Freight Train Identities.

[bristolian]

Hello,

I'm from the UK. In August 2005, I made my first trip to the US, staying with my future inlaws in Manassas, VA. I spent just one afternoon at the lineside, and took shots of two freights and a rake of locos 'light engine'.
My poor quality shots are here:-  http://bristolian.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=21534.
At that time, all I had was a poor 1.3 megapixel camera with digital zoom. Anyhow, is there any way that the actual train workings could be identified from those shots?, the date and time is on each image.

Thanks for your help.

Very Best Wishes,
Bob.

[Hoydie17]

Bob,

I live right up the road from Manassas in Centreville. 

The two trains you saw are probably NS 12R and P63.    11R/12R is a working manifest between Binghamton, NY and Linwood, NC,  P63 is a local turn working between Manassas and Lynchburg, VA. 

12R could also be 11R depending upon which direction it went after it finished working in Manassas Yard.  12R if it continued West up the B-line, and 11R if it continued South to Charlottesville. 

Typically trains travelling Southbound are odd numbered, and Northbounds are even numbered.  There are exceptions, most notably 228/227 being Southbound and Northbound respectively.   This is because the train is ultimately travelling East and West, but when it passes through the Washington District it is in a North South Corridor.   Eastbound symbols are even as well, and Westbounds are odd-numbered.

Sean

[bristolian]

Hello Sean,

Thanks for your reply. I'm hoping to cross the pond more frequently, and am now armed with a half-decent camera too!.

Can you point me in the direction of a site that goes into more detail of the actual freight workings such as 11R etc? It's all very different over this side of the pond!.

Very Best Wishes,
Bob.

[E.M. Bell]

Bob,

First off, welcome to the group. I think you are our first member from outside the US that I know of. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want..there will probably be someone here who knows, or can find, the answers.

Alex Wills has a great resource for NS train symbols. It was recently updated and should be fairly accurate. The address for that site is  http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/nstrains/NS_Trains.xls

A couple of our members also have awesome sites with NS locomotive information. Be sure to check these out.

Chris Toth, NS Dash 9 . com  http://www.nsdash9.com/

Mike Ray, NS Locomotives.  http://www.nslocos.com/

[bristolian]

Hello,

Thankyou for those two links. I had already had the first bookmarked, they are both very intersting and useful sites.

I have read on a few different forums or photo galleries that ex- Conrail 8200 - 8212 are basically living on borrowed time. Being a fairly high powered loco, is there any reason for their impending demise?

Very Best Wishes,
Bob.

[cmherndon]

I have read on a few different forums or photo galleries that ex- Conrail 8200 - 8212 are basically living on borrowed time. Being a fairly high powered loco, is there any reason for their impending demise?

Those locomotives are about 20 years old, and are GEs at that.  Their reliability isn't what it used to be.  With all the new power that has been (and is being) delivered, it's not economical for NS to keep these units on the roster.