Howdy. This is my first post as a new member. Living in the Denver area we have the BNSF and UP. As I've watched BNSF trains over the years I've always wondered how BNSF (the conductor? the engineer?) figures out which locomotives to use and where they place them in the train. I'm not that good at identifying the different brands and sizes of locomotives at a glance but can obviously note different color schemes when I see them. Is there a method whereby they decide which color scheme locos go in which order? Do they always head the train with the latest color scheme? The newest loco? The most powerful loco? Is it the engineers choice for his favorite loco or color scheme? (probably not). How do they decide how many locos in front and/or back/or middle? I've always wondered and hope some of you can fill me in. Thanks for your time. Tom
Hi Tom, Welcome to Trainboard! The operating crew has little to nothing to say about the motive power used. On road trains, it is the carriers control center or motive power department that determines the power to be used and its placement in the train. The trainmasters determine how many trains need to be run and their priority.The yardmasters provide the makeup and tonnage of the trains to be operated. The roundhouse or diesel shop foreman will normally determine which locomotive(s)will lead. Sometimes the placement may be determined due to the need for a locomotive to be set-out or another picked up enroute. On the BN side of the BNSF the motive power department is a bit stingy about horsepower. They try to play it as close to 1 HPT(horsepower-per-ton)as possible. Color schemes have no effect unless someone is trying to impress a big-shot somewhere. Distributed power arrangements are likewise determined by the motive power department. If you are working a yard job or a local freight, you just take whatever power is available in the roundhouse or service tracks. Can't even begin to tell you how often I've had to sit and wait until another job came in so we could use their power for our job. One of the biggest gripes I had was that the new locomotives would be delivered to Chicago and "set-up" for road operation by the maintenance and hostler crews at the Clyde roundhouse in Cicero. There is a good deal of work to set up a new locomotive for road operation. The radios need to be installed and all the electronic circuitry tested. All the spare hoses(air and M.U.) and coupler knuckles need to be installed in their proper holders. Air brake and engine operation tests are conducted. The chemical toilets are filled. The cooler/refrigerators are installed, the mandatory paperwork is initiated and installed where required.TP,paper towels,drinking water supply, brooms,fusees and at one time,torpedoes, are placed in their proper receptacles in the cab. At any rate we would do all this work at Cicero/Clyde and then the locomotives would be available for trains. Once they left us we seldom saw them again because once they reached their destination on the West Coast, they would be sent back on trains to terminals on the Santa Fe side. So if you ever wanted to see a lot of brand new motive power, you would be advised to go a few miles from Cicero over to Corwith Yard on the Santa Fe side. That's where all the new stuff wound up! Meanwhile us guys on the BN side got all the aging junk, stuff running off it's final mile, the U-boats from the Powder River coal districts would be coming in to run off their last miles. Oakway lease units would fill out the roster along with a lot of old SD-40-2s(Now those hogs were pullers!!!)unfortunately those SD-40-2s were rusting out and they leaked in every seam. In winter, carry a supply of duct tape to tape the doorways or you will freeze to death! Anyway.thats how some of it is done. Some other guys will fill you in a little bit more. Glad to have you here.If you're interested, I host a thread on the "Railfanning Discussions" forum. It is "Storytime with Charlie". Your welcome to take a look and get some idea of prototype operation. Charlie
I work on the BN side, in Montana, and some days it seems they search the roundhouse for the oldest, noisiest, shakiest, rustiest engine, and put that as the leader, and then put some newer ones behind them, especially on the M and H trains! I've had many merchandise trains with an SD60 or SD60M on the point, and then a shiny new, quiet GE trailing. Most crews just take their power and complain for the next few hours when that happens, although we do have at least one engineer who has taken power down to the wye, and turned the whole lashup around to get a better engine on the point. The roundhouse always has a fit when that happens, but they usually find out after it is too late to do anything about it. A lot of times, at least around here, the M and H trains end up with a lot of extra power on them. It is not that uncommon to have a 70 car M train with 9 engines on it. Usually only two are running, but they use the train to move power around too. When they do that, just about anything can appear on them. The coal trains typically get AC power, which means they almost always have at least one SD70MAC or SD70ACe. Sometimes they get the newer GE power, but most often it seems to be EMD power. It is pretty rare to spot DC power on coal trains, but id does happen from time to time. Our coal trains usually only get three engines for most of their trip, two on the head end and one DP on the rear. AC power also gets on grain trains, although not as regularly as coal trains. Grain trains can go either way with power. DC power, such as Dash 9's, SD75M's, or just about anything else ends up on pretty much every other train. Grain trains can go either way, I have seen a lot with DC power, but I have also seen a lot with AC power. The most common leaders on trains have the North American cabs, but not always. We had a rash of M trains this past summer that had SD40-2's and SD60's on the point (and I seemed to catch all of them!), but that is pretty uncommon anymore. Switch jobs, locals, and road switchers typically get older Geeps or SD units, but they pretty much take whatever is available in the yard or the service tracks when they go on duty. Ultimately, the power is decided by somebody in Fort Worth, and that information is sent to the appropriate roundhouse. The roundhouses put it together, and hand it off to the crews, and the crew has no say in the power they get or its arrangement (unless they take it upon themselves to switch it out or wye it). The only crews that get any say at all are the guys who work the locals, switch jobs, and road switchers, and even their say is pretty limited.
I'm a little late in posting on this, but hey, I work for UP. Of course I'm late. The posters above are dead on about power selection. Usually if a crew switches lead units, it's for a good reason. Unit won't link up to any remote units, headlights out, etc... Most of the time this only happens after you leave a terminal. Otherwise you can call the enginehouse and have a machinist come out and make a quick repair. As for train placement, I'm sure BNSF has slightly different rules, but I thought I'd touch on how the UP does it. Might give ya a little perspective. As far as hauling over "the hill", the UP bases the power placement on coupler strength. Coal trains being the obvious example, we run 2 x 3 x 1. Two units leading, 3 units about 60 cars back and one unit on the rear. It used to be 2 x 2 x 2, but when the trains arrived at Denver, or Glenwood for westbounds, it was a pain to remove 2 units from the center of the train and then one from the rear. The powers that be, decided it was faster and easier to just put all three helpers together. Having them about 60 cars back from the lead balances the coup[ler loads so that no one coupler has much more than 7-8000 tons at a time when going over the hill. Of course an engineer that makes a mistake, can easily pull a train in two. Which REALLY upsets us conductors. I know I hate walking the train to replace a knuckle. So, hope it helps. Feel free to ask any other questions.
Just an affirmation to the other two posters above, a couple of times I have taken power consists from Clyde R.H.,light engine, to the B.R.C. to pick up a train and bring it back to Cicero for a road crew to take it from there. That was usually a move given to a switch engine job at Cicero after their regular days assignment had been accomplished. This would be $$$OVERTIME MONEY$$$ and get you your "12 & tow" for the day. If you really timed it right and started the 2nd move with the lite engines after 8hrs, you got a 2nd day out of it! The ultimate overtime money,AND you would choke just after you got the transfer train onto its proper departure track. At any rate, if we had a horsecrap lead engine leaving the BNSF we could ask the BRC dispatcher(if he didn't ask first)if we could enter Clearing Yard via 68th st. This move would enable us to wye the power and get a good leader for the transfer and the road crew. Every railroader I know LOVED those sort of moves. "Do what you're told;line your pockets with gold"! For any young railroader just starting the job. Pay particular attention to your mentors and how they arrange the work. Chances are not only are they setting it up for the most efficient manner for the operation of the train, but they are maximizing their earning power as well as minimizing the effort needed to get the train from point A to point B. Your regular job wages will pay your bills, your overtime will enhance your family lifestyle. Charlie
