An "Are You Serious" Moment: 189 Car MQT Z151

[Saturnalia]

Well, there is MQT's 189 monster that they dragged up the Baldwin Sub.....what a chase

Thanks to a Grain Train, Z151 was 189-cars long on 1-8-11. The Wyoming Yard held 3 tracks of "Goodies" for the 8,000 Hp MQT brought to the party. Were not expected to take them all, but they said they would. As the coupled to the second string, they encountered air problems. This caused a delay which would cause them to try the hill out of Comstock Park in one lonnnnnnnng Piece. After pulling past the crossovers at Plaster Creek, they finally coupled to their last string, around 60 cars for the mammoth grain elevator located in Newyago, MI. I raced up to Fuller Diamond (Ann St. Crossing) to grab the first shot. It took them 12 minutes to clear. Following the tracks on West River Drive, they clearly were NOT going to double the hill. We made it to the Summit of the 1.5%ish Grade from Comstock Park, which is just a few hundred yards from the 9-mile road crossing. All 3 locos were just enough to make the hill. After they picked up speed thanks to a downhill grade afterwards, we were unable to see them again until the small town of Grant, MI, where they exit town on one huge railroad roller-coaster. Watch as an Idiot in a pickup truck gets nice and close to the moving train....nearly hitting it.
Filmed in Grand Rapids, Comstock Park, and Grant, MI

Thanks MQT for putting on quite a show....It's My favorite Chase...even topping a few paces of CP Rail down Chicago Drive

[AARR]

That was very fun to watch. Thanks MQT.

Obviously the mty grain cars in the rear were about 1/3 of the train albeit light.

It look like there may have been at least one block of "limeys" about 15-20 cars.

I am sure there are a few other loads but my guess is most of the train were mtys which, if true, would account for 8000hp being enough to take all 189 cars on one trip.

I am curious how they switched out the grain cars at the end. Do they simply pull the entire train through a siding and cut them off? Do they have to back them into a siding in a single block or make several moves separating a block on each loading track? Were there any set outs along the way like the Ludington block?

I would have loved to watch the crew perform their setouts along the way with a train that big!

[Saturnalia]

That was very fun to watch. Thanks MQT.

Obviously the mty grain cars in the rear were about 1/3 of the train albeit light.

It look like there may have been at least one block of "limeys" about 15-20 cars.

I am sure there are a few other loads but my guess is most of the train were mtys which, if true, would account for 8000hp being enough to take all 189 cars on one trip.

I am curious how they switched out the grain cars at the end. Do they simply pull the entire train through a siding and cut them off? Do they have to back them into a siding in a single block or make several moves separating a block on each loading track? Were there any set outs along the way like the Ludington block?

I would have loved to watch the crew perform their setouts along the way with a train that big!

They Hi-balled all the way to Baldwin. They brought the empties down to Newyago a few days later

[firemedic54]

Pretty impressive for sure. Great video too. I'm guessing their trains aren't always 189 cars...

[AARR]

Pretty impressive for sure. Great video too. I'm guessing their trains aren't always 189 cars...

I think MQT's road train averages maybe 1/3 of that or around 60ish cars when they are running 5x per week.

[AveryRdhouse]

Hey MQT 3001. I don't know where you get your info from sometimes. We went to Newaygo, pulled just north of the pass and cut off the grain train. Pulled up to the next crossing after hanging another eot on the rear, then cabbed back to Newaygo to grab the museum piece "4433" and then spotted the train from the south end. There is not much to work with in Baldwin to hold 186 car's. CSX ripped up everything east of the wye. The yard there is way to small and the pass there only hold's 80 cars. The fewer cars we bring up, the better. Walahalla gets plugged, Manistee gets plugged and Ludington is a shell of what it used to be.

[Saturnalia]

Hey MQT 3001. I don't know where you get your info from sometimes. We went to Newaygo, pulled just north of the pass and cut off the grain train. Pulled up to the next crossing after hanging another eot on the rear, then cabbed back to Newaygo to grab the museum piece "4433" and then spotted the train from the south end. There is not much to work with in Baldwin to hold 186 car's. CSX ripped up everything east of the wye. The yard there is way to small and the pass there only hold's 80 cars. The fewer cars we bring up, the better. Walahalla gets plugged, Manistee gets plugged and Ludington is a shell of what it used to be.

All I heard is that they'd gone all the way north in one piece (Mr Trainmaster Said that they hi-balled all the way north) I also saw this bit, and I could swear it said Baldwin at one point (sorry If I just read it wrong)
Re: CSX (MI) Train Location Updates: 1/11/12

by i995impalass on Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:12 am

Z151-11 at Newaygo putting the grain together if not S/B already.

Opps, I'll change it. Thanks for telling me! As for seeing them in Newyago, it was getting to late to continue