Eastern Railroad Discussion > Small freight rr's that Push / Pull

I think Providence and Worcester on the NE corridor, what about FEC locals ?,any others ?, TIA

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

calsubd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think Providence and Worcester on the NE
> corridor, what about FEC locals ?,any others ?,
> TIA

Many of the railroads do it when there are moves that benefit from having power on both ends. It's quite common in this area on the NS, AVR, W&LE, and SWP. It does not seem as common on CSX to me.

Rj Corman has done it for years on the West Ohio Lines around Celina, OH.

Posted from iPhone

Very common on the NS Delmarva Sub...usually 2 GP-15

BKLYN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very common on the NS Delmarva Sub...usually 2
> GP-15


Also on the NS Lurgan Line. H34 does it all the time......whatever power Vardo Yard (Hagerstown) has available (mostly 6 axle).

I see it when NS has to move their locals in and out of Morrisville yard onto the NEC - they'll push/pull out of the yard, onto the bridge over towards Trenton, and then get moving southbound (or eastbound, whichever it is) - and same for when it returns to the yard.

Jim Lipnitz
Morrisville, PA
Big Jim Video Productions

Very common. Even the Alaska RR does it on gravel trains.
RWJ

calsubd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think Providence and Worcester on the NE
> corridor, what about FEC locals ?,any others ?,
> TIA

Last week i caught Rj Corman train coming into lima with about ten gons of scrap metal. With locomotives on front and back i joked with a friend that corman ran a unit train with DPU!

howeld Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Last week i caught Rj Corman train coming into
> lima with about ten gons of scrap metal. With
> locomotives on front and back i joked with a
> friend that corman ran a unit train with DPU!

That's a good one

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

CSX has basically outlawed it recently system-wide. Now it is only allowed if an engineer is present on the rear engine.consist. Two issues that can come up when splitting power on csx are 1) if the loco is not dpu'ed to the leading loco, then the loco is unattended when left by itself. If the handbrake is not applied and tested when the lead locos cut away for any reason, the locos are not considered secured and this is a serious rule infraction on csx. Also, 2) when a locomotive that is apu equipped (ex. K9 equipped) and the apu is not set up properly, the rear unit prime mover will shut down and the apu will start up to circulate oil and water and keep the prime mover from freezing. CsX has disabled the ability for the prime mover to restart. Since the air compressor on most locos only pump air when the prime mover is running, there is the very real possibility of literally running out of air on the rear loco(s) as the main reservoir air is used up during switching. This could potentially allow the rear consist to roll away with absolutely no brakes available since csx engineers are not allowed to cut in the dead engine feature on a locomotive.

I know. The trouble is, we still have many instances where it is necessary to split the power for switching purposes, and there are no tracks to use as an alternative for runaround moves.

Someday, I fully expect the operating rules dept. to simply outlaw moving any train at any time.