Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS X101, 13,000Ft of Massiveness!

Today on the Dayton District, Norfolk Southern ran a eastbound manifest bound for, presumably, Bellevue, OH. The train was lettered X101 lead by NS 8162, an extra manifest (possibly a test train?) made up in a 2x2x0 configuration, and over 13,000ft in length. This train was caught eastbound at CP 205W east of Dayton, OH this morning. There were talks about NS consolidating its traffic into longer trains to save crew costs, and they've tested it over on the NS New Castle District, but have yet to run over the Dayton District, until today. Out in Colorado, I frequently saw mid-train helpers on coal trains pushing the load over Moffat or the Joint Line, but out here in the flat lands of Ohio, it was really odd, and interesting to see such a setup. Though cool to witness, that's one less train NS will run on the line. Times are changing on the railroad that's for sure.

Thanks for looking!

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It's the wave of the future, CSX  is doing it too !

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Symbol is NS 101-05.

Posted from iPhone

Pretty much normal for CSX on the Great Lakes division without DPU.
X32403 Chicago to Toledo
246 cars
14515 feet
19815 ton
This was before pickup was made at Defiance Ohio.
Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/16 19:19 by farmer.

There's no such symbol as x101..
NS symbols are only 3 numbers or letters, not 4

Posted from Android

There was at least one other move like this, a 101 earlier in the week. It apparently ran without issues, at least to Bellevue. This symbol terminates in Elkhart.

There are more to come. This train will apparently be used to qualify Columbus guys with DPUs

Posted from Android

there is currently ,  thursdays 101 out of chattanooga was a combination of trains 174 and 144 coupled together.    took 4 hours to set it up.    over 12k feet long.



SlipperyWhenWet Wrote:
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> There's no such symbol as x101..
> NS symbols are only 3 numbers or letters, not 4
>
> Posted from Android

So how many cars was this "X101"?...

Mike

214 cars.

Yeah but csx is doing it without dup's.

Posted from iPhone

On flat territory.  This train ran via the CNO&TP with a rather roller coaster profile.

I still have not figured out "crew cost savings" on these monster trains. They are long, heavy, slow and ponderous things. If they breakdown it becomes a nightmare with blocked crossings and a long long walk for the Conductor. Delayed here and there account sidings not suitable for meets or delaying other trains waiting for them. Nightmare getting in or out of the yard etc. Eventually crew(s) will run out of time and need to be relieved. I don't know, it may look good and cost effective on paper and to the bean counters, I still think it is better and more efficient to run two shorter trains.  My thoughts.  Doug

Once traffic picks up it will revert back...

K8DTI Wrote:
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> 214 cars.

Thanks, K8DTI

Mike R

Well,I guess this must be the answer we get for the one person crews not permitted on Class Is.
Two trains combined into one.

Posted from Android