freight trains in the 2020s

Maybe like this? 

Sorry, couldn't resist. 

George

i recently drove to half-way across the country through the southwest, and i only saw  two or three mixed freight trains, the rest all being unit trains of mostly trailers on flatcars and some tank and hopper (guessing coal) consists all pulled by near-identical angular boxes on wheels.  locally in SoCal, i see quite a few auto carriers unit trains, too.

IMO freight  trains will become even more dull and boring as time goes on.
cheers...gary

Right now USA railroad traffic is down and hundreds of locomotives are mothballed. When traffic recovers, most of the existing locos will be returned to service. I wouldn't expect to see any radical changes in USA trains or locomotives over the next 10 years.

If you want to see radical different stuff, take a look at trains in other countries right now !

I hope I'm still around to see  There will be a push for greater efficiency along with slightly faster speeds, so maybe more aerodynamic engines and cars. 

Maybe we will go back to cab units.

EMD is just getting their tier IV units now. I don't expect any more radical changes. Would be nice to see "draper taper" units make a comeback though!

Heck, I just saw a unmodified SD40-2 in the power on a BNSF train heading to Seattle. The 2020s aren't far away at all, so I have zero reason to think that I won't still be seeing the stuff that's on the high rail right now...

CAPPilot posted:

I hope I'm still around to see  There will be a push for greater efficiency along with slightly faster speeds, so maybe more aerodynamic engines and cars. 

Maybe we will go back to cab units.

With NYC FL9's????????

2020's?  Does that mean we will see PRR type turbines?  (CF Lionel's O-27 PW steamer!)

Dominic Mazoch posted

2020's?  Does that mean we will see PRR type turbines?  (CF Lionel's O-27 PW steamer!)

Well, someone is saying he will revive the coal industry no mater the cost so why not bring back steam engines  The PRR S2 was very efficient at speed.  Would be good in the west where it could stay at speed for long distances

And why not a new cab (or cowl) unit design, updated with the latest technologies, for freight engines.  Looks more aerodynamic than current hood units, and with today's camera and sensor technologies you probably don't need the hood unit design any more. 

CAPPilot posted:

And why not a new cab (or cowl) unit design, updated with the latest technologies, for freight engines.  Looks more aerodynamic than current hood units, and with today's camera and sensor technologies you probably don't need the hood unit design any more. 

That's a great idea! Gimme a modern day E unit here on LI to pull the double deckers instead of the ugly-as-sin DE & DM30's.

Push the S2 Turbine powered freight out of town with the local pony,   and let 'er rip !

I would not expect to see dramatic changes just a few years ahead.   Look at trains and locos from 10 years ago - they are not radically different from current changes.    Instead, extrapolate current trends:

We are at Tier 4, so that push for change will slow.

There is continued interest in longer trains, but still limited by length of sidings.

I am not sure why anyone would suggest that train speeds would increase much (thought I would like to see it), but perhaps more use of distributed power for longer trains.

Perhaps by 2020+ we might see a new model from each loco builder, but incremental improvements over the current models.

Visually, I wouldn't expect a major change.

Operationally, the railroad landscape may look totally different. Over the next few years, Class 1 railroads will begin to sell, downgrade or railbank more routes. They want to become more efficient and the best way to do that is to concentrate the traffic onto select lines and eliminating parallel routes. Even if this means traffic may take a few days longer to get to its destination. Lines that just a few years ago would see 10-15 trains a day, with 60 mph track, will be regulated to 25 mph branch lines with just 2 trains a day.

This also means short lines and regionals will gain even more track. We may see new regionals pop up in the coal fields, G&W may gain access to St. Louis, and Watco may grow to be the biggest carrier in North Carolina. There's going to be a lot of opportunity out there for these companies. Also, because of this, I'd expect a lot more rebuilds of second and third generation locomotives.

That's just my two cents on it.

CAPPilot posted:

Dominic Mazoch posted

2020's?  Does that mean we will see PRR type turbines?  (CF Lionel's O-27 PW steamer!)

Well, someone is saying he will revive the coal industry no mater the cost so why not bring back steam engines  The PRR S2 was very efficient at speed.  Would be good in the west where it could stay at speed for long distances

And why not a new cab (or cowl) unit design, updated with the latest technologies, for freight engines.  Looks more aerodynamic than current hood units, and with today's camera and sensor technologies you probably don't need the hood unit design any more. 

Actually, the S2 was a technological disaster.  Marginal efficiency improvement at speed, horrible performance starting and stopping, and worse than average (for steam) maintenance record.  Terrific article on its trials and tribulations in The Keystone back a year or so.

George

Freight trains of the future will look like this:

There is one problem about giving up on some routes and/or downgrading them.  The concept of "Manure Happens!"  Having reroute possibilities helps!