Uploaded September 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here’s one for the car counters! Norfolk Southern started running some BIG trains with DPU’s as part of their Precision Scheduled Railroading initiatives. Some of these “mega trains” have been reaching car counts well into the 200’s and 2.5 miles long. Trains with DPU’s—short for Distributed Power Units—are not unique, as the technology has been around for 60 years, but has been common use for over 15 years mostly out west on the BNSF and Union Pacific in the United States and Canadian Pacific and Canadian National in Canada.
But it wasn’t until Spring 2019 here in Central Pennsylvania on the Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line that DPU’s made a mainstream appearance, with only a few uses dating back to 2014. The clips in this video are all of train 34A, which is a Oak Island, New Jersey to Conway, Pennsylvania (northern New Jersey to west of Pittsburgh), which is essentially a combination of the old 19G and 15T, making two trains into one mega train in order to move more freight with less engines and crews. Most of these trains measure around 11,000 feet (2.1 miles / 3.35 km) in length, but not too heavy on the tonnage (around 10-12,000) as it is mostly empty traffic returning to industries out west.
Train 1 - 0:00 34A - Richland: NS ES44AC 8080, NS SD70ACU 7324 - DPU - NS ET44AC 3600, NS SD70ACU 7301, NS ES44AC 8122
Trains 2 - 3:30 34A - Wernersville: NS SD70ACC 1802, NS C44-9W 9559 - DPU - NS C44-9W 9224, NS ES44AC 8043
Train 3 - 6:40 34A - Richland: NS AC44C6M 4008, NS C44-9W 9659, NS ET44AC 3640 - DPU - NS AC44C6M 4120, NS SD70ACU 7339
Train 4 - 9:45 34A - Myerstown: NS ES44DC 7632, NS SD70ACE 1120 - DPU - NS C44-9W 9273, NS AC44C6M 4045
I still have not caught one more than 200 cars, but 38G, an eastbound through here, has been running up to 230 cars at around 13-13,500 feet! I will post those videos too if I get them, so remember to give a thumbs up and subscribe for more and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Central Penn Rail Productions 2019
Here’s one for the car counters! Norfolk Southern started running some BIG trains with DPU’s as part of their Precision Scheduled Railroading initiatives. Some of these “mega trains” have been reaching car counts well into the 200’s and 2.5 miles long. Trains with DPU’s—short for Distributed Power Units—are not unique, as the technology has been around for 60 years, but has been common use for over 15 years mostly out west on the BNSF and Union Pacific in the United States and Canadian Pacific and Canadian National in Canada.
But it wasn’t until Spring 2019 here in Central Pennsylvania on the Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line that DPU’s made a mainstream appearance, with only a few uses dating back to 2014. The clips in this video are all of train 34A, which is a Oak Island, New Jersey to Conway, Pennsylvania (northern New Jersey to west of Pittsburgh), which is essentially a combination of the old 19G and 15T, making two trains into one mega train in order to move more freight with less engines and crews. Most of these trains measure around 11,000 feet (2.1 miles / 3.35 km) in length, but not too heavy on the tonnage (around 10-12,000) as it is mostly empty traffic returning to industries out west.
Train 1 - 0:00 34A - Richland: NS ES44AC 8080, NS SD70ACU 7324 - DPU - NS ET44AC 3600, NS SD70ACU 7301, NS ES44AC 8122
Trains 2 - 3:30 34A - Wernersville: NS SD70ACC 1802, NS C44-9W 9559 - DPU - NS C44-9W 9224, NS ES44AC 8043
Train 3 - 6:40 34A - Richland: NS AC44C6M 4008, NS C44-9W 9659, NS ET44AC 3640 - DPU - NS AC44C6M 4120, NS SD70ACU 7339
Train 4 - 9:45 34A - Myerstown: NS ES44DC 7632, NS SD70ACE 1120 - DPU - NS C44-9W 9273, NS AC44C6M 4045
I still have not caught one more than 200 cars, but 38G, an eastbound through here, has been running up to 230 cars at around 13-13,500 feet! I will post those videos too if I get them, so remember to give a thumbs up and subscribe for more and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
youtube.com/c/CentralPennRailProductions
Thanks for watching!
Follow on Facebook:
facebook.com/CentralPennRailProductions
Central Penn Rail Productions 2019
![Reading & Northern Freight Extra South [4K]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gX_TnjQiSG8/mqdefault.jpg "Reading & Northern Freight Extra South [4K]
On October 14, 2018 after the 425 excursion, Reading & Northern train JTEX departs Jim Thorpe with red GP39RNs 2534 & 2535 and 5 Cyro-Trans box cars. The red GPs are primarily used as power for the Lehigh Scenic Railway, but with the weekend coming to a close, the locomotives were swiped for this extra move to North Reading. Train and location information and video timestamps are listed below.
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0:00 - Starting at Quakake, MP15DC 1543 idles away, to be picked up en route.
1:15 - While JTEX picked up the switcher, I relocated down the road to East Mahanoy Junction (EMX) to catch the train rounding the curve with the M&S branch in the foreground (Mahanoy & Shamokin).
1:50 - After making a pickup in Tamaqua, JTEX proceeds south at Millers Crossing in Molino, passing a field of soybeans at track speed.
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