Longest Freight Train



This was the longest train I had ever seen. 

One week ago, Sunday, April 28, 2019, I was standing trackside west of Malta, Illinois along Union Pacific's Geneva Subdivision when this monster freight train passed. Despite the overcast and wind, I think my video turned out pretty well.

The block of twin-bay covered hoppers right behind the two locomotives made me first think it was a unit frac sand train, but the Cryo-Trans reefers quickly confirmed that it was a manifest ("mixed freight"). With the help of social media, I can also confirm that it was MPRNP (Manifest, Proviso IL to North Platte NE). 

I expected a long train. After 97 cars and a locomotive mid-train set up as Distributed Power Unit (DPU), I knew it would be a long one indeed. The train kept coming and coming and coming, 101 more cars!

At 198 cars, this was the longest train I had ever seen. I believe its length was due to the numerous Trinity Reefers sprinkled throughout, including a 25-car block after the mid-train DPU. Some of these may be empties used by Cold Connect, a dedicated perishable train service originating at Delano, California and Wallula, Washington for Rotterdam, New York (weekly trains are usually combined at Green River, Wyoming). I shot video of it on April 26, 2015 at Rochelle, Illinois. 


I decided to chase a little farther. The train stopped briefly at Rochelle, but I was unable to get ahead of it in time. In fact, I had to wait on it at the 1st Avenue crossing on the west side. That is where I counted the cars. 

Slow motorists on IL-38 kept me from overtaking the train before Dixon. Fortunately, I knew the backroads to Nelson where I set up for my second and final encounter with MPRNL. 


It was appropriate that the destination for this monster 198-car freight train was the world's largest railroad yard, Bailey Yard, in North Platte, Nebraska. There, cars will be classified and distributed to western points on other freight trains. Those 71 mechanical reefers will go to destinations in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington for more eastbound lading. 

So if this was the longest train I had ever seen, what is the runner up? That would be Canadian National Railway's M34371 (Manifest, Memphis TN to Winnipeg MB), which I caught at Gilman, Illinois on March 29, 2013. Two locomotives led 179 cars! 



- David P. Jordan

Comments

  1. Traingirl36May 6, 2019 at 9:27 AM

    If they close the yard at Rochelle? Will traffic decrease any or just go about their business like they normally do?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David P. JordanMay 6, 2019 at 11:12 AM

      If UP plans to eliminate the yard as well for blocking and switching, then closure will eliminate transfer runs between Global 3 and Global 2. But since the intermodal facility there handles little business these days, actual freight volume won't change much.

      Delete

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