Maybe some of you NS operational folks can explain this for me.

I spent the last two weeks in upstate NY close to the NS branch line that runs from Corning (Gang Mills) to Himrod Junction, Geneva, and a CSX interconnect at Lyons. Most of the traffic are coal drags and mixed freight either handed off to Finger Lakes Railway or CSX. Traffic had picked up recently but for some reason there was little action over the two weeks that I was there.

But everyday (during the day) for the second week a two loco consist (with nothing attached) would cruise through northbound and return later southbound (also with nothing attached). The consist would be traveling slowly (I judged the speed to be no more than 10 or 15 mph). Since most of the traffic on that line is at night, action during the day is rare and to see two locos without cargo just running on the line seemed even stranger. And it was the same two locos each time.

I thought for a time that maybe it was some sort of training or familarization process for new crews but my location is 30 miles from Gang Mills and it occurred daily for a week. I also thought that there might be some traffic requirement north of my location since a new natural gas transmission line is being installed in the area but Finger Lakes is handling the pipe cars on a handoff from CSX.

Any speculation as to what this was all about?

Thanks.

Poppyl

Hi Poppyl, I'm an x NS conductor and usually when you see 2 engines running together they are being used as helpers. They might have been going somewhere to assist and then returning later. They don't usually just use 2 engines for training purposes. But you never know what they are thinking of. Rick

Rick;

Thanks for the feedback. The branch line in question typically is not helper territory but who knows.

I also thought that maybe NS was "helping" Finger Lakes Railway with some atypical pipe loads running from Lyons to Himrod Junction during the week but then why run the locos back to Gang Mills every day? If the pipe unit loads were long enough, they could block the branch at Himrod which might explain the lack of other traffic for that week.

Oh well, it shall remain a mystery.

Poppyl

Poppyl it could be a number of things.
I've taken one or more locomotives from Kenova,WVa to Portsmouth,Ohio (37 rail miles on NS Kenova District) just to get fueled and sanded.
And as mentioned to assist another crew that might have gotten "hung up" somewhere.
Then again maybe the signal dept. was doing some testing on the codeline.Two units shunt the rail better than one does.I've known of a case where an Engineer ran between 32-34 mph with a lite motor(1),and caused the whole code line to be out for three days.Yes he had his tapes pulled and received disipline.
The units you saw may have been running on restricted speed if he was assisting a crew in the same block.Restricted speed now is 15 mph on the NS.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mackb4:
.Yes he had his tapes pulled QUOTE]

I hate that phrase. Lately it seems on CSX, they pull them for everything. Better not sneeze, the tm will pull your tapes!-Jeffrey

Collin;

Thanks for the additional food for thought.

I'll be back there in a couple of weeks and I'll see if anything has changed in terms of operations on the line. I'm still thinking that the "strange" operation had something to do with some sort of traffic requirements north of my location.

Poppyl

Why would running light power at 30-35 mph take out the code line? That doesn't make sense.