BNSF and UP trains in Tukwila, WA, 3-24-2015
I'm trackside today in Tukwila, WA. The UP main is closest to me, the BNSF mainlines are the ones farther away.
Listening to scanner traffic, I'm expecting a northbound BNSF train any minute. A UP train is coming southbound at some point as well.
First up is BNSF 4551 (C44-9W) leading a northbound grain train. Mostly likely this is a loaded train headed to the grain terminal in Seattle.
While I was filming and facing south, I heard the distinctive thrum of a two-stroke diesel behind me. Seconds later, UP 7600 (AC45CCTE) came rocketing past me pulling a stack train.
Trivia note: The trailing UP unit, #6918 is an interesting unit. At the height of the horsepower wars between GE and EMD in the '90s, GE was going to produce a 6,000hp engine to go in a loco called the AC6000CW. There were teething problems with the engine so GE built 106 locos for UP with the older 4400hp engine. The engines in these locos were to be swapped out for the 6000hp version once the bugs were worked out. This never happened so the locos stayed with the 4400hp engine. UP classifies these now as a AC4460CW.
4551 / 4837
C44-9W / C44-9W
UP 7600 / 4214 / 6918
AC45CCTE / SD70M / AC4460CW
Пікірлер: 6
A very nice two-fer captures. :o)
Just found your channel and subscribed, I like the way you explain what is happening, it's a lot more fun to watch when you know what is going on, great work! -Matt
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
SLO70 Well for heaven's sake, binge watch the rest of my nearly 300 videos! Right now! Seriously, I like giving some info on what is happening in the videos. Some people are not familiar with railroad operations or there may be some Seattle-specific info that helps explain what is happening.
I remember when that was a crossing at grade.
It is so odd to see a train go by and then an engine at the end. We do not have that around here!
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
Kelly McDonald Very common here in the USA on long distance trains. The rear locos are called a DPU (Distributed Power Unit). They are controlled via a radio link from the lead loco. Using DPUs helps ease the stress on the couplers. This reduces the change of a coupler breaking and enables heavier trains to be pulled. Each coupler in a train takes the strain of pulling the cars behind it. So the strain on each coupler goes down as you move from the front of the train to the back. Without DPUs, the first coupler behind the locos takes all the strain of the cars behind it. Maximum strength of the coupler knuckle (the weak point) is about 650,000 pounds. Apply more force than that and the knuckle snaps off. Locos typically carry a couple of extra knuckles for just this reason, but replacing one is No Fun At All. With DPUs pushing on the rear, the force on that first coupler is greatly reduced. It's about half, drops to about zero at mid-train then from mid-train back to the DPUs, the couplers are not being pulled apart but rather pushed together. Hard to explain, Trains magazine had a great article awhile back with charts that showed how DPUs reduce coupler stress.