Just curious. I'm utterly new at railroads, but was on the BNSF south heading into Houston from the Alvin Wye today and say an NS leading a UP with a string of covered hoppers. Is this something I ought to expect as I begin to haunt the Wye more often?
Thanks, I didn't think it was rare but it was the first time I'd seen one since paying attention to such things. Speaking of Rosenberg, I'm looking to get out ther one of these days, my Grandmother lived on Daily Rd. and my family's heritage is right there on the railroad just SW of the town, my dad lives in town and its a good excuse to go visit and hang out at the museum, never been there.
Caught a three unit lash up today in Pearland. First time I'd seen such a thing since paying attention. Terrible photos, high sun, caught me off guard, poor composition - but still, NS may be common in other parts, but a black loco with that stallion on the front beats the constant stream of yellow and orange on this road.
As to NS power running to Houston being common... Well, to me NS has always been pretty pedestrian.....LOL Mebbe it's "run thru" power! CT
It goes both ways. I do not have photos but I have seen full consists of BNSF locos on the NS Kentucky Division, AKA the Rathole. The Rathole runs from Cincinnati, OH to Chattanooga, TN. At one time it had 105 bridges and 27 tunnels. In the 1960's the Southern did a major rebuild of the line. Loco's like rolling stock seem to move to where ever they are needed. As someone above said "Power Pooling." I believe that it is the railroads version of "Mutual Aid." I don't know all the details and I would think there is a fee involved, but I don't know. Maybe one of the 1:1 railroaders can provide more info on the topic. Gary
I don't believe it is really "pooling" any more but just borrowing and loaning. The railroads keep track of hours of foreign power on their rails and repay those hours in kind. I have seen solid UP consists on NS tracks in Wytheville, Virginia and on CSX tracks in Mobile, Alabama. A friend of mine dispatches at the UP Spring Dispatch Center north of Houston. For a while there they made a point of instructing crews to swap out their newer locomotives and replace them with older units on trains heading out of Houston for New Orleans. The CSX had a habit of grabbing anything that rolled into the yard in New Orleans and send it east where it would disappear for months on end. An when they got it back, it was usually in pretty sorry shape.
I have a video of a BNSF leading an NS here in San Antonio. I've also seen 2 others in the Kirby area.
Yea i'd agree with New Orleans being a major point where locomotive get stripped. I work for KCS and I can vouche that atleast 90% of the newer locos that go to New Orleans come back with older radios, older headend boxes, no radio handsets, random holes cut into seats and roofs, missing sun visors, etc etc etc...... I know some KCS power is all over paying off horsepower hours. I guess paying back hours is a constant cycle. Usually towards the end of the year there's all kinds of none KCS power in the yard.
If it's a solid set of foreign power, then it's more likely a run through arrangement. That particular train is probably time critical and started off on one railroad, ending on another. The power just stays the same for the whole trip to reduce dwell time.
