Barry's Model Railroad
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
GE ES44AC
The ES44AC (Evolution Series, 4400 HP, AC traction) replaces the AC4400CW model in GE's range. These locomotives have been ordered by every Class I railroad in North America: Union Pacific Railroad (who refers to these locomotives as theC45ACCTE), BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, Kansas City Southern Railway, Kansas City Southern de Mexico, Ferromex, Canadian Pacific Railway, and Canadian National Railway. Iowa Interstate Railroad ordered 14 ES44AC's in April 2008 to be delivered by October 2008 to handle an expected traffic growth of 25%-30%, resulting from new ethanol plants coming on line.[citation needed] Iowa Interstate ordered two additional ES44AC's to be delivered in December 2009. Iowa Interstate again ordered 3 additional GE ES44AC's after selling 2 of the railroads EMD SD38-2's for the new ethanol plants.
CSX began receiving an order of 200 ES44AC's (referred to by CSX as the ES44AH) in December 2007. The "H" in ES44AHstands for "high", which is in reference to a combination of subsystems that produce high levels of tractive effort at low speeds. In order to be classified as an "AH" by CSX, a locomotive has to have not only an increased nominal weight (currently to 432,000 pounds or 196,000 kilograms), but also (1) steerable trucks, (2) TM3 adhesion control software, (3) software that extends to 33,000 pounds (15,000 kg) from 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) the maximum amount of tractive effort that each traction motor is permitted to produce, and (4) GE's Rail Cleaner, which directs high-pressure air onto the rails in front of the sand nozzles forward of axle number one.
In September 2008, Norfolk Southern purchased 24 ES44AC's numbered 8000-8023, and began receiving the first of these units in October 2008. Ordered to be used on long haul coal trains, they were the first new AC locomotives ever purchased by NS.[citation needed] An additional 65 units were ordered in 2011, numbered 8025-8090. 24 more units, numbered 8091-8115, were ordered at the beginning of 2012. 10 of these units: 8025, 8098-8105 & 8114 were painted in predecessor company "heritage" paint schemes for NS's 30th anniversary. All NS ES44AC's are built to CSX specifications, with the exception of the Hi-Ad trucks & headlight placement.
KCS's units are all painted in a Southern Belle paint scheme.[citation needed]
Cemex took delivery of one ES44AC - built to CSXT specifications - numbered 81, in March 2008.
Canadian National's first order of ES44AC's was in January 2012, and as of 2015 they roster about 150 units, numbered in the 2800-2900 series.
Citirail/CREX acquired 100 ES44AC's for lease service. They are painted silver with blue & yellow nose striping and blue numbers. Most, if not all of these units, are leased to BNSF Railway.
In 2013, General Electric built one ES44AC, GECX 3000, as a test bed for their NextFuel natural gas power kit. The engine runs on liquefied natural gas from a fuel tender. The unit is currently part of BNSF's GE LNG test set, partnered with BNSF ES44AC no. 5815.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Norfolk Southern Locomotives on Order
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| GE ES44AC |
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| GE ES44AC |
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Locomotives and Cabooses for the Grand Kids Layout
I already have the Locomotive and caboose for the BNSF Railway
Monday, July 13, 2015
Merging My Wants Into A Single Layout
I have been wanting to set up an HO layout to include CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway and I have been at a loss as to how I would do that.
After some careful consideration I have decided to include those two lines in my grand kids layout currently they have a BNSF layout, so I felt I could expand that layout to include 3 mainline tracks to incorporate the other two lines.
This way I will have a layout that displays lines that service the East and West sides of the country. I can hardly wait to get started. The inner loop will be the BNSF Railway, as that much is already up and running. I use 18 inch radius track on the curves for the inner loop. The middle loop is the next thing I will work on and I figure 22 inch radius track will work out well. I haven't decided what line I will put on that loop yet. It will most likely be CSX. That would leave the Norfolk Southern Railway for the outer loop. I will most likely use a 26 inch radius on that loop.
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| Proposed layout Plan |
Sunday, July 12, 2015
CSX Transportation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| CSX Transportation | |
|---|---|
 | |
CSX system map; trackage rights in purple
| |
CSX headquarters building, Jacksonville, Florida;Florida East Coast Railway bridge in background
| |
| Reporting mark | CSXT |
| Locale | Alabama Delaware Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Ontario Pennsylvania Quebec South Carolina Tennessee Virginia Washington D.C. West Virginia |
| Dates of operation | 1986–present |
| Predecessor | Chessie System Clinchfield Railroad Seaboard System Railroad Conrail Baltimore & Ohio Chesapeake & Ohio Louisville & Nashville Railroad Monon Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
| Length | 21,000 mi (34,000 km) |
| Headquarters | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Website | csx.com |
CSX Transportation (reporting mark CSXT) is a Class I railroad in the United States. The main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation, the railroad is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns about 21,000 route miles (34,000 km).[1] CSX operates one of the three Class I railroads serving most of the East Coast, the other two being the Norfolk Southern Railway(NS) and Canadian Pacific Railway. It also serves the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway have a duopoly over all east-west freight rail traffic east of the Mississippi River. As of October 1, 2014 CSX's total public stock value was slightly over $32 billion.
History[edit]
CSX Transportation was formed on July 1, 1986, by combining the Chessie System and Seaboard System Railroad. The originator of the Seaboard System was the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which previously merged Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967, and later Louisville & Nashville Railroad, as well as several smaller subsidiaries such as the Clinchfield Railroad, Atlanta & West Point Railroad, Monon Railroad and the Georgia Railroad. The origin of the Chessie System was the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, which had merged with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and Western Maryland Railroad.
On June 23, 1997, CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) filed a joint application with the Surface Transportation Board for authority to purchase, divide, and operate the assets of the 11,000 miles (18,000 km) Conrail, which had been created in 1976 by bringing together several ailing Northeastern railway systems into a government-owned corporation. On June 6, 1998, the STB approved the CSX–NS application and set August 22, 1998, as the effective date of its decision. CSX acquired 42 percent of Conrail's assets, and NS received the remaining 58 percent. As a result of the transaction, CSX's rail operations grew to include some 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of the Conrail system (predominantly lines that had belonged to the former New York Central Railroad). CSX began operating its trains on its portion of the Conrail network on June 1, 1999. CSX now serves much of the eastern U.S., with a few routes into nearby Canadian cities.
The name came about during merger talks between Chessie System, Inc. and Seaboard System Railroad, Inc., commonly called Chessie and Seaboard. The company chairmen said it was important for the new name to include neither of those names because it was a partnership. Employees were asked for suggestions, most of which consisted of combinations of the initials. At the same time a temporary shorthand name was needed for discussions with the Interstate Commerce Commission. CSC was chosen but belonged to a trucking company in Virginia. CSM (for Chessie-Seaboard Merger) was also taken. The lawyers decided to use CSX, and the name stuck. In the public announcement, it was said that "CSX is singularly appropriate. C can stand for Chessie, S for Seaboard, and X, which actually has no meaning. But the X could be used as a short term for the word "Express" taking off the "E" giving out "Xpress", putting the X in use. " Many rail fans refer to CSX as Crash, Scream, Xplode.The T had to be added to CSX when used as a reporting mark because reporting marks that end in X means that the car is owned by a leasing company or private car owner. Its current slogan, "How Tomorrow Moves", appeared in 2008.[2]
In 2014 Canadian Pacific Railway approached CSX with an offer to merge the two companies, but CSX declined and Canadian Pacific made no more attempts to merge. [3]
On July 2, 2015,[4] a freight train carrying hazardous materials[5] went off of its tracks[6] [7] Over 5000 citizens[8] were displaced from their homes[9] within a two mile (three kilometer) radius.[10][11]
CSX divisions[edit]
CSX operates two regions of five divisions each: the Northern, based in Calumet City, Illinois; and Southern, based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Northern Region Divisions[edit]
- Great Lakes Division, based in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Chicago Division, based in Calumet City, Illinois
- Albany Division, based in Selkirk, New York
- Baltimore Division, based in Baltimore, Maryland
- Louisville Division, based in Cincinnati, Ohio
One line in the Northern Region travels into Canada:
- Montreal Subdivision (Albany Division) from Massena, New York, to Kahnawake, Quebec
Southern Region Divisions[edit]
- Atlanta Division, based in Atlanta, Georgia
- Huntington Division, based in Huntington, West Virginia
- Nashville Division, based in Nashville, Tennessee
- Florence Division, based in Florence, South Carolina
- Jacksonville Division, based in Jacksonville, Florida (at Dufford Center)
Unit trains[edit]
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CSX operates the Juice Train — a collective name for Train Nos. Q740 and Q741, Q743, and Q745 — which consists of Tropicanacars that carry fresh orange juice between Bradenton, Florida, and the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey. The train also runs from Bradenton to Fort Pierce, Florida, via the Florida East Coast Railway. In the 21st century, the Juice Train has been studied as a model of efficient rail transportation that can compete with trucks and other modes in the perishable-goods trade.[citation needed]
Coke Express trains run between Pittsburgh and Chicago, and other places in the rust belt, carrying coke to industries, mainly steel mills.
CSX also runs daily trash trains Q702 and Q703 from The Bronx to Philadelphia (via Selkirk Yard) and then Petersburg, Virginia, where they interchange with NS. These trains consist of 89-foot (27 m) flatcars loaded with four containers of trash. Another pair of trains, Q710 and Q711, originate in Kearny, New Jersey, and terminate in Russell, Kentucky.
Another style of unit train is a local trash train, D765, that runs between the Maryland towns of Derwood and Dickerson. The train runs daily except on Sundays; on holidays it sometimes runs twice a day. Trash is carried from Montgomery County's Shady Grove Transfer Station to a waste-to-energy plant located off the PEPCO lead to Mirant's Dickerson Generating Station. The trip is roughly 17 miles (27 km), and the train is made up of National Steel Car Company-built well cars, hauling 40-foot (12 m) containers. The first NEMX equipment was built when the D765 first started operations in 1995. In recent years, the fleet has been somewhat upgraded, repainted, and new cars have been constructed. In the early days, the locomotives powering the train were a GP40-2/RDMT slug set, but currently the train can be upwards of 47 cars. The locomotives that now routinely power the train are a pair of EMD SD50s.
Working with Union Pacific, CSX runs an extended-haul perishables train, Q090. Known by the railroad as the "Apple Train" or "Salad Shooter", the train runs from Wallula, Washington, to Schenectady, New York. This train typically runs with three of Union Pacific's newest locomotives and has its extended haul inspection from Wallula to Schenectady at Cleveland-Collinwood Yard on CSX headed in both directions. On the return trip, the train is labeled Q091. CSX modified its Train Handling rule book to allow this train to use more power axles.[12]
Locomotives[edit]
The vast majority of CSX locomotives have flashing ditch lights.
CSX currently uses a blue and yellow paint scheme for its locomotives. More than 1,000 CSX locomotives are painted in the YN3 scheme, which debuted in 2002 on No. 8503, anEMD SD50 that has since been downgraded to an SD50-2.[13]
CSX recently created a new paint scheme, known as YN3b or more informally "Cost Cutter", which updates YN3 with the most recent CSX logo. The first unit to wear this scheme was ES44AH 950. Currently, CSX's ES44AHs 950-999 and 3000-3159 wear the scheme, along with several recently repainted older locomotives, the first of which was SD70MAC 4719, which was repainted at the Huntington Locomotive Shops in September 2012. CSX has also obtained a few EMD F40PHs that were retired from Amtrak for executive office car service.
All of the former-Conrail locomotives in active service have been repainted in a CSX paint scheme. Former Conrail locomotives can be spotted by recognizing phase differences in engine models and numbering. Other spotting details can be inconsistent, but can include a number of the following: red marker lights, Leslie model RS3L air horns, former Conrail SD40-2s ride on Flexicoil "C" trucks and have anticlimbers, ditch lights mounted beneath the anticlimber, headlights above the cab (vs. CSX's standard practice of nose mounted headlights on all wide-nose GE units), and modified "Bright Future" paint with battery box faces painted yellow (instead of black or blue).
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Norfolk Southern Railway
Over the past few years I have been developing an interest in the Norfolk Southern Railway. It has developed ever since I saw a picture of a repainted locomotive belonging to the Norfolk Southern Railway painted in a New York Central paint scheme to honor that fallen flag. I would like to model that railroad if I can find the space to setup a layout.
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| EMD SD70ACe Built for the Norfolk Southern Railway Painted in the NYC Heratige Paint Sceme |
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| Norfolk Southern Typical Paint Scheme |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Norfolk Southern Railway | |
|---|---|
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NS system map; trackage rights in purple
| |
| Reporting mark |
|
| Locale | Eastern United States |
| Dates of operation | 1982–Present |
| Predecessor | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 21,500 miles (34,600 kilometres) |
| Headquarters | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Website | nscorp.com |
The Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS) is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS) is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates over 22,000 route miles in 22 eastern states, theDistrict of Columbia,[1] and has rights in Canada from Buffalo to Toronto and over the Albany to Montreal route.[2][dubious ][3] The most common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky,Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The railroad also offers the most extensive intermodal network in eastern North America.
The current system was formed in 1982 with the creation of the Norfolk Southern Corporation, a holding company, and on December 31, 1990, the Southern Railway was renamed the Norfolk Southern Railway, and control of the Norfolk & Western Railway was transferred from the holding company to the Norfolk Southern Railway. In 1999, the system grew substantially with the acquisition of over half of Conrail.
Together Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation have a duopoly over all east-west freight rail traffic east of the Mississippi River.
As of October 1, 2014 Norfolk Southern Railway's total public stock value was slightly over $34.5 billion.
History[edit]
Norfolk Southern's predecessor railroads date to the early 19th century. The three main branches of the current corporate family tree were systems for many years themselves:
- Norfolk & Western, formed in 1881.
- Southern Railway System, formed in 1894.
- Conrail, formed in 1976 from the Penn Central Railroad (1968–1976),[4] perhaps the most controversial conglomerate in corporate history. Penn Central itself was created by merging three venerable rivals — the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR, 1846), the New York Central Railroad (NYC, 1831), and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad(NYNH&H, 1872) — as well as some smaller competitors.
Southern Railway[edit]
The SR's earliest predecessor line was the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road. Chartered in December 1827, the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company became the first in the nation to offer regularly scheduled passenger train service with the inaugural run of the Best Friend of Charleston on December 25, 1830.[5]
Another early predecessor, the Richmond & Danville Railroad (R&D), was formed in 1847 and expanded into a large system after the American Civil War under Algernon S. Buford. The R&D ultimately fell on hard times and in 1894, it became a major portion of the new Southern Railway (SOU). Financier J. P. Morgan selected veteran railroaderSamuel Spencer as president. Profitable and innovative, Southern became in 1953 the first major U.S. railroad to completely switch to diesel-electric locomotives from steam.
Norfolk & Western[edit]
The City Point Railroad, established in 1838, was a 9-mile (14 km) railroad in Virginia that started just south of Richmond — specifically, City Point on the navigable portion of theJames River, now part of the independent city of Hopewell — and ran to Petersburg. It was acquired by the South Side Railroad in 1854.
After the Civil War, it became part of the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad (AM&O), a trunk line across Virginia's southern tier formed by mergers in 1870 by William Mahone, who had built the Norfolk & Petersburg Railroad in the 1850s. The AM&O was the oldest portion of the Norfolk & Western (N&W) when it was formed in 1881, under new ownerswith a keen interest and financial investments in the coal fields of Western Virginia and West Virginia, a product which came to define and enrich the railroad.
In the second half of the 20th century, the N&W acquired the Virginian Railway (1959), the Wabash Railway, and the Nickel Plate Road, among others.[4]
1982 merger[edit]
NS was created in 1982 from the merger of N&W and SOU, both profitable companies. The new company was given the name of the Norfolk Southern Railway, an older line, acquired by SOU in 1974, that served primarily North Carolina and the southeastern tip of Virginia. Headquarters for the new NS were established in Norfolk, Virginia. The company suffered a slight embarrassment when the marble headpiece at the building's entrance was unveiled, which read "Norfork Southern Railway". A new headpiece replaced the erroneous one several weeks later.[6]
The merger aimed to compete in the eastern United States with CSX Transportation, formed after the Interstate Commerce Commission's 1980 approval of the merger of theChessie System and the Seaboard System.
Conrail[edit]
Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) was a 11,000-mile (18,000 km) system formed in 1976 by bringing together several ailing northeastern railway systems into a government-owned corporation. Conrail had become profitable after the Staggers Act in 1980 largely deregulated the U.S. railroad industry.
In 1996, CSX bid to buy Conrail. Norfolk Southern, fearing that CSX would come to dominate rail traffic in the eastern U.S., responded with a bid of its own. On June 23, 1997, NS and CSX filed a joint application with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for authority to purchase, divide, and operate the assets of Conrail. On June 6, 1998, the STB approved the NS-CSX application, effective August 22, 1998.
NS acquired 58% of Conrail assets, while CSX got the remaining 42%, including about 7,200 miles (11,600 km) of track, most of which was part of the former Pennsylvania Railroad. NS began operating its trains on its portion of the former Conrail network on June 1, 1999, closing out the 1990s merger era.
Operations[edit]
NS is a major transporter of domestic and export coal. The railroad's major sources of the mineral are located in: Pennsylvania's Cambria and Indiana counties, as well as the Monongahela Valley; West Virginia; and the Appalachia regions of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In Pennsylvania, NS also receives coal through interchange with R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines at Cresson, Pennsylvania, originating in the "Clearfield Cluster".
NS's export of West Virginia bituminous coal, begins transport on portions of the well-engineered former Virginian Railway and the former N&W double-tracked line in Eastern Virginia to its Lambert's Point coal pier on Hampton Roads at Norfolk. Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world. The company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles. It operates intermodal container and TOFC (trailer on flat car) trains, some in conjunction with other railroads. NS was the first railway to employ roadrailers, which are highway truck trailers with interchangeable wheel sets.
According to NS's 2012 Annual Report to Investors, at the end of 2012, NS had more than 30,943 employees, 3,468 locomotives, and 79,082 freight cars.
At the end of 2012, the transport of coal, coke, and iron ore made up 26% of the total operating revenue of NS, general merchandise (automotive, chemicals, metals, construction materials, agriculture commodities, consumer products, paper, clay, and forest products) made up 54%, and intermodal made up 20% of the total.
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