Eastern Railroad Discussion > No, not wildfires in West Virginia, just fast coal trains.

CSX 3146 is the DPU on N769, eastbound at Shenandoh Junction, WV.  In the days before DPUs, the coal trains would crest the grade slowly, and passs the Junction at much below track speed.  Now the coal trains crest at a much higher speed, unloading part of their coal on the surrounding countryside.

Other pics from today:
http://members.trainorders.com/ddavies/News/news.htm

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I guess the eastern coal trains never had enough shipment volume running at high speed to worry about the coal dust fouling the track ballast, which forced UP and BNSF shippers to tailor the coal hopper loading profile on the Powder River line.

Oliver Barrett

ddavies Wrote:
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> CSX 3146 is the DPU on N769, eastbound at
> Shenandoh Junction, WV.  In the days before DPUs,
> the coal trains would crest the grade slowly, and
> passs the Junction at much below track speed.
>  Now the coal trains crest at a much higher
> speed, unloading part of their coal on the
> surrounding countryside.
>
> Other pics from today:
> http://members.trainorders.com/ddavies/News/news.h
> tm

Back before End of Train Devices B&O would place a "Rider Car" ahead of the caboose to help keep down the coal dust that would hit and enter the caboose on coal trains between Brunswick and Curtis Bay yard Baltimore, Maryland. This was part of a Union agreement for that particular crew district. The earlier Rider Cars were boxcars marked "Rider Car" on both sides, when they weren't available they would use a covered hopper. Rider Cars were usually returned to Brunswick on Curtis Bay 97. They did help with the amount of coal dust problem at the rear of the train, of course during the summer you needed to have the windows open of the caboose and sometimes you could literally sweep up piles of dust in the caboose. I always wondered what it may have done to our lungs.
CR

ShoreLineRoute Wrote:
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> I guess the eastern coal trains never had enough
> shipment volume running at high speed to worry
> about the coal dust fouling the track ballast,
> which forced UP and BNSF shippers to tailor the
> coal hopper loading profile on the Powder River
> line.
>

There's no place I know of in the east that has anywhere near the sheer volume of coal traffic as the Powder River. 

But there's another factor to consider. It rains a lot more in the east, and I suspect that rain suppresses dust a bit also. 

And PRB coal is pretty low grade, crumbly sub bituminous coal , nowhere near as well held together as most eastern coals. In Economic Geology class, my professor used to refer to it as flammable dirt. Way more potential for generating dust. 

It’s moving a lot faster than the coal drags we saw in Thurmond and at Hawks Nest Lodge yesterday!

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march_hare Wrote:
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> ShoreLineRoute Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I guess the eastern coal trains never had
> enough
> > shipment volume running at high speed to worry
> > about the coal dust fouling the track ballast,
> > which forced UP and BNSF shippers to tailor the
> > coal hopper loading profile on the Powder River
> > line.
> >
>
> There's no place I know of in the east that has
> anywhere near the sheer volume of coal traffic as
> the Powder River. 
>
> But there's another factor to consider. It rains a
> lot more in the east, and I suspect that rain
> suppresses dust a bit also. 
>
> And PRB coal is pretty low grade, crumbly sub
> bituminous coal , nowhere near as well held
> together as most eastern coals. In Economic
> Geology class, my professor used to refer to it as
> flammable dirt. Way more potential for generating
> dust. 

PRB is a newcomer in the coal business. Both the Appalachians and the Ohio Valley have been hauling coal east (and west) for a long time. The Obama years shuttered many of the predominant mines in the OV and APP areas. 

Thanks for the pics...

ns1000 Wrote:
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> Thanks for the pics...

Eastern coal is dusty enough that lineside equipment rusts up way sooner than you would think it might....you can see dust collecting in places that rain can't easily wash.

Black Lung Express.