Longest Train in America

kmothersil

New member
I really don't know if this was the longest train in America, but by the looks of it, it may have been . According to another article on google it stayed on the Guiness World Record for 22 years. http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/Week-of-Mon-20040503/000134.html


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This is possibly one of the only photos of the train in action. Do guys think they will run a train that size in the future.
 
US Longest train

Conrail had a experimental iron ore train leaving from Morrisville Yard, I believe in the early 80's. It had possibly 600+ taconite pellet iron ore "Jennys" bound for Zanesville US Steel, and it had like: 6 locos up front, 4 more mid train, and 4 more on the rear. It kept busting knuckles, and the train was broken up inside of 20 miles from its starting origin, and sent in several sections to it's destination in Ohio. "Conrail Fail" ! This was before DPU, and solid state electronics and "Chips" were yet to be developed, and computers were virtually non-existant. Even the big old VHS camcorders and VCR's were not yet available. 8 track, cassettes and LP records were high tech items back then. SD45's still employed small wooden wedges (resembling a rubber doorstop) jammed into the main contactors and electrical relays, to "Jury Rig" them, to get a locomotive to function. Ahhhhh...the good ol' days.

Not sure if this is a World record: Australian BHP Iron ore train, the longest train to ever run in the world, this train is officially in the guinness book of world records for the longest train.
The record was set on june 21, 2001 in western australia between newman and port headland, a distance of 275km (170 miles) and the train consisted of 682 loaded iron ore wagons and 8 GE AC6000 locomotives giving a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and moved 82,262 tonnes of ore, the train was 7.353 km (4.568 miles) long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LsuNWjRaAo

As to do you think they will operate extremely long trains like this in the future ? This is what usually happens when there is catastrophic drawbar failure:
RippedFreightCar.jpg


BTW: Longest HO (1:87.1) scale model train measuring 110.3 m ( 361 ft 10 in) made up of 3 locomotives, and 887 cars, was constructed by Miniature Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, on November 27, 2005. If the model had been a full-scale train it would have measured 9.607 km (5.969 miles) long.
 
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cascaderailroad
Thanks for the video link , talk about watching paint dry !:wave:

--- ,DLR
 
I thought this thread was about something else, and an old girlfriend of mine was involved!:eek:
Mercifully, it is not.

Interesting stuff though...interesting stuff...
 
What really does suck though is one this is possibly the only picture of the train in action. Two this was done once and N&W didn't do this again. But look on the bright side the train here did make it to it's destination with minor problems in one piece.
 
WHOA!

Conrail had a experimental iron ore train leaving from Morrisville Yard, I believe in the early 80's. It had possibly 600+ taconite pellet iron ore "Jennys" bound for Zanesville US Steel, and it had like: 6 locos up front, 4 more mid train, and 4 more on the rear. It kept busting knuckles, and the train was broken up inside of 20 miles from its starting origin, and sent in several sections to it's destination in Ohio. "Conrail Fail" ! This was before DPU, and solid state electronics and "Chips" were yet to be developed, and computers were virtually non-existant. Even the big old VHS camcorders and VCR's were not yet available. 8 track, cassettes and LP records were high tech items back then. SD45's still employed small wooden wedges (resembling a rubber doorstop) jammed into the main contactors and electrical relays, to "Jury Rig" them, to get a locomotive to function. Ahhhhh...the good ol' days.

Not sure if this is a World record: Australian BHP Iron ore train, the longest train to ever run in the world, this train is officially in the guinness book of world records for the longest train.
The record was set on june 21, 2001 in western australia between newman and port headland, a distance of 275km (170 miles) and the train consisted of 682 loaded iron ore wagons and 8 GE AC6000 locomotives giving a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and moved 82,262 tonnes of ore, the train was 7.353 km (4.568 miles) long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LsuNWjRaAo

As to do you think they will operate extremely long trains like this in the future ? This is what usually happens when there is catastrophic drawbar failure:
RippedFreightCar.jpg


BTW: Longest HO (1:87.1) scale model train measuring 110.3 m ( 361 ft 10 in) made up of 3 locomotives, and 887 cars, was constructed by Miniature Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, on November 27, 2005. If the model had been a full-scale train it would have measured 9.607 km (5.969 miles) long.

Hopefully they will be able to deal with that problem and avoid what's on the picture there. By the way would ECP brakes be useful for longer and heavier trains in the future since BNSF, CP, and NS are currently the only railroads in America to start testing it.
 
Just saw the video, whoa, MAN was that train long or WHAT?!?!:D Forget counting sheep, counting iron ore cars works just as well. One car, two cars, three cars....(half an hour later)...four hundred and twenty three, four hundred and twenty four.... you can just imagine it, can't you? Boooooooorrring:sleep:

Roll on the day where the train is too long for the track it's on!
 
I thought this thread was about something else, and an old girlfriend of mine was involved!:eek:
Mercifully, it is not. ...snip ....

Ed, did you ever visit mid - Michigan in the 60's , and remember double dating with the " Twins " ? Holy crap , we could be related !

--- ,dave :'( :'(
 
Most trains are @ 100 cars...if each car has 6" of slack action the whole train has 50' of slack action...and when the slack runs in and bucks the locos, it can cause a serious derailment...and 50' of slack running out can tear a railcars main bolster or draft gear to pieces. Most trains are 14,000 tons or less, much more drawbar stress than that, very well could yank couplers out of their yokes, tearing the metal apart like toys.

I bet that 682 car train had @300' of slack !
 
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I would think that trainhandling and risk of huge derailment would make most RR's shy away from trains more that 14,000 tons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbOvwvRbOxE&feature=related

The CSX line between Philadelphia and Baltimore, chooses to run many, many, short, high speed TTX/COFC trains, sometimes 10 minutes apart. Its a very fast paced, single track RR line, with several passing sidings.

When the (Middle Division PRR) NS mainline is blocked by a derailment from Harrisburg To Tyrone, they shift alot of traffic North on the Buffalo Line, street running through many small towns to Sunbury (where they make the raisens), Williamsport, and run back to back, one way trains, down the single tracked Nittany & Bald Eagle line, through Lock Haven, Milesburg and on to the mainline connection at Tyrone.

Monster test train on the Horseshoe line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B67vrhp2Xog
 
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I would think that trainhandling and risk of huge derailment would make most RR's shy away from trains more that 14,000 tons.

Maybe the PRR in the 1890's. In Western Australia, the longest train was 99,000 tons, 100 ton shy of 100,000. I know BNSF runs trains over the cajon pass that have a max of 17,000 ton... But that magic horseshoe curve route of yours that uses MP wood that we admire so much doesn't do this, so it didn't happen, obviously

Jamie
 
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