(erielack) Hostler's Rules

["Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>]

Well that confirms what I've suspected for some time: EL was actually being
run by N.J. railfans.

I can attest to the chief assigning some power as when all the railfans were
working in Hoboken... me, Artie Erdman, Dave Pauer, Dan Biernacki, we tried
to line up F units in pure sets so we could photograph them later.

  Rich Pennisi

I'd like to comment on Paul's excellent questions on assigning power. The
4-axle units were generally displaced to secondary runs and the relatively
flat western territory by 6-axle power, which were better suited for the
heavy slogging in hilly terrain. There were several reasons for the
relatively lightly-powered EL trains. The main factor was that EL was not a
high-speed RR, especially after January 1970 when the speed limit was
lowered to 50, and high speed is what requires horsepower. By 1975 much of
the mainline had a limit of 40mph for non-intermodal trains. To maintain
this speed you only need about 1 hpt (horsepower per ton), so you could run
a 100 car train with a pair of C-C's. The lighter, faster intermodals
required 1.5 hpt which could also be done with a pair of SD's (60 TTX's=4500
tons, x1.5=6750hp).

On the other hand, rich western RR's such as the Unlimited Power could
afford 70mph track, and the locomotives to satisfy the requisite 3 hpt. For
example in the 70's ATSF routinely dispatched it's 50-60 car pig trains with
5 C-C's: 4 to maintain the schedule, and an extra unit to cover for road
failure. A lot of PC trains appeared to be generously powered, but it's my
impression they were generally not well maintained, so they would dispatch a
train with 5 units and hope that 2 or 3 were still working by the end of the
run (like SP in the 80's). Today's cars and trains are heavier, but you
still see many with only 2 units because they're more powerful.

Finally by the mid-70's, EL had basically two priority levels for freights:
the 5 primary intermodals, and everything else. With the demise of LCL and
carload perishable/meat traffic, there was no need for priority carload
trains because there were no delivery times or penalty schedules to make.
Also with a deteriorating physical plant, the operating dept had to
concentrate it's scarce resources on keeping the intermodals to a reasonable
semblence of their schedules (especially the 3 UPS trains). All other trains
including SF-100 took a back seat.

Paul B

The aforementioned listings of lashups show an obvious preference towards
six-axle EMD and GE power for most trains.  Occasionally you do see a GP35
or U25B sneak in, but that begs the question - where was the rest of the
fleets of these units? With a total of 62 U25Bs and GP35s, they all can't be
in use on through freights. I know on the east end you'd see GP35s and
U25B's substitute for GP7s or EMD NW/SWs on local freights, but not in huge
numbers. Were they replacing the RS3s/S2s on the West End of the railroad?

Also, the lashups show another trend - the lashups were usually 2 or 3
units. How often did the EL ever go more than 3 units? (not counting
dead-in-tow units being transferred to a different location)  It still
baffles my mind that today's modern freights normally run 4-6 units with
trains that seem comparable to EL in its final years. Is it because today's
freight cars are heavier/handle more tonnage?

- - Paul



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