Western Railroad Discussion > 50-car coiled steel unit train spotted on BNSF transcon

After many years of photographing trains, today was the first time ever for me to video a coiled steel unit train.

I had not been at Larry's Lookout in Gardner, Kan., five minutes when the 1x2 powered 50-car train came into view. It was westbound on the BNSF Railway's Emporia Sub. Unknown the train symbol.

I've observed a couple of these trains in recent weeks from a distance but today was the first time I've been in position to grab a picture or footage. I decided to go with video because of major cloud cover. The cloudiness would have spoiled color stills, in my estimation.

Someone said a few weeks ago that these shipments are most likely bound for somewhere in California. Hopefully, other railfans will get to photograph this train the next couple of days on the transcon.

(Video by Larry Byers)

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If they are going to California, most likely they are going to USS Posco in Pittsburg for hot dip galvinizing or for P&O processing.

Interesting how the coils are spaced on the cars and the different number of coils on some of the cars.

Must be different grades of steel for some of the differences.

It is not different grades, but coil weights. Looks like there is a mix of 48" wide coils and 36" wide coils. There may have been a couple 60" wide. They also varied in the length or number or wraps. That all equals different weights for each coil. So they maximize the car usage by putting coils together to max out the car weight.

Also quite possible that the sheet thickness isn't all the same.

They could be going to California Steel Industries in Fontana too.

I must admit that a 1 x 2 roll-by takes a little to get used to!

Michael McInerney
Marion, South Australia,

Probably another U GALPIT.

Posted from Android

I was going to say that steel would push a few automobiles down the assembly line, but, aside from Tesla, who manufactures automobiles anymore on the West Coast? Faraday?

Ed

I don't think CSI receives coils. "Unlike integrated steel mills or mini-mills, we do not manufacture steel. Rather, we process steel slab purchased from suppliers around the world, including Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Europe and the United States." https://californiasteel.com/?c=facilities

What happened to the editing tools that allowed one to make links hot?

Thanks for sharing the video. That is an interesting train. One unit then two in Locotrol on the rear. 50 cars but pretty heavy. That train is going to Pittsburg, CA. It will go over Tehachapi Pass then up through the San Joaquin Valley in Central California to Pittsburg.

SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

How the train was set up did they do a reverse move somewhere and kept it as it was setup?

Or was it a unit train that didn't turn around after it was loaded.

thegoonshow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How the train was set up did they do a reverse
> move somewhere and kept it as it was setup?
>
> Or was it a unit train that didn't turn around
> after it was loaded.

its initially built in 1x2 configuration. In undulating territory, one engine up front has enough braking force to hold the train in as the two pushers shove. Too much dynamic braking up front and you'll squirt coil cars out of your train in the curves. Its happened! 

An Engineers' touch is far more effective than a computer trip optimizing software at running these specific trains. 

So a unit train of coil cars act differently then a unit train of coal or grain cars.

That is an interesting thing to know.