OT. I was in charge of @ $91,000,000.00 worth of equipment today!!

[25_502s]

This was my entire train today. 26 locomotives that we moved over 344 miles today. Actually Im just guessing on the value but when I hired out 15 years ago a locomotive cost @ 2 million so I figured @ 3.5 today. Occasionally we see folks (foamers ) along the right of way talking pics of our train but today they were all over the place. I wish I had gotten a better pic but I never really got a good chance. It’s difficult to tell but that’s @ 2100 feet long. Anyway, thanks for looking.

[Tgarner01]

Cool Jason! I bet that was a sight to see! Thanks for sharing!!

[BSAGuy]

Very cool!!

[arizonacamper]

Where were they headed to and from?
Shawn

[mgmlvks]

What a GREAT occasion - thanks for the pics!

[74HARLEY]

That's cool!

[25_502s]

Where were they headed to and from?
Shawn

I took them from Amarillo TX to Belen NM. They came from Colorado (can’t remember exactly) and were heading to Barstow California. We only used 3 to move them and the other 23 were out of FRA compliance. I’m guessing they will be “checked up” in Barstow. Probably been sitting for months.

[Gunhippie]

Yowsers! I feel privileged to play with $100s of thousands of dollars worth on other peoples toys!

[DougA]

That is freaking awesome! I have turned into a virtual foamer in recent months spending more time than I care to admit watching a Virtual Railfan live camera feed from Fairport, NY (near Rochester) which is maybe 50 or 60 miles from me. I can well believe there were folks all along the route of that equipment move. Once word was out I am sure they all but ran to a vantage point.

[grob]

Very cool Jason! Which line are you with? My cousin was the senior engineer with Union Pacific when he retired maybe 10 years ago. He got to drive the Big Boy steam loco (8 main axles) from Cheyenne to Denver to it's final resting place at the Forney Museum. My Great Uncle engineer was killed in a head on in Broomfield when I was a baby. I guess the other engines freewheel?
Gar

[Rubing]

When I get stuck at a crossing I usually count the engines to figure out how long I will be stopped. I would chit if I saw that many engines!

[25_502s]

People are ( I guess rightly so) fascinated/into trains and foam at the bit to get a good view or pic of passing trains. I’ve been on a train with 9 or so engines and seen a consist of 12 or so but 26 is unheard of. In fact we had to get special orders on our GTBs to do it and could only move at 45 mph (long day).

Funny story when I hired out, the very first training trip I went on I told my training conductor “this is very cool”. The engineer ( an old head) grumbled and said the ———ing fantasy has wore off for me. He’s probably been doing it 30+ years lol. I’m pretty much there after 15 years.

[25_502s]

Very cool Jason! Which line are you with?

BNSF. Burlington Northern + Santa Fe. Just had our 25th merger anniversary.

[grob]

I have a 2 engine BNSF coal train across the highway regularly delivering to the cement plant. Boss... it's the twain, the twain.
My cousin worked his way up from a fireman. G

[JimL]

That's very cool.

I want to see a video of you parallel parking one, like "The Most Interesting Man in the World".

[brokenmantle]

no worries on traction or loss of power with all those.

[zoomkat]

Might be headed to the western desert sidings where surplus diesel locomotives are stored. If you check youtube there are some videos like below.

[DougA]

The occasional BNSF "pumpkin" or two roars through on that Fairport cam I watch, which is a CSX mainline. The people in the live stream chat go bonkers whenever there's foreign power on screen. I think they'd pass out seeing that 26-unit lash up,

[Hot_Diggity]

Thanks for sharing that. Great pictures. I remember as kids we would ride our bike for miles on gravel roads just to get to the tracks to see a train go by.

[25_502s]

That's very cool.

I want to see a video of you parallel parking one, like "The Most Interesting Man in the World".

I can barely parallel park my Jeep lol

[25_502s]

Might be headed to the western desert sidings where surplus diesel locomotives are stored. If you check youtube there are some videos like below.

Wow!! That’s a crazy and sad video. I honestly don’t know why these are being moved. I hope they are are being put back into service after being stored for a while but don’t know. I do know we’ve had a lot sitting for a couple years. I don’t know if is as many as the UP. The Collapse of the coal fired electric plants were Devastating to the rail industry. Thousands of workers are still furloughed.

One other reason could be that right now the eastbound traffic is much higher than the westbound traffic. So maybe they need locomotives on the west coast.

[25_502s]

no worries on traction or loss of power with all those.

Haha, true!!

[25_502s]

When I get stuck at a crossing I usually count the engines to figure out how long I will be stopped. I would chit if I saw that many engines!

I hate when I’m on a long train and have to creep through an crossing. I try not to make eye contact with people sitting there and try not to think of the bad thoughts directed at me lol.

[Flyboyfwa]

Thats cool. Thanks for sharing. Combined HP of that train????

[Gasman64]

Neat stuff, Jason, thanks for the interesting pictures.

[Leviticus_Tomethreus]

Thats cool. Thanks for sharing. Combined HP of that train????

My guesstimate is 171,600 horsepower. That’s a lot of horses!

[austin65uri]

Had to look up "foamer". Anyone figure out the max load those 26 locomotives could pull at various speeds/grades? (Great post!).

[gpaguy]

Probably didn't have any problems climbing up hill grades ?

[Kgam1020]

That is an incredible photo! I love the railroad, That amount of steel and weight and the loads a locomotive can pull is awesome.

[mnhogrider]

I wonder how much weight that was? Amazing that the track system can manage all that weight. Great story!

[CoolPro]

Thanks for sharing the results of your training!
Cheers!

[25_502s]

The average HP/loco is 4400 so we used 13,200.
Total of all 26 would have been @ 115,000ish. A coal train is typically our heaviest train. They are around 16,000 tones and usually require 5 locomotives with a HP of 1 per ton. Slow turds!! A Z train which moves a lot of UPS/FedEx average around 3+ HP/ton. Those are the trains we all fight over.

[25_502s]

Oh a loco weighs around 415,000 pounds or @ 208 tons.

[Jayhawksr]

I'm a recovered foamer. Well, recovered in that I don't activity go out and train shoot anymore.

[egroscup]

What a sight and story. Thanks for posting it up. I have a railfan friend, link has been sent. E.

[Ridge_Runner]

Now THAT's cool! Thanks for sharing the pics and the info. I would have stopped to film that

The old Boston and Albany route weaves throughout our locale. Most of what we get see is CSX and Amtrak here in western MA.

[LoganS54]

That's awesome! My brother in law is an engineer for BNSF he works out of Amarillo. You might know him.

[25_502s]

That's awesome! My brother in law is an engineer for BNSF he works out of Amarillo. You might know him.

maybe it’s large. Name or mo me?

[UncleFred]

I have always wondered how I could get one of those jobs painting graffiti on rail cars. Do you know where I can apply and how much the pay is?

[LoganS54]

That's awesome! My brother in law is an engineer for BNSF he works out of Amarillo. You might know him.

maybe it’s large. Name or mo me?

Sent you a private mesage

[25_502s]

That's awesome! My brother in law is an engineer for BNSF he works out of Amarillo. You might know him.

maybe it’s large. Name or mo me?

Sent you a private mesage

Thanks. Earlier I meant PM me instead of no me lol

[25_502s]

I have always wondered how I could get one of those jobs painting graffiti on rail cars. Do you know where I can apply and how much the pay is?

It must be high pay. Everyone does it lol.

[Rubing]

Jason, not related to your heavy duty experience but train related. For several years I commuted through the town of Lawton, MI in the afternoon (I took an alternate route in the morning as it was dark and there were too many deer). There was a sign at the RR tracks that said “High Speed Trains” and I could never figure out what that meant. One day the gates came down on me and I was the first and actually only vehicle. I heard the horns and the next thing I know this train came flying by me, I said to myself “man that thing had to be going 80 mph”. When I got home I looked it up and it was actually going 110 mph!

[Sandman]

inspecting bridges over RR required a flagman from whatever RR company line belong to, one day i was talking to flagman sent out by RR, he would tell us what time trains were coming thru & any other pertinent info......he gets on portable radio talking to dispatcher.....i ask were is dispatcher out of?...thinking MI somewhere.....he says Jacksonville FL....and i thought my agency had a good radio system to cover the state.....lol

[Coldwaterpaddler]

Are all SD70ACe-T4?

[Rubing]

inspecting bridges over RR required a flagman from whatever RR company line belong to, one day i was talking to flagman sent out by RR, he would tell us what time trains were coming thru & any other pertinent info......he gets on portable radio talking to dispatcher.....i ask were is dispatcher out of?...thinking MI somewhere.....he says Jacksonville FL....and i thought my agency had a good radio system to cover the state.....lol

Mark those videos were at the tracks on the north side of Lawton. This pic is taken looking east towards M-40 and the tracks. The Welch plant is in the foreground and the old Lawton train station is in the background. I think the old train station is an American Legion facility now, great Friday night fish fries and the original ticket windows are still in place.

[Sandman]

inspecting bridges over RR required a flagman from whatever RR company line belong to, one day i was talking to flagman sent out by RR, he would tell us what time trains were coming thru & any other pertinent info......he gets on portable radio talking to dispatcher.....i ask were is dispatcher out of?...thinking MI somewhere.....he says Jacksonville FL....and i thought my agency had a good radio system to cover the state.....lol

Mark those videos were at the tracks on the north side of Lawton. This pic is taken looking east towards M-40 and the tracks. The Welch plant is in the foreground and the old Lawton train station is in the background. I think the old train station is an American Legion facility now, great Friday night fish fries and the original ticket windows are still in place.

Greg i know that area pretty good & that amtrak line quite well, had a crew working on a structure over that line with a underbridge inspection unit (truck mounted articulating booms & platform) and somehow unbeknownst to the RR flagman, a amtrack train came thru.....fortunately there was enough clear vision & time (barely) for my employees to get unit out of the way......gives me the willies about what couldve happened thinking about it now

[25_502s]

Thanks for the links to those videos Greg.

Steve, I’m not positive on the model of them all.