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Canadian Railroads > Train 701 at WellingtonDate: 01/02/22 09:36 Train 701 at Wellington Author: cn6218 After the MLWs were retired, CN tried out a number of different options for powering the Nova Scotia gypsum trains. Trios of SD40 variants were tried, sometimes with a GP40-2 subbing for one, and even the LMS Dash-8 leasers made a few trips in the mid '90s. Eventually the routine settled down to a pair of SD75Is and a train of 75 or so of the old 263K MIL gondolas. On October 26, 2000 SD75I 5746 and a sister were splitting the searchlights at mile 23 of the Bedford Sub, approaching Kinsac siding. Although the cars in the train were rated for a gross weight of 263,000 lbs. crews tell me they were frequently overloaded, so a typical train probably weighed more than 10,000 tons. Eventually the old rotary dump cars wore out, and were replaced by company owned 3-bay 286K hoppers. That kept the gross weight about the same, but allowed CN to run slightly shorter 65-car trains.
The gypsum trains traditionally had 700-series numbers, like other unit trains on CN. 701 was the morning train, and 703 ran in the evening. When 50-car trains were the norm, there was a third (705?) later in the day as well). That changed a few years ago when CN decided to run the gypsum turns as 500-series roadswitchers. 511 is the first gypsum, and 513 the second (if there is one). Running as a roadswitcher allows CN more flexibility in assigning the crews. For instance, with the mine shut down over Christmas, 511 has been working in Rockingham Yard instead. GTD |