Far from home x 2

[schweitzerdude]

I was hesitant about reviving a thread that died out several years ago about locomotives seen far from home.

But I think even the most experienced trainwatchers might have found interesting what I saw on the BNSF mainline today (northern Idaho) - a string of empty container well cars, heading west, pulled by two locomotives - a Ferromex and a CSX - both far from their expected territory since I'm about 100km from the Canadian border. Any speculation how each got so far from home, only to be linked up and put to work on the BNSF?

 

[daylightguy]

there could be a cance that the ferromex engins are bieing shipped down to mexceo and the CSX engin either BNSF purchased it or therewas somthing I heard about how railroads pay other railroads for using their locomotive so they don't have to be switched out with the railroad's engin that could be the case from what you saw I don't know I am not an expert at this I am just saying what I have heard from other people.

PS I have seen three ferromex locomotives on the Union pacific about twenty minutes out of chicago on the west line.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Reviving and posting in a log dead thread is perfectly OK ... if you have vital input to add to an old thread ... I would have liked to have seen the old thread photos.

 

[JCitron]

It could also be power pooling, or maybe FerroMex owed the BNSF some run-off time, so BNSF borrowed the engines from FerroMex, or maybe it works the opposite.

Up my way, I see a lot of borrowed power. The PAR now partners with NS, so we see a lot of Thoroughbred units in with the blue PAR engines. CSX also does run throughs to Lowell from Worcester, and the Providence and Worcester runs coal trains up to Bow, NH.

In the old days, MEC and B&M used to team up all the time, so it wasn't uncommon to see MEC units down in the Boston area. When Guilford came along, they merged in the D&H with the MEC and B&M. This old partnering became one big company until GTI bankrupted the D&H and sent them home.

John