Coxy's N Scale and Railroad Blog

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RPRC’s venerable switchers are paired up again today to bring cuts of coal hoppers back to the UP collection point near Central Ave. After switching out the bad order cars at the 23rd Ave Yard, the units dragged the first cut of fifty cars out to the UP tracks. The train swung north on the Stege wye and are seen here grinding up the Waterside drill past  the Cutting Blvd grade crossing.

The UP has a block signal bridge on the far side of the grade crossing but the Waterside track has no signal so the RPRC can chug on through.

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This is a big cut of cars for the Richmond Pacific units. The song of the 1200hp EMD prime movers dragging the long string of cars was a treat for this EMD fan. The empty hoppers have quite a booming sound as they are switched too, aside from the shaking of the ground felt through the soles of your feet.

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Here’s a view as the cars flow off the north leg of the wye. You can see the grade quite distinctly here. Stege has an interesting track configuration including the wye which is elevated above I-580, a compact siding and the Waterside Drill track. About a mile toward Oakland, the double track UP main and the Waterside Drill are tied by four sets of crossovers enabling trains to transfer from any track to any other track in both directions.

These coal cars are headed to the Waterside Drill on the other side of the Stege crossovers is where the UP collects cars set out by the Richmond Pacific. The UP collects the cars using a Roseville bound train (M-OARV) which shows up daily in the evenings usually after 9:00pm.

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There is a crossover to the right of the camera. Once the switchers pulled the cut past the crossover, they shoved the cars back onto the Waterside track.

This shot shows the power shoving the  coal cars back onto the Waterside track.

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The two units continue shoving past the grade crossing gates. Note the two white concrete barriers at the base of the billboard. The RPRC has taken a lot of care recently to block access to their right of way to unauthorized use. They have also substantially cleaned up any junk or garbage along the right of way.

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The units are earning their keep today. Note the fading on the hood of the yellow unit. I like the stripes on 4449. I guess there is an SP fan somewhere in the RPRC given the choice of number for this unit!

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This nose to nose configuration is preferred by the crews. They have good access to the cab and good visibility from the cab.

Notice the details in the foreground - rail in the weeds and the linear pattern of grass along the right of way.

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Side view of 4449. The radiator grills at the front of the hood are open to keep the prime mover well cooled. The exhaust stack covers are a nice modeling feature too.

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Here’s 1268, a darn nice looking unit! This line takes pride in what it does and it shows.

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1268 and 4449 are doing about 10 mph in this move.

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This is the last shot of the empty coal move. The two units are about eight cars from the crossover. You can just see the crew member standing by wearing an orange vest. The orange colored stuff under the blue and yellow 1268 is bauksite.

My thoughts on completing the move

I had to head over to my daughter’s school at this point, so I’m guessing about the order of events for the remainder of the move. Even though I didn’t see it, I’m interested in the operational aspects used to get the job done.

Here’s my best guess… Having moved the first fifty cars to the Waterside track, the two units will return for the remaining forty or so cars from the 23rd Ave Yard and repeat the move in the photos, going north up the waterside track then shoving the cars onto the Waterside track through the crossover. With all cars on the waterside drill, and clearance from the UP dispatcher, the two units will shove the cut south along the Waterside drill past the signal granted by the UP dispatcher to the other side of the junction ready for collection by the UP.

My big question is how many empty coal cars can 2400hp move? if 90+ cars is too many then they would obviously make two shoves to the other side of the Stege Jct but this would require 4 signals from the UP dispatcher, instead of the two with only one shove - one going south and one going north after dropping the cars off. Let me know if you happen to know what they actually did.