Western Railroad Discussion > Totally Foreign . . .

It's very rare to find a UP train without a single UP unit in the consist so I thought it well worth the time to go to Vinita OK to catch this unit coke train running from Parsons KS to North Yard TX Jan 25
1 & 2     CSX 5290-5322-3250 just north of Vinita OK still sporting snow on the plow from its origination point in MN
3.          Running a few minutes ahead of the coke train, UP 6321-4848 junk manifest on its way to Livonia LA

more to follow . .

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4.     Earlier in the morning at Lenapah OK UP 7872-6700-7266-7516 MMUKS waits for a signal to advance to Coffeyville KS
5.     A few days earlier on Jan 20, a very nice set of SD70Ms in charge of the Coffeyville-VanBuren local at Clem Siding just south of Nowata OK
6.     After the local cleared Clem, UP 5812-7425 leaves the siding with a military special of low profile containers

Thanks for looking
Brian Stevens

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Nice catch.
JB

Nice shots!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Is there an easy way to tell coal from coke in a passing train?

I always enjoy your reports and photos and am interested in UP ops south of KC, and what's moving where on those routes. 

One of the hallmarks of PSR (and I'd say it's one of the positive ones) is the constant reassessment and readjustment of the train service plan as traffic conditions change, which of course they do. But that results in lots of resymboling, and the endpoints aren't always major terminals. They can sometimes be "wide spots in the line" like Herington, KS or Big Spring, TX and not always major terminals like Livonia or Englewood, or even lesser ones like East Minneapolis or South St Paul or Ogden, UT. So for example, where is MU in the MMUKS symbol (I'm assuming KS is KC/Armourdale)?

And because some of these PSR symbols do a lot of block swap s/o and p/u work en route, I can't even be certain the Livonia train is routed via Van Buren, NLR, and Monroe, as it wouldn't be preposterous to run it via DFW and Shreveport/Reisor. Probably not, but I've certainly seen equally circuitous routings elsewhere in order to reduce train starts (which can be a PSR negative for some O/D's depending on the O and the D and how many times those cars need to be switched en route). 

Finally I know where the coke is originating (petcoke refining biproduct from the Koch refinery in Rosemount, MN), but I'm curious where it's heading. Texas? Mexico? Ocean export?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/22 13:35 by pbouzide.

Coke comes in much bigger chunks than coal.

Nice catch of the CSX units Brian! Glad to see some EMD running out your way.

Larry

pbouzide Wrote:
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> ...So for example, where is MU in the
> MMUKS symbol (I'm assuming KS is KC/Armourdale)?...

MU is Muskogee, Oklahoma.
KS is 18th Street Yard, across the main line from Armourdale, basically.
mg8711

Nice catching Brian. I am also curious about the coke train's destination.

Bismarck Bill 

Good light on these for a North-South RR (basically.) Nice to see the variety.

bmarti7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice catching Brian. I am also curious about the
> coke train's destination.
>
> Bismarck Bill 

Kinder Morgan..”south” of Manchester Yard on the PTRA mainline

Posted from iPhone

pbouzide Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I always enjoy your reports and photos and am
> interested in UP ops south of KC, and what's
> moving where on those routes. 
>
> One of the hallmarks of PSR (and I'd say it's one
> of the positive ones) is the constant reassessment
> and readjustment of the train service plan as
> traffic conditions change, which of course they
> do. But that results in lots of resymboling, and
> the endpoints aren't always major terminals. They
> can sometimes be "wide spots in the line" like
> Herington, KS or Big Spring, TX and not always
> major terminals like Livonia or Englewood, or even
> lesser ones like East Minneapolis or South St Paul
> or Ogden, UT. So for example, where is MU in the
> MMUKS symbol (I'm assuming KS is KC/Armourdale)?
>
> And because some of these PSR symbols do a lot of
> block swap s/o and p/u work en route, I can't even
> be certain the Livonia train is routed via Van
> Buren, NLR, and Monroe, as it wouldn't be
> preposterous to run it via DFW and
> Shreveport/Reisor. Probably not, but I've
> certainly seen equally circuitous routings
> elsewhere in order to reduce train starts (which
> can be a PSR negative for some O/D's depending on
> the O and the D and how many times those cars need
> to be switched en route). 
>
> Finally I know where the coke is originating
> (petcoke refining biproduct from the Koch refinery
> in Rosemount, MN), but I'm curious where it's
> heading. Texas? Mexico? Ocean export?

Kinder Morgan..”south” of Manchester Yard on the PTRA mainline..I believe they export it from there because it’s on the ship channel.

Posted from iPhone

My guess is that the coke train is headed for Houston to be handed over to the Port Terminal Railroad Association at their North Yard.

Matthew Dittert

Roadmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My guess is that the coke train is headed for
> Houston to be handed over to the Port Terminal
> Railroad Association at their North Yard.
>
> Matthew Dittert

Good guess

Posted from iPhone

pbouzide Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I always enjoy your reports and photos and am
> interested in UP ops south of KC, and what's
> moving where on those routes. 
>
> One of the hallmarks of PSR (and I'd say it's one
> of the positive ones) is the constant reassessment
> and readjustment of the train service plan as
> traffic conditions change, which of course they
> do. But that results in lots of resymboling, and
> the endpoints aren't always major terminals. They
> can sometimes be "wide spots in the line" like
> Herington, KS or Big Spring, TX and not always
> major terminals like Livonia or Englewood, or even
> lesser ones like East Minneapolis or South St Paul
> or Ogden, UT. So for example, where is MU in the
> MMUKS symbol (I'm assuming KS is KC/Armourdale)?
>
> And because some of these PSR symbols do a lot of
> block swap s/o and p/u work en route, I can't even
> be certain the Livonia train is routed via Van
> Buren, NLR, and Monroe, as it wouldn't be
> preposterous to run it via DFW and
> Shreveport/Reisor. Probably not, but I've
> certainly seen equally circuitous routings
> elsewhere in order to reduce train starts (which
> can be a PSR negative for some O/D's depending on
> the O and the D and how many times those cars need
> to be switched en route). 
>
> Finally I know where the coke is originating
> (petcoke refining biproduct from the Koch refinery
> in Rosemount, MN), but I'm curious where it's
> heading. Texas? Mexico? Ocean export?

Over the last year UP has been shipping pet coke from Rosemount to Victorville,CA for the cement plant boilers.

Allen

Posted from Android