That's the original version of the NS logo, which they chose when the company was founded. The horsehead has been added in 2005 (see here for more: https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Norfolk_Southern_Railway). Older units will probably have to wait for a rebuild to get the new logo.
Woke up to morning coffee and tanks!!! And of course a video! Had the pleasure of my gals company, train nuts are a "bunch!"
Not in Glendive, but in Dickinson, ND as we head home from the Black Hills. I had to stop to get pictures of the depot and a BN caboose, and I heard horns in the distance! But first, photos. And the video....
As many times as I have been thru Dickinson, I have yet to shoot the depot... For shame.... Nice one! Love seeing those 'Deuces, even though they are only in local or yard service and pack PTC, radio control equipment and all sorts of random nonsense on the roof, they are still classics.
Yes they are! And they were fun to rewire, troubleshoot and generally play around with! Tweaking HorsePower to unacceptable levels, then back to where it should be.....FUN!!
And today I had the opportunity to catch a sunrise over the badlands AND an eastbound coal train. What could be better?? If it was a steam locomotive, THAT would be better................
Fascinating hearing the speed of the train increase by listening to the wheel sound pitch increase after the head end engines passed. Seeing the speed of the DPU compared to the head end speed earlier, I'm guessing train speed must have almost doubled. But it was the wheel sound that made it obvious.
They exit town at 25mph and then accelerate to a maximum of 40mph. For fuel conservation. Max throttle is position 6. All by the computer and GPS. Sure is a fun bunch of sounds to hear as the train goes by though! There were a couple of spalling wheels or flatspots in the set also.
This whole fuel conservation (FC) thing has always confounded me. I mean, lets say we have 4 units on the H/E, 1 DP. That HP is built into the train based on tonnage to be picked up en-route. Orders are to isolate 2 units on the H/E till station xxxx. This is an Eastbound train out of lets say EBFE, and the grade is 1.5% with a max speed (frt) of 30 mph no throttle limit. With the power allowed we will make 8-10 mph at best, which translates into a 4 hr climb to the summit, remember we have 12hr to work. Now if we had been allowed all 4 units on line H/E that would have been 1hr45min to the top, but we go down the other side at speed, we makin time, good train, daylight trip, fans takin pics of us, just a great day to be a-railroadin, may get home in good time yet. We still have 8hrs to work and 5hrs running time, so 3 hrs delay can be had. Then a maintainer is out high railing the RR ahead looking for a problem cause the dispatcher cannot clear signals between stations XXXX/XXXX, he finds a broken rail, now we have to wait for maint crews to repair the broken rail, that takes 3 hours ( and thats quick). Now its clear that with all the delays, that had we been able to run track speed w all power on-line to make track speed we would still have a hour +/- to work with, but NO!!!! with the HP restrictions we now do not have time to make our terminal destination. The DS sees this and figures this crew is going to be DOL so he does not handle our train very well, as he might be able to get a few crews to terminal w no DOL's. OK, so lets just try to keep this in figures we can understand, the DOL crew is a Eng/Cond, 2 man crew, they make $1000.00 each for the one way trip. Now because the RR was so worried about a hundred gallons of fuel, (they pay no taxes on BTW), the train is now gonna be 10hrs late, they gotta call a crew van = $1000.00, and another crew $2000.00 = $3000.00, or an additional 3000.00 just in extra costs. With all this, it will be further delayed, so now the train after finally making it to terminal and a fresh thru crew, will meet both AMTKS and after the en-rout pick-up + another re-crew = another $4-5000.00 in un-needed crews costs. Because all the bean counters saw was a saving of $200.00 bucks, in fuel savings, at the originating terminal. "and they wonder why a guy has a drink". This happens every day over and over. I would like to see what budget juggling covers all this up, and how this is all engineered to make sense. Dont get me started on PSR!!
My grandfather used to describe this type of thinking as "stepping over dollars to pick up dimes." A polite way of observing stupidity in action. Maybe some day they will get back to having skilled railroaders running things, instead of people who have no clue trying to chisel out pennies here and there. "Efficiency" is one thing, wasting valuable time and efforts is another.
Some random cars, first an older WC ribbed box, Then a couple of new grain hoppers, And then some stored GP39E's, the stored units are getting pulled out and removed elsewhere here n there....
Those GP30-carbody units need to be on the Northgate and Grenora branch..... We have one leading, but it has a non-GP30 cab. That would make those photos even better--just like GN!!
They were being used here for a while, then got stored, serviceable, before they closed the roundhouse down.