LSRC power

[GTW 4914]

Tonight's Z126 south out of saginaw had LSRC#5921 LSRC#181 LSRC#371 LSRC#2052 LSRC#1280 he had 121CARS!

[LSRC]

It is also that season where stone trains on the Alpena Line can get up to 100 cars long. The Lake State is very short on power. BTW the only M420 that is broken is the 698. The 3575 was bought as a part source. I am actually excited, maybe I'll get to see the 181 more often!

[GTW 4914]

I kind of wonder when we will get to see the 975 back in action. That would be nice to see.

[Bluewaterfan]

The units are now in the tri-cities. There are working on the Z126 job right now. Pic soon (maybe)

[TrainWatcher]

I foresee a problem. No wonder LSRC has problems. Try to get a 121 car train with 5 diesels down the worlds most crudest trackage, at which you could go only 20-30 mph at most without a major derailment.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

I foresee a problem. No wonder LSRC has problems. Try to get a 121 car train with 5 diesels down the worlds most crudest trackage, at which you could go only 20-30 mph at most without a major derailment.

But what's the point of going more than 20-30 mph if you don't need to? Seems like there's been quite a bit of debate regarding how well maintained a crappy looking right of way really is. If LSRC isn't hosting the Acela Express, they don't need a pristine ROW capable of high speed operation.

For the most part, from what I've seen and heard, customers who want JIT (Just-In-Time) delivery want the product there at a certain time and though few if any of them use rail anymore, as long as the car is there when it needs to be there, they probably don't care much if it moved slowly the entire trip, or if it moved quickly at times, then sat in yards the rest of time time- as long as it's there when it's needed.

Customers who use rail tend to be customers who want reliability (or close to it anyway), not speed. The classification LSRC maintains their track to is the classification that meets their speed requirement, and budget. It's pointless to maintain the trackage for 50 mph running, if you're not gonna do more than 35-40 mph tops.

And I'm pretty sure LSRC doesn't have "the worlds most crudest trackage." Have you seen what the railroads used to use for rail, back when track weighed far less than it does today? LSRC may not have the best looking track, but it obviously gets the job done, because they're still running trains over it.

[SDavey]

Railfan James:

The trains operating out of Saginaw are on former CSX tracks, including the old Saginaw Subdivision, which is certainly a mainline track. The tracks up here are in good enough shape for what the SBS/LSRC needs to get their trains over the rails, and they certainly would not run the coal trains to Essexville if the trackage was that bad.

Also, using 5 locomotives on a 121 is not that uncommon as you need more locomotives to maintain a constant speed needed to move the train. Until you come up to Saginaw or other points up this way to see things for yourself please stop speculating on how trains are operated.

[TrainWatcher]

Ok, because from the state of the rails near the Oscoda area, they are pathetic.

I have relatives who I am current contact, and from what I hear from them is that they have had several derailments in the past few months.

Now, are these new locomotives Geeps?

[LSRC]

Ok, the track is not Pathetic. I've seen much worse track. Unless Lafarge starts shipping out more cement (which is very possible, but a different story), I highly doubt that the Lake State will redo their track. There is a track improvement plan scheduled for this Spring, or last I heard. The Lake State has had no major derailments in a while.

***For the record, the Lake State has not stopped maintaining their track. The track is better than when they bought it from the D&M. The track on the Huron Sub. is bad because the D&M stopped mantaining it during the route's downfall, when it looked like they line was to be abandoned. The Lake State has since picked up traffic significantly on the line, and has done a great job fixing and operating the Huron Sub. since the D&M days. The Fall derailments had little correlation with which railroad mantained their track better. It just happened that way with bigger trains.

Would everyone PLEASE STOP picking on the LSRC for their track! It was the D&M in the late 80s and very early 90s that neglected the trackwork. The LSRC since has not the money, nor the need (as stated above) to rebuild the Huron Sub. much more than it currently needs.***

Just as an after thought, the worst spots on the line are:

Lafarge (Ford Ave.) to Death Curve (Alpena)
Franklin Street (Alpena)
Werth Road (Alpena)
Oscoda (near the camping grounds)
Tawas (not really anymore, because Tawas was essentially rebuilt this past fall)
Anything South of Tawas, I don't know.

Please stop bashing the Lake State for their trackwork. It's not thier fault!

[GTW 4914]

We just had a grain train go south out of saginaw on LSRC the power was LSRC#1179 LSRC#371 LSRC#1162 LSRC#181 and LSRC#5921 he had 126 loads of grain!

[TrainWatcher]

Just messin' LSRC. Now, whats the upgrade going to do? From where to where exactly?

[jukeman]

>>The Fall derailments had little correlation with which railroad mantained their track better. It just happened that way with bigger trains.

Bad train handling was the cause of most of those derailments.

[patrick]

LSRC has a couple thousand new ties dropped along the trackage from saginaw towards bay city. these can be seen by GM in saginaw and from the bridge on I75. I haven't been along the tracks in bay city's south end so I don't know if they extend into bay city or not.

[R Bedell]

Gentlemen:

The MAIN focus of this topic was the four new locomotives that LSRC is getting, NOT their track conditions nor derailments. Let's stay focused.

[TrainWatcher]

Sorry....

[Mackinac Mac]

The LSRC Roster as I remember it.............

back in 2003



1280 C425M-AC "City of Grayling"



181 C425M-AC "City of Bay City"



281 C425M



381 C425M



469 RS2U



646 S1

698 HR412W ( In CN Paint)




798 M420W




974 RS3M



975 RS3M (Was in D&M Paint in 03)





976 C420



1196 RS11

[LSRC]

We just had a grain train go south out of saginaw on LSRC the power was LSRC#1179 LSRC#371 LSRC#1162 LSRC#181 and LSRC#5921 he had 126 loads of grain!

Wait, so has the new power been delivered?

[GLC 392]

how many running alcos does Lake State have?

[GTW 4914]

Hello LSRC yes sir all four units have been delivered.

[Al]

They are new power for LSRC/SBS