Doh! Double post! To make up for it, here's a screen shot I took this summer of UP 6672. Look at the amps and horsepower! Just 2-3 seconds before it was showing 4560 horsepower! At the time were pulling 92 empty coal hoppers through a horseshoe (actually more of a boot) on a 1% grade at milepost 60 on the Northfork branch, just a few miles east of Delta, Colorado, With only ONE unit online!
Time for a few more January images from the western slope. Earlier this month my son and I headed out toward Delta to look for a train or two. Things were slow but we did see this train waiting to be loaded at the Bowie mine. Some MOW equipment in Delta, CO. Ben
Thanks Darren! It sure has been cold on this side of the state. I hate the snow but welcome the moisture. Here is the last photo of some local switching on a cold day at the Fruita COOP elevator. Ben
It really depends on the territory. With empties, from Bond to Grand Junction, only two are online. From Grand Junction to the mines, agian, only two. That particular day, my engineer decided to strictly interpret the rules of Tons per Powered Axles and just ran one unit(he can be ornery like that). From Grand Junction to the mines, it's a limit of 410 TPA, and even with just one unit on a 105 car train, that comes out to between 220 and 360TPA (depending on cars). So it's POSSIBLE to make the route and not stall. But, we are supposed to be running two, in case a unit drops out.
A thought strikes me that we have suddenly seen people catching some of these old blue RI cars lately.
Pics from a special LCCA excursion back in 2010. (My dad took the runby shots as I was manning the video camera) Yes, the tender actually says Lionel Lines. This last one may actually be in Wyoming...
Looks like it's been toooooo long since I posted anything here! This is shot from the loadout of the Oxbow mine in Somerset, Colorado, looking east. Due to a curfew (tie gang), the Oxbow load on the left (my train), and the Arch Coal load on the right had to be tied down and left for the day. Both crews were just waiting for the van to pick us up.
For me, as a conductor, there are several considerations. None of which actually mean anything as far as operations are concerned. The SDs have a tiny desk that make it nearly impossible to put up my feet during a trip. But the cooler is within easy reach and I don't have to get up to get into it. Here, in Grand Junction, we rarely see them in unit coal service, so there is a certain "cool" factor for me. The late model GEVOs have a nice large desk, easy to put up my feet, but the coolers have been placed down in the nose in some of the newest ones. The GEVOs are, in my opinion, much quieter in the cab. Though to be fair, the older SP C44ACs sound like you're riding in a can of bolts being kicked down a road. I also heavily dislike the side consoles in both. The make it more difficult to communicate by effectively muffling speech from side to side. While in the yard, or stopped in a siding, it's no big deal. But at speed, even in the quieter GEVOs, it's a noticeable effect. All in all, I prefer the GEVOs. From a practical point of view, the SDs are disliked by most of the engineers. Mostly due to the lack of good integration between SDs and GEs in slow speed control, used when loading coal. Now this issue has gotten better in recent years, but they do load up differently, and tend to run in and out.
This thread hasn't been updated for a while so I thought I would add something. This was taken in green river Utah. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
That Burro reminds me of my Lionel trains. I wondr bow many are still in service today? Or if still manufactured?
