Western Railroad Discussion > Are things getting better?

U P is pulling all there SD70ACE T4’s out of storage plus a block of SD70M’s. Is this a result of PSR or is traffic picking up? Any stat sheet nerds out there?

Posted from iPhone

FWIW, considering the source. 

https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/aar-u-s-rail-traffic-sees-huge-gain/

Don't let that report from that rag fool you. Business is still in the toilet.

UP car loading reports

https://www.up.com/investor/aar-stb_reports/2019_carloadings/index.htm

Posted from Android

With the total carloadings and IM units down 9% over last year I don't think I'd be doing the
happy dance in Omaha. Con Agra went to IL, with the TD Ameritrade merger they're going
to Texas, wonder when UP decides to find a lower cost happy place. With Nebraska being
a conservative state it's a bit alarming as to their tax rates, though someone has to pay for
all that infrastructure that supports all that farm land.

Out

Let me tell you who pays the taxes to support that farm land, the FARMER! When property taxes are one of your highest, if not the highest cost inputs for your operation, something is bad wrong. Many rural schools get absolutely zero state aid, meaning our property taxes on our farm and ranch land pay out the wazoo. Our esteemed legislature talks all the time about property tax relief but does diddly. 

I'm surprised that the UP brain trust hasn't moved to Chicago or some other more "sophisticated" place that is more in tune with their MBA tastes.

What Irhoghead said.

Posted from iPhone

My property taxes in NE were over twice what I'm paying in AZ and 70% was going to schools.
The assessed farm rate is way below the rate charged to the non-farm owner, but I do get your
point.

Out

So traffic isn’t any better, so why is uncle Pete pulling motors out of storage. Either one of three reasons, the crops are ready for shipping, locomotive shortage due to many bad order motors, or PSR is in full effect requiring more locomotives then anticipated.

Posted from iPhone

The-late-EMD Wrote:
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> So traffic isn’t any better, so why is uncle
> Pete pulling motors out of storage. Either one of
> three reasons, the crops are ready for shipping,
> locomotive shortage due to many bad order motors,
> or PSR is in full effect requiring more
> locomotives then anticipated.

Do you ever have a clue what you are talking about?

        From what I have seen and read so far, PSR is the reason you store locomotives, NOT pull them back out.
        Harvest has been over for a while, they are finished shipping for the time being and setting the stored crop waiting for price increases.
        Bad order units - would take a guess that has very little to do with pulling stored units. I believe there are some BIG reasons to pull stored units, not on a whim.

Intermodal traffic is at peak season now is my guess.

IM at peak? Wall Street discussions of early and large existing holiday inventories might dispute that a bit. Up is only
relative to where you were before, it hasn't been really good for some time.

Out

The SD70AH tier 4 units are being slowly moved to and cycled though EMD for warranty work. A handful of SD70M may be returning to service, but it is only in exchange for a bunch of other bad actor units that are going into storage. Overall though they are still putting more into storage than are coming out. Things are not getting better yet.

If you work for a PSR infected RR you will agree that a lot of engines actually or breaking down. Likely because many of the shops are closed.

Sure, they might have warranty work acheduled too, but trust me, this winter is going to get ugly with break downs.

NYC6001 Wrote:
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> If you work for a PSR infected RR you will agree
> that a lot of engines actually or breaking down.
> Likely because many of the shops are closed.
>
> Sure, they might have warranty work acheduled too,
> but trust me, this winter is going to get ugly
> with break downs.

My bets are with this one.  UP has been shutting down shops and laying off mechanical workers, deferred (or non) maintenance would be my guess (is UP having a high on line failure rate of power?).

I've seen many monster stack trains run at seemingly 1 to 1.25 hp making under 20 up every grade, that
level of service is sooner or later hard on the motive power.

Out

Don’t it seems that some people just wait by their computer to criticize other people post. What’s wrong with people. This use to be a fun learning experience website.

Posted from iPhone

irhoghead Wrote:
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> Don't let that report from that rag fool you. Business is still in the toilet.

Did you even read "that rag?"   From the first paragraph:

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ended Nov. 23, 2019, and for the first time in a long time, traffic saw a healthy uptick. However, Week 47 in 2018 was an early Thanksgiving week in which traffic was normally down. Thus, Week 47’s gain is artificial, a circumstance of timing, a “turkey.”

Sigh

Brian

irhoghead Wrote:
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> Don't let that report from that rag fool you.
> Business is still in the toilet.

If anyone bothered to actually read the article, you would notice it says the uptick in numbers is a fluke, rather than an actual upturn in business.  The jump has more to do with the run up to the holiday than an actual rise in business.
It always seems to happen before holidays.  Carloadings jump up a week before, then fall back down.  Often to numbers that are lower than those before the temporary preholiday rise.  Then it takes weeks to get back to the 'normal' preholiday level.