Bob,
Answers inserted, again.
Russ
> I assume that ".blocks or separated into blocks on different tracks."
> consists of a
group of cars that are all going to the same destination and a train may
consist of
several different blocks going to different destinations, right?
In essence, yes.
>
> What do you mean by ". block swapping."
Example: BRC, NS, & CSXT make up trains for BNSF at Clearing IL, Elkhart IN,
and Willard
OH
respectivly. Each road gives BNSF at least one train a day with Eolas on the
head end, if
any,
and La Crosse and beyond cars behind. These three trains are operated with
short pool
crews
to Savanna. At Savanna, depending on the train length and what it looks like,
the inbound
crew
may have to set out groups of empty grain hoppers if we have gotten lucky and
they are in
the
train in groups. Usually are. This will usually whittle down the train size to
the point
that two
of the three can be combined. That will be done by the outbound crew. These
instructions
will come from a Dispatcher or an Assistant Chief Dispatcher as there is no yard
supervision
at Savanna.
The CSXT & NS interchange traffic will terminate at La Crosse. The traffic from
the BRC
might go to Northtown to be switched or might be switched at La Crosse. When
these trains
come into La Crosse the inbound crew, with the help of the Utility Man, may
have to put
their train on two or three tracks to break it down into easy chunks for the
switch crew.
La Crosse switch crew will sort all traffic as follows: Northtown, Superior,
Willmar,
Dilworth, & Grand Forks. At times there might be enough Pasco business to
create a
through block for Pasco.
Every night they run a La Crosse to Grand Forks train. Usually three blocks
although
they might be on more than three tracks. Road crew, with the help of the
Utility Man,
will assemble their train and air test it. Meanwhile switch crew is sorting
cars into
blocks at the other end of the yard and is not involved in the train makeup
process at
all. This train will bypass the Twin Cities terminal and go directly to Willmar
where
it will set out and pick up. Same deal at Dilworth and terminate at Grand Forks.
Those grain cars at Savanna? With only 3 usuable tracks can't really get a lot
there.
Say you have 60 down at Beardstown that have been culled from trains coming in
from Centralia and East St Louis. They will run a grain empty out of there and
have
them clean out Savanna. This train will probably be a little big for the Grain
Dept but
if they need two 52 car units at two elevators the excess will just be left at
say,
Willmar
to be grouped with other cars. Again we have a got a group of cars that is
going to
go directly to the customer with no real yard makeup at all.
and ".yard to yard transfer jobs."?
A train of autos comes into Cicero with 60 for the NS and 5 for CSXT via the
BRC.
Road crew sets out the 5 for the BRC and goes to Ashland Ave and delivers the NS
cars. Next vehicle train is for the BRC. That crew picks up the 5 cars and goes
to
Clearing and delivers. Again, no yard or transfer crew is involved.
>
> How do you ".have the road crews exchange blocks online..."?
Just set a block out on a siding or interchange track?
Yes, you are correct. Let's say a vehicle train that is going to Galesburg has
5 cars
of frozen vegetables for Rochelle in it's train. Usually the setout will be
made at
Galena
and almost any train going to Cicero will move the cars to Rochelle. Placement
in
train is not a factor here. They could be on the rear end. On some lines these
blocks
may be 50 or 60 cars and they may involve a pickup and setout at the same time.
There are certain sidings that have been used this way for years.
>
> What is an ".Intermodal trains."?
Any train that's primary purpose is the movement of trailers and/or containers.
Getting back to the yard to yard transfer issue with regard to Intermodal. Same
setup applies here even more so. When you make up an Intermodal train it can
be blocked as it is loaded. Let's say in a particular time slot you are going
to run
a Corwith to Phoenix Intermodal train. The Phoenix business will be loaded from
the
rear forwards. Problem is you only got 8 cars for Phoenix. But you do have 20
cars worth of Los Angeles business and 8 cars worth of Stockton business. They
go on the train, in order. Meanwhile in the same relative time slot there are
about
30 cars worth of Phoenix business at Kansas City, Alliance TX, and New Orleans.
These get put on trains going to other places. When all these trains get to
Clovis
the blocks are exchanged and there will be a pure train for each destination.
This
shuffle may happen two or three times a day and they are doing it both Eastbound
and Westbound. If Clovis starts to lock up it's time to start doing some
swapping
on line. For Eastbounds Zita TX is the preferred spot.
>
> When you say ".most yard switching is done with two men on the ground and a
> beltpack
controlled locomotive." does that mean it's a remote controlled locomotive
without a human
onboard? They don't let those thing out on the main line do they??
First question, yes. Second question, why not? If you are going to take 40 empty
auto racks out and spot them at an auto plant 8 miles outside town would you
call
another person just to go that distance. Most of these units do have cabs and
the
crew will probably be riding there anyway. From what I've heard biggest problem
with this setup is unprotected shoves. These things tend to lose contact at
longer
distances so the tendency is to move towards the locomotive even if the cars are
moving in the opposite direction. So far it has just been a Canada thing. As it
covers the U.S. we will see what happens.
>
> John Lee referenced the B.L.E. which I assume is the Brotherhood of
> Locomotive Engineers
but what is U.T.U.?
U.T.U. = United Transportation Union, the former Brotherhood of Trainmen.
>
> Bob
>
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