CSX and Energy Efficiency
I’m not sure what this is. It is at the end of the tracks above Peace St., and looks to be some sort of bridge over a cylindrical pit. It was kind of eerie.
Several times I’ve driven down Peace St. and wondered what exactly the CSX engines were doing on the bridge near the Archdale building. This past weekend after going to the Oakwood dog park, I decided to find out after spotting it again. What surprised me the most was that there were only two engines on the tracks, and nothing else. The engine was idling, and the sound was really interesting. It was futuristic sounding, and a blowing off of air every now and then. Very menacing sounding, but also remarkably silent considering the power behind them.
Today, while driving my gas guzzler Toyota Solara and listening to NPR, I heard something interesting.
Trains can move a ton of freight 423 miles on a single gallon of fuel.
This, in my opinion, is truly remarkable. Hearing it (an advertisement for CSX) made me remember the pics I took of two of their engines, so I decided to use them and offer my praise.
The CSX web site goes on to say that
Moving freight by rail is three times more fuel efficient than other over-the-road alternatives. … Since 1980, through technology and innovation, the railroad industry has improved locomotive fuel effieiency by around 80%. In 2006 alone, U.S. freight railroads consumed 3.3 billion fewer gallons of diesel fuel and emitted 37 million tons of carbon dioxide less than they would have if their fuel efficiency had remained constant since 1980. … According to the EPA, freight railroads account for just 2% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from transportation sources and well under 1% of greenhouse gas emissions from all sources.
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02/01/2008
Nice pics. I know what this is but have never seen it. Here it is in google maps. It’s an old railroad turntable. I’m sure a train expert could elaborate but it turns the engines around to operate in the opposite direction.
02/01/2008
Leo,
thanks for the tip. Right there in front of me, yet I still missed it. That explains why there were only two engines there.
02/08/2008
The turntable was part of the complex used by the CSX predecessor railroad, Seaboard Air Line Railroad for their New York to Miami passenger trains. A set of diesel engines would pull the coaches from Richmond, VA to Raleigh. Then, the trainset would be passed off to a fresh set of engines to continue on to Florida.
The engines from Virginia would be refueled and turned around on the turntable to take a northbound passenger train back to Virginia. And, those engines from points south would be refueled and turned back around to head south again. This was necessary back in the late 1930’s because diesel train technology was still very new and didn’t have the ability to go the whole distance like engines of today.
The reason that the Seaboard didn’t pull their trains all the way to New York was simple. A passenger leaving Pennsylvania Station on say the Orange Blossom Special would be carried by the Pennsylvania Railroad’s electric GG1 engines as far as Washington, DC on PRR-owned tracks. Then, they would be passed off to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac to Richmond who owned those tracks. Then, the Seaboard Air Line would continue the journey to Florida on their trackage. Even with all of that maneuvering, the travel time from New York to Miami was only 24 hours because the running times at night through the Carolinas would be as much as 100 miles per hour. That’s a far cry from what it is today!!
Oh and BTW: CSX stands for
Chesapeake & Ohio
Seaboard Coastline
Xpanded
This was a merger between the Chesapeake & Ohio; Baltimore & Ohio; Western Maryland; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac; Seaboard Air Line, Atlantic Coastline; Clinchfield; and Louisville & Nashville railroads. It also later got the largely New York Central part of Conrail.
11/22/2008
The turntable has been there since the days of steam. There was a brick roundhouse where the engines were serviced, and a water tank and a coaling station used to refuel the steam locomotives. You can still see the concrete strips radiating out from the turntable which supported the tracks leading to each roundhouse stall. Here’s a neat old map which shows the layount of the above mentioned structures:
http://www.legeros.com/hidden-raleigh/images/sanborn-roundhouse.jpg
If you use Google maps satellite image, you can zoom in on the turntable and see the remants of the concrete track supports.
01/16/2009
I just happened on this site today. My father was the Raleigh Trainmaster for Seaboard Airline RR when I was a little girl. I have fond memories of Raleigh and attended St. Timothy’s K-2nd grade!
04/09/2009
Glad to have found this info on the turntable. My friend Jim remembers it from when he was a kid but we didn’t know if it still existed. It’s in walking distance from our work!
02/22/2010
I don’t know if you realize that the turntable at raleigh is still in service and fully operational. Built in 1917 during WW1, it is propelled by two traction motors, one on each end, that run on a circular track which is around the bottom of the pit. Stll kept in survice by the csx bridge dept. Its used to turn engines and once in a while a box car. There are several of these still in use by CSX. The one in Raleigh is one of the oldest.