UP North route equipment cycles

I need to pick your brains again. Since I last visited Chicago a new schedule has been implemented on the UP North route. I have tried to match known equipment cycles to the new schedule but I am struggling to identify equipment usage for a few trains. Can you help answer the following questions?

Which previous service forms the following next workings:

300 4.20am Waukegan to OTC
303 5.40am OTC to Waukegan
364 9.40pm Waukegan to OTC

Once 353 arrives in North Chicago which train is the equipment used on?
Once 359 arrives in Waukegan at 8.01pm which train is the equipment used on?

I know that the answers to the above could well be linked but I would like confirmation.

Thanks in advance.

UKrailfan.

Your suspicion about some of the answers being linked are true. Here's how it breaks down:


Both 300 & 303 use the same equipment, it's a 5-car set that is then used for 318, 325, 344, then to NW as 639.

Likewise, 359 and 364 use the same equipment as well, this is usually 6 cars. Once 364 arrives back @OTC, it then turns to 11 (leaves @1240am for Elburn on the west line).

353, a 7-car set, deadheads to Waukegan yard after arriving N. Chgo, and is then used for 306's equipment the next morning.

Keep in mind that my notes are from January 2009, the last time I actually checked this out. There may have been some minor changes since, but this will at least give you a guide to work with. Also please note that equipment failures or significant delays on any given day can and will result in some equipment being swapped with others, it can indeed be an inexact science...

Doepack, you are a star. Thank you very much. I am aware that this is anything but an exact science but I will take my chances and see what happens. I must admit that most of my notes are from May last year and therefore I am to a certain extent working blind, but you work with the information you have and then drown your sorrows when it goes wrong.
Thank you once again.

UKrailfan.

Sorry, one final question on UP north.

Does the equipment for 300 come from the previous evenings 367?

Thanks in advance.

UKrailfan.

According to my notes, 300's equipment is turned from the previous day's 343; and deadheads back to Waukegan yard from Kenosha, I believe. 367, which is usually 4 cars, becomes the next morning's 302...

If that is the case then, as we say in England, the job is knackered!!! According to my notes 302 comes off 345. Looks like a few things have changed. Do you have a list of equipment turns on UPN that you could publish?

Thanks again fo the info.

UKrailfan

Try this out...

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... 1EMg&hl=en

Thank you. Do you have the same information for UP Northwest and West. I guess I should check all routes so that I have the full picture.

Regards

UKrailfan

I'm still working on the other two routes, but all of the pieces don't quite fit yet; there's still some open questions. Gonna need a few more days to get everything together, will post the link to the spreadsheet when ready...

doepack wrote:Your suspicion about some of the answers being linked are true. Here's how it breaks down:


Both 300 & 303 use the same equipment, it's a 5-car set that is then used for 318, 325, 344, then to NW as 639.

Likewise, 359 and 364 use the same equipment as well, this is usually 6 cars. Once 364 arrives back @OTC, it then turns to 11 (leaves @1240am for Elburn on the west line).

353, a 7-car set, deadheads to Waukegan yard after arriving N. Chgo, and is then used for 306's equipment the next morning.

Keep in mind that my notes are from January 2009, the last time I actually checked this out. There may have been some minor changes since, but this will at least give you a guide to work with. Also please note that equipment failures or significant delays on any given day can and will result in some equipment being swapped with others, it can indeed be an inexact science...

Out of curiousity, do you happen to know when train 352 started using 333's equipment instead of 327s? I remember as late as 2007, trains 352 and 359 still used four cars It makes much more sense that 352 is using the six car set since that train is usually packed until Ravenswood.

By the way, thanks for taking the time to post these equipment cycles for the UP.

Illinifan wrote:Out of curiousity, do you happen to know when train 352 started using 333's equipment instead of 327s? I remember as late as 2007, trains 352 and 359 still used four cars It makes much more sense that 352 is using the six car set since that train is usually packed until Ravenswood.

By the way, thanks for taking the time to post these equipment cycles for the UP.

You're welcome! BTW, I'm not exactly sure when 352 became a six-car set, but I think part of the reason was to add more capacity to 359. As you know, a newer schedule was published for this route last year, and aside from the addition of extra weekend trains, the schedules for 352 & 359 were adjusted, both of which have heavy patronage. Specifically, 352 had 5 minutes added to its schedule with an additional 3 minutes of recovery time, while 359's OTC departure was moved up nine minutes. Before last year's change, 359 almost never left OTC at 1835, due to late arrival of 352's equipment, which would usually incur minor delays en route due to the crowds...

Here's the latest update, includes the NW & W lines. Questions, comments, or corrections welcome...


http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... 1EMg&hl=en

doepack wrote:Here's the latest update, includes the NW & W lines. Questions, comments, or corrections welcome...


http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... 1EMg&hl=en

Concerning the partial consist from 647, I think Saturday trains 716, 713, 658 (not sure of the other weekend trains) usually run with it. I remember seeing that partial consist coupled to two Budds and a cab car on the rear on train 647.


Thanks again for posting! Am I correct in assuming you travel to OTC everyday so are able to make these observations over time?

Illinifan wrote:

doepack wrote:Here's the latest update, includes the NW & W lines. Questions, comments, or corrections welcome...


http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... 1EMg&hl=en

Concerning the partial consist from 647, I think Saturday trains 716, 713, 658 (not sure of the other weekend trains) usually run with it. I remember seeing that partial consist coupled to two Budds and a cab car on the rear on train 647.


Thanks again for posting! Am I correct in assuming you travel to OTC everyday so are able to make these observations over time?

Actually, I only ride Metra 2 or 3 times per week, but living right next to UP/W in Wheaton definitely helped my research, and saved a lot of additional legwork. I did get some of the data at OTC, but I also observed the other two lines at different locations in order to get a clearer picture...

Thanks for all your work on this. I am sorry to have put you to so much trouble but it should make my next visit more productive having this information. Hopefully it will be of use to others too.

Thank you once again.

UKrailfan