Saw this unusual stop yesterday. An empty and a load, of coal< both arrived at the same time! And, they both stopped here, which is unusual. The empty needed fuel an both locos, so it took the mainline, which has a fueling station. The load pulled up one track and did it's crew swap right there. Now here's the weirdness. The empty being at it's stop is fouling the east end of the yard and part of the mainline, and one road crossing. So, the load can't leave until the empty hets done here and moves along. The rear end of the load, is just barely clear of the west end switch ladder. Unusual, but I am glad I caught it!
Saw an interesting bunch of moves at Hodges yesterday. It was chilly, windy and scattered snow showers while this coal train was stopped on the main and the empty was on the siding. It appears that the load lost one of it's headend units, the third GE on the end of the empty, and swapped out for the trailing DPU unit. I spent 45 minutes watching these guys, and they had already been at it for a while before I got there. As soon as the three videos get done, I'll post them.
Dang, like watching trains in your freezer!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!! Odd, those old BN cars in there, usually these are solid GATX trains only, especially the ones I see here in Auburn Yard.
There have been a lot of older cars running around. Both in coal and grain service. Grain I understand, but coal seemed unusual to me.
This starts me wondering, is there a car shortage? Enough having been sold off to used equipment leasers, or scrapped. It has happened in the past few decades....
Saying that makes me wonder the same too. I have seen some new well cars on the BNSF, but i never see any new general service cars. I know there are still some manufacturers around, but is there any major car construction still going on?
Not often do I see a pair of these together, and even rarer nose to nose! And sometimes I just have to get a picture, even if the setting is horrible. Just along main drag, the depot's unloading dock, and here was an interesting set.
Am going to drive by there today and look at the repairs and possibly the scraps. That will tell me something. In the first photo you can see how small the rail there was under the GE. It's some pretty old stuff, so I am sure the ties were tired! It has been thawing out during the day lately, too. As said above, mud and dirt aren't good roadbed!
