TexRail and GVRR with FL9 Loco2
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- TexRail and Grapevine Vintage Railroad clips in North Richland Hills TX. GVRR operates on TexRail trackage from Grapevine, TX to Haltom City TX. GVRR's GP20 is shown pulling the return trip from the Ft. Worth Stockyards to Grapevine - the locomotive is currently being painted. The GVRR's new FL9 locomotive trails the train after leading the westbound movement.
The GVRR must run between the TexRail trains, which are shown operating just before the GVRR train.
Jesus Christ! If I didn't know this is Texas I would think this is some train footage in a third world country. All diesel and extremly slow but kind of nice to watch.
Hi P&CD. Yes, the local rail authority chose to go with Stadler equipment for the noise issue. The US diesels that were available were too noisy for a line that primarily goes through high dollar residential areas. So far, the trains have been well received and are a good ride. 65 is maximum speed, but it still gets you to Grapevine, the airport or Ft. Worth 10 to 15 minutes faster than you can drive it.
The FL9 is a purchase from the New Haven. GVRR did all their own rehabbing of the loco (and a sister FL9), as well as the paint job. Nice to see an odd ball loco in this world of GEs and boxy SD70s. If you ignore the goofy 2-3 axle configuration, it's almost like having our own F unit running back and forth! Too bad with Covid that GVRR isn't running regularly right now - maybe next year!
@@railfool I see. Thank you for the insight. I have been to the US twice and I think it's a wonderful country. But I have to say that in terms of infrastructure (particularly railways) I was shocked how extremely backwards everything is in comparison to Europe. I honestly cannot remember having seen a single electrified railway outside the North East Corridor. I saw tracks that didn't even have concrete ties or continous welded rail (it was still wood ties and Clickety-Clack!!! 😲). With the exception of a few enthusiasts Americans seem to really hate railways as well as railway electrification. How come?
@@MarioStahl1983 Hi again - I'll try to answer with high level explanations.
The issue about electrification - yes, only the NE Corridor has extended wires. Some small traction companies still do as well, but the major freight RRs tried it in the past and the cost of the wires, electricity and maintenance makes it prohibitive. The Milwaukee had electrification, the GN had some and I'm sure some others as well; but the efficiency of diesel and the type and length of trains run in the US made wire replaceable. Please remember, all US railroads (except Amtrak) are private companies and are supported only by their profits, not government funding. Amtrak is supported by the gov't, which might explain the wire on the NEC.
This is also likely the answer about infrastructure. You probably were looking at a branch or industrial line if it still had jointed rail; virtually all heavy tonnage main lines in the US now have welded rail, with the heaviest usage lines using concrete ties as well. The US has been transitioning to concrete since around 1990; almost every new track project is now undertaken with concrete ties and welded rail. Again, since US railroads self fund capital projects, they make the economic decision to replace with wood or concrete based on the tonnage, the replacement cycle, existing track/tie condition etc. If the existing wooden ties are still in good shape, they do not replace them with concrete. I know of no locations where there is a slow order because of wood ties where replacement with concrete would allow higher speeds.
Derailment stats in the US confirm that the RRs do a much better job today than 20 or 30 years ago maintaining their tracks. If you look up Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) derailment stats by year for Class 1 railroads, you'll see a precipitous drop over the last 30 years in derailments caused by track issues. They still happen, but at a much less frequent rate. So your comment about Americans hating the railways is not accurate.
Comparing the Euro RRs to the US RRs is a little like comparing apples and oranges. I haven't studied Euro operations in a long time, but as I recall, many Euro RRs do not run 20,000 ton (18.2 k metric tonnes) coal or grain trains, or 12,000 foot (3.7 km) container or manifest trains. When I was with BN in the mid 90's, we explored using a European model to modify our US operations. After about a year of consulting with Euro RRs, visiting their operations, and trying to apply principles to our heavy haul operations, it was deemed infeasible because of the differences in our traffic bases and transportation requirements. Train size was one issue; distances and geographical differences were others. Your railways were built to support the needs and realities for your country; ours were built for the needs and realities of the US. Neither is right or wrong - they are just different.
It is a fascinating industry and it continues to evolve with technology and innovation. Who knows - if someone can come up with a battery powered loco that has the availability capabilities of a 4,400 hp diesel and has lower maintenance and operating costs, I suspect you'll see another change in the US industry. We won't have wires, but we may have electrification through the locomotives anyway. But that's some time into the future, even with current and projected technology. I won't be surprised if that change occurs before I'm gone, if the economics are right.
@@railfool I completely understand the reasons for the disasterous shortcomings of the American railway system that you outlined. It seems to me that many of the false excuses and outright lies have become so mainstream that a vast majority of Americans (some railway experts included) actually believe them. Do Americans REALLY BELIEVE that diesel locomotives are stronger, faster or more efficient that electric locos? That sounds like contradiction of the sheer laws of physics to me.😂 The distances a traint ravels is irrelevant Look what ultra-long routes are lectrified in China. That has been done for a reason, don't you think? Same is true for the freight tonnage. Electric trains can transport significantly higher amounts of freight or passengers at higher speed and with much better acceleration than any diesel locomotive in the world (including even the biggest GE-models). Look a the sheer endlessly long freight and coal trains in South Africa (several kilometers long just like in the US). Electric locomotives can even do that even on cape gauge!!😂 Although one must say these south african trains look really strange! Technically there is simply no way to argue that diesel powered traction comes anywhere near electric traction. Not even close. But of course I agree on your economic point. A private company cannot provide electrification. That's obvious. I really wonder why the state in the USA is so reluctant to do anything about the broken railway system. Investing hundreds of billions of dollars in highways, pipelines, car industry bailouts, unnecessary domestic air travel and about 700 billion dollars a year in the military industrial complex all seems to be no problem at all. But investing public money into the railways (including at least a little more electrification) seems to be TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE! I know Americans can be very sensitive about criticism towards their system. And let me asure you how much I really like America and its people and how much I look forward to travelling many more times to this beautiful country. But when it comes to infrastructure, energy, health care or even public water supply (e.g. in Flynt) America often shocks me and I'm just perplexed by the technical backwardness and how outdated everything is. Let me be a little provocative: Is there anything the federal government is willing to invest in other than tax cuts and the military??😂
OH MY GOD! Now I am the "arrogant European", right? Sorry. Don't take this too seriously.
@@MarioStahl1983 You might do a bit more research before you claim the US railway system is 'broken". Take a look at the profits they generate annually, along with the ton-miles of freight hauled. I know that BNSF writes a check to Berkshire Hathaway (their owners) for about $1.5 billion of free cash flow every quarter - annually, that's around $6 billion with revenues in the $16 - 18 billion range. UP is similarly as profitable. I don't follow CSX, NS or KCS as closely, but based on their operating ratios, they obviously are profitable. I don't follow Euro RRs at all - do you have any stats about how profitable Germany's systems are? Or South Africa's? Or how much gov't funding they receive?
The US railways prefer to keep the gov't out of their business, so they aren't looking for handouts. Smaller, regional roads do apply for and get gov't grants, but for the most part, the Class 1s don't want the strings that come with gov't funding. Capital is spent as needed, based on their routes and their traffic base - ie, bulk movements often don't require the speed that an intermodal movement does, so why develop a high speed route if you don't need it? That isn't 'broken', that is management by folks that are tasked with moving freight at a profit.
As to the unnecessary air travel, I believe Germany has about 51% of the square miles that TEXAS alone does. The US developed a passenger rail system in the 30s, 40s and 50s, but found that air travel was so superior regarding travel times over the long distances required in the US that there was no way for long distance passenger rail service to compete. Earlier, you referenced the NEC - that is a shorter corridor that is highly populated, and the US funds and runs passenger rail service that is similar to European service. But try that across Kansas, Wyoming, Ohio or any of the midwest - you won't even find a private company that will attempt to analyze, let alone build, that type of system. I will agree with you that the gov't subsidies for the highway system are unfair to rail, and yet, freight rail has managed to continue to thrive in the face of that uneven playing field. And as a note, pipeline companies in the US are predominately private as well - look up Energy Transfer, Marathon Petroleum Limited Partnership, Enbridge and a host of others.
As to the military spending, l think our current president is completely in agreement with you - we should no longer be the world's police, particularly if the countries that we must police are not paying their fair share. But your Chancellor isn't too happy right now with the US pulling 1/3 of the troops stationed in Germany out. So that's a bit confusing, no?
All stated, I'll go back to what I said earlier, there isn't a right or wrong, just a difference. Your implication that the US system is fundamentally wrong is a bit nationalistic, or at least it comes off that way when reading your comments. Thanks for the discussion.