UNION PACIFIC MONSTER TEST TRAIN 1102010

[@kellySonobud]

I worked on the railroad for 29 years as a conductor. My longest train was 180 cars, 9000 feet. This is incredible!!

[@epistte]

+kelly Sonobud How would you feel if you had to walk this monster train because you blew a brake house or busted a knuckle 10 cars from the end, in the winter?

[@douglaspaul4728]

@@epistte He didn't respond back, so I guess he was lying.

[@douglaspaul4728]

@@Amtrakfan90278 I know, I was just bored :/

[@douglaspaul4728]

@@Amtrakfan90278 Yes it was! :D

[@applejack2911]

Incredible until it goes in emergency and you have to walk it during a thunderstorm at 2 in the morning! Been there done that!! Or worse yet get a knuckle with one of those know it all Engineers

[@sontungle2641]

Run from 8 to 10 January 2010, consisting of 296 container cars and hauled by nine diesel-electric locomotive spread through the train with a total length of 18,000 feet (3.4 mi; 5.5 km), from a terminal in Texas to Los Angeles. Around 618 double-stacked containers were carried at speeds up to 70 mph/112 km/h. 14,059 t.

[@gizmothewytchdoktor1049]

this is damned impressive that so much mass can be moved with so little effort.like container ships....these are truly marvels of logistics and engineering.

[@timowgan7777]

I agree. If you work on 600 containers on that train. The latest Maersk container ship can carry 12000 containers or 20 times this trains containers. And reportedly bigger ships are on the way (up to 18000 containers) Amazing

[@sontungle2641]

@@timowgan7777 That's about 618 containers man. They literally take 618 semi-trailers off the road :))).

[@Boss302fan]

@Deeked Are you talking about North America? Almost all of the early railroads in the US were developed by entrepreneaurs and not the government.

[@dastagiranwar147]

295 rail cars, 9 engines and 18,000 feet long (that is, almost 3.5 miles long). WOW!

[@sagakanon1741]

No matter what they say ,is a cool catch, thanks for share !!!

[@Boss302fan]

Not BS. All of this is well documented in the industry. The containers had to move. True. But not necessarily all in one train. I work for BNSF in Long Beach. These trains are carefully staged and a great deal of thought goes into them. So much is involved. Sidings. Meets. Sailings. Tonnage. The right kind of DPU horsepower. Decisions on how to break the trains up outside of LA. The order you bring them through the corridor. Capacity at the deramp locations. Very specific move.

[@MrPaulkBoot]

Remarkable - nothing like this in the UK. Reminded me of similar trains that I saw in Nevada, October 2009. Thanks for uploading.

[@brainerdrebel]

There are also a lot of private crossings that these trains block. I had a man threaten me with a gun for blocking his driveway for about an hour. His wife had a medical problem and he was going to keep his driveway clear. We only had 120 cars and I was alone on the caboose, I cut his driveway my whole career. Every district has it intangibles, small town crossings, emergency vehicles, schools, speed limits in towns, grades and inclines. The railroads will do anything to increase their profits

[@mkmcclure]

Give me and our nation long trains like this anyday. I would rather have the trucks off the highways and onto steel rails in a heartbeat. The efficiency fuel and economy of scale of a train over the fleet of trucks this would take is staggering.

[@rwhitenight]

I believe this train originated out of Dallas Intermodal Terminal (Wilmer TX)

[@Boss302fan]

@Deeked All of the Class I freight railroads in the US, Canada and Mexico (and most short line and regional railroads) are not only profitable but pay massive taxes.

[@aprc1977a]

Wow what an unbelievable sight, imoveable industrial might. and the whole train made up of intermodal containers. Man all them neat straight lines and edges, parallel tracks and evenly spaced wagons has my OCD in a right twist lol.

[@Chuck59ish]

I counted 9 engines and 293 cars, I may have missed a couple though.

[@justghostgamingx3966]

You missed a car

[@douglaslewis8441]

@@justghostgamingx3966 295.

[@sontungle2641]

It's actually 296 cars.

[@StarTard8]

me: "Crap...I'm TEN F$&*^@% minutes late for an important meeting!" *comes to a RR crossing, this train comes* me: "...damn..."

[@rwhitenight]

That is fricking amazing. Great video. I overslept and missed it in Arlington, Texas :-(.

[@ahmadbinfadzil8258]

Many years comment.

[@Trainaholic2946]

No. The big boy does not have computer controlled systems, Hi adhesion trucks, or enough total power to get the train to a high enough speed that would be considered decent for freight service. Just 1 bigboy at the front would have an extreme amount of problems.

[@Boss302fan]

The issue with a private crossing boils down to the railroad granting a property owner the right to cross. In exchange the owner signs an agreement that usually holds the railroad harmless for accidents and blocking. You are right though, every district has its intangibles. While I guarantee you railroads won't "do anything" to increase profits...it is their job to make a profit. I threw a lit fusee at a drunk driver cursing me for blocking a crossing one night. Was I wrong? LOL

[@gizmothewytchdoktor1049]

one helluva long train. are these still assembled and run in this manner?

[@mamanbear1]

Incredible - how do you make much less break up a train like that in a yard?

[@sontungle2641]

Break in two part with 148 cars each when it being assemble in container yard.

[@johnburns8994]

Absolutely Incredible.......stack trains rule...thanks for posting

[@mmbmbmbmb]

Watching this was incredible! Beautiful scenery as well ~ thank you!

[@frerrick47]

Absolutely. The wagons are fitted with electronic braking to ensure the brake pipe pressure remains constant, and there is an Electronic Train Pipe unit at the rear of the train that reports constantly to the on-board computer on the loco what the state of the brake pipe pressure is. Therefore there is no need for locos scattered throughout the train. Bank engines are used to push the train out of Cloud Break to Summit (the top of ranges) only; and from Firetail to Avon on the Solomon railway only, again to get the train over the hills. The bankers are there to provide tractive effort The place where the bankers detach (without the train stopping) is around 45 to 50 kms from the mine on each line. Currently there are 13 of the 240 car trains running between Port Hedland and the three mines on the FMG railway every day. Each train carries an all up load of around 38000 tonnes so there is around 400000 tonnes of ore delivered to the port every day. Not bad is it. I just wish I had some video of one of these trains to show the interested folks out there.

[@NeoDerGrose]

Electronic controlled breaking does not have anything to do with refilling the breaksystem. Whenever you break the system looses air and needs to be refilled. If the system runs out of air you've got a big problem, couse you can't break anymore. Electro pneumatic breaking is used to shorten the reactiontime of the breaks. Otherwise it would take to long for the last waggons to recognize when they should break and they would push the ones in front of them.

[@mav3r1ck69]

Fascinating, agree with the earlier comments about getting stuck at the crossing waiting for this beast to pass....good chance to catch a nap..lol. That would be an awesome sight to see in person though. Thanks for the upload

[@Boss302fan]

These are "normally" three trains put together. And it means far fewer employees as trains are "re-crewed" multiple times moving across country. One of these trains "may" save a great deal in labor costs. The fuel savings are not that great.

[@cascadianpuget]

This one train would need the same size crew as one a third its length. I'm sure crew-reduction is the goal.

[@Boss302fan]

Close enough. The technology is always changing, but the communication is wireless. No cables. Just attended a seminar on the new GE units. Amazing machines and DPU is an evolving process. They've come a long way since the GP20's and Alco C430 units I learned to run on.

[@PNWRailfan]

Man, if this train hit a car...

[@caad3333]

294 intermodal cars....wow! JJ

[@j.m.youngquist419]

This is what they refer to as precision railroading

[@qora01m]

@itech46 I don't think France or Germany will ever be very strong in DPU technology. Just because in Europe you will never have trains like this and so there is no need for DPU. Freight traffic is struggling in Europe while passenger numbers increase steadily. Just the other way round like in the US.

[@3sierra15]

So if axle 854 trips a hotbox detector who walks back to check on it?

[@brandyschwartz5133]

Hopefully the student

[@southeasternpennsylvaniara1588]

3sierra15 the conductor.

[@trainfreak7745]

We got one of these up here in Michigan about 2008 when the economy was suffering and we were getting 1 train on a good day CN sent a massive 2 mile long train that inches forward and blocked off 6 crossings for 4 hours then right behind it they had another 45 car train that blocked even more, needless to say they were fined pretty hefty and haven't done it since they split Waterford, Township in half and almost got a cop killed when he called for help and everybody was on the opposite side

[@brainerdrebel]

I had one guy drive under a tank car about three o'clock in the morning. His head lights were on one side of the tanker and his tail lights were on the other. I just knew he was dead, after hiding all his liquor bottles and waiting about three hours a wrecker pulled him out. He only had scratches on his hands and knees from the windshield, he was 6'5" if he was an inch.

[@e4437]

This train is massive. They're running doubles in and out of Chicago daily

[@robertalan2427]

what yard is long enough to stage this .. and surprised the couplers can withstand the pressure

[@albatrouseciv8147]

Did anyone else count the cars, then rewind it to watch it again just to enjoy it

[@osmoon]

Why is it called "test train"? Is it because it puts to test driver's patience?

[@1940limited]

I firmly believe in railroads and wish they were a bigger part of our society and culture as they were in the 30s, 40s and 50s. I never mind watching a train go through a grade crossing. I enjoy it. It's amazing how much freight is still out on the rails despite the tepid economy. It was said a Big Boy could pull a 5 mile long freight train on level ground. I doubt one was ever put together that long. I imagine it would break couplers.

[@shnimmuc]

g bridgman It would break couplers. The railroads, despite the economy are doing record breaking business.

[@1940limited]

That's good news. Glad to hear it. Thanks.

[@jacquesblaque7728]

+shnimmuc Not really. With the shift away from coal, car-loadings are down on US railroads. BNSF has laid up a bunch of locomotives in Minneapolis. BNSF and UP historically haul the majority of Powder River coal, so things are down there a bit. NS and CSX have seen declines in eastern coal traffic, such that CSX has essentially shut down the old Clinchfield. Big question now is how this all will settle out. These big diesels are distributed through the train for the exact purpose of not snapping couplers. The 4400 hp AC-traction motor units can exert about 200,000 lbs pull, each, and a batch can make Big Boys look weak and low-endurance, with steamers stopping so often for water and fuel. Couplers are rated at 500,000 lbs. The math is obvious. With the coming capability of the Panama Canal to accomodate much larger ships, many container ships from the orient with cargo for the east coast may not discharge at Long Beach in the future, but take the canal to the east coast for offload. Ocean transport has an efficiency advantage over rail. We'll see.

[@1940limited]

There's a coal fired electric plant near where I live that's more than 60 years old. It's been served by Lackawanna, Erie-Lackawanna, Conrail and now NS. I'm told it's shutting down next year or may convert to fuel oil. Right now NS delivers 100 car coal trains to the station. I hate to see them lose that business and people working at the plant lose their jobs. Maybe they'll be delivering oil trains to the plant and everyone will keep their job. I hope so.

[@applejack2911]

Ex UP, CP Engineer,..most UP trains were "monster" trains leaving San antonio,..most were crazy underpowered,..some were a nightmare to run, especially when it was raining. In Vegas wasn't so bad , they powered up all the trains,..couldn't screw around with Cima hill.

[@gamr4fun]

Extended height container it has a blue tarp over the roof. 'wonder what it is?

[@inside2883]

amazing. long train. 7 engines and 295 cars "정말 엄청나네요? 기관차7량에, 콘테이너가 295량, 화물전체 몇 ton 이야 ?

[@hankkellerman3011]

I have an old neighbor who worked for UP in the 50's and he said the reason they hook so many trains together is that the other engines help with the dynamic breaking and it saves fuel. They are also so they can be put it other states and unhook the last train and then they drop off the one after the lead train.

[@Nader620]

So what happens if they break a knuckle between the 149th and 150th cars? What kind of support does this train need?

[@ЕвгенийФилин-г6э]

A man waiting on the next railroad X-ing is luckless for sure :)

[@nitrofumes2012]

The UP has been running 15,000 ft trains through Kearney lately. I caught one on the rail cam there last week.

[@videoformer]

We don't have so long trains in Germany. Great!

[@Boss302fan]

No. You do not have trains this long in Germany. But you do have much faster, shorter trains. Just a different way to railroad.

[@xylenol15]

Hey, this is the same one singwith filmed! Happy to see it again! =)

[@grayswandir47]

Oddly relaxing in a sort of sheep counting way. What were they testing?

[@rosal2006]

can you say labor down the tubes ?

[@molotov9502]

I wonder how much slack is in the couplers in a train this long. It probably sounds like cannon fire when it first starts rolling. And not one broken knuckle !

[@hans2406]

I just winder what the cost of staff would be for transporting one loaded waggon? What is the hourly rate for one man? Would it really be so costly, considering all other costs? Anyway, I suppose safety on the line will be ok, but what about safety at crossings?

[@Boss302fan]

While longer, this train isn't as heavy as unit trains. And if the front end of this train went into a ravine the rest of the train would go into emergency and most of it would still be on the rails. Are you proposing that in North America we limit ourselves to short, light trains so that in the case of a "runaway" or "savatage" the damage would be minimal? I bet anyone from Australia reading this post is laughing their asses off

[@Boss302fan]

Cool. Nice area. Be on the lookout for more and more traffic devoted to the oil industry. A little out of my territory, but I have a lot of friends in the Houston area.

[@BNforever2009]

Damn! Thats everything off the container ship! Its like seeing a 175 car container train on a HO scale model railroad layout!

[@awaken77]

How does it fit to sidings?

[@archuka1]

Ok my question here is how does the lead engineer control the inbetween/end (pushing) engines?? dont think 3 miles of cable would work and i got it figured that its all via radio's or am i wrong ??

[@sclm046]

Was this a "one time only event"? Think of how long it tied-up the originating & destination terminals, assembling & then disassembling. What if a bad order car had to be cut out of the train whether in a terminal or out on line? Required enroute train inspections must have been a nightmare. Staging the locomotives for fueling must have been interesting. Once this left the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, no extremely large metro areas until the LA Basin. Perhaps a third, or possibly half of this territory is double track.

[@Boss302fan]

Definitely NOT a one time event. We still pull monster trains into Long Beach. Train inspections have not been a nightmare. Fueling has not been "interesting".

[@williamhu2630]

it's really a real long train it is!i really want to know the line whether single-track line or not？in cajon pass？

[@SteamDriver1947]

How much time would it take to put together a train of this length including loading each car, i see they are all sea containers do you know which port they came from or did they build the consist at more than one port of entry, i'm very curious about all of the logistics involved!

[@EdwinMaxwell1947]

We still have the longest train here in Australia at 4.5 miles long ..

[@EasternKStrains]

No America has the longest at 281 cars!!!!

[@hadesdescent6664]

@@EasternKStrains 683 cars 100 000t Iron Ore Pilbara, BHP Billiton with 8 AC6000CWs!!!

[@seaboardsystemproductions9714]

​@@hadesdescent6664Those are big in Australia I've seen videos.

[@brainerdrebel]

Yes it really matters! We are the one in poverty because of the US Government (NAFTA). We have 46 million people on food stamps, record unemployment and foreclosures. Where the hell have you been, I know a Political Science Class at Berkley.

[@mkmcclure]

@godfrey1112000 Uh...that would be no. Trucking firms hve had way more sway with Congress since WWII. Federal statistics show one truck does the same amount of damage as roughly 9300 cars. Trucks clearly do NOT pay 9300 times what cars do. Since the 1950s trucks have gotten pretty close to a free ride relative to the damage they cause and the extra costs of engineering, building, and maintaining of highways. Railroads had to compete with subsidized competitors. RRs ARE the future.

[@kingjames8283]

What did that guy say, 297 cars? Plus 9 locomotives with only one engineer and one brakeman, that's it. I'm wondering about the computer system that wirelessly ties all nine locomotives together. Apparently it works but I wonder if there is a distance limitation or is each locomotive a wireless host and transmitter? I need to learn more about this system and how it operates. I know if loco's were tied together they are "hard-wired" but spread out "wireless".

[@mutanay77]

Ah yes, the start of PSR

[@JonatanTBRochaRochaGu13]

No Brasil a Cia. Vale do Rio Doce tem regularmente trens com 06 locomotivas e 300 vagões de minério de ferro. É economicamente viável por transportar um só tipo de carga e toda para o mesmo destino, um dos portos de embarque. Neste caso do trem monstro da Union Pacific foi válido pois ao que parece foi um trem teste, mas quanto a viabilidade, praticidade, velocidade e economia, concordo em parte com o gnads1, tendo em vista estar transportando cargas diversas, estar disponibilizando 09 locomotivas para atende-lo e no caso de manobras no trecho origem x destino, o tempo perdido será grande demais. Tudo isto torna economicamente inviável a manutenção deste tipo de trem. Se a carga for ùnica e para mesmo destino aí a conversa é outra embora sejam muitas locomotivas para um só trem.

[@JonatanTBRochaRochaGu13]

Há quem não concorde com locomotivas intercaladas na composição alegando que o sistema de freios é perfeitamente alimentado pelas locomotivas comandantes, e isto é verdade. Mas a utilização destas locomotivas intercaladas tem muito a ver com a estabilidade do trem, constância da velocidade e ajuda às comandantes no item tração. Um trem com 2,5 milhas de comprimento passa por situações diferentes no mesmo trem e mesmo hora. Parte dele pode estar subindo quando a cauda ainda desce ou está no meio de uma curva. Por isto a importância da distribuição de tração positiva.

[@JonatanTBRochaRochaGu13]

E.T. - Note-se também que este trem especifico está conduzindo carga em dobro.Ele é composto de vagões prancha especiais para containeres e está levando dois por vagão. Aqui teria que ser um trem com 592 vagões ou algo em torno de 17.800 metros de comprimento : IVIÁVEL!

[@brainerdrebel]

We had a motorola control car (radio car) connected to the radio unit (slave) usually 30 cars from the caboose, on Southern. Sou used radio units in mixed freight as well as coal unit trains. Whenever, Sou tried to put two trains together and eliminate the a crew, we never made it over the line without trouble. Take a little slack and you could get a knuckle anytime you wanted to.

[@Boss302fan]

At times it is. These long trains are proving themselves however. I could be wrong, but for certain movements I see them continuing. The economics of crew savings and clearing the mainline of one train instead of three are proving to be worth pursuing.

[@arqueslocomotivas]

Grande montagem, as 2 primeiras locomotivas, 7667 e 7680, também são as últimas, que mágica...

[@derrya.mcdonell4878]

Two questions: /wouldn't a train that long have to be broken up at some point in order to 'fit' into any existing sorting yard? And wouldn't the wear & tear on the rail bed require more than the normal maintenance work along that route?

[@sontungle2641]

They will break in 2 part with 148 cars each or 4 part with 74 cars.

[@DaveWVideo]

One thing you didn't mention is how much thought goes into how a train like this effects vehicular traffic at road crossings, in terms of delays and traffic jams. Add to that any speed restrictions or technical issues a train like that may have, and you have the potential for catastrophic delays for auto traffic--such as emergency vehicles not being able to get to the scene of a disaster, or someone frantically trying to get their pregnant wife to a hospital. Are these things considered as well?

[@coreykesler3777]

I was wondering if someone can help me out with this. Besides the logistical experiment UP is doing, were they testing out their GE 45ACCTE locomotives on this train also?

[@Boss302fan]

Yes indeed. There are monster trains running in Australia. As with the deserts in the Southwest USA or the Canadian plains your trains lend themselves to excess length as they pass through fewer populated areas and fewer crossings. Tonnage wise we run heavier trains in the US in many places, but these particular intermodal trains are very long for the US and Canada. Siding capacity, community concerns and other factors keep us from the most part from duplicating your monster consists.

[@bearbon2]

This is reeeeealy going to be popular at grade crossings!

[@Boss302fan]

@thesportbikeman The profitability and efficiency of moving one very long train vs multiple trains.

[@ForSpicy]

I used to live near there! Wow! What a coincidence! Used to take my truck to the dunes on the other side of the bridge... Heard those trains alllllll the time... And those horns at all hours of the night! Crazy.

[@chaparral82]

How many tons? Does it exceed the old record train of Virginians 2-10-10.2 Mallet ? (17000 tons)

[@sixcues]

I thought I recognized the tracks from another video, that's heading into & through the West Colton Yard.

[@bennoach]

Where this tested and what was its purpose?

[@davestrains6816]

Wow, incredible video. Thanks for sharing. Dave

[@RonaldJ.Standridge]

I think I read something that this train was put together in Dallas Tx headed for Long Beach California.

[@rihel]

Not good, sorry, it's OUTSTANDING. This is one of the best wishes for whoever railfan. Perfect train, at the right moment at the right spot. Incredible distrubute power. THANK YOU.

[@qora01m]

@itech46 What's the DPU system? Could you explain?

[@tannerpopowich7877]

I wonder if those containers are full or empty

[@Gilbludwig]

+Tanman 0607 they are empty just to make a video of a huge train.

[@DraveDruneZH]

the most of them are empty because they are traveling west and east is the direction the most cargo is transported

[@SuzanneGillespie]

Imagine sitting in traffic while waiting for this one to clear a road crossing, lol!

[@seaboardsystemproductions9714]

Id love it 😁

[@Blackscorpion1963]

Excellent vid! So I counted 9 engines and someone else counted 297 wagons/cars. I am only guessing the wagons/cars are full. Length or number of wagons/cars is irrelevant to me. It's about gross tonnage the locos have to pull/push and the average speed over distance traveled for stats purposes. Essentially it is all about measuring performance. Would be interesting if there were any hills along the route...It's a simple math equation, that is the point of a test train isn't it? I have never seen anything like this over here in New Zealand or anywhere else so I have found this vid fascinating. Pity any test result data couldn't be obtained.Thank you to uploader gp60m122 really cool vid!

[@Kai303030]

It is awesome!!! It is nearly impossibe to see freight train longer than 20 cars in my country.

[@leeharold]

Just UP's standard 4400 hp General Electric AC powered road switchers in a 3-2-2-2 distributed power formation. That is to say 3 units on the point and 3 more sets of 2 distributed evenly mid-train and on the rear. The length was actually over 18000 feet and over 3.4 miles with 600 containers and 15000 tons of cargo. I hope that answers your questions.

[@theamericanrailfan1071]

Lee harold How are they "road switchers"?

[@Boss302fan]

It's very quick as they are being assembled at multiple points Normally these trains are coming into Long Beach. They normally consist of 2 or 3 trains put together into one unit. Actual time it takes to do this is actually less than a 100 or so mixed freight.

[@thesportbikeman]

what was it exactly were they testing

[@hiroyouwee]

magnifique video ert train super long it's a great and very big train i love it

[@malcolmnicoll1165]

Is this shot in California, Nevada, Utah? Thanks for posting.

[@Basinrails]

Yes. West Colton Yard

[@wonka12321]

really long train. I had a feeling it was endless!

[@znour0]

The longer train is the cheaper every rail car transportation price.

[@snrubbj1]

Engines: 3,2,2,2. Freight Cars: +/- 297. Great running for west of Omaha or KC. Not that many grade crossings. Bet it gets better mileage than any eastern line can brag about. I say keep your journals greased and go for it.

[@guyintheshado]

what the point of the test trains?

[@utubewatcher806]

3 mile trains and drone loco units on point?

[@Boxcarphilly]

So, I wonder how long it took them to put that monster of a train together.

[@Boss302fan]

Not sure where you live but...if you are out west you have a chance to see some long trains. Same with Canada. Perhaps soon in Mexico. Out east....may be a while.

[@tburzio]

Call it the New Panama Canal Special, which is why this long train is required.

[@mdschm]

Is this the railroad testing are in Pueblo, CO?