I saw something interesting yesterday. I sat in my Jeep across from the tracks at a fast food restaurant, eating lunch, and here comes a lone CSX SD40 pulling one three bay covered hopper. It pulls up and stops right in front of me, drops off two crewmen, and pulls up just past the interchange switch. One crewman flags traffic, and the other throws the interchange switch. Okay, no big deal, just normal operations.
After crossing the street, they stop, and kill the engine. Okay this is a little unusual. Normally they let the engine idle while they run in the fast food restaurant and grab lunch. So I figure, okay maybe they’re trying to save fuel. I assumed they were clearing the mainline for the next train, so while they ate, I rode down the street to check the signal.
Here’s the strange part. As I approached the signal, I saw on the siding another SD40 facing the opposite direction. Apparently, they came in with two loco’s MU’d together, but they parked one and killed the engine, and then did the local switching with the other. Usually when I see them, if they have two locos MU’d together, both of them stay together the whole time.
Makes me wonder if this is a new fuel saving procedure, or maybe it was something else I just wasn’t aware of. Anyways, it was different, and that’s what I thought was neat. [:D]
As long as the ambient air temperature is above 35 degrees F, and the locomotive won’t be used for 30 minutes or more, it is standard procedure to shut locomotives down.
It A.) saves fuel, and is B.) being a friendly corporate neighbor.
As for the second question…did you actually SEE the two locomtive’s MUed? They could have been operating push-pull, or there could be some clearance, weight or visiblity issue that required the use of only one locomotive.
Well usually when they’re sitting at the interchange track, they leave one person in the locomotive while the other crewman go grab a bite to eat. They’ll typically leave that loco running. As far as standard procedure to shut the loco down if it won’t be used for at least 30 mins, that may well be true, but I’ve seen them here sitting in the same spot idling for an hour or more before.
With regards to the other two loco’s MU’d, I didn’t actually see them together, that was more of an assumption. However, both locos were facing the same direction, and it seemed really odd to me that they would just park one on the siding, while the other went off and did switching chores.
I would doubt they would’ve been dropping off the other loco for another train because there are at least two other drop off points within a 10-20 minute train ride of where this one was parked. Plus, the distance between Atlanta and Augusta (where this line runs) is only about 120 miles and there are yards in both places, so they ought to have enough power located at both yards to not need to pick up another loco mid-line. The other drop off points, Lithonia and Social Circle, are also both local dispatch offices for CSX, and they have two-train length passing sidings in both places, with very few grade crossings. If a train stopped in Covington just to switch in a extra loco, it would most likely block at least four or five
Not to mention the PITA that would come from doing a locomotive air brake test, but who knows. I would have just isolated the second unit so I didnt have to take any extra time unhooking and rehooking it back up ( tonnage permitting I would have boxcar’ed the second loco) Maybe like posted there is a weight restricton ( maybe 6 axle locos are not allowed on some area being switched but the TM said go for it with one) Who knows could be something to that shut em down idea but guess what, I am not going to do it cause with my luck the batteries are going to be junk and she wont restart for me!
Have you seen the price of diesel fuel lately? My boss almost cries when the fuel truck pulls up. Shut em down when not in use, unless of course there is a danger of freezing. There ain’t any anti-freeze in those things.
Ron Baile
Cape May Seashore Lines RR www.capemayseashorelines.org