Saw the 4 unit helper set east of Broomfield today. No idea what was on front or rear ends at the time! Turned out to be a 2-4-2 power configuration. The result, I think, of 2 trains being combined into one massive one! Caught here, at north end of Longmont siding, a mile or so from Highland. A couple miles south of Berthoud.Figure at least 220 cars. Have not counted, can't confirm!
Talked with an engineer friend of mine. He confirmed that they are doing this here also. And they are limited to 30mph with one of these setups, while a standard train is limited to 40mph. Why? Fuel conservation is the word of the day. Add slow orders due to a need for track maintenece on this line and the trip Glendive to Laurel is a grueling 12 hours, minimum. Them double long trains are fun to watch tho!!
Yikes! That's a long one! Longest I've seen going through my home town on the CP Lachute sub was five locos up front and two mid-train helpers. That was way back in the 1970s, before CP started dialing back all their Quebec operations save for the St Luc yard. Coolest thing, one of the locos was a GP30! Along with that huge train, I was one happy kid. Little did I know that I had just seen half of CP's GP30 roster.
