Eastern Railroad Discussion > 900+ Axles!!

This was GIGANTIC NS westbound freight 11Q on Monday Oct 27th, 2025 in Rootstown Ohio with 224 cars / 914 axles counting the units which are IT SD70ACe #1072, NS AC44C6M #4060 + Mid DP NS ES44DC #7583.
 

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Had to be mostly empties spcly with only 3 units.  This  would be about 10,000 tons.  still a sizeable amount of tonnage, and imho, an accident waiting to happen. a couple of classes in physics should be mandatory for ppl in charge of making up these trains.

Amazing! I'd hate to have to walk this train for any reason!
Bob

" I'm Still Walking The Brake !!"

223 cars by my count (not including the mid-train power).

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Had to be mostly empties spcly with only 3
> units.  This  would be about 10,000 tons. 
> still a sizeable amount of tonnage, and imho, an
> accident waiting to happen. a couple of classes in
> physics should be mandatory for ppl in charge of
> making up these trains.


NS was running 220 loaded coal trains from Abilene, Va to Norfolk, Va since the early 1990’s with only two locomotives on the head-end without issue multiple times daily. This was way before distributed power or the PSR movement. The tonnage on these trains were between 21k to 23k tons. So pretty sure your statement about physics and accidents waiting to happen is just a your personal opinion not based on facts or just fear mongering.

Posted from iPhone

JOHNY5ALIVE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> pdt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Had to be mostly empties spcly with only 3
> > units.  This  would be about 10,000 tons. 
> > still a sizeable amount of tonnage, and imho,
> an
> > accident waiting to happen. a couple of classes
> in
> > physics should be mandatory for ppl in charge
> of
> > making up these trains.
>
>
> NS was running 220 loaded coal trains from
> Abilene, Va to Norfolk, Va since the early
> 1990’s with only two locomotives on the head-end
> without issue multiple times daily. This was way
> before distributed power or the PSR movement. The
> tonnage on these trains were between 21k to 23k
> tons. So pretty sure your statement about physics
> and accidents waiting to happen is just a your
> personal opinion not based on facts or just fear
> mongering.
>
> Posted from iPhone

You mean like the one thats piled up all over the single track main out to newport news?

Meanwhile,, Abilene to Norfolk is only 150 miles, downhill.  They could run that at 25 mph and still get done with an 8 hour day.  OTOH, if they ran 23.000 tons with 8000 hp and totally inadequate braking for movement at any kind of speed, thats pretty irresponsible.  Its all about kinetic energy.
There is a HUGE amount of difference between 20mph and 40 mph.
It has nothing at all to do with fear mongering (where dod u get that idea)  Its all about sanity an a little knowledge over cost cutting at any expense.
How many times have we read "No shareholders were hurt in this accident"

"You dont need a weather vane to know which way the winf blows"

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JOHNY5ALIVE Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > pdt Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Had to be mostly empties spcly with only 3
> > > units.  This  would be about 10,000 tons. 
> > > still a sizeable amount of tonnage, and imho,
> > an
> > > accident waiting to happen. a couple of
> classes
> > in
> > > physics should be mandatory for ppl in charge
> > of
> > > making up these trains.
> >
> >
> > NS was running 220 loaded coal trains from
> > Abilene, Va to Norfolk, Va since the early
> > 1990’s with only two locomotives on the
> head-end
> > without issue multiple times daily. This was
> way
> > before distributed power or the PSR movement.
> The
> > tonnage on these trains were between 21k to 23k
> > tons. So pretty sure your statement about
> physics
> > and accidents waiting to happen is just a your
> > personal opinion not based on facts or just
> fear
> > mongering.
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> You mean like the one thats piled up all over the
> single track main out to newport news?
>
> Meanwhile,, Abilene to Norfolk is only 150 miles,
> downhill.  They could run that at 25 mph and
> still get done with an 8 hour day.  OTOH, if they
> ran 23.000 tons with 8000 hp and totally
> inadequate braking for movement at any kind of
> speed, thats pretty irresponsible.  Its all about
> kinetic energy.
> There is a HUGE amount of difference between 20mph
> and 40 mph.
> It has nothing at all to do with fear mongering
> (where dod u get that idea)  Its all about sanity
> an a little knowledge over cost cutting at any
> expense.
> How many times have we read "No shareholders were
> hurt in this accident"
>
> "You dont need a weather vane to know which way
> the winf blows"

Wrong again…. It is not all down hill from Abilene to Norfolk. And we were running them at 50mph. The recent CSX derailment had absolutely nothing to do with how axles the train had. Try again….

And the stupid thing about the shareholders is really getting old and tiresome.

Good or bad, train makeup has changed over the years just like everything else.

We frequently run 30K coal trains and 15,000ft manifests (usually 1×1) over the Pa mountains. An "enjoyable trip" is NOT the words I would use....

Posted from Android