Merry Christmas and Happy New Years 2012

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Giving thanks for the harvest

     Saturday Nov17, 2012 was a symbolic day to be reminded of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and harvest season in general.  The forecast since Thursday was clear skies and sunny.  To be rewarded with such awesome weather and a lack of good trains can indeed be frustrating.  So would be Saturday.  Traffic on NS was lack luster as was CSX…with the exception of V705 the B&P coal train which was reported heading north from Emerald mine toward Pittsburgh.  Reports indicated an early afternoon arrival into New Castle…of course the worst sun angle for a westbound!  Anyway, its was worth a shot.  So off I go to West Pittsburg to maybe catch him coming up the ramp…unless I have time to go to Wampum.  As luck would have it, I see the end of the the train pulling into the yard in New Castle as I approach UN interlocking.  Oh well!…that was a wasted trip.  

     Ok, as I drive up to sit across from the yard office…I remember seeing a 64D crude oil train called at Cleveland earlier in the day…where could he be now?  Turns out he is already past Alliance, so off I go to New Galilee for a shot.  After a short wait, a NS unit has 3 BNSF pumpkins leading a train of North Dakota Nectar (yep, no Texas tea here!) east.  NS 64D-16 has NS 9398-BNSF8807-BNSF6335-BNSF8963 leading 106 cars (104 loads of crude oil and 2 buffer cars) from Dore, ND to Sunoco's Eagle Point transfer terminal in Westville, NJ, via BNSF in Chicago.  At this point, I could consider the day saved!

     As I head home, a quick stop by the yard in New Castle reveals that V705 has changed ends and is ready to become B&P NCRI…destination Riker yard in Punxsutawney, PA…ultimately the coal will feed the Homer City power plant.  So after all the frustration all morning, another save!  B&P NCRI-17 has 3341-3343-3345 with a solid train of BPRR coal hoppers.  

     Soon I hear a G367-12 is ready to leave the yard and head west, so back to the yard office.  While waiting I hear a 62M calling the signal south at mp73.  Damn!  Off to Castle (aka CP-75).  With only seconds to spare (no time for video) I manage to get a shot of him splitting the NYC style signals at the interlocking.  NS 62M-17 has 103 loads of stone from Ashtabula harbor destined for Moldock in Leetsdale, led by 2760-8875.  

     So far a triple play in less than an hour.  Rushing back over to Mahoningtown, I just miss G367 as he heads west.  Oh well, how can I complain, after how the day started!  

So lets recap.

                               Harvest colors:  orange BNSF pumpkins on 64D

                                                            orange B&P units on NCRI

                                                            reddish hoppers on 62M

                        Harvest from the earth:  North Dakota crude oil on 64D

                                                                  Pennsylvania bituminous coal on V705/NCRI

                                                                  Ontario (I think?) stone on 62M



                                                       Happy Thanksgiving!

Anatomy of a train symbol...

Waynoka, OK June08 2012

Case in point:

BNSF X-FTXCBL9-06 with feed grain empties, is a shuttle train originating June 6th from an elevator at Friona, TX destined for Council Bluffs, IA.  BNSF uses X for all empty grain movements, but also ethanol empties too.  The 9 suffix indicates a train in service between 110 car shuttle elevators.

Let's see where this story goes.

Before the internet, a very difficult task.

First step, look up the BNSF symbol guide.  

FTX is Friona, TX.

Next, Google Earth Friona, TX.  Several interesting features are noted, mainly a loop track and elevator off the BNSF main.  

Off to the west is an interesting plant.  Turns out to be owned by Cargill Meat Solutions.  

Ok, so where does a meat packing plant of such size get its feedstock (ok not funny).  Scanning around Google Earth, you come across a large rectangular area to the north of town.  Zoom in...and there they are...thousands of cattle.  

Turns out it’s a CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) run by Texzona Cattle Feeders LLC.  So this is the reason for the BNSF shuttle trains to Friona.

Here is the big picture.

What next, any info on the elevator?  The BNSF site has a nice

list of all the 110 car shuttle elevators on the system.  Turns 

out this one is owned by CHS Inc. a fortune 100 company 

(a major operator).

Now if only BNSF could find a way to capture the reefer trailers moving the meat out of that plant.

Ok, so there you have it...easy.

Now that was just 1 of 6 empty grain trains out of a total of 35 trains seen this day around Curtis Hill Oklahoma.

DPUs on the rear looking east

Special K for lunch

Special K for lunch

Heading out to CSX at Edinburg at lunch time can be hit or miss.  With only about an hour for lunch, the 10 minute run leaves only about 45 minutes to catch trains.  Usually, 2 trains is a good day, anything  more is great...zero unfortunately is all too common.  Monday Apr02 2012 wasn't too bad.  With a 90 minute lunch, it was tempting to go to Enon Valley instead.  I'm glad I didn't.  Soon after I leave the office, I hear a K311 departing New Castle...should be able to beat him to Edinburg...considering the slow order at the Rt224 construction site.  Within a few minutes CSX 608 and CEFX 1048 roll by with 102 loads of coke from U.S. Steel at Clairton destined for their Gary Works.  Signal work around mp64 had two track occupied with MofW trucks.  The dispatcher announced that as soon as K311-01 clears the interlocking at Haselton, an eastbound would cross over and run one track to New Castle.  As 2 o'clock approached, it looked as if this extra long lunch would yield only one train.  

As I packed up the tripod a horn to the west gave a sense of relief.  In a few minutes another K train, comes east billowing a fine white cloud as it passes.  K904-01 is all stone from National Lime & Stone at Carey, OH destined for their distribution yard on the AVR at Glenwood yard near Pittsburgh.  As soon as his 60 cars pass, its pedal to the metal back to the office (just a little late).

Third Times a Charm...

While, I enjoy the sound of 20 cylinder EMDs as much as the next guy, following the last real SD45 on the B&P this morning would have been an easy choice if it was not still in the ex-SP "crap" paint.  Hence, when I heard about a 400 coal train coming east, I thought I could make up for the mediocre shot I got a month earlier on the Conemaugh.  The fact that he took the Bayard branch meant I wouldn't get him at my usual location...New Galilee.  So it was down the valley to see if he was into Conway yet.  Low and behold as I was crossing into Rochester, I see the crossing gates going up in Bridgewater...there goes his tail end!  I rush over to West Conway only to have him stop for clearance into the yard.  After waiting about 20 minutes, my first attempt at a shot is foiled by a yard job.  Strike one.

Ok, so off to East Conway to salvage the morning.  These trains load at Peabody Coal's North Antelope Rochelle mine complex in Wyoming's Powder River Basin and run as C-NAMCSC0 on BNSF to Chicago.  Running as NS 400, ultimate delivery is to the Constellation Energy (ex-Baltimore Gas & Electric) plant in Chase, MD...one of the longer hauls in the country.   After another 20 minutes or so to change crews, it becomes obvious that 37A pulling in will ruin that shot.  Strike two.

Last chance...race down Rt 65 to the signal bridge just west of Ambridge.  Thanks to some nice recent clearing by Dave, we have a hit!

Stacks and Spines....the I's have it

Sunday Dec11 2011 opened sunny and had interesting representatives of the pre-Christmas rush.

First up, NS I0V-10, a Maple Heights to Harrisburg extra section of Detroit to Harrisburg 20V was mostly K-Line and COSCO stacks bound for the port of Norfolk, rolling through Pittsburgh's Southside.

After a trip to Costco...it was over to Glenfield to catch an extra section of Elizabethport to Chicago 25Z, running as NS I5Z-10, that was all empty spine cars (ok, maybe a few wells)

The Greenwich Rainbow

Dateline: Nov12 2011, Greenwich, OH

Who would think this was CSX in Ohio?

Leading the parade of foreign power was empty Linden, NJ to Chicago, IL (for CP) ethanol train K637-10 with 2 ICE SD40-2s leading a CSX SD40-2

  Next up was Selkirk, NY to Willard, OH Q371-11 with CSX and leased power with some Honda Auto-Max cars on the head end

The color parade continued with a trio of mixed units on Cumberland, MD to Toledo, OH freight Q355-11

Western flavors are added with BNSF units on N860-07 coal empties from First Energy in Cleveland heading back to the Powder River Basin in Wyoming via BNSF in Chicago

CSX and UP power finishes off the rainbow on another empty ethanol train, K683-09 from Sewaren, NJ to Chicago, IL (Clearing Yard)