reefers) parked at Wallula Junction.
I am with g'hound, this is huge.
Huge only if the attempt succeeds. So far all I've seen is speculation and wishful thinking.
Things always look good on paper being a fact. On time performance being a huge drawback
in the endeaver of Rail vs Trucking being widespread concerning produce.
Without going back thru 6 pages and checking, does anyone know what the anticipated number of cars per train will be?
Also, it is probably way premature but does anyone know the symbol for the CSX portion of the train and a preliminary schedule. I wouldnt mind catching the first one thru.
ed
bcrailex wrote: OK gents....first train scheduled to roll 10/12 out of WA arriving in NY on 10/17. Was someone looking for ARMN 111111?? We got close, we've got 111110 as part of our consist in one set; No word on the other 55 yet. Cars are pooling in our loop track now, we are doing test cars as conventional service until the go date.B
I'll say it again - this is HUGE. I see it as the most promissing railroad marketing effort since the introuduction of double stack service.
There is a tremendous volume of fresh fruits and vegetables moving long distances (as in 3,000 miles) by truck. This business should be on the rail. The only reason it largely went over to truck movement was the asinine government regulation of rail rates (the truck rates were never regulated).
Someone needed to put together a plan to get the perishable business back. These guys seem to have done that..
And remember one very important thing. Every truck that doesn't roll eastbound with a load of apples won't be going back westbound with a load of anything. (truckers tend to be loaded in both directions.) When the truck's not there for that westbound load, that westbound load will also go over to rail.
I love this!
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)
Awesome. Thanks!
Washington has a facility for loading of the train?
From what I remember of the Yakima Valley I recall using maps to pick out among the 40 or so shippers in town and other places that had scattered loading truck areas (And .15 cent/pound apples at warehouse stores)
Who has to think about deploying the empty train at WA for loading and return to NY?
QUOTE: Originally posted by rrandb If this works it will raise the bar for everyboby. Imagine produce receiving the same priority as Asian dry goods. LOL[:O]
QUOTE: Originally posted by bcrailex OK Gentlemen, Here's the word I've gotten form UP for our symbology: ZWASSP Z for highest priority despite no containers ( A term of our contract) WA Walulla SS South Schenectady P Perishable So I guess we are the Wasp train, better than a bee, we can keep biting...LOL Was in the S Schenectady yard today reviewing plans for our interlocking switchgear (There is a twin main continuing on to Selkirk, depending on traffic the unit train could end up on either track, so we need to install switches and a crossover to feed into our lead). It's a great place to train watch! In fact there were several people there w/cameras in hand hoping for something interesting heading into Selkirk.Regards, Bill
QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffhergert QUOTE: QNPSKP - As long as a majority of this train is perishable freight, I don't see the "P" (perishable) designation being dropped. Maybe it's just me, but the perishable designation adds a weight of urgency and makes it stand out from other more routine freight trains. CC [(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D] When it first started, it seemed to get better treatment out on the road. Even went to the Clinton-Mo Valley Long Pool instead of the Fremont-Boone, Boone-Clinton Short Pools. Now it seems to be just another manifest train. Jeff
QUOTE: QNPSKP - As long as a majority of this train is perishable freight, I don't see the "P" (perishable) designation being dropped. Maybe it's just me, but the perishable designation adds a weight of urgency and makes it stand out from other more routine freight trains. CC
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
QUOTE: Originally posted by ericsp QUOTE: Originally posted by Safety Valve QUOTE: Originally posted by bcrailex completely separate...no stops...crew change only in chicago...talk is to allow UP motive pwr to go all the way to S Schenectady....but you are correct QNPSKP goes into Selkirk where it is humped. Those are conventional perishable cars. Also no excess height cars can continue on into Boston, although not sure about Hunt's Point. Hunts Point is truck only. If they get railcars into Hunts I'll eat my steering wheel. I spent some time at Hunts. I dont think Albany is land locked. There is a river that runs to the sea in that area. Surely it can carry navigatible river traffic? I think Albany will be doing alot of Grand Union business in that area, I used to run Eggs out of Maryland into that area and Butter; spices from Baltimore into that part of the NY state. One of the things about the Northeast, they consume everything. It's hard to get anything out of there. Isn't this Hunts Point? http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.812228,-73.878357&spn=0.002221,0.005885&t=h&om=1
QUOTE: Originally posted by Safety Valve QUOTE: Originally posted by bcrailex completely separate...no stops...crew change only in chicago...talk is to allow UP motive pwr to go all the way to S Schenectady....but you are correct QNPSKP goes into Selkirk where it is humped. Those are conventional perishable cars. Also no excess height cars can continue on into Boston, although not sure about Hunt's Point. Hunts Point is truck only. If they get railcars into Hunts I'll eat my steering wheel. I spent some time at Hunts. I dont think Albany is land locked. There is a river that runs to the sea in that area. Surely it can carry navigatible river traffic? I think Albany will be doing alot of Grand Union business in that area, I used to run Eggs out of Maryland into that area and Butter; spices from Baltimore into that part of the NY state. One of the things about the Northeast, they consume everything. It's hard to get anything out of there.
QUOTE: Originally posted by bcrailex completely separate...no stops...crew change only in chicago...talk is to allow UP motive pwr to go all the way to S Schenectady....but you are correct QNPSKP goes into Selkirk where it is humped. Those are conventional perishable cars. Also no excess height cars can continue on into Boston, although not sure about Hunt's Point.
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