What number series are the new UP GEVOs? Earlier today, I was driving along the road downtown that paralells the tracks and I honestly didnt hear it till the train was basically right next to me. There were 4 Locomotives, 3 were numbered in the 5300s and the fourth in the 5400s, pulling a stack train west on the Overland route.
The locomotives had the building america sheme with the flag on it and looked brand new.
Also
What is involved with tearing down anr rebuilding a bridge that crosses the rails, does the construction company doing the project have to get a track warrant between trains to do the work?
On CSX a railroad M of W employee is sent out as a flagman when a contractor is working where they might foul the tracks. Trains are given a message requiring them to get the flagman’s permission to pass the location.
Actually, UP chooses to designate them C45ACCTE. They are still ES44AC’s. An AC4400CW on UP is called a C44AC and in some cases, C44ACCTE. Using this designation system, an ES44AC could also be called a C44AC. To eliminate any confusion between the two models, UP chose to add a 5 in the designation.
I can speak from experience that anyone that fouls the tracks must get a track warrant before doing so. Last summer I bought a CPL from CSX. I had a crane truck pull up parallel to the tracks on the service road to pick it up. We wanted to rotate the mast 180 degrees so it could be better secured to the flat bed of the 14 ton crane truck. We had to wait 45 minutes to get clearance just to swing the mast over the tracks 180 degrees. At $90 an hour, I was getting quite upset waiting for CSX to give us clearance.
This looks as good a place as any to point out some interesting changes to the ES series compared to Dash 9 and AC4400 models.
The best way of telling a Dash 9 from an AC4400 was the big box on the walkway on the left side behind the cab. This contained the inverters in the AC4400, while on a Dash9, there was a much smaller box with an air conditioner unit (smaller still) monted on top of it. On the AC4400, the air conditioner was under the cab, a space occupied by electrical switchgear on the Dash9.
Having seen detail photos (in a recent “Diesel Era”) of the NS ES40DC units, it is clear that GE has standardised the appearance and location of equipment on the ES series, and the air conditioner is under the cab on both AC and DC locomotives. The DC switchgear is in a box (just like the inverter box on an AC unit) on the left side behind the cab. The box is the same size as the inverter box, but has smaller access panels in the lower left corner for access to the DC switchgear.
This will make casual identification of AC and DC locomotives of the ES series much more difficult. Not a problem on NS of course where everything is DC (unless it came from Conrail).
(1) More than just a track warrant and a flagman. It’s an involved process.
(2) Track during bridge demolition is taken out of service when larger parts of the span are removed.
(3) Plans would be submitted to the railroad and the state PUC well in advance of the demolition. Both must sign off on those plans.
(4) In the western US, anyone working on the property goes through basic railway safety training. (or the project does not happen)
(5) Changing the bridge requires a state PUC application (except in wierd touchy-feely Iowa) and a decision where all parties agree.
(6) If the old structure is to be dropped, provisions have to be made to protect the track underneath, usually burying the rail / track in several feet of ballast cushion.
(7) The contractor is required to hold special railroad insurance for the job.
Bridge replacement – If you see how the big boys do it, you will lose all respect for your local highway dept. “Railway Track & Structures” magazine has several articles a year on bridge swaps under traffic.
I read about one where they were swapping a 500-foot viaduct in less than 24 hours of track time. They had already fabricated new piers, and they put railroad tracks in the dry riverbed perpendicular to the rail line. They had the new bridge on flatcars on jacks, and other flatcars and jacks ready to lift out the old bridge. After Amtrak went by, they jacked up and rolled away the old bridge, rolled in the new bridge, let it down, bolted everything up, and reopened the line.
Probably a year of planning and staging went into that, plus a month or two of finishing work and cleanup. So there already were, and will be many more short closure windows as they do all that. Obviously, keeping the line open was a priority – accountants had figured the cost of detours and delays justified the expense of a quick swap.
Wow MC it is really involved! and actually i was downtown this afternoon watching trains and they were taking down the span over the rails. they spent most of last week tearing down the approaches and the parts of the span that arent over the rails. then they unbolted the span over the rails and then lifted it off the piers. it sure was a sight to see.
Sorry my answer was irrelevant to a bridge over tracks… I answered for a railroad bridge replacement, which is interesting of itself…
If I was swapping a bridge over a railroad, I’d find out which contractors that railroad is fond of using… and I’d hire one of those because they’d already have a comfortable working relationship with the railroad…
I have a friend who works for UP and he told me that Up likes to designate the ES44ACs as C45ACCTE. When he first told me this I was a little bit clueless as to why they would decide to change the ES44AC’s name. I think the CTE part stands for Controlled tractive effort. This sort of reminds me ohf what CSX calls their SD70ACe locomotives, CSX calls them SD70AEs. Not too much of a difference though.
Harpwolf: You are one of the few who has seen the other side of the fence. You put highway and railway people together and you usually get an oil & water analogy. I have seen UP and BNSF shut down projects because highway contractors would not listen. Better to run them off before they screw-up or kill somebody. It happens more than you think it would.
Re Bridge replacement over track. I’ve done it twice, 20 years ago, over then Conrail rights of way that were shared by New Jersy Transit. We had to set up an insurance and payment agreement with the railroads and then pay for a Conrail flagman anytime we were working within the right of way. the flagman stayed in radio contact with all trains using the double track and he had authority to shut my crews down and clear the right of way whenever a train approached. This was a busy line and we lost an awful lot of construction time. After we had decks on the bridges we only needed flagmen when we were working under the bridge or swinging equipment over the sides of the bridges.
“Railway Track & Structures” magazine has several articles a year on bridge swaps under traffic.