Mismatched locos?


ICG/SOU

ICG/SOU

HO & O (3-rail) trainman
While looking around on the internet, I've seen several railfans' sites, and have noticed something that doesn't make sense to me.

Example, a freight train, on Norfolk Southern tracks in some state like Alabama or Georgia, with all and only Union Pacific power. The train is labeled as a Norfolk Southern freight, not a UP freight.

Out here in Texas, I've seen BNSF and KCS and NS on UP tracks here, but supposedly they have trackage or haulage rights given to the non-local railway company because of NAFTA or the Toyota Tundra plant. However, only in two instances have I seen a BNSF or NS on UP tracks without a UP locomotive in the head of the consist.

Why?

Thanks in advance.
 
Because the engines are working off mileage. For example, you commonly see solid blocks of UP power in Alabama. The UP engines delivered unit trains of coal to a power plant. This saved the NS from having to pick up the train at an interchange point and gets the coal to the customer faster. Since the NS has saved some money and the UP power has to get back to its home road, the NS will pay the UP mileage to haul an NS freight back to a UP interchange point to even up the money. This same type of arrangement is used by railroads all over the country. Some railroads have operating rules that a home road engine has to lead the consist while others don't. Another common reason to see foreign power is per mile leasing. If business on the NS is down but the UP is in the middle of a grain rush, the UP will lease NS engines until the demand equalizes.
 
The common pattern I see is UP on the point of CSX/NS intermodal trains. The same run through power is used to take these trains to their final destination (usually Atlanta or Jacksonville), then is returned via the Westbound version of the same train. Of course, this is nothing new; Southern Pacific, Frisco, and Union Pacific power was common on SCL trackage since the early 70's but not so much on the SOU.

Alabama was an important gateway for Eastern and Western railroads, most of them came together in the state or used ICG as a bridge route. This practice really picked up in the 80's with the intermodal boom. Alabama is still an important part of the system, but the gateways are now New Orleans and Memphis instead of Montgomery and Birmingham.

Since UP and BNSF do not have trackage rights over NS and CSX, they are still identified by CSX and NS numbers. Time is money and it is a lot easier to use whatever power is already on the train.
 
Thanks.

If it is UP power, running an NS numbered train, then is it usually a UP crew, or NS crew?
 
Depends. If it's a run through intermodal, it will probably be a UP crew both ways. If it's a unit coal train, an NS crew may have taken over at the interchange. It also depends on the labor agreements between the two railroads, where a foreign crew may be permitted using foreign power but only for a certain amount of time. There's also the issue of going on the law, where a crew exceeds 12 hours work. If the train can't get to the final terminal without going on the law, a local road crew will take over at some point up the line so it doesn't strand the foreign crew any further away from the home road than possible.
 
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