Now These Are Fast Intermodals

Yep! 70 per seems about right with good track and power. Express trains may exceed regular  freight speed on some railways by 5 mph.   

Gregg posted:

Yep! 70 per seems about right with good track and power. Express trains may exceed regular  freight speed on some railways by 5 mph.   

Only good advantage is you can get the cargo on time or early time. One issue though that would concern me, is at that speed since that crossing is on a curve, is if a vehicle got stuck. But looking, I've never seen an accident yet at that crossing. But still though's intermodals go fast through there.

wrawroacx posted:

Gregg posted:

Yep! 70 per seems about right with good track and power. Express trains may exceed regular  freight speed on some railways by 5 mph.   

Only good advantage is you can get the cargo on time or early time. One issue though that would concern me, is at that speed since that crossing is on a curve, is if a vehicle got stuck. But looking, I've never seen an accident yet at that crossing. But still though's intermodals go fast through there.

Usually getting the train in on time is more a function of lessening terminal delays than raising the MAS in mainline territory.  No amount of 70 MPH running is going to help if it takes a train 2 hours to go the last mile and a half because of terminal congestion.

nice.  should be required watching for people who want to take photo's or play around railroad tracks.

Nick Chillianis posted:

wrawroacx posted:

Gregg posted:

Yep! 70 per seems about right with good track and power. Express trains may exceed regular  freight speed on some railways by 5 mph.   

Only good advantage is you can get the cargo on time or early time. One issue though that would concern me, is at that speed since that crossing is on a curve, is if a vehicle got stuck. But looking, I've never seen an accident yet at that crossing. But still though's intermodals go fast through there.

Usually getting the train in on time is more a function of lessening terminal delays than raising the MAS in mainline territory.  No amount of 70 MPH running is going to help if it takes a train 2 hours to go the last mile and a half because of terminal congestion.

Nick, yes you are defentiely right about the last mile and half. The reminds me of the time the Illnois Terminal Heritage Unit ended up waiting on the NS Cleveland Mainline, and it is a mainline, and had to wait for the Control Point to clear after an Eastbound Intermodal passed. He waited for an hour and 40 minutes. 1 hour and 40 minutes of time lost. And track speed on the Cleveland Line on stretches where there's no curves is 60 for Intermodals. So yes you are right about the being on time. Also the part of getting it on time. Reminds me of the area of Chicago, which I haven't been to Chicago yet, but watching videos and seeing pictures of Pine Jct. and Blue Island. 

I paced a double stack train in Arizona along US-10 last year for quite a while. Many miles of 79mph..

steam fan posted:

I paced a double stack train in Arizona along US-10 last year for quite a while. Many miles of 79mph..

I find that hard to believe since the speedometer system on diesel units has the "over speed trip" generally set at 71/72 MPH.

Hot Water posted:

steam fan posted:

I paced a double stack train in Arizona along US-10 last year for quite a while. Many miles of 79mph..

I find that hard to believe since the speedometer system on diesel units has the "over speed trip" generally set at 71/72 MPH.

Yeah, generally, but it would depend on the actual gear ratios. EMD locos used to have 62:15 gears as the usual standard. Union Pacific had a series of SD40-2 units equipped with 59:18 gears for 80mph operation on hotshot trains, and numbered in the 8000-8099 series. Maybe some of the current railroads have freight units with high-speed gearing?

Ace posted:

Hot Water posted:

steam fan posted:

I paced a double stack train in Arizona along US-10 last year for quite a while. Many miles of 79mph..

I find that hard to believe since the speedometer system on diesel units has the "over speed trip" generally set at 71/72 MPH.

Yeah, generally, but it would depend on the actual gear ratios. EMD locos used to have 62:15 gears as the usual standard. Union Pacific had a series of SD40-2 units equipped with 59:18 gears for 80mph operation on hotshot trains, and numbered in the 8000-8099 series. Maybe some of the current railroads have freight units with high-speed gearing?

The gearing doesn't really matter anymore, especially with AC traction motors (there is no longer a commutator to fly apart). The real issue is three axle truck instability at speeds over 72/74 MPH.

OK, I admit I'm out of touch with the current state of AC locomotive technology !  But aren't some modern freight locos capable of higher speeds? And they wouldn't necessarily need 3-axle trucks.

Ace posted:

OK, I admit I'm out of touch with the current state of AC locomotive technology !  But aren't some modern freight locos capable of higher speeds? And they wouldn't necessarily need 3-axle trucks.

Railroads haven't been purchasing 4-axle models for many, many, many years.

My understanding is these fast intermodal freight are a result of  conference between west coast ports and UP and BSNF to divert traffic from the Panama Canal.

oh that don't matter trains on my APWR layout will go 160mph 

mwahaha!

The BNSF locomotives are limited to 70 MPH by timetable special instruction.  The overspeed used to be set for 73 MPH, to allow compensation for a possible slight speedometer error which could have prevented the train from actually moving at 70 MPH.  However, the locomotive speed indicator is maintained much more accurately than in the past, and speed indicator errors of 3 MPH are now uncommon.  Keeping the wheel size accurately entered into the locomotive on-board electronics is the key to accurate speed indicators.

In the past, Santa Fe did have groups of SD45's, SD45-2's, U33C's - as well as all of the F45 and FP45 units that were geared (and authorized) for 90 MPH.  These were the units which pulled the Super-C*.  The U28CG and U30CG locomotives had originally been geared for 90 MPH in passenger service, but were withdrawn from passenger after a derailment attributed to truck hunting. They were promptly re-geared for a maximum speed of 70 MPH and were limited to 50 MPH on many curves.  Union Pacific also had some higher geared SD40's and/or SD40-2's, although I am not sure how they obtained advantage from that.  They did not run faster than 70 MPH on the Santa Fe, even though they could have made 79 MPH between Daggett and Oro Grande, as the maximum track speed there was 90 for passenger and 79 for the Super-C.  UP could have designated a 79 MPH train like the Super-C but did not choose to do so.

*  The FP45 and F45 units were equipped with steam generators (FP45) and through steam lines (F45's) and were also used on passenger trains.  The other 90 MPH engines did not have steam piping.

I noticed that both trains (above) were running without mid-train helpers and pushers on the rear.   Just the five (or more) locos on the front.   Interesting that the coupler strength was OK, and they did not need helpers for that reason.