Western Railroad Discussion > UP loaded coal train 35mph Omaha/Boone subs

At 1641 CDT Sunday 3/29/26, eb UP coal train departs Council Bluffs past SouthWest Rail cams live cam with an ET44AC solo up front followed by 114 hoppers, 3 GEs as mid-train DPU, 134 hoppers, and single ES44AC as rear DPU. Estimated train specs (if I counted correctly): ~22,000 horsepower pulling 14,500 feet of train weighing 35,000 tons.

2 hours and 52 minutes later, as the sun sets in western Iowa at 1933, this coal train appears at Trains on Demand live cam high atop the grain elevator at Glidden IA, ~101 miles from Council Bluffs per Google Maps. Average speed was a tad under 35 mph.

Q: I'm guessing this train originated in Wyoming's Powder River - if so, why did it not take the Fremont - Missouri Valley short cut to bypass Omaha?

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/26 04:18 by JPB.

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Great sunset images on the Boone Subdivision.  UP coal on the move-!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/26 04:19 by cozephyr.

JPB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> At 1641 CDT Sunday 3/29/26, eb UP coal train
> departs Council Bluffs past SouthWest Rail cams
> live cam with an ET44AC solo up front followed by
> 114 hoppers, 3 GEs as mid-train DPU, 134 hoppers,
> and single ES44AC as rear DPU. Estimated train
> specs (if I counted correctly): ~22,000 horsepower
> pulling 14,500 feet of train weighing 35,000
> tons.
>
> 2 hours and 52 minutes later, as the sun sets in
> western Iowa at 
>
> Q: I'm guessing this train originated in Wyoming's
> Powder River - if so, why did it not take the
> Fremont - Missouri Valley short cut to bypass
> Omaha?
>
>  Most likely it was due to congestion.  The Blair sub is mostly single tracked between Fremont and Mo.Valley with only 1 siding at Kennard.  It's usually up to the dispatcher discretion what trains go where on this section of UP.
There where plans to completley double track the Blair sub and alot of grading for the ROW was done but so far those plans have been shelved.
JC

Maybe 49.6 loads per unit is a little too much for the 1% climb at Arlington. The hill is shorter than the train, so momentum might be enough to make it.

They normally take the double coal trains the long way via Omaha. Lately it seems the really big eastbound manifests go the long way, too. I think they got tired of big trains having problems on Arlington Hill and shutting things down for a few hours.

Most of the problem areas on the Blair Sub are on single track. Problem areas on the Omaha Sub have two tracks.

Posted from Android

They have been sending all coal trains via Omaha and all intermodals via Blair ever since UP merged with CNW 30 years ago, and even before that CNW coal trains always took the UP through Omaha. As was previously mentioned, this was done because of the ruling grade between Kennard and Arlington, Nebraska.

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

No idea how often, but coal has been known to
run via Arlington. Jeff Hergert said with 2+1 ACs
on 135 loads, hitting the grade at 40 mph would
get you over the top at 11-12 mph.

57A26 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They normally take the double coal trains the long
> way via Omaha. Lately it seems the really big
> eastbound manifests go the long way, too. I think
> they got tired of big trains having problems on
> Arlington Hill and shutting things down for a few
> hours.
>
> Most of the problem areas on the Blair Sub are on
> single track. Problem areas on the Omaha Sub have
> two tracks.
>
> Posted from Android

Standard practice at least since I had my Omaha stint 2014-2016. Almost everything I saw in Omaha proper was EB. When I'd fan Missouri Valley, the only EBs I would see crossing the river bridge at Blair would be intermodals.

I know the train crews. They had several wrecks due to the "accordian effect" from the hills. Train going downhill in places and uphill in other places did not end well.