Western Railroad Discussion > An oldie, but goodie: Loaded unit grain train led by an NS motor.

A 116-car Park River, ND (loop track at the "Walsh Grain Terminal, LLC" grain elevator) --to-- Hereford, TX ("ADM Grain Co." grain facility) eastbound loaded unit grain shuttle train in a 3x0 power configuration is seen here shoving back out of the far west end of the BNSF Grand Forks, ND, train yard during the breezy and mostly cloudy noontime hour of 11/03/2023. This train will shove out back past the D.L. (Devils Lake) Switch onto the BNSF Devils Lake Subdivision, take the west leg of the wye, pass the Grand Forks, ND, Amtrak station, pass the F.O. Switch, and enter the BNSF Hillsboro Subdivision to continue eastbound. 

Train symbol: G-PKVHER

Power:
NS     #4577 (Re-built GE AC44C6M; built: 04/1999; re-built: 04/2022)
BNSF #730 (GE C44-9W; built: 07/1997; Warbonnet)
BNSF #3789 (GE ET44C4; built: 04/2016)

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Curious as to why the crew, back at the loadout, didn't set up a DP as they had  both east and west facing locomotives. I worked with several outbound shuttle crews in North and South Dakota where they would do that first thing (shuffle the power) before doing the air test. In this case it would have eliminated the need for the backup move before heading down the Hillsboro Sub. The only reason I can think of is that the west facing unit (which wIll become east facing)was not leader -capable?(several reasons why, possibly PTC out.

PCBill