Eastern Railroad Discussion > Question about mega-train speeds

With the recent run of very long trains documented at TO, I wonder about the speed of these trains. Does a 200+ car train move at a typical track speed, i.e. 50 mph?

Thanks,
Mike R

prsl Wrote:
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> With the recent run of very long trains documented
> at TO, I wonder about the speed of these trains.
> Does a 200+ car train move at a typical track
> speed, i.e. 50 mph?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike R

FIrst you got to get it to 50, which is a chore in itself.

Over the majority of the Pgh Line these DP trains make close to track speed. It should come as no suprise that speeds are similar to a 18000 ton coal train with helpers. Eventually when the crews get more comfortable with them, I suspect train speed will increase. There has been several DP trains make it from Conway to Harrisburg with 1 crew.

Posted from iPhone

EMD100469 Wrote:
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> Over the majority of the Pgh Line these DP trains
> make close to track speed. It should come as no
> suprise that speeds are similar to a 18000 ton
> coal train with helpers. Eventually when the crews
> get more comfortable with them, I suspect train
> speed will increase. There has been several DP
> trains make it from Conway to Harrisburg with 1
> crew.
>
> Posted from iPhone

But has NS run what is being called a mega train? Based on regular reports here, CSX has been running coal and grain trains over 220 (or more?) cars long, and manifests at 240-260 cars long. Of course, the unit trains are all loads while the manifests would be mixed loads/empties. Before hearing of those extreme lengths, a long manifest was probably widely considered 150 cars or more. So is NS running well beyond that? Just because it has DPU doesn't mean it was a "mega-train", because if it was a 150-160 car manifest that has been around for years.

 

inCHI Wrote:
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> EMD100469 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Over the majority of the Pgh Line these DP
> trains
> > make close to track speed. It should come as no
> > suprise that speeds are similar to a 18000 ton
> > coal train with helpers. Eventually when the
> crews
> > get more comfortable with them, I suspect train
> > speed will increase. There has been several DP
> > trains make it from Conway to Harrisburg with 1
> > crew.
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> But has NS run what is being called a mega train?
> Based on regular reports here, CSX has been
> running coal and grain trains over 220 (or more?)
> cars long, and manifests at 240-260 cars long. Of
> course, the unit trains are all loads while the
> manifests would be mixed loads/empties. Before
> hearing of those extreme lengths, a long manifest
> was probably widely considered 150 cars or more.
> So is NS running well beyond that? Just because it
> has DPU doesn't mean it was a "mega-train",
> because if it was a 150-160 car manifest that has
> been around for years.
>
>  

I believe the NS 105 train mentioned very recently had 216 cars. 

Freight speed is 50 anyhow unless you have a rare remaing 45mph car
 

Or a 30mph side dump ballest car..

Do the DP trains require helpers to get up to Gallitzen even though there are units mid-train?

Thank you in advance.

ThreeStep Wrote:
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> Or a 30mph side dump ballest car..

Or a 40mph steel coil car.

Posted from Android