I was visiting the in-laws in Elmhurst, Illinois this past Easter weekend and, of course, that means lots of train watching along the UP West Line. Since my last visit around Christmas, I’ve noticed two changes-- one in motive power and the other in rolling stock. First, the many of the intermodal freights I saw had two units up front and one locomotive pushing in the rear. Can anyone specifically explain why these intermodal freights have the extra power on the back end? This wasn’t always the practice on this stretch of mainline.
My second point is just an observation. During my three day visit I did not see one unit coal train. This is a big change from previous visits when loaded trains headed eastward and empties traveled westward in rapid succession.
I appreciate any input from any familiar with this stretch of track.
Hey, Martin, you weren’t out there Friday afternoon, were you? That day was a little slow because of the holiday (no manifest departures), but I didn’t see any coal trains, either.
Part of the reason for fewer coal trains is that UP apparently lost a few contracts, some to BNSF (I don’t know which), and at least one to the Canadian Pacific, involving the coal trains to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. That one accounted for one or two trains per day.
Distributed power is becoming normal on more than coal trains these days. A lot of the stack trains (even short ones, surprisingly) have the unit on the hind end. It isn’t always an “extra” unit–sometimes the lead consist size is reduced. It must give them an operating advantage even when the power isn’t all necessary–perhaps one of our engineers can address that. There is also a pair of manifest freights that have a DP unit on the rear.
Completely off topic, but perhaps Carl can address it.
Today I was EB on North Avenue at 930 am or so and a NB UP was passing overhead with a bunch of combines on flatcars. Do those cars get humped? Do you know what train that was and origin/destination?
I had an appointment up on Railroad Avenue and was amazed by the number of parked locomotives in the yard. There must have been over 40.
My guess is that you saw a train arriving from the west, especially if it was under the first bridge you went under. Thanks to a bit of a retrenchment, I can’t be sure which train that would have been. Combines were red and (maybe) yellow, right? Generally, those cars go to the NS and on to the east coast.
We handle the cars over the hump, but that’s not really the same as “humping” them. They’re handled with extra care, and shoved to rest by a locomotive. These cars are dimensional loads, so they don’t necessarily go right out–they need special clearance (as in authorization–sorry about the double-definition of that word!).
You probably saw some stored units. They don’t show on the “turnover” I get for that yard, but that’s not really surprising. I’ll ask about them when I can.
There are quite a few stack trains on the UP east-west main that now have distributed power (dpu) running in a 2+1 configuration. I suppose that it helps with the train handling–less slack–rather than having three units tugging on the head end.
The dpu stacks on this stretch of the UP seem fairly new. I think I can remember first seeing one late last summer. Like the others said, now there is a manifest train that also runs with a dpu.
Those “combines” were likely John Deere green and yellow tractors. They sometime show up on the MCBPR coming out of Council Bluffs. There are unit combine trains that come out of the Quad Cities, East Moline, IL (red International Harvestors and green JDs), but these usually take the BNSF down through Galesburg and then to NS. The unit trains are usually export moves going through the port of Baltimore.
I spent a bit of time on the UP late Saturday afternoon/early evening and it was really slow. Had a westbound mainfest train at West Chicago that got ahead of me (UP 4004 West) and he didn’t see an eastbound freight until he had to wait for one to cross over ahead of him at Ashton (more than 60 miles). I sat at Dekalb for a time and had a westbound coal empty go past me with dpu in 2+1 and then got out to Rochelle to find an eastbound stack coming out of G3 heading toward Chicago. I didn’t hear a symbol on the stack, but he was short (might have been a train that originated there).
Sorry I didnt get specific with the combine models. They were red (IH or perhaps Case) and there was a yellow (?). The train was indeed inbound, heading north at the time.
The north yard was really something. No cars in the yard, but an endless line of stored locomotives.
It was a lousy day for photographing…too bad as the jets for ORD were dropping down right over the yard.
Case and IH logos both appear on the red ones. The yellow ones are labeled “New Holland”, but I think they’re made by the same company.
One has to look at the glass as half full–an empty receiving yard means that cars are being humped soon after arrival. Usually there are a few tracks up there to keep us busy–it’s when Yard 9 is plugged that things get a little difficult.
We’ve been getting UP coal drags with pushers thru here on CSX’s Indy-St Louis line for over a year now. The last couple weeks or so, I’ve been seeing UP mixed freights with either 2 led engines + pusher, or a single in front + pusher on some of the shorter ones. Haven’t seen any inter-mobiles with a pusher yet.
I was in Elmhurst on 4/4 and saw an example of what you are talking about. However this was the only DPU I saw the 4 1/2 hours I was there. See the pic below…
Ed, I finally found out–you probably were looking at about 80 stored locomotives on two tracks. Add to those about 20 more that I see on the other side of the yard, and that’s a solid one hundred that I know of.
Speaking of Elmhurst: trains or no trains, rains or no rains, tomorrow afternoon, around 3:00, might be an interesting time to be there. I hope so, anyway!
The Case/IH combines come out of Grand Island NE. Lately, MNPPR has been picking up at Grand Island. They used to go MGICB to Council Bluffs, then MCBPR to Proviso.
The John Deere tractors that come out of Waterloo, IA now go the long way via Manly, IA because of the UP bridge that’s out at Waterloo.
Distributed power is also being used on grain trains, loaded and empty. All the coal trains I’ve seen lately are DPU. Some empty hopper trains still go conventional. I’m wondering if part of the reason that so many coal trains are DPU is because there are more than enough engines to go around.
Ok Carl, 3pm Saturday found me planting cilantro and basil after a full day of chores, so I didnt make it to Elmhurst.
Care to share what happened?
80 stored locomotives on two tracks? I only saw the one track and it was a pretty sobering site. But then again, so are the unemployment figures…Indiana is over 10%.
I would think that “distributing the power” does improve train handling by making brake applications and releases faster acting, reducing slack, less wear on couplers, wheel flanges, outside rails on curves, etc. If the power is availalbe, why not use it? It acoomplishes all that brake repeater cars do and more because it not only improve brake performance but less wear on acceleration also.
I make frequent trips to Elmhurst and always look forward to watching trains. Great place to get some ice cream and walk around or just sit on a bench and take in the action. However, since we have been plagued with hard economic times, hardly any action when I’m there. In the last nine months during my visits I have seen two trains, a manifest and a stack. This was over the course of about a dozen visits. I used to see a train every fifteen minutes or less. Never had to wait more than 30 mins. to see one.Same with Rochelle. Four visits with about 8 hours tied up and two trains. Also Kirkwood Station in Kirkwood .MO…one UP coal drag in two hours. Dead…! This is really one way you can tell the economy is hurting. No train action. Take notice to all the empty containers stacked everywhere. I had heard from a pilot friend that flys the PAC rim that there are containers full of electronics with no where to go. Just sitting. You can also tell that air frieght is down. Our jets use to come in full with 2-3 inches of chrome showing on the struts, now you have about 6 - 7 inches showing. Light loads. Seems there has been more BNSF action I’m told. Hope things turn soon.
Well, nothing happened on Saturday, because that was the day I wrote the note. On Sunday (today), however, we had dinner at Two Brothers from Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Zardoz, and Cop-Car Chris. We caught two scoots on the platform before the ladies arrived from their quilt show, and four freights (two in each direction) after we were seated.
No doubt about it, though–the business has slowed down from what it was a year or more ago.