RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted October 26, 2009 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 26, 2009 One for the prototype for everything department, always wanted to model doublestacks but not had the room? 1 SD-40, 1 Articulated Double Stack Set and 1 Caboose. Head west through the rockies http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=301692&nseq=39 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Now what am I going to do with all the other stack cars I have? I was running 40 wells (2x Twinstack, 2x Maxi-III, 1x Thrall 5-unit, 4x Maxi-IV, 3x single) behind a pair of GE B40-8s last night (N-scale), and I had another 10 or so I could have used except the running line wasn't long enough. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 To be really pedantic - that's a Canadian prototype. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 To be really pedantic - that's a Canadian prototype. True, since it was actually taken in Canada. It could just as easily have been a CP train in the US - the distinction can get a bit blurred when it comes to CN or CP since they both have extensive routes in the US. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted October 26, 2009 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 26, 2009 To be really pedantic - that's a Canadian prototype. I'm with Adrian I'd already written the post when I noticed the loco, of course I could have read all the text properly too, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-59 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 That's a wonderful picture. Other such prototypes that come to mind are, the SF SuperC of the 1970's which ran LA to Chicago on a fast schedule with 4 SD/F45's and 20 or so TOFC cars. But i have seen one picture of it with a F7a one TOFC car and a Caboose. Also the ICG trains of the 70's that ran several times a day form Chicago to St Louis, never were longer then a few cars. And of course the CV rocket which ran Montreal to Palmer MA and per a agreement with the union ran without a caboose if it had less then 15 cars. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Since its heading west the most likely explanation would be either a hot box or brake trouble with the well car. CP would have cut it out of the consist at Lake Louise before going through the Spiral Tunnels and the pass. The single loco + caboose would be used to limp it into Field BC for repairs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 That's a wonderful picture. Other such prototypes that come to mind are, the SF SuperC of the 1970's which ran LA to Chicago on a fast schedule with 4 SD/F45's and 20 or so TOFC cars. But i have seen one picture of it with a F7a one TOFC car and a Caboose. Also the ICG trains of the 70's that ran several times a day form Chicago to St Louis, never were longer then a few cars. And of course the CV rocket which ran Montreal to Palmer MA and per a agreement with the union ran without a caboose if it had less then 15 cars. I'm sure i've seen shots of various transfer jobs between yards in Chicago which weren't big trains, and often had switchers for power! There was a soo job I recall that even regularly boasted a caboose presumably due to a backup move somewhere? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-59 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I'm sure i've seen shots of various transfer jobs between yards in Chicago which weren't big trains, and often had switchers for power! There was a soo job I recall that even regularly boasted a caboose presumably due to a backup move somewhere? The Soo(now CP) intermodal transfers form Bensonville yard(their main Chicago yard) to both Schiller park another CP yard (but on the CN line) and Clearing on the BRC. Both run with Cabooses the one to Schiller park due to their only being one connection at the juction of the CP and CN. I am unsure of why the Clearing train needs it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 and I thought cabeese were a relic of the past!! shows how little I know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 and I thought cabeese were a relic of the past!! shows how little I know Well, that photo was taken almost 20 years ago... I'd guess that the caboose is there because they needed an extra body to monitor the car and/or switch the train out (especially if it was travelling at a reduced speed), and riding the platform of a well car through the Kicking Horse Pass (particularly the tunnels) isn't really a great idea. You can occasionally see a caboose today, as a platform for the crew on a long propelling move. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpeak Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 In the early 80s Maine Central (by then part of Guilford Transportation Industries) operated the East Wind, an expedited TOFC service between Bangor and Rigby. This was often a very short train, just two or three cars. The power was quite frequently a U25B, which was super-power for the MEC, chosen mostly because it had a big fuel tank rather than for any horsepower concerns. By the mid-80s the service had been extended beyond Portland, running to Springfield, MA to connect with Conrail, and terminating at different locations in Maine, sometimes Portland, sometimes Waterville rather than Bangor, depending on what made the most sense operationally. It could still load fairly lightly, Railroads of the Pine Tree State vol 2 has a 1985 view of the train en route to Bangor with just 3 cars trailing a former B&M GP9. None of these services really managed to compete with trucks on I-95, hence the frequently light loadings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 True, since it was actually taken in Canada. It could just as easily have been a CP train in the US - the distinction can get a bit blurred when it comes to CN or CP since they both have extensive routes in the US. It looks like an Ex-Soo caboose... (CP Rail taking over the Soo completely in 1993/4, of course...) You just couldn't make pictures up like that, could you? A brilliant find- thanks for posting!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 A few more short intermodal transfer jobs from the Chicago area... Here's the previously mentioned SOO/CP transfer job Old school...(well, I reckon 1990s) version of that SOO job with an ex MILW SD10. Mmmm! http://www.flickr.com/photos/family_man_system/3351600974/ If you have just a slightly larger layout - still "do-able" though? http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagorailfan/3414776484/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Although the camera is a little shaky, this is one of my favourite clips off YouTube to show just how long some US trains are... Double-headed at that!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALj0JvLEMc&feature=PlayList&p=A3F61A5FD056E9AD&index=0 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 The Milwaukee Road ran scheduled intermodal trains - what was loaded at the time of departure is what ran. 15 cars was not at all unusual... As for 'long', there's an article in the recent issue of the Penn Central Historic Society's magazine that describes an train of empty 89" piggyback flats that was 157 cars long, plus a cabin (caboose). That's over 14,000 feet long...pulled by one E44 electric http://www.tsfr.org/~efbrazil/e44_prr.jpg . Not fast, but pulled...biggest hazard was the slack in the couplers to the guy in the cabin... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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