Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS Grain Trains Getting Longer

 Grain trains moving across the Norfolk Southern are being lengthened from 85 cars to 105 cars.
Trains magazine reported on its website that NS officials said the longer trains will increase capacity of each train by 23 percent.

NS said the longer trains are being made possible by the the increased pulling power of AC traction locomotives.
Although not all grain terminals are able to handle 105-car trains, the Class 1 carrier said some of its grain shippers are expanding their terminals to be able to handle longer trains. From the akronrrblog

 

i have always been curious as to why n.s. runs shorter grain lds than the bnsf and u.p..............

66

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i have always been curious as to why n.s. runs
> shorter grain lds than the bnsf and
> u.p..............
>
> 66

Before NS, my memories of export grain trains on N&W was that one hundred cars was the norm.

My hunch is that Southern Railway grain traffic was mainly for chicken feed or wheat for flour meals, so I think Southern was used to smaller number of cars in its multiple car shipments.

pt199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NS said the longer trains are being made possible
> by the the increased pulling power of AC traction
> locomotives.
I got a good laugh out of this. Like these are a new thing? LOL! Been doing it with coal for a long time. Why doesn't NS just come out and say we are giving a better rate if the elevator loads more cars. On CSX elevators are set up for 90 car trains. Use to be 65 cars. On a rare occasion CSX has combined 2 grainers into one train if the units are DPU capable and split it back up somewhere down the line.

CSX2605 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a good laugh out of this. Like these are a
> new thing? LOL! Been doing it with coal for a long
> time. Why doesn't NS just come out and say we are
> giving a better rate if the elevator loads more
> cars. On CSX elevators are set up for 90 car
> trains. Use to be 65 cars. On a rare occasion CSX
> has combined 2 grainers into one train if the
> units are DPU capable and split it back up
> somewhere down the line.

Good point!

I don't know if I am getting a false memory or not, but I think that I remember some of the 100 car export grain trains going to Norfolk getting filled out with coal.

pt199 Wrote:
>  Grain trains moving across the Norfolk Southern
> are being lengthened from 85 cars to 105 cars.
> Trains magazine reported on its website that NS
> officials said the longer trains will increase
> capacity of each train by 23 percent.

At least someone in Atlanta knows how to do the math. So they've got that going for them. Which is nice.
However, my border collie would've rounded it up to 24%.
/Ted
 

Last spring on the CNO&TP they ran at least one that was 160 cars, in a 3x2 configuration.  Would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 9500 feet and 24K tons by my estimates.

Dan

thanks for all of this info y'all...........

66

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CSX2605 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I got a good laugh out of this. Like these are
> a
> > new thing? LOL! Been doing it with coal for a
> long
> > time. Why doesn't NS just come out and say we
> are
> > giving a better rate if the elevator loads more
> > cars. On CSX elevators are set up for 90 car
> > trains. Use to be 65 cars. On a rare occasion
> CSX
> > has combined 2 grainers into one train if the
> > units are DPU capable and split it back up
> > somewhere down the line.
>
> Good point!
>
> I don't know if I am getting a false memory or
> not, but I think that I remember some of the 100
> car export grain trains going to Norfolk getting
> filled out with coal.

You have a good memory.  Grain trains (and coal trains) for Norfolk (and other destinations) have been filled out for many years.

The TRAINS News Wire article referenced in the original post mentions that grain shuttle trains are being lengthened from 85 to 105 cars.  I don't know how they define grain shuttle trains, but it could be trains that are used by smaller grain elevators.

"ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has increased the length of its grain shuttle trains to 105 cars from 85, a move that allows the railroad to handle 23% more grain in each train."

Back in the 1970s and 1980s Norfolk and Western had a standard grain train length of 100 cars, and Chessie 65, as was mentioned above.  Of course that was back in the days of 263,000 pound load limits for cars.  Now it's 286,000 or even 315,000, so more grain can be moved per car.

Jim

 

Grain shuttles may also be what used to be called "captive" trains. Same equipment running back and forth between the same two points

Posted from Android

CSX2605 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
On CSX elevators are set up for 90 car
> trains. Use to be 65 cars. On a rare occasion CSX
> has combined 2 grainers into one train if the
> units are DPU capable and split it back up
> somewhere down the line.

I remember well during the 1980s and 1990s CSX had most or many of their grain trains through Virginia at the 65-car length, and often combined two of those into 130-car trains.  That was the norm for those for at least a decade.

More math.  100 loads back in the day 13,200T.  85 loads today 12,155T.  105 loads 15,015T.  As NS's engines get better with age.."raising the tonnage ratings over time,"  This should work well.  Insert eye roll here.

Eng.Shadetree

I think the kicker is NS will now deliver 105 car trains to their customers & if they can't take them, NS will charge them demmurage on the 20 cars the customer can't handle.  It's a win!