Eastern Railroad Discussion > Screaming 15's on Delmarva

Caught a late running HA-1 heading south this afternoon near MP41 (Cheswold, DE) with a pair of MP15s in charge of 64 loads.  The sound was incredible.

Enjoy !!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/20 14:56 by cr2581.

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Sweet Music !

I love the sound of non-turbo EMDs in the afternoon! (Apologies to Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Duvall).

TJY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/20 16:11 by icancmp193.

If they are all loads, that train is a "mortgage lifter" for the railroad.  

That was heck of a train for two MP15's especially for the speed they were maintaining. Any chance they were on a slight downhill grade to allow for that?

Thanks for sharing the video here with us.

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> That was heck of a train for two MP15's especially
> for the speed they were maintaining. Any chance
> they were on a slight downhill grade to allow for
> that?
>
> Thanks for sharing the video here with us.

Train heading south, then yes most of the cars were in fact loads.

What kind of loads would they be, heading to Harrington, Salisbury, Georgetown? Perdue and other poultry plants? Thanks.

Looking at the truck springs there were a lot of empty cars in that train.  Still, a hell of a hual for 2 small engines and they sounded great.  Thanks for posting.

tomstp wrote:
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>Looking at the truck springs there were a lot of empty cars in that train.  Still, a hell of a haul for 2 small engines and they sounded great.  Thanks for posting.

Believe me when I tell you, all 64 were loads. Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) is a huge agricultural area with farms everywhere. To answer two other questions posed above, the cars are filled with corn, soy cake, fertilizer, propane, and plastic pellets. The stone loads on the head end go to Pennsy Supply in Felton. The same two units took 74 empties north earlier in the day. Delaware may appear to be flat but like many midwestern states, it is anything but. The units are notched out because they are making a run for the hill at this location. You can see the train slow down a bit when the bulk of it hits the top.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/20 05:30 by cr2581.

Thanks for the information and the great video from the Delmarva area.  I am surprised that this railroad operates with those small engines.  They have to be maxed out to haul that many loaded cars.  I would have thought that they would be using some larger power.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

ClubCar  Wrote:
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>I am surprised that this railroad operates with those small engines. 

HA-1 normally operates with a pair of SD40s. The use of MP15s is standard practice once per week when power for the Dover local is exchanged with a fresh set.  It avoids making a separate deadhead move with an additional crew. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/20 05:25 by cr2581.

Sure keeps the MP15AC exhaust manifolds clean!

Some of the tank cars are empty going to Perdue in Salisbury for Soybean Oil loading. All of the covered hoppers are loads coming in with chicken feed, etc. Who gets plastic pellets on the shore?

Plastic pellets for turning into shrink wrap to package all of that chicken.  Then there's all of those red Solo cups.

Awesome sound! I remember when I was probably about 10 and my brother would’ve been 7, the old man took us to Valley Junction in the Trading PA area. As soon as we parked and started walking to see if any signals were lit for trains below on the Belt Line, the roar of 5 or 6 Conrail Switchers got real loud as a ballast train roared below us headed west probably from Birdsboro. I stood there looking down in awe, and my little brother got scared and ran over to hide behind a cement casket in the yard of the casket factory next door!

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Fantastic video

Posted from iPhone

Don'the be fooled by those sw's. I once saw one SW1500 pull 105 loads on a oakland, CA transfer job. It topped out at 25mph.

Posted from Android

If you look at the specs, these units are only a few thousand pounds lighter than GP38-2’s. The difference in horsepower would be much more evident at higher speeds, but at slow speed - and given that these units have the UP-style traction control system - they are really good pullers.

Posted from iPhone

The-late-EMD Wrote:
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> Don'the be fooled by those sw's. I once saw one
> SW1500 pull 105 loads on a oakland, CA transfer
> job. It topped out at 25mph.
>
> Posted from Android

Saw something similar running under interstate 80 toward the Emeryville station and it was just screaming. First thing I though of while viewing this video.