Western Railroad Discussion > ZSELC

According the the folks monitoring trains on the Chehalis, WA webcam a UP "ZSELC" just passed.   I thought the soundbounds were all "I" trains.  Is UP actually trying to expedite some of this southbound traffic now, at least a few days of the week?  

They were, last month or so we've seen some SB Z symbols, so far only the LATC
bound (LC) trains.

Out 

Probably a UPS peak season marketing ploy?

midwest Wrote:
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> Probably a UPS peak season marketing ploy?

Bingo!

Guys, the I to Z thing doesn't seem to be making the train any faster.

Out 

HOw did you know the initials?

UP schedules effective 11-07-22 show cut-off to available time of 140 hours. Including ramp time (varies) this is a blinding speed of 9.15 mph. Most single-driver truckers could do 1-1/2 round trips in that time, depending on time spent in a truck yard waiting for a dock door slot. 

Pretty Sad Railroading.  

Bruce

They show a UP Z-SELC past the Chehalis (WA) railcam at 11:24 today, no previous sighting noted.  3x0 power, 6 cars loaded with chassis on spines, 17 domestic and 28 marine= 51 cars.  Majority of the cars for SoCal, including all the trailers, are added at Brooklyn Yard in Portland.

mapboy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/22 17:09 by mapboy.

StStephen Wrote:
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> UP schedules effective 11-07-22 show cut-off to
> available time of 140 hours. Including ramp time
> (varies) this is a blinding speed of 9.15 mph.
> Most single-driver truckers could do 1-1/2 round
> trips in that time, depending on time spent in a
> truck yard waiting for a dock door slot. 
>
> Pretty Sad Railroading.  
>
> Bruce

Question is whether that's the same train.  The schedule shows 140 hrs from TACSIM, which is the "TM" symbol. That's where the northbound ZLCTM goes, Tacoma, and its published time from LATC is 66 hours.    On this southbound they use "SE" symbol, which I assume is Seattle Intermodal terminal, but they show no service from there.  As Mapboy says, the train today past Chehalis was short, which makes me think some kind of UPS holiday peak special as mentioned.   

This is all UP shows for Seattle-Tacoma to LA service.

Bruce


 

---

I would think that the 6 days does include whatever time is needed to fill at Brooklyn which
makes it a bit more whatever but still 3 days would seem to be more in line with what should
be happening.

Out 

If we believe the "SE" symbol then this is a stealth train of some kind.  Northbound Z shows 66 hrs total to Tacsim so hard to believe they would run a southbound in the same lane at 140 hrs, even on UP.    

Another Z-SELC just went by Chehalis at 12:29, a longer one this time at 100 cars.  You can track yesterday’s Z-SELC by checking the Dunsmuir and various Tehachapi area railcams for the passage of UP 7378, 6588 and 6059, unless the power gets changed.  That will tell you the actual time between Chehalis, WA, and those points.  For tracking purposes, today’s train had UP 8215, 5577 and 6247.

mapboy

Tehachapi gets the train mid to late afternoon, most days.

Out 

Yesterday's train w/ 7378 departing Dunsmuir as we speak at 15:05 PT.

 

There is also an AM train over Tehachapi, might be that one which would make sense considering your
3:05 PM at Dunsmuir.

Out

UP takes the southbound intermodal traffic out of TACSIM north to Seattle before it goes south to Portland, hence the SELC symbol. UP's access out of the port of Tacoma is a northbound move at Fife yard. It's hard to make large train pickups there southbound because UP immediately dumps onto BNSF (and busy Sounder traffic) just south of Fife yard.

memphisfreight Wrote:
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> StStephen Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > UP schedules effective 11-07-22 show cut-off to
> > available time of 140 hours. Including ramp
> time
> > (varies) this is a blinding speed of 9.15 mph.
> > Most single-driver truckers could do 1-1/2
> round
> > trips in that time, depending on time spent in
> a
> > truck yard waiting for a dock door slot. 
> >
> > Pretty Sad Railroading.  
> >
> > Bruce
>
> Question is whether that's the same train.  The
> schedule shows 140 hrs from TACSIM, which is the
> "TM" symbol. That's where the northbound ZLCTM
> goes, Tacoma, and its published time from LATC is
> 66 hours.    On this southbound they use "SE"
> symbol, which I assume is Seattle Intermodal
> terminal, but they show no service from there. 
> As Mapboy says, the train today past Chehalis was
> short, which makes me think some kind of UPS
> holiday peak special as mentioned.   

The ZSELC from Thursday with 7378 on the point passed thru Tehachapi in the 8 o'clock hour, or about 48 hours past probable departure from Seattle.  That's on pace with the northbound Z.  Train picked up a good size block with a lot of UPS out of Brooklyn.   We'll see how long this lasts.  

memphisfreight Wrote:
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> The ZSELC from Thursday with 7378 on the point
> passed thru Tehachapi in the 8 o'clock hour, or
> about 48 hours past probable departure from
> Seattle.  That's on pace with the northbound Z. 
> Train picked up a good size block with a lot of
> UPS out of Brooklyn.   We'll see how long this
> lasts.  

I wonder if those UPS trailers were loaded or empties being repositioned.  BNSF is regularly sending empty UPS trailers and containers from Spokane WA to LA, via Denver and set out at Armarillo TX on the QSPOALT trains.  There is definitely more UPS equipment coming into the PNW loaded than what goes out, so these "repo" moves happen all week long (apparently LA has the opposite issue, so they need the equipment).

wyeth Wrote:
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> I wonder if those UPS trailers were loaded or
> empties being repositioned.  BNSF is regularly
> sending empty UPS trailers and containers from
> Spokane WA to LA, via Denver and set out at
> Armarillo TX on the QSPOALT trains.  There is
> definitely more UPS equipment coming into the PNW
> loaded than what goes out, so these "repo" moves
> happen all week long (apparently LA has the
> opposite issue, so they need the equipment).

The one time I saw a list of empties and loads on the I-BRLC, 95% of UPS and FedEx containers were empty.  The I-BRLC carries a lot of empty containers.

mapboy