Not economically viable in the US at that train size or car capacity…130 cars…143 ton max car weight, 120 ton net load weight per car is the norm in many areas of the US.
One man traincrew helps the economics.
Right up until the time the train has a emergency brake application or Defect Detector (in the middle of nowhere) announces a defect that needs to be inspected. Then the train effectively becomes a line blockage. With the line blocked, all the one man traincrew economics go into the can.
An interesting point. Obviously single crewing always seems a geat idea right up to the moment that something goes wrong, however in the British context even a brief blockage has potential to cause serious delay, given that so many lines are intensively used by passenger traffic. As British freight trains are relatively short, and (as the wagonload business is negligible) are mostly unit trains of the same kind of wagon, often in semi-permanent sets (e.g. coal trains), perhaps emergency brake applications due to brake defects are relatively rare.
There are hotbox and some other types of detectors in the UK, but I don’t think they communicate directly with the train crew - I think they give a warning to the signaller, and they are positioned on the approach to loops where any train that trips the detector can be diverted for inspection without blocking the running line.
Another factor is that the distances are relatively short in the UK, so there is perhaps less likelihood of a defect arising en route. As an extreme example of this, near where I grew up there used to be a working between Blindwells opencast colliery and Cockenzie power station, which lasted until the mine shut about ten years ago. The train comprised about 25 4-wheel ‘HAA’ hoppers (32 tonnes payload), which were loaded at the mine, run across the East Coast Main Line into a loop where the locomotive rounded its train, then hauled back into the power station sidings. Total distance as the crow fl
What’s the most common method of delivering locomotives to their overseas customers?
Ship would be your only viable choice.