North American RR's coming back big time

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by tomustang

Coal and Container cars have always been big around here, but for decades the boxcar has been obsolete and are just drug around as dead weight

The trucking industry is huge here and killed the boxcar long ago

It isn't/wasn't the trucking industry that killed the boxcar - it was the railroads themselves. There is not reason on earth that it should cost more for me to ship a boxcar load cross country than to pay a truck to drive it - but it does, and several times as much, unless you are a regular and frequent customer.

As others have pointed out, the railroads have historically spurned customers who didn't ship a good portion of a train a day. Consequently, they never built the newer systems and processes for handling small loads. Team tracks became a joke, and LCL non-existent. To the potential customer, the trucking companies are very newby-friendly, and will hold a new shipping and receiving managers' hands while they learn the business (using trucks of course). Try finding out even who to call to begin to order up a boxcar to a team track from a railroad.

I have tried and failed repeatedly to use the railroads for LCL and one-time full car shipments.

just my experiences

[rhtastro]

SLEKJR, you made my point about American workers. They want regular hours, 2 months paid vacations, sick leave, and full benefits like Europeans and have low productivity like Europeans. What they should get is a government job. Running trains is a huge responsibility and requires much more time than working "regular hours". But it's a job and some jobs require extra effort. My daughter for example, who is a senior accountant at a large CA airport works 60 hour weeks on a regular basis but does not complain about not getting overtime or working on Saturdays. Many folks around here in the sciences work 12 hour days 7 days a week. I did that for many years. It's what people do when they love the work and need to provide for their families. The RR's pay well and I can not believe they have a hard time finding emloyees. It sure must be different in other parts of this country. People I know really work hard and don't complain. They're just glad to have a job. A lot of people in this country must be spoiled by the good times. But things are a changin and it doesn't look too good. I remember the 1930's when any job was a privilege to have and people would do anything and hours worked were of little consequence. We may be heading in that direction again sooner than we think.

[ed acosta]

I'm not sure if we are seeing 'lazy Americans' or just Americans out of work. Our presidential candidates are trying to tell us that we need to repeal NAFTA in order to get our jobs back. In the meantime, Homeland Security would like to build fences at both southern and northern borders. Well, I disagree with all of them. My idea would be to have Homeland Security build walls around our seaports, that way the stuff being unloaded from Asia will not be able to reach our retailer's shelves. That being the case, Americans will have to make their own clothing, appliances, cars, TVs, computers; and yes, even model trains! Suddenly we would find so much work to be done at home that we would be able to share the workload with our Canadian and Mexican neighbors.

Do I have your vote? Please send in your campaign contributions.

-Ed

[lapuce033]

Well here around Montreal, Quebec, we are seeing new commuter tracks being added, for the first time in many years, also there is talk to electrify some train lines, as we only have one that has catenary, ther is talk to add catenary to two more of them. And the Montreal commuter train agency bought with NJT 5 bi-mode locomotives that work on both electricity and Fuel.

[rhtastro]

On the way to the post office today I had to stop for 2 long trains down the road from my ranch. Both had 75-80 cars loaded with trucks, trailers and containers. One going south and one going north about 30 minutes apart. I would imagine that the northbound, towards Portland, was loaded while the other towards Sacramento was empty. Maybe it was a little of both. But mainly, I've noticed a huge increase in that type of traffic over the last year and Amtrak trains are definately longer. If oil gets to $200 and gas to $6 a gallon the traffic on the nearby 5 freeway will be very sparse by then and the RR's will be running every 10 minutes or more. They'll need double track out here by then as it's pretty crowded now. The siding near my property is used almost all the time as it is. Now we need more electrification and electric locos like in Europe. What's your experience with this?

[sgtcarl]

It is not surprising that you see so many longer trains. I don't often see them, but I live close enough to hear them, almost 24/7. I have noticed a definite increase in rail traffic. I can tell, because I can hear the whistle, every time it crosses the almost defunct railroad crsossing just below my house.. There are two tracks running on one side of the river, and a single track on the other side. Both are owned by NS, and they have been adding more ballast to the tracks for several weeks, now.

[jimbogibbo]

should ilet my new dockside switcher run alone awhile or would it be ok for it to go ahead and run my other eight cars with it.

[Spawn of Chaos]

Whut? Totally random post quite possibly in the wrong thread.

And yeah, I noticed that. I think UP put in an order for MORE SD90MAC-H's! THE 6000HP ONES!...that's just insane. I can't remember how many, but also it's just a rumor, so w/e.

[Don7]

Originally Posted by ed acosta

Don7, how is the container port being received by the people of Prince Rupert? Most of the citizens in our area in Delta and all the way up to Vancouver are very upset about the traffic that our DeltaPort expansion will bring to the area. I have to admit, I've looked into it and it seems that port expansion is ill-conceived due to all of the traffic that trucks already have trying to travel northeast through Vancouver. Besides, there is a fragile ecological area where migrating birds stop to feed that will be lost due to the port expansion. The feeling among most people is to ship and receive from Prince Rupert and avoid the Vancouver congestion. Premier Gordon Campbell begs to differ.

As much as I am ecology minded, I'll have to admit I enjoyed watching the long coal trains and container trains; first BC Rail and now CN.
-Ed

Check out the map for CN, note how easy it is to move goods to Chicago and Texas for that matter from Prince Rupert. Note that the grades on the route also are advantageours to the shipper CN. I read that CN had purchased 75 new engines to handle the first phase of the two phase project. Second phase is approx. 3 times the number of containers. As the BC Northwest is dependent upon the US housing market the forest economy is to say the lease most depressing. Hence the container facility is a god send to the economy.


IMX Terminals and Ports

CN’s rail network connects to the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia on the Pacific coast

[sgtcarl]

If anyone really is interested in rail facts and figures, visit the R/R's websites. As an example, nscorp, csx, and bnsf. You will get the "straight skinny" from the railroads, themselves. I think you might also enjoy some of the photos on nscorps' website.

[rhtastro]

I've noticed lately in the financial pages how "old tech" is making a comeback in the U.S. That's mining, steel production, agriculture and of course the railroads. It's 1878 again. Even Amtrak is prospering. With diesel at 5 dollars a gallon out here on the west coast the trucks and trailers continue to pile up on the RR's more and more. That means that model RR's also have a good future. Tell your kids to forget computers and to get into agriculture. We will always need to eat. bob

[rhtastro]

Due to $4.30-4.60 a gallon gas out here in CA (oops, $4.50-4.75 now a week later) the passenger train has made a great comeback in the last few months. "Ridership is booming on three intrastate Amtrak lines that are managed and paid for by the state: the Capitol Corridor from the Bay Area to Sacramento and Auburn, the San Joaquin from Oakland to Bakersfield, the Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to San Luis Obispo" " In the last three months , we've seen a phenomenal increase in all three corridors," said "bill Bronte, chief of Caltrans division of rail. The Surfliner, the state's busiest train, carried 2.7 million passengers in the 2007 budget year, while the Capitol hauled 1.45 million and the San Joaquin caried 805,000. Anyway, the usage is way up in CA. Now what we need is an "Ice Train" from Frisco to LA running at 150 MPH. Or, how about one from Vancouver to San Diego. The freight trains are also way up as I hear them near my ranch at 5 to 10 minute intervals now. It's the $5.20 a gallon diesel that gets credit for that. There sure are a lot less trucks over on the 5 freeway and those that still drive are going much slower these days. Things are a changin. bob
Trains gaining as sensible alternative to cars

[rhtastro]

Due to high gas prices, now $4.69-4.89 out here, it seems that ridership on U.S. railroads (Amtrak) is way up this year but there is a scarcity of rail cars to expand the service. Many popular trains are sold out on certain dates in advance. A lack of foresight by congress and the prez has caused this situation. However, this could change if one of the present candidates is elected next fall or could stay the same if the other is elected. Guess which one is for the RR's and which one is against. A new congress would help too. If this sounds political, it's not really, I just want to see the RR"s prosper and carry their load in overall transportation needs. It's good for conservation of resources (fossil fuels) and good for the environment in general. Also, with the new popularity of trains, it might follow that model trains will regain their popularity too, especially with the young. Read the following article for details on the RR's. They're making a big comeback, for sure, no matter what the politics dictate. There is a large decrease in truck and auto traffic in my part of CA already and it will become more evident as oil increases in price. Some airlines are going belly up as well. Are you ready for $10-12 gas. It's coming to a station near you and if you live in Europe it's almost here now. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/bu...pagewanted=all

[Mountain Man]

The trains passing through Pamler Lake and Monument - the Monument Pass - used to be almost solely coal trains, but now mixed freights are almost as common and the track crews are working constantly to upgrade and maintain the right of way. Judging by the mixture and the frequent presence of unique cars in te mix, I would guess that carload shipments are becoming common. For example, on one of yesterday's trains, there was a single car loaded with plywood, a single bulk grain carrier, and scattered throughout the length of the consist, three small boxcars widely seperated, leading me to think they would be bound for different destinations. There were other cars running as singletons as well, spaced out to suggest that they would be dropped off individually at various times.

Speaking of which, I passed by a new stretch of track yesterday that had been replaced with concrete ties, and was immediately struck by how close together the ties were. Anyone know the precise spacing - the presence of a work crew prevented my from climbing up and using my tape measure.

As mentioned before, the biggest handicap to American railways is the lack of the old infrastructure that served the nation so extensively. For a long time I have watched the old sidings and rails gradually ripped out of Denver and Colorado Springs, and the Royal Gorge Route turned into a privately owned tourist railroad. Now, when increased capacity and trackage is at a premium, it isn't there any more and many, many destinations are completely unreachable by rail. The government needs to invest in rail transport just as it did in the National Highway sytem, in order to keep up with changing economic realities.

[sgtcarl]

I have been watching this blog for awhile, now. The US cannot afford to electrify the RR's until it sheds the idea that all new power plants have to be coal fired. The local power company has, once again, decided to raise it's rates by more than 24%. They don't wait until the Commerce Commision has okayed it, they just do it, then whine like heck when the state denies the request. They won't give up until they get their way. They have requested permission to build another coal fired plant in West Virginia. I don't understand why they aren't required to build more nuclear power palnts? If they don't have the resources they need, then why not let the Europeans come here to show us how to do it?
Oh, well I guess we'll never know.