Why do Bergen County locals get older power?

Conrail Blue NS GP15-1 1428 and GP38-2 5277 were still working the Paulsboro local yesterday. [see Paulsboro photos from my message posted Thu Apr 14, 2005 1:06 pm] I photographed them again because the sun was shining this time.

http://www.transitspot.com/gallery2/v/o ... _16_09.jpg

http://www.transitspot.com/gallery2/v/o ... _16_10.jpg

An hour earlier they were working a local Paulsboro industry.

http://www.transitspot.com/gallery2/v/o ... _16_02.jpg

Bob

It looks like the the tank cars serve the refinery, but where do the hoppers go?

Matt Langworthy wrote:It looks like the the tank cars serve the refinery, but where do the hoppers go?

The hoppers contain petroleum coke, which is a byproduct of the refinery.

I've been told that it used to go to the Hercules Cement plant in Stockertown, PA - short haul business for NS as originating & terminating carrier. Don't know whether that's still the case.

Bob

NS and UP widecabs all look the same, but CSX and BNSF widecabs have several paint schemes, so they're not all the same.

Actually, not all NS widecabs look the same. They're in CR blue, the first order of D9's were all black and white, with white Ditch Light backs, and no frame stripe. The frame stripe was added opn later orders, and the Ditch light backs were painted yellow. Now, you have a solid White stripe, as well as a HOrsehead, adn a white cab above the nose, until that was changed to an Unibrow. On the UP widecabs, you have just a flat Red line, wings on the front, or no wings. A lightning bolt on the sides instead of that flat line, or now there's the UP BUILDING AMERICA slogan, with a Giant US flag.

Plus their is the Primer Paint.

R44 5212 A Train wrote:Everyone else seems to get C40-(ws on their lines, yet the Bergen County Locals always get old stuff. We always have a GP38-2 or GP40-2 still painted for Conrail, and it gets boring, I'd like to see some new stuff! We do get an SD40-2 every once in a while, but that's it! Until May, I didn't see anything painted for NS, an it was just that once! Why doesn't NS give us a Catfish or 2? What about an SD70M or another widecab? It's boring to jsut see Geeps and Geeps, especially since the NJT equipment is also GP40-2s. BRING US SOME WIDECABS!!!!!

The Bergen County Line does see widecabs and other six axle power on the NS H07, a transfer train between Croxton and Campbell Hall. On occasion there will be a foreign or lease unit in the consist. Every so often an NS local out of Croxton will have a six axle unit, when they are short on four axle power. Also, NJT has an instruction that prohibits six axles from entering sidings. I saw an NS crew one night drilling the NY&GL interchange in Garfield, NJ with an ex-CR/EL SD45-2 in NS paint. This morning there was an NS crew on the Fair Lawn Industrial that drilled Nabisco then waited for the morning rush to end before heading east. They had a pair of GP40-2's, one Conrail Quality and the other NS. The track on the Fair Lawn Industrial may not be able to hold the six axle power, so the Geeps and SW's would be used and every so often they will use a four axle GE.

Noel Weaver wrote:You don't tie up a big six pack for a handful of cars on a road drill or a wayfreight. In addition, some of the sidings might not be rated for six axle power. It is know as common sense.
Noel Weaver

The last track I would think would be rated for six axle power would be the northern end of the Northern Branch, yet.....

look what I found in Northvale today!

Not one, but two six axle SD40-2s to pick up one boxcar. (they need an engine on both ends as the siding at State Line has been out of service for years and there is no way to run around the train)

R44 5212 A Train wrote:Only 3 or 4 trains per day run on my line, all but 1 being locals. NJT commuter trains run frequently on the line, so it has nothing to do with weight. It's a double-track line, BTW.

It does because NS timetable prohibit 6 axles inside of industrial tracks.

R44 5212 A Train wrote:Only 3 or 4 trains per day run on my line, all but 1 being locals. NJT commuter trains run frequently on the line, so it has nothing to do with weight. It's a double-track line, BTW.

Just because "heavy" NJT trains run on the line, it doesnt mean a 6 axle locomotive can't be prohibited to operate on the line due to weight, even though the locomotive is lighter then the NJT train.
Say you have two 4 axle units pulling a 100 car freight train. On the same line you can have a restrction to 6 axle locomotives. It's because of the how the weight is concentrated. A 6 axle locomotive is alot heavier then a 4 axle locomotive and will put say 400,000 pounds of weight down to the track, while a 4 axle locomotive will put around 300,000 pounds. The weight of the train has nothing to do with locomotive weight restrictions, because the train weight is spread out where as the locomotive weight is concentrated on a much smaller area. This is important on trestles and bridges especially.