Western Railroad Discussion > fort madison ia area

general question,do the railroads run crews in helper engines,pusher or dpu units on there long trains....TIA  SCOOBYDOOBYDOO

I have seen pushers and DPU's.   Benn watching those videos for years
 

scoobydoobydoo Wrote:
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> general question,do the railroads run crews in
> helper engines,pusher or dpu units on there long
> trains....TIA  SCOOBYDOOBYDOO


No

Distributed power is run by computers - no operating crews on DPU trains anywhere across the nation.  Manned helpers are increasing rare.

scoobydoobydoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> General question, do the railroads run crews in
> helper engines, pusher or dpu units on their long
> trains.

cozephyr Wrote:
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> Distributed power is run by computers - no
> operating crews on DPU trains anywhere across the
> nation.  Manned helpers are increasing rare.
>
> scoobydoobydoo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > General question, do the railroads run crews in
> > helper engines, pusher or dpu units on their
> long
> > trains.

You're answer is only partially true - the part that mentions computers. Trains with DP are still operated by a human from the front end, although they use a computer to help in the interaction between the head end power and the DP.