Longest Train You've Ever Seen

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the great replies, I have never seen a 200 car train (though I would love to). Most of my rail watching is done in southeastern Wisconsin where we have CN and UP mainlines and not too much else although I did see four Norfolk Southern engines pulling a very long coal train the other day but I was not able to get a good car count. Keep the stories and info coming!
Jeff

[Anonymous]

well dose it have to be moving? cuz i saw a 300 car train siting on a really really long siding at a local conrail yard. think it was exactly 297 but im not sure...

[trainfan1221]

Theongest trains I ever see are when Conrail (now CSX) are running intermodal equipment back to where they came from from the various yards around here. Usually heading back to Selkirk, I guess. They appear to be about 2-3 miles long, are all empty platforms, and basically are just a giant train of NOTHING!

[David3]

A four SD40-2 UP 166 car freight at Rochelle Illinois. What a great sound to hear them locos working hard!
Dave [:D][:D]

[espeefoamer]

The longest train I ever saw was in June 1967,in Virginia,on the C&O.It was an empty train of 300 hoppers,pulled by 3 high hood Geeps.[8D]

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Not the longest train I've ever seen but probably very challenging to the engineer, 108 loaded ore jennies on DM&IR heading down Proctor Hill to the ore docks with 2 SD9's up front.

[tree68]

About 180 empty hoppers (2 unit trains worth) southbound through Rantoul Ill in 1974 - headed from Chicago back to southern Illinois coal fields. Had 2 Geeps on the point, and they were pulling with all they had, which was just barely enough. There is a long upgrade coming into Rantoul southbound, and it was all they could do to pull it.

[JoeKoh]

N&W used to run 5 or 6 engine frieghts through celina ohio on the old nkp line with 160 cars or so.have seen very long 3 engine csx intermodals through defiance too.
stay safe
Joe

[bnsfkline]

I have seen a NS train with about 150 5 unit well/spine/multi-purpose cars. Hmmmm 5x150....

[Anonymous]

During the aftermath of the Conrail split I ran a couple of really long trains. The longest I remember was 231 cars mixed freight with a CR SD60I, NS SD38 ( hi nose, hump unit-no dynamics), NS SD40-2 and a CR GP38-2 for power. What a dog that train was. Made for a VERY long night. Didn't fit into any sidings either...

LC

[zardoz]

Tim-
There is no "rule" per se, limiting the number of cars per engine. The only rule would be common sense and experience with the terrain.

Most railroads have profiled their track, and computed a necessary horsepower-to-tonnage ratio (hp/ton). On the CNW's Wisconsin division, our biggest grade was 1.4%, so we had a .5hp/ton requirement. Of course, when the ratio is pushed to the max, everything must be working 100% or stalling is a possibility.

When we would bring a Sheboygan coal train up West Allis hill (in Milwaukee) with only two locomotives, the train would only be doing 3-4 mph by the time it reached the top of the hill (much to the delight of motorists in West Allis). If it was a snowy or very damp night, the locomotives would frequently slip while going over the numerous grade crossing in town, usually resulting in a stall (even more to the delight of motorists).

Other factors to be considered:
temperature (very cold rail and wheels have less adhesion);
relative humidity (a damp or wet rail will offer less adhesion);
curvature of track (the wheel flanges rub against the inside of the outside rail, causing drag);

I understand that the new locos have very elaborite wheel-slip control systems (I never had a chance to operate them). In my day, what sometimes determined whether a train would stall or not was the experience of the engineer. One trick we used was to ever-so-slightly hold a few pounds on the loco brakes while pulling uphill; this kept the wheels a bit warmer, kept the wheels a lot cleaner, and held back slipping ever so slightly. Of course, too much engine brake would negate any of the above advantages, so here is where the skill of the engineer came into play. Another technique was to NOT use too much sand on the rail. Most engineers simply activated the sander and left it on throughout the entine hill. But if the sanders were working good, that amount of sand also would add a bit of rolling resistance to the train, negating any advantage the extra traction provided.

[Train Guy 3]

I saw 203 loaded coal cars roll by on the Old Virginian in 1997.

[UPTRAIN]

I had one or 12,000 feet and 8 locomotives a few years ago....12 hours of hell!!!

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

I had one or 12,000 feet and 8 locomotives a few years ago....12 hours of hell!!!

Those multi-unit trains sure look cool, but certainly are a bear to operate. In SE Wisconsin, we do not have any terrain that would ever require 8 units; consequently, with that much power, most of the time you never get out of the second, third or maybe fourth notch, except when accelerating. So you have this 1600 ton mass on the head-end not working enough power to keep the slack properly streched. And if the train is blocked poorly (empties in front, loads behind), and you have a knuckle or drawbar failure just waiting to happen.

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tough198

You might have to be old or a hillbilly or both to get this one, but, the longest train I ever saw, went down a georgia line, the engine past at 6 o'clock and the cab past by at 9.

For the full version of the song, go to:

http://www.smsu.edu/folksong/MaxHunter/1122/

[zardoz]

Orex, a specialised business unit of Spoornet, is the sole conveyer of South Africa's export iron ore, operating along an 861 kilometre railway line, the world's second largest of its kind, between Sishen and Saldanha. It is acknowledged as a world leader in providing heavy haul logistics solutions for a growing market.

Its expertise is based on extensive experience with heavy loads and thorough research into train handling techniques and mechanical phenomena.

Orex recently set a new world record for the longest train and heaviest load, with a total load of 68,640 tons of ore and a length of over 7.5 km. It has also established records for the longest continuous transportation of a heavy load and the highest average speed over the distance.

The iron ore is transported in trains 2.2 km long and comprising 210 wagons each carrying 85 tons of ore.

Only a driver and his assistant, working a nine to ten-hour shift, man each train. At the end of a shift they stop at a modern rest facility at Loop 10, known as Halfway, before taking over the next train for the return journey to their home depots.

The traffic control office at Salkor, the southern end station, constantly monitors the progress of each train and maintains communication with the drivers by microwave radio.

Because of the length of each train and the tremendous traction of the powerful locomotives it is virtually impossible for the driver to detect whether the train is complete and whether a fault may have developed along the way.

For this reason the line is equipped at both ends of each loop with so-called "last vehicle detectors" (LVDs) which sense an impulse from an electric coil attached to the last wagon of each train and triggers a signal to the control room indicating that the train is complete when it arrives at and also when it leaves a loop.

In addition, if a wagon has left the track or if some part of the truck has come loose and is being dragged along, this can be picked up by "derail or drag detectors" (DEDs) located at 5 km intervals along the entire length of the track and once again the condition is transmitted to the control room.

In the event of a fault, the driver would be radioed to stop the train immediately and investigate the problem. On board the first locomotive is a small motorcycle that he and his assistant can use to inspect the entire length of the train with a minimum of delay.

"Hot box" detectors, located at strategic points along the rail, can also detect whether wagon wheels or axles are running hot.

Monitoring of rail temperatures is also essential in the case of chrome manganese rails, which may break at temperatures around 0 oC. These rails, imported at the time from Germany, were flash butt and thermal welded together to form a continuous line without breaks from Sishen to Saldanha. They rest on concrete sleepers, of which some 1,5 million were used.

In addition to temperatures ranging from minus 8 to plus 45 oC, the area along the route is subjected to harsh weather conditions, including severe lightning and thunderstorms, sandstorms, rain, sea mist and humidity of up to 95 percent. Winds of 80 km/h, gusting up to 120 km/h blow regularly, while periodic damage to the overhead power lines, including steel masts being blown over, indicate that gusts can reach as high a 250 km/h.

For all intents and purposes the line may be regarded as running in a straight line. There are only three major bends with a minimum radius of 1 000 metres.


Here is the link if you are interested:
http://www.moeller.co.za

[jeaton]

Jim
An interesting story. I gather they don't use distributed power and if that's the case, the cars must have the drawbars from BIG. That outfit has to be the envy of every RR manager whose lone idea to improve efficiency is layoffs.

Back on the general subject of long trains, Ed King wrote a story a while back in Trains about his experiences on the N&W when they tested long coal drags. He wrote what it takes to them moving, and gives good reasons why it never went beyond the test stage. You could probably find reference to the article in the Trains Mag index.

[Anonymous]

Glad to see Zardox and Tough198 also know that old Georgia line song!

Seriously though, both CSX and NS like to run long coal trains in southern WV. 150 to 180 cars is not uncommon. It was pretty cool the first time I heard a detected go off announcing "total axle count: 6-1-2"

Many years ago, the N&W regularly ran coal trains over 200 cars, and once tried to run a 500 car coal train from Williamson, WV to Portsmouth, OH. The experiment proved very unsuccessful, however. I think they ran out of fingers to count all the broken drawbars. I'm sure the article jeaton refers to would tell more about that.

Scott Lothes
Cleveland, OH