New Video of BNSF Unit Coal Train on Chugman's Layout

Very nice video, and impressive train. I liked the mid-train and rear helpers. Thank you for posting. Which manufacturer had made the hoppers?

Bill

wow that was only 35?! very nice room.

Art,
Looks like a great way to start the new year! I really like the BNSF diesels.
Hope to see you on Sunday at Dupage.
Happy New Year!

franktrain

Bill - Thanks! They are MTH coalporters. I think they make a great looking moderncar. I wish they would rerun them with new power plant names.

Art

Frank - Thanks! I am planning on being at DuPage this weekend. I was told that January is usually the best attended month.

Art

quote:

Originally posted by Chugman:
Bill - Thanks! They are MTH coalporters. I think they make a great looking moderncar. I wish they would rerun them with new power plant names.

Art

Thank you for letting me know. Yes they certainly make great looking cars. I thought they were MTH.

Bill

Chugman - Very nice "dream" layout. I like your wordpress blog.

Awfully nice to have that much room!!!

January at DuPage, it's been a long time since I've gone.

Sir...you guys (you and your son) are living the dream...no doubt about it!

Wow! Really nice!

Big heavy power, big heavy coal. Love it.

(I wish I had the room, etc)

Jim

Wow! Were the mid-train and rear-end helpers also powered??

- Mike

Art,

Very nice!

A nice long train. I especially like the way it snaked along the edge of the table near the beginning. I'm looking forward to seeing that very nice river crossing completed.

Art,

Awesome! That train and the layout is lookging great. I quess MTH is out of stock of BNSF coal porters

Rich

Art....

My kind of train!!! The video was a pleasure to watch...and the layout is coming along nicely. Thanks for the post!

Alan

Art beautiful video,and just an awesome layout.
Keep the video's coming.

THANKS ALEX

hey chugman, you ever going to finish that layout?

Art...looks great!!

Art,

Nice video and great layout. I have a dozen of those cars and wish I had bought more of them as Jimmy Sutter suggested when I bought the dozen. I mix them with other coal cars to make up a long train.

Are all the engines in that train powered? My MU BNSF has three engines, but the middle one is non-powered. As you probably already have found out, one engine alone can pull a very long train - 30+ cars even up a 2% grade.

Nice work!

Alex

Art, WOW ....
That is a GREAT LOOKING COAL TRAIN!!!!! Your layout is EXCELLENT for running the .... L O N G T R A I N S.....

Do you have plans for a Coal Mine or a Coal Fired Power Plant?

I look forward to being able to run our long CN Coal Trains.We have about 36 Lionel CN Coal Porters and 12 MTH CN Coal Porters to run.

Very impressive Art.

Thanks everybody!

Roger - I too am getting anxious to get my river crossing completed.

Forrest - I'm having too much fun running trains and procrastinating.

Alex - The second BNSF SD70MAC Executive is a dummy, the rest are powered. Even though we didn't need the power, the sounds of the powered units in the middle and end are awesome in our opinion.

Bill - I was going to have a power plant but had to give it up in order to have the room for my small Midwestern town. O gauge requires a lot of compromises and priority setting. The one thing I am trying very hard to avoid is the crowded, "fill every square inch", situation.

Art

WOW! Sure looking good Art. That Jim is an electrical genius.

Joe

Art, that was terrific!
Cobrabob.

Great Show Art! Really enjoyed it.

Gunny

VERY nice, Art!

As additional information, the BNSF can not operate mid-train DPU units in their hopper trains (emptys) or coal trains (loads) because the coal mines out in Wyoming will not allow it. Seems it is way too difficult for the loader operator to remember to shut off the coal when the mid-train DPU enters the loading silo; many SD70MAC units where covered with 100+ tons of Powder River coal before the mines put a stop to mid train DPU operations.

Thus two on the front and one or two DPU units on the rear is the norm.

I like your method, however MUCH better, since that is what EMD recommended from the beginning of Destributed Power Operations, way back in the early 1990s!

Art,
Magnificent job.
Your modern operations and layout design and construction are fantastic.
Tell us more about the highway overpass.

Hot Water,

Thanks for your additional info.

Question:
If BNSF thought it was a good idea to have a mid train DPU,
could they cut one in after loading?

Eliot

quote:

Question:
If BNSF thought it was a good idea to have a mid train DPU,
could they cut one in after loading?

That would be WAAAAYYYY too time consuming and expensive. Plus the mid-train DPU would have to be cut out of the train at the unloading site (power plant rotary dumpers can not accept units going thru the dumper).

art,

basement empire is coming along nicely, and that was a nice long run.

like to see your updates, keep them coming.

Hot Water,
Many thanks for your expertise.
You have encyclopedic knowledge of trains.

Art,
I look forward to a video of trains arriving and departing your amazing Chicago Union Station.

Eliot

quote:

I look forward to a video of trains arriving and departing your amazing Chicago Union Station.

second that!

Art,
The video is awesome! The layout and basement look great too!
I really don't care if its prototypical or not I love the look of the engine in the middle of the train!
Great work both you and Jim!!

The Canadian Pacific Railway usually runs it's coal train power - (1) up front, (1) mid-train and (1) at the rear of the train. Occasionally, they will go with (2) up front, (1) mid-train and (1) at the rear, just like Art's video. They only use AC traction for hauling coal... ES44AC's and AC4400CW's.

The BNSF coal trains heading to Delta Port in British Columbia, run (2) up front and (2) in the rear. Those trains are usually powered by a combination of GE and EMD power... usually, ES44AC's and SD70MAC's; and some of the MAC's wear the executive scheme, just like Art's.

Art,

I like your layout, I like your trains and I like how you run them.


Rick

seeing this,i think i know who has been bidding up the d.e. cars on e-bay. - i have about 50 of em myself - great layout chugman,dont be in a hurry to finish it- i like the uncluttered look myself.-jim

So simple, so everyday....so amazing! This kind of video really gets me charged up. Well done Art and Jim.

Art, thanks for sharing this video and excellent progress on your layout!

Thanks a lot guys!

Eliot - The next video that I take will be of passenger trains arriving and departing Union Station. We just redid the switch machines there and it is running very well now. Jim installed Tortoise switch machines with power routing and I can finally run engines into and out of the yard at prototypical speeds.

BNSF Mike - We were thinking of you as we were making this video and hoping that it would get you going again.

Rich - Thanks and hope to see you Sunday at DuPage.

Hot Water - Thanks and I appreciate your comments regarding prototypical operation. When I think about how these trains are unloaded, it wouldn't work very well with an engine in the middle. They sure run smooth though with the engines spread through the train though.

Art

Nice job Art & Jim. I only have 24 DEEX coal gons, guess I better get on the ball on ebay! Thanks for posting, it inspires me to get more work done on my basement so I can get started on some benchwork.

Anthony

Anthony - Thanks, I know what you mean as this forum gets me inspirired all the time. There is so much talent represented on the forum.

Art