Eastern Railroad Discussion > 13,155' of intermodal. How long to pass?

Part 1: CSX I026, the hot JAX-CHI train, rolls by me on the CE&D sub near Vincennes, IN. Normally this train is flying past me but today he has to cool his heels due to a southbound freight going in the hole at Alice siding which is 11,700' long. I026 took 7:19 to pass by the camera. Mid train DPU at the 3:35 mark. Included is a bit of radio chatter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/25 03:02 by CSX2605.

---

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Part 2: Radio chatter included.

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Dangerous operating practices with such long trains.  

What is next?   20,000' trains and 30,000 tons?  

Healthy variety of intermodal customers on that train; I wonder if it would be safe to say that this train handles the lion's share of domestic intermodal between the Southeast and Chicago, or does NS have a hot intermodal train that competes with CSX in this corridor?  I thought that NS had a pretty vibrant connection with FEC in Jacksonville FL for hot intermodal in this lane?  I did notice a lack of FedEx containers on this train, most everyone else seems to be pretty well represented.

I026 is a train I catch in the NB afternoon parade at Folkstone a couple times a year, 190-215 wells/platforms is a typical train, usually 2x1, so that math works out to ~13K feet assuming 63 foot/car.

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dangerous operating practices with such long
> trains.  
>
> What is next?   20,000' trains and 30,000
> tons?  

Yep, saw an NS Eastbound coal train at the Casandra Bridge in Pennsylvania a few months ago. The crew was overheard on the radio talking to the helper crew and it was mentioned that the train was 30,000 tons. The power was 2x2x2 and it took at least 10 minutes or more for the train to pass. I don't think it was doing any more than 10 MPH with all 6 units blowing their guts out. 

JB

SOU3921 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I026 is a train I catch in the NB afternoon parade
> at Folkstone a couple times a year, 190-215
> wells/platforms is a typical train, usually 2x1,
> so that math works out to ~13K feet assuming 63
> foot/car.
Folkston 18:06, Manchester GA  23:30, Talladega AL 05:05, Birmingham AL 08:15, Nashville TN 15:00, Evansville IN 20:30, Danville IL 01:20, Bedford Park(Chicago) 05:30. Crew gets on at Evansville(Howell Yard) and takes the train all the way to Bedfrd Park. 5 crews to get it to Chicago. I025 is the hot counterpart

That ome has more flat wheels than I've heard in a while. Maybe one of the impact dectors won't catch it.

Sam

Trainhand Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That ome has more flat wheels than I've heard in a
> while. Maybe one of the impact dectors won't catch
> it.
>
> Sam

Often it DOES get caught, it's just not enough to warrant the crew to stop and inspect. Car will get flagged for mechanical inspection at a further terminal.

And I've had ~30k ton coal trains, in both DP (2x3x2) format and conventional (2x0). Gotta be on your toes if you're runnin manually (no trip op/energy management).

I think UP routinely runs double coal trains; that is 220 cars in a 2x3x1 set up from North Platte, South at Gibbon Nebraska to KC. They may cut them in two before getting to KC