Sorry if its been covered before, but i’ve always wondered why UP decides to put so many more locomotive on their trains when compared to BNSF?
I’m in the Los Angeles area, so its pretty common to see well overpowered UP trains, especially when compared to the long double stack BNSF trains with the standard set of 4 Dash9’s either all up front or split 2 by 2 in dpu mode…
goes along with what is required to move the trian terain tonnage and of course the respective motive power desks determine the needs of every train at the orginating points Larry
And frequently the power is needed elsewhere so it is put on trains going where it will be needed.
UP does the same thing in Salt Lake City. I’ve seen as many as eight locomotives on the point of a train, with two or three working, while the remainder are either idling or dead in tow.
Not sure whether UP has more units on trains than BNSF, but I think most of the time it’s an issue of how much power you need to get the train down the line. I have seen some big lashups on UP, the longest being eight engines in Pryor, Oklahoma with an SD90MAC on the front. More recently I saw a BNSF piggyback train with eleven locomotives.
Just today I saw a westbound UP Stack train here in town with 9 Locomotives on the front and 1 on the rear. only 3 on the front and the rear one were actually working. the others just running at an idle if at all.
Also, That is something I have been seeing more of over the last year of so, is more rear helpers on UP’s trains. I know Peru hill on the west side of Green River is a pretty good grade, but why is this just starting now?
may seem funny, but around here you’ll see more power on the BNSF than UP…nearly all BN coal trains I have seen have 2 helpers on the rear.in 10 years I’ve had 1 coal train w/2 helpers, & it sure was a sweet running train.a lot of grain trains on BN w/a helper…I’ve NEVER had a UP grain train w/a helper. Uncle Pete is a power miser.
And to think that prior to the UP-SP merger, SP was experimenting with mid train helpers on their trains that delivered iron ore to Geneva Steel in Utah, and coal mined in Utah on the return trip east. Two AC44s up front, two AC44s in the middle, and two on the end. It was fun to watch those trains go by and feel the ground shake.
Still somewhat common sight on the Moffat Sub with certain North Forkcoal trains, trying to minimize drawbar/draft gear failures.
Experiment!?!? Regular practice on both D&RGW and SP since the 1930s with steam. Diesel no different.
Standard 105-car eastward coal train on Tennessee Pass with D.C. power was 4x4x4. The swing help cut in at Glenwood, the rear help cut in at Minturn, rear help dropped at Tennessee Pass, swing help dropped at Kobe. A.C. power with 4,400 hp per unit instead of 3,000 and improved adhesion enabled a unit reduction to 3x3x3.
RWM
i guess i’m wrong then!
On the BNSF Hinckley Sub I’ve seen UP trains headed to Superior with 4, 5, and even 6 locomotives on mixed freights. It’s power transfers.
I was told that reason why UP overpowers the trains is that they do it for reliability they would rather run 3 locos and notch 3 or 4 than run 1 at notch 8 as they feel the engines will last longer that way as they aren’t being worked as hard I don’t know this for a fact but that what several of my co workers told me though
so whats more efficient for mileage?
running 4 dash 9’s at run 8 (a la bnsf)
or running 7 sd70m’s at 4 (a la UP)
My guess would be the 7 SD70’s because they wouldnt be working as hard, more horsepower at a slower speed… BN engines would have to work twice as hard to get moving [%-)]
Remember that you can’t have all 7 of the SD70’s on line (too many equivalent powered axles) so some of them would be idling. You probably would have the same number of engines on line on either railroad.
Dave H.
Oh yeah [B)]
Well the HP rating on both engines is pretty close so it shouldnt be too much diffrent then, UP just has more power if its needed where BNSF would have to push there engines harder [%-)]
I get out to your area often & IMHO I think the BNSF trains have more power on them then the UPRR do [:)]
Assuming that the 4 dash9’s would be able to make the same track speed, then the 4-unit-at-run 8 would be far more efficient (fuel-wise).
It’s the nature of diesel engines to be more efficient at higher internal revolutions–just the opposite of a gasoline motor.