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and its Decatur, Ala., set-off is now performed by Train 325 (Chattanooga- Sheffield) and pickup performed by 334 (Sheffield-Macon). Elsewhere on the system, NS has recently abolished Train 311 (Marion, Ind.-Elkhart), Train 312 (Elkhart-Marion), Train 323 (Fort Wayne-Van Loon, Ind.), Train 382 (Calvert, Ala.-Birmingham), Train 392 (Meridian, Miss.-Bellevue), and Train 14Q (Elkhart-Chattanooga). During late January, NS made a number of terminal and schedule changes to its intermodal corridor from Chicago into the Southeast. Train 215 to Atlanta’s Austell terminal is now originating at Calumet Yard instead of Landers Yard. Any Atlanta TOFC traffic that sometimes moved on this train will now only move in the Austell set-off block on Train 295 (Landers/Chicago- Jacksonville, Fla.). Counterpart Train 216 from Austell is also now terminating at Calumet instead of Landers, but it will continue to handle TOFC equipment along with its container traffic. Train 282 (Jacksonville-Landers/Chicago) will now only pick up Chicago TOFC traffic at Austell. The decision on which train the Chicago TOFC traffic will ride is based on the in-gating time.
UNION PACIFIC KEVIN SNYDER
Steam Team Progress
Union Pacific’s steam team based in Cheyenne, Wyo., has been moving for- ward on three fronts to advance the res- toration and rebuild of Northern 844, Challenger 3985, and Big Boy 4014. Machinists and technicians have been
Metro-North Beachballs in Snoboken
A pair of Metro-North “West-of-Hudson” F40PH-3Cs are in charge of Train No. 47 at Hoboken Terminal on January 25, 2016. The engines were paired up the previous Friday and placed back-to-back in the event the blizzard buried the Port Jervis Line under the predicted heavy snows. The storm ended up sparing the 95-mile route to Port Jervis, N.Y., but took its time dumping nearly two feet of powder on the entire NJ Transit Hoboken Division. HEP issues on one of the F40s caused the rare double-header to be split up on the Tuesday following the storm.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL SULLIVAN
working through the piping and valves on No. 844, replacing and reconditioning parts as needed. A 1940s-era horizontal mill was acquired and refurbished for the job, with the addition of a custom fixture to bore out valves and other ap- pliances. “What used to be a painstak- ing process that took days, now takes hours,” senior manager Ed Dickens said. “There are numerous blow down valves that need to be rebuilt. And while we’re making parts for 844, we’re making ad- ditional pieces for the Big Boy 4014, and the Challenger.” The Steam Team looks forward to re- turning No. 844 to service by mid-2016, perhaps in time to power the annual Frontier Days train between Denver and Cheyenne. The Northern last operated in 2013. Meanwhile, the Challenger has been sidelined since 2010; its return to service is expected to be sometime after Big Boy 4014 is finished. Union Pacific expects to make the Big Boy the star of the celebration marking the 150th anni- versary of the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory, Utah, in 2019. —O.M.V.
Q4 Earnings Down Fourth quarter profits were down
by 22 percent, concurrent with freight traffic down overall by 9 percent across the Union Pacific system. While the railroad has reduced costs by 13 percent, it wasn’t enough to offset the $5.2 billion revenue against the $5.54 billion predicted by market analysts. Union Pacific chairman and CEO Lance Fritz said the downturn is not due to an oncoming economic recession, but an overall reduction in shipping volume across the country. —O.M.V.
Power Notes Union Pacific received new C45AHs
2571, 2576, 2579, 2581-2583, 2586, 2587, 2589, 2590, 2592, 2594-2596, 2598-2616, 2618-2630, 2632-2636, and 2638-2665 from General Electric in December 2015. Locomotives 2570-2616 were built at GE’s plant in Erie, Pa., while 2617-2669 were received from the manufacturer’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas. Otherwise known as ES44AH, the “heavy” units weigh in at 432,000 lbs., versus 416,000 lbs. for a regular ES-series unit. The UP C45AH units are also equipped with Hi- Ad trucks. From RailPower, UP received
two RP18GPs, UPY 912 and 913, in December. Across its roster, UP rebuilt or upgraded several examples of different locomotive models in December. UP GP38-2 637 was rebuilt into a GP38N, while GP60s 1022, 1046, 1049, and 1964 became GP62s. UP SD60s 2173, 2210, and 2226 were also upgraded to SD62s. As part of the railroad’s SD40-2 Modernization Program, SD40-2s 1822, 3018, and 3208 were upgraded to SD40Ns in December 2015. Also, SD40N 3244 was renumbered UP 1822 and SD40N 9838 was renumbered to UP 1824. Two Southern Pacific AC44CWs succumbed to UP’s renumbering process in December. SP 177 became UP 6146 and SP 266 became UP 6242. Lastly, two locomotives were retired
from UP’s roster in December, UP C41- 8W 9422 on December 30 and UPY MP15DC 1331 on December 1.
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