Any body know if UP has operating rights in NJ? Today I saw UP crossing the Delair bridge from Pennsauken NJ over to Phila. It was still kind of dark out but it looked like they were pulling a string of new coal hoppers . This is really a rare sighting around these parts, at least from my point of view There was what appeared to be a Dash-8 [?] on the point followed by a 2nd dash in SP markings. I wonder if they are muscling in on NS and CSX’s territory.
What you saw was “run-through power.” It is quite common to see Union Pacific locomotives on Norfolk Southern trains or Norfolk Southern locomotives on trains on western lines. Since you saw a westbound train of hopper cars they might have been empties being returned to the Powder River Basin coal fields, and in effect this was an interline freight operation.
I saw a similar operation on the CSX west of Cumberland MD a year ago where Union Pacific and a Southern Pacific locomotives were hauling empty hopper cars which were most likely being returned to the Powder River Basin.
I have also seen Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific “Run-through power” on Norfolk Southern freights running on the former N&W Shenandoah Division running south out of Hagerstown, MD. When Conrail was independent I often saw thru freights between the New York area and the south via Conrail and Norfolk Southern with Conrail power while running on the Norfolk Southern south of Hagerstown, MD.
“Run-though power” is used on through freight trains more as a matter of convenience since it is not necessary to change the locomotives at the connecting points between the two railroads.
I’ve seen UP, WC, and SOO on CSX here in northern New York. CN is a daily fact of life, as the line here goes to Montreal.
I was in Durand, MI several years ago and listened to the local railfans marvel at a CSX engine…
Most likely you saw locomotives that were purchased by Shared Assets and never repainted. Crossing the Delair Bridge coming into Camden? If you saw coal coming into Camden it was most likely destined for Beasley’s Point via the Beasley’s Point secondary track in Camden County. I have seen all paint jobs on power on Conrail tracks in the last few years. Not necessarily a different railroad, just used power that nobody wasted money on painting.
Here you go…on a siding in Magnolia (part of the Beasley’s Point Secondary)
And a different day in Oaklyn
Even have power from BNSF
run through power that i am annoyed that i missed ( i frequently railfan on the Philly side of the bridge). Shared Assets power is leaser company or CSX and NS units. There seems to be some interesting power that comes through there. Few weeks back there was several BNSF loco’s in several of their schemes on one train. There is a weekly NS unit coal train that passes but i don’t know any specifics on it.
Not quite sure, is run-through power the same as shared assets? If this was run-through power, would the UP crews be operating it at that point or would NS or CSX crews be at the controls? I would think from a liability standpoint, only UP employees would be allowed on UP equipment.
Thanks for the pix lava96. I actually drove by that location in Magnolia yesterday. It’s right in front of the National Freight terminal. In fact one of their tractors is in the pic. If I would have saw that UP monster sitting there, I probably would have wrecked my truck! I think your right about Beasley Point. There is usually a sea of loaded coal hoppers staged down there at the generating station.
The Beasley’s Point unit coal train goes south every night around 9 pm and returns to Camden the next day in the afternoon. I can’t think of the exact time right now but I used to live right across the street from the track in Stratford about 3 years ago. Sometimes there are extras on that run freight to Barrington and Winslow industrial parks but they just pop up from time to time. You can usually catch a double header coming back without any freight cars during the weekdays in the afternoon.
The Beasley’s Point secondary is one of the busiest in South Jersey. The only other lines that have regular runs are the ones to Deep Water through Paulsboro and one up to Pemberton.
I know that any train running on those tracks is staffed by Conrail employees. Shared assets has aquired a lot of power that has not been patched or repainted. More and more the locomotives are showing up with NS black but there is still a lot of Conrail Blue and a huge mix of just about anything else you can think of. Some are just used that Shared assets has purchased and some are leasers from the leasing companies that were turned back in from other railroads.
You will not see an engineer or a conductor who works for UP or BNSF running a freight train on Conrail tracks.
they are running in new jersey because soon there will be one big frieght company running all the angines in the united states.
go to jim thorpe pennsylvania and on the other side of the lehigh river you will see up engines pulling trains that have less than 20 cars
How do UP locomotives fit into the Conrail Shared Assets picture??
Whoever is in charge of that section of track (whether it be NS, CSX, or Shared Assets) also has its crews driving the engines.
This is called run-through power. These trains are run with “power by the hour” agreements in which the horsepower of a certain engine is multiplied by the number of hours the unit was on a foreign road, and then the receiving railroad owes that amount of HP-hours back to the first railroad. The reason the UP engines are running the coal train into PA is because it would be a waste of time and money to change over to NS engines in Chicago.
So on the flip side, if I was cruising around say North Platte, Nebraska, it wouldn’t be uncommon to see NS, CSX or Conrail equipment?
Also, on the Pemberton line, that is right near my house. It only goes as far as Mt. Holly now and then runs out of track. The bridge over the Rancocas Creek was dismantled about 10 years ago after some kids got drunk and one of them fell off and drowned. The train station is still in Pemberton though and serves as a museum. They relaid some trackage there for storage and restoration of a few pieces of rolling stock that was trucked in. That line was pretty much forgotten until a paper co. moved in and connected to the line in Mt. Laurel. They are now drilling between 8-16 cars a week there. There is also 2 drops in Hainesport and 2 at the end in MT. Holly. I just read somewhere that a lumber wholesaler is moving into Hainesport which will add another 5 cars a week. The crews were out there last month replacing ties and ballast.
Correct. However, it would be rare to see one of these units in the lead as trains coming to or from Chicago (of which the most of these trains with foreign power would be) must have an ATC (cab signal) equipped engine in the lead between Chicago and North Platte, if not farther (Ogden, UT?)