Norfolk Southern Trains - Interesting Lead Units!

[starguard]

Those look like Helpers either going to (or coming from) assist another train somewhere

[southern4501isawesom]

where is this? that place is crawling with trains!!! here in belmont nc we get 119,213,750,214,212,175 and thats in about 7 hours of railfanning!

[o00o00ozy]

@southern4501isawesom

The NS Harrisburg LIne east of Harrisburg, PA. About 40-45 trains per day.

[leapoffaith20]

2 locos for 5 trailers?

[jimmyxtc69]

@leapoffaith20 maybe he is picking up more cars on the way

[CaptNemo100]

I always loved seeing the switchers. The Southern RR used a lot of NW2 switchers even for road duty. I remember seeing 4 NW2s up front one time and after a few minutes I think I had turned around and started walking the other way. I started to hear a another rumbling noise.....it was another NW2 mid-train helper with a remote control car! I think the Southern RR got their moneys worth out of those switchers.

[braduh1]

I love to stand on bridges and have trains come under ya and have that smoke (or what ever it is) come right up in ur face.

[benschlechter]

Any of these locomotives from the former Norfolk and Western or southern railways?

[benschlechter]

Just curious, if anyone from the railroad sees this, "How many of you miss seeing the caboose on the end of the train?"

[tigermki]

@benschlechter i have seen a caboose on them before but this was two years ago and it was going into a swtich yard

[supertrainlover]

good train tiepes u have

[pancho010686]

wow i like that D8-39C great video 5*

[benschlechter]

I've also heard the yard engines referred to as switch engines. What's sad though is the caboose is no longer part of the trains.

[DJGENEX71]

Bro you have soooo many great videos!

5*****!!!

[randyvns]

thats a MP15 in the lead

[NorfolkSouthern8979]

Good video. =)

[rongenman]

that was a yard engine in the lead....RUNNING WITH THE LONG HOOD dont see that much

[justkiddin08]

Nice catch! good video.

[starwarslizzard7904]

one time i saw 3 csx dash 9s and at the very back oh all the cars and locomotives was 2 gp-38s pushing in the back

[birddoggarton]

yard engines

[GhostFearMe]

gota love these kinda days!

[o00o00ozy]

I caught 3 of NS's 6 (former EL) SD45-2's today, including one leading.

[GhostFearMe]

sweet!

[mmjurczak]

Nice flatcar at 6:10! You don't see those everyday.

[flexspinner]

does ns have a lack of places to turn the engines around ? only the gp9s on the local i ever see long hood forward on CN but i`d like cn to do it too lol :-)

[386bigDee]

arent thoe used in the rr yards?

[meme1959]

That lead unit is what we call a butthead at NS Atlanta Inman Yards where I work. It is leading out on the long hood. They are used primarily for yard jobs here. I'm surprised to see them used in this manner, considering their age, but I suppose they can be used in whatever manner necessary in other places.

[o00o00ozy]

I'm surprised the SD40-2 high-hood led 33A. That train comes off of the Port Road which requires cab signal equipped units, that SD40-2 is not; however, 5414 is and may have been experiencing trouble, so the SD40-2 was tacked on at Enola Yard and was probably due in Allentown for local assignment anyway.  All other locomotives, 386bigDee, you see in this video are properly used... in fact all the D8-39C's are unfortunately retired. :-(

[meme1959]

Your assessment sounds correct and provides a good and reasonable explanation. Thanks.

[DRG1939]

Not sure about the designation "D8-39c". Im pretty sure GE didn't start putting the Dash # before the HP rating until the D8-40C came out. The 3900 HP locomotives were referred to as C39-8's. As for all of them being retired....maybe they're just not rolling through your area. They come in to Norfolk quite a bit. See them at work at least once a week...very few of them but they're not all gone.

[conrailbuff]

i know EXACTLY where your standing. I used to railfan there when I had my car. Being from Lancaster, im not far from there....kinda..but not more than an half hrs drive. I miss sitting there an filming trains....that area hasnt changed since i was there. are you from this area?

[SeniorMinch229018]

That switcher engine on the 1st train is halling ass! Didn't think they could go that fast.

[jdawgsworld]

great catch...

[Buffalotrains93]

bad horn at 5:45

[TVRM610]

I actually Like that horn.

[Buffalotrains93]

sounds sick and like it got beat up with a baseball bat. None the less that is your oopinion.

[balddanny72]

I've heard worse P5s. This one sounded like a horn or two wasn't working

[flexspinner]

how long were u there 4?

[o00o00ozy]

Probably an hour or 2.

[thetrainman407]

awesome that is such a huge amount of rare power! great job man!

[railfanmike]

the horn is p3

[ns5036]

Must work for NS im sure

[hfkjehgufihgiufewi]

that's an awesome horn on that MP15, what kind is it?

[o00o00ozy]

I think it is a P3, newer cast.

[mallmaven]

P3s are RARE ON THOSE THINGS!

[o00o00ozy]

Check out NS SD50 5414 on the 36Q. That is a K5LLAMATT horn, and that thing is a custom K series, and it is the only NS engine that has one as far as I know. It sounds a lot better than any other K series, absolutely amazing. I caught 5414 leading NS 80G and I'm posting that video soon.

[mallmaven]

MP15s usually have P3s or P5s

[trainzrok]

I saw a train today, a conrail EMD was leading.. looked like an SD50 or GP40, had an AWESOME old fashioned leslie horn!

[DRG1939]

P3's are "rare" on MP15's...??? Ive been with NS for 18 yrs. and never seen anything other than 3 chime on MP15/SW1500

[cbehr91]

The only MP15 I've seen is one the Camp Chase Railroad in Columbus, Ohio and they have Nathan M3s. MP15s are rare outside yards so fans never get to hear the horn.

[DRG1939]

Maybe something different on other RR's..I was referring to NS units. We used to have them on our terminal(Norfolk, VA.)....they ran outside of the actual yard...yet in "yard limits".

[chessie93]

Thanks!

[AZZ124567]

where is this video being taken what Is this line at mile post 79.9 on the Former N&W Hegerstown District or on some formeer Conrail Line Division?

[o00o00ozy]

This is at CP Prescott on the NS Harrisburg Line, former Conrail. The detector you hear is at milepost 79.9, but this location is roughly MP 83.8.

[dutchtrainmanserie22]

Nice video.

[trainlord11]

Up in Winona MN they are using and old Milwaukee Road MP15AC bandit on the switch job. Usually the only engines we have to do that are GP38-2s and GP35s.

[furryfurball1221]

I have not seen CSX's MP15's in forever

[guitars14]

Thats the fastest I've ever seen a switch engine go.

[o00o00ozy]

They go up to 45 MPH, and they usually lead.  Sometimes switchers take a cut of 30 to 50 cars through here.

[negerpungrally2]

oh...so the trains in this video are just the local?

[o00o00ozy]

No, just H33 and H68, there are two freights in this video.

[negerpungrally2]

WOW! short train come through your area, the shortest train I have seen is a 87 car-long coal trin

[o00o00ozy]

Are you refering to the local? The trains around here are usually 80-155 cars long, unit trains like trash and slab steel are generally shorter.

[yadkinrailfan99]

Get ready to see alot of leasers on NS, NS is power short and are leasing over 200 locomotives. All C39-98's have been brought back to service. I dont know how the lashups look out towards your way but latley weve had some great ones, with alot of EMD power.

Nice Video

[o00o00ozy]

It gets even better, since the beginning of August I've been seeing EMD galore! Even conrail lashups, it's been great, I just hope the roster doesn't shrink!

[yadkinrailfan99]

Same here, alot of good EMD lashups. I dont know where all the Catfish have went lol. I doubt the roster will shrink, if anything it will grow due to the shortage of locomotives. That means longer life spans for C39-8s and more years on the good ole GP38's

[o00o00ozy]

I still miss the GP15-1's and Dash-8-40B's :(

[yadkinrailfan99]

Yeah same here, atleast they still have some B32-8s left, once in a while you will see one breeze by on an intermodal, but now they are mostly being assigned to local duty, and let good ole EMDs have the spotlight for awhile. I love seeing quartets of GP60s lead intermodals elephant style, cant get much better than that!

[o00o00ozy]

Ditto, I have a video of a late 214 with a trio of GP60's coming soon, that was on July 21, on July 20 it hit a yarn truck in NC, so it was late up here, caught me by surprise, most of the GP59's, a rare seen up here, stay in the south, as another rare sight here, SD45-2's stay northeast, but some will come by here once in awhile. SD50's are also making a sight.

[yadkinrailfan99]

Yeah I remember when NS 214 hit the truck in Kings Mountain, I was railfanning that day up in Salisbury when word got around, after no one seen 214. the past couple of weeks i have seen quite a few GP59s, P61 has carried one with him for the better part of a week.

[NSNCRailfan]

You're kidding!! I didn't learn this until now. I would pretty much want to see an M-2 or an ACe over an NS catfish and definately over a UP SD70M-2, A UP GEVO would work great as well even more in the way of BNSF over here in Charlotte, Salisbury, & even my base in Belmont.

[o00o00ozy]

Wow, I learned it on 7-21-07 and I'm way up here, I went to railpictures (dot) net and saw the picture of it, I think I'll put it in my video (obviously giving credit, I wasn't sure if it was one of you guys that took the photo though), that's when I realized why 214 was late.

[yadkinrailfan99]

Chase, are you gonna be in Salisbury tomorrow????????/ I will!

[DAKRUPAINATER]

Wow! That was amazing! Absolutely no D9's!

[pbmja]

love the high hoods old n&w and southerns

[o00o00ozy]

You know it! I wish more would come around here, and some GP59's as well.

[Hickler90]

Wow, guess you werent kidding in that message! That High hood is quite a treat, Favorited 5 stars