DPU's and Helpers
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A southbound CSX freight train meets a northbound freight train on the Neabsco Creek Trestle Bridge. This train has a Distributed Power Unit which is the locomotive is in the middle of a train to help with hills or other logistical problems. #CSX #train #TrestleBridge #LeesylvaniaStatePark #CSX3467 #DPU #DistributedPowerUnit
Two DPU units on loaded coal 746 pass over the James River on a very nice afternoon along the H-Line. It won't be long and this angle will be all grown in.
The rear DPU of an eastbound BNSF run through train passes a MRL SD40-2XR leading a work train at the Bearmouth siding on the 3rd Sub. The crew of the work train was dropping off ties east of Missoula on the 3rd Sub, and were returning back to Missoula to tie down for the night.
Ok, not really. This appears to be the mty move of C&O hoppers returning from the Mt. Storm power station on the Stony River Sub. Engines were (and still are) needed on both ends to negotiate the reverse move between the "main" (Thomas sub) and the Stony River line at Bayard, WV. The slide is marked "east of Bayard", but I'm wondering if it was taken somewhere closer to Kitzmiller....due to the fresh cut and tailings from the then recent construction of the Bloomington Dam and subsequent Jennings-Randolph Lake. The WM gained a whole new alignment in the area after the original right of way was flooded by the dam. Either way, this is a purdy picture from November 20th 1975. Jim Marcus photo, JL Sessa collection.
The rear DPU on B65111 crosses over the trestle at Pool Point. In a couple miles, they'll hold for a work window at Towers.
A single DPU brings up the rear of M-BELBAR as it passes through Kingman Canyon on its way west toward Needles and eventually, Barstow.
A North bound Union Pacific Intermodal train clears MP 227 on the Austin Sub at New Braunfels, TX.
Seen is the rear DPU of the train passing through the local Golf Course.
I woke up this morning, and thankfully was checking social media, as I learned that NS 27A would have the freshly repainted Reading Heritage Unit as the rear facing DPU. The weather today was certainly a challenge, but Delaplane, Virginia offered a great opportunity for a nice clean up-close profile shot. It was a good was to spend my sunday afternoon.
A pair of Canadian National SD70M-2s bridge up the rear of empty ore hoppers through a corn field in Western Pennsylvania.
Drifted snow is lit up by a rising sun over the plains as an eastbound Union Pacific coal train descends the 2% grade toward Denver with lone DPU GE AC4400CW No. 7305 on the rear west of Leyden, Colorado, on January 22, 2007.
The rear DPU on MWCRV 13 passes some of the lush greens of a Techachapi spring as it exits the portal of Tunnel 2. Although it's not always that easy to time, getting to Techachapi during the brief spring season should be on any railfan bucket list.
The rear DPU on M316 shoves toward Cumberland past a brick-paved side street. The 316 is well powered on this day and won't need much help from the rear DPU on the flat miles of the Cumberland Terminal.
Two DPUs shove on the rear of a BNSF westbound oil train at Dallesport, Washington on May 14, 2018. Oregon's 11,249-foot Mount Hood once again provides the backdrop.
DPU CP 8936 on an empty coal train passing by CP 8952 parked on the siding at Fraine waiting for crew.
CP Mountain Subdivision
February 2, 2020
CN 2203 shoves on the end of a heavy oil train struggling up the grade out of the Lake Superior Basin. I am certain this train stalled out here on Hawthorne Hill - I never saw evidence that it made it past Hawthorne proper. It was working hard for its slow speed with several miles to go.
P902 heads north through Fremont, Virginia as the train's pair of F40s bring up the bottom on November 17, 2017
The DPUs of an eastbound BNSF coal load shove on the tonnage as the train rumbles past the west switch at Sully Springs, North Dakota, on August 26, 2018. Grinstein-painted former BN EMD SD70MAC No. 9592 and a repainted GE AC4400CW provide the power on the rear.
5657/ 6071 and 100 iron ore cars then mid train DPU locos 5651/ 5667 then another 100 iron ore cars seen north of Hesta on 11 August 2006. Photo: Jim Bisdee.
A loaded UP crude oil train passes through Arvada, Colorado, at Mile 9.3 on the Moffat Tunnel Subdivision. Photo by Joe McMillan, 7:32 p.m., May 21, 2023. Three units are on the point and these two "new-paint-without-wings" DPUs on the rear: 6496 and 8554.
Another archive shot!
UP 5267 shoves at the rear of a long and heavy MRVRO (Roseville, CA to Roper Yard - Salt Lake City Manifest Train) at the end of Casa Loma Road, near Alta, CA.
© 2016 Patrick Dirden Photography
All Rights Reserved
A northbound intermodal turns east toward North Baltimore. IN the days before DPU's this was such a consist.
A northbound BNSF coal train rolls thru Arnold, MO, with a nice looking Citi-Rail GEVO serving DPU duties.
The distributed power unit at the rear of an eastbound stack train rolls away from me at Grant Lake in the Columbia River Gorge. This train is between Home Valley and Cooks on the BNSF Fallbridge Subdivision. The hills in the distance are across the Columbia in Oregon.
Sunny skies tempted me this morning and so I grabbed the camera and headed out the door. After spending some time around Proctor I finally noticed something lined down the Missabe Sub. A quick trip to Alborn revealed a Minntac export train taking the siding to meet a northbound stack train. I thought the DPU on the stack was interesting enough to shoot, being an IC spartan cab SD70 pointed the right way. I didn't have to wait more than a few minutes after this for the southbound chase of the Cajuntac. The month is practically half over and this was my first outing.
Union Pacific 7104 is the rear DPU of an eastbound loaded oil train stopped at Granby, Colorado, on the Moffat Tunnel Subdivision. The train is partially on the main and partially in the siding as the crew sets out two cars in a spur track, probably for mechanical reasons. The overpass in the distance carries U.S. 40 over the tracks. Photo by Joe McMillan taken at the Zero Street crossing, March 2, 2024, with Erik Lindgren and Andrew Button.
A Union Pacific 90-car oil train (plus one buffer car) moves downgrade on the main line past Leyden siding June 27, 2023, at 2:52 p.m. MDT. The power is configured 2+2+1. Photo by Joe McMillan. Leyden is about 13 rail miles west of Denver. "Oven baked" 5665 brings up the rear.
CP 8116 is the DPU on Canadian Pacific empty ethanol train 651 at CPC 123 south end of Howard's siding Westport, NY.
ES44C4 BNSF 6679 brings up the rear of ethanol train CP 528 (formerly CP 650) as it heads east on a warm spring afternoon.
Shoving on the rear of a BNSF grain train at Trout Creek, Montana, is lone DPU GE C44-9W No. 1104 still in original Burlington Northern Santa Fe Heritage I paint on February 11, 2024.
A pair of BNSF engines bring up the rear of a northbound empty coal train which is seen here descending the western (timetable northern) slope of the Rich Mountain grade just on the Arkansas side of the AR-OK border under the golden skies of a hot Saturday, June 24, 2023 evening.
Sheboygan empties roll south by Grafton. Because of a blue card issue on what was supposed to be the lead unit, they ran LHF to Butler
DPUs on the rear of Norfolk Southern loaded coal train 740 at Bentonville, Virginia, October 28, 2020.
Southern Railroad of New Jersey M420W leads a handful of cars and M420 #800, painted in an NYO&W inspired scheme, on the New Jersey Transit main back towards Winslow Junction and home rails. The NJT trackage rights are used to reach the Pleasantville Industrial which is where the job is returning from.
Bringing up the rear of northbound manifest train M261, KCS 4810 - now part of the CPKC fleet - cruises up the side track at McElhany a few miles north of Goodman, MO early on the morning of Sunday, June 4, 2023.
In a rare configuration for this train, potash train CN B730 has a pair of DPU's (CN 3216 & CN 3859) shoving on the rear end as the train passes a cut of parked grain cars.
A loaded BNSF coal train splits the buildings as it rolls through downtown Burlington, Iowa behind an ES44AC and SD70ACe as it heads east with loads bound for the CN interchange in Chicago. The train rounds the bend it approaches the Amtrak station and will then turn again to cross the Mississippi River bridge.
====Info====
BNSF Ottumwa Subdivision
Burlington, IA
BNSF C BTMCGL0 13A (Coal Loads; Black Thunder Mine, WY to CN - Chicago, IL)
BNSF 5864 ES44AC Blt. 2006
BNSF 9343 SD70ACe Blt. 2006
(DPU) BNSF 6066 ES44AC Blt. 2006
Union Pacific 6774 sits on the point of the OUTS1 (Ore Iron Springs, Utah to Long Beach Pier S, California) outside of Yermo waiting to get into the yard to add power for it's trip over the Santa Fe. The mid-train's DPU and the rear DPU can be seen in this photo amongst the 8,000 foot line of old coal cars, that since entering Iron Ore service for SA Recycling have only gotten more and more tagged up, which over time has made quite the colorful collect of trainsets.