Death of the Triple Crowns...

Southern6482 · April 07, 2013, 09:12:06 PM

Starting to see more and more Triple Crown trailers on flatcars... Also numerous crews have told me the trains are no longer "priority" trains when it comes to dispatching and Otto screw-ups.That being said I have heard the death of the roadrailers is coming within the next 2 years due to aging equipment and the fact NS is the only user. Anyone else have this confirmed? What is the exact time frame? I guess I'm gonna have to start shooting 251/264 as much as possible...

E.M. Bell · April 07, 2013, 09:34:18 PM

Its not a rumor, and 2 years may be rather generous.

The equipment takes a beating, and has to be repaired or replaced more frequently that you may think. Triple Crown will still be around, but not in the form of the Road Railers. Shoot them while you can...

dschlegel · April 08, 2013, 06:27:26 AM

261 still seems to get priority leaving Bethlehem, but not like when it started back in the early 2000's.

It'll be a shame to see these go, one of my favorite trains.
Dan

NSMoWandS · April 08, 2013, 11:51:25 AM

If you look at the lastest purchases of the big trucking companies(Swift, JB Hunt, etc) They have pretty much stopped buying trailers and started buying containers and chassis. I would think Roadrailers would be going in that same direction... That way "That Box" can go on anything! Dan

E.M. Bell · April 08, 2013, 05:06:19 PM

NSMoWandS hit the nail on the head. Containers are more flexible and dont have to be handled in dedicated trains. The TC's are a pain in the Butt to put together, take apart, and god forbid you have an equipment failure on the road. The time it takes to lift a container out of a car, set it on a chassis and drive it to its final destination cant be any longer that it takes them to put together or take a apart a 150 car roadrailer.

I watched them "set out" a bad order trailer one night a couple of years ago near Danville KY, and the whole process tied up both mainlines of the busy CNO&TP and a road crossing for almost 3 hours. While that may be an extreme example, I am sure its not the first time its happened. Its a lot quicker to set out a flat or well car, and those can be used for other traffic to. The TC's where a good idea, and NS has made some good revenue off of them I am sure, but like anything else...change in inevitable.

I have noticed more and more TC equipment with the rail gear removed, riding on flat cars on 215, 216, and 229 through here in the past year. A far cry from watching the dispatchers "part the red sea" 15 or 20 years ago to let a GP50 and 5 or 10 TC's roll through....back then, they where hottest things on the RR.

T. Mahan · April 10, 2013, 02:34:09 PM

One of our local Home Depot's has a TC trailer with Pine Straw bales in it. Between that and seeing the trailers rather frequently on US17, its as close as it gets to seeing TC in action without driving 2 hours....

fireball451 · April 10, 2013, 10:29:44 PM

I have been wanting to go catch some Triple Crown action since none run in my area. Guess I need to be making plans to do so.

Railroad80 · April 15, 2013, 10:42:28 AM

TC doesn't know of any plan to stop service. They just bought new trailers last year. Word has been on the Ga division that TC might disappear from Atlanta to Jacksonville and the Super says he is trying to hold on to it through the first of next year. They site the fluidity of the intermodal network as one reason for TC's demise. As we began seeing more TC trailers on the intermodal trains last year. The schedules south of Atl are just 4 days both directions so i can see the reason for some being shipped by piggy back to meeting customer needs. The volume is holding steady on this service lane. In Jax the main problem is space to load and unload, as well for the intermodal, I'd love to see a new intermodal terminal in Jax.
Randy

dschlegel · April 16, 2013, 06:45:23 PM

I said earlier that the 261 still gets priority out of Bethlehem. Since then I've been paying closer attention to when it rolls through Topton on the Reading Line and it has for the most part been between 18:00 and 19:00. In fact today's train is rolling through as I type.

If TC's do go away, I hope there's a replacement intermodal in the same time slot, it's sort of comforting.

Dan

steveiez · April 16, 2013, 07:58:08 PM

Here in Pittsburgh we see many of the Triple Crown trains. We are seeing now them on TOFC trains too.

lwjabo · April 24, 2013, 02:23:32 PM

Ford and GM were big customers for Triple Crown. Both have closed up and no business has took it's place. Also NS refused to take on other customers back when Ford was the big shipper and even ran some off to get Ford. So I doubt any of those wanted to return.

Railnet · April 30, 2013, 09:41:52 PM

Quote from: lwjabo on April 24, 2013, 02:23:32 PM
Ford and GM were big customers for Triple Crown. Both have closed up and no business has took it's place. Also NS refused to take on other customers back when Ford was the big shipper and even ran some off to get Ford. So I doubt any of those wanted to return.

What did Ford and GM ship in the TC trailers?

How many trailers and what is the typical point to point distance for a TC train?

Batman · May 01, 2013, 06:30:34 AM

car parts

Quote from: Railnet on April 30, 2013, 09:41:52 PM
Quote from: lwjabo on April 24, 2013, 02:23:32 PM
Ford and GM were big customers for Triple Crown. Both have closed up and no business has took it's place. Also NS refused to take on other customers back when Ford was the big shipper and even ran some off to get Ford. So I doubt any of those wanted to return.

What did Ford and GM ship in the TC trailers?

How many trailers and what is the typical point to point distance for a TC train?

Railnet · May 01, 2013, 06:51:30 AM

Quote from: Batman on May 01, 2013, 06:30:34 AM

car parts

I figured as much

I assumed that everything came by boxcar but was curious if it was a lightweight component that came via roadrailer.

lwjabo · May 21, 2013, 06:28:55 PM

Well I did not see Ford or GM load them but going to Atlanta should be parts for the old Assembly plants. Going north I was told they stacked new Autos in them. I don't see how but that was there tail not mine. Both are not closed.

steveiez · May 22, 2013, 09:07:50 AM

They are the loudest, next too beat up steel servive cars. If they would go away, fine by me.

Michael Knight · January 18, 2015, 07:27:58 PM

Quote from: Railnet on April 30, 2013, 09:41:52 PM

How many trailers and what is the typical point to point distance for a TC train?

I believe 150 trailers is the maximum length.

NS O SCALER · April 30, 2015, 08:30:03 PM

I still see a few go through Hammond, Indiana daily on the ex NKP line. And, I believe that there are still 4 daily Triple Crown trains on the Illinois Division, running from Detroit, to Kansas City.

rhotond · May 01, 2015, 11:04:07 AM

Maximum train length for tripple crown is based on th buff and stretch capability of the trailers. This has expanded over the years and is currently around above 80,000 lbs (a long way from the d850,000+ for a freight car. Thus one can determine the maximum train length based on fully loaded TC trailers based on starting a train on the maximum grad3e over the route. If the weight of train is light then more cars can be added. BUT the engineer has to be careful not to over tug or he will pull it apart.

Here in the pgh difision, the maximum si about 150 but I have seen 170 on occasion (probably a lot of empty cars.

r

rcornelius1942 · May 01, 2015, 11:51:11 AM

TC northbound thru Oneida, Tn on April 29, 2015. Rapidly passing the slower CSX 5389 and UP8842 grain train on the CNO&TP. TC was powered by NS9869 and NS6780.