NS25/26 Freight on the NEC – Train Sim Forum

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Reading Topic #2493

chuckscCharter Member · 4210 postsNov 23, 2003 8:06 PM

LAST EDITED ON Nov-23-03 AT 03:16 PM (EST)

As many of you know the NS in partnership with Amtrak and their initial customer UPS have been running experiments on re-introducing Premium Freight Service on the NEC. They Will call it premium intermodal service and it will be designed to compete timewise with 2 man driver teams running up I95 from Atlanta and south and save the shippers $$$$ because of lower bulk rates on RR Intermodal Service vice individual over the road trucks.... The resultant trains are NS25/26 which originate in the Atlanta area and "race" north to the northern NJ intermodal Yards (LANE Tower in Newark is where they exit the NEC) in under 24 hours. These trains also make stops/setouts at Charlotte, Greensboro and Alexandria. These Trains enter the NEC at Alexandria (A-F interlocking) and currently pass through the lower level tracks at Union Station because it seems CSX has been unable to supply Pilots to run through Benning Yard and the DC freight bypass up onto the NEC along with the routine severe congestion on CSX' tracks in the DC area.). Early test trains were 3 GP40s/60s (Horseheads) and about 15 to 30 cars... On the NEC their speed (MAS) was limited to 50mph (80kph) due to NEC required ATS and software upgrades (LSL - Locomotive Speed Limiter equipment is required by Amtrak for all freight engines operating on the NEC. The software for the GP40-2's limits the speed to 50 mph or less, and from what I understand an upgrade of the software would cost about $40k per unit.) The quick fix was for Amtrak to add a pair of P40s (800 series) from the former Express Freight Business (which obviously have the required SW and direct release capable brakes)in place of the 2 leading geeps.... The Goal was to raise the MAS over the NEC to 70mph (112kph) but the Amtrak mechanical folks vetoed that given the current state of repair of the track structure on the NEC WAS-NYP...
So the current MAS is 60mph (96kph) which ain't so bad for freight.... However to show how much the NEC has deteriorated due to maintenance (or lack there of ) issues you should remember that the PRR ran intermodals at the 70mph speed behind GG1s 50 years ago....
Progress eh???????For your viewing pleasure are a couple of in-game shots of the NS25/26 train(s) NS25/26 Freight on the NEC – image 1

And this is how I think they should have run it if the "Clownrail folks" hadn't ripped out the wires to the Freight/Intermodal yards and gotten themselves banned from the NEC initially (Thank You Ricky Gates! Dope Smoking Loser!)... And maybe the Feds would have diverted the cost of a 2 lane Interchange on Interstate 666 in East Jabrook into the routine maintenance of the NEC! NS25/26 Freight on the NEC – image 7

BTW.... The Test configuration I am using is 41 Cars....
And as a comparison look at the throttle settings at 58/59mph on the all Diesel consist (11kHP 8.26mw) to the all Electric consist (12khp 8.95mw)Chuck Schneider
(Virtual) CEO
North American (Virtual) Locomotive Works NS25/26 Freight on the NEC – image 12