Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Double X train

Word is BNSF will be running a double empty grain train tommorow out of Auburn to Minot. Sounds like it will be 2x2x1. It will go over Stampede. It should be around 14k long.

Hope I can catch that train in daylight. Thanks for the heads-up.

Larry

Train has been canceled.

Sounds like BNSF is more so looking to jump off the stupid cliff of running huge trains in both directions on a mostly single track railroad?  So far, on the Northern Transcon, BNSF has kept the big trains to moving in just one direction (westbound), so that would keep the problem of two non-clearing monster trains of having to try to make a meet.

It's one thing if the entire route (or most of it) is double track, like the Southern Transcon, or UP from SLC/Ogden eastward on their Central Corridor), but to try to run non-clearing trains both directions on an already very congested railroad, yeah, this is going to be fun!

Of course, none of this addresses the potential of problems happening enroute where the conductor has to walk a two mile of train in each direction if a problem arises with the train, or terminal issues, such has these big trains hanging out of a fuel pad and blocking all the other main lines while it is fueled...

spwolfmtn Wrote:
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> Sounds like BNSF is more so looking to jump off
> the stupid cliff of running huge trains in both
> directions on a mostly single track railroad?  So
> far, on the Northern Transcon, BNSF has kept the
> big trains to moving in just one direction
> (westbound), so that would keep the problem of two
> non-clearing monster trains of having to try to
> make a meet.

Ideally, sidings must be substantially longer than train so that the train is in the clear before the engineer is down to the speed for being careful to not run out the other end. Those nonstop slider by meets of CTC salesmen fame don't happen when the guy heading in is doing it at 10 mph or less.


>
> It's one thing if the entire route (or most of it)
> is double track, like the Southern Transcon, or UP
> from SLC/Ogden eastward on their Central
> Corridor),

But a 100 foot long speed restriction is still 14000 (etc.) feet long. A 35 mph crossover is still 14000 (etc.) feet long.
>
> Of course, none of this addresses the potential of
> problems happening enroute where the conductor has
> to walk a two mile of train in each direction if a
> problem arises with the train

We all know that a brisk walk is 4 mph (coupling speed). Nobody is going to walk that fast in ballast while looking between and under cars for the problem. It will generally be half of that in a lucky case. I always used 1 mph as walking speed figure to inspect and maybe 2 mph to get back to the head end. Then I'd arrange traffic for the worst case low level (air hose, knuckle) problem (all bets are off for drawbars or derailment).  1 mph is 1.5 Feet Per Second. 2 mph is 3 FPS.

Back in Olden Tymes when we had crew on both ends of the train and trains were 5000 feet long, an undesired emergency would generate an automatic figure of 40 minutes - 28 minutes to walk half the train inspecting and 14 minutes walking back to the engine. The head man only walked half of the train. The hind man caught the caboose on the fly. I could revise the plan when I heard whether it was a hose, a knuckle, a drawbar, etc. On a lucky day, the problem would be close to the head or rear end and it would be fixed up and the train moving in less than that.

Now,  in modern times...

To walk the length of the train is 2.5 hours. Walking back is 1.25 hours. There is nobody walking up from the hind end. The delay plus fixing it time could be 3.75 hours for one undesired emergency. That's enough to screw up the whole railroad, even for a small problem. On a really lucky day, the problem would be near the engine.


TAW

Well, if you're really lucky you'll be someplace like Tehachapi where you have the Rapid Responder out there to give you a hand.
But I wouldn't bet on it...
 

Plenty of spots on Stampede in winter where Rapid Responder would have to fly a helicopter. Glad that someone at BNSF realized what a bad idea this would be.