Three of a Kind
January 5, 2018
You’d think that a power consist of 3 SD70ACe’s would be fairly common on the UP, what with nearly 750 on the roster. But when you realize that there are 6000 or so other road units, that makes getting 3 lashed-up together pretty rare.
Today, 1/4/2018, was one of those rare occasions. Here are 3 shots of UP manifest (but mostly autos) MLDLIX passing MP 19.5 (Stafford, TX) at 11:12 AM with 8974/8774/8780
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Southwest Rails 
Would the auto racks coming in on this train be rerouted to the auto rack yard up near the facility close to IAH? Or is there another facility like that in the Houston area?
This particular train runs through to Livonia where its northbound cars are reduced with the balance of the train going to the CSX at New Orleans. But yes, all UP inbound Houston autos go to the Westfield facility by IAH.
My impression is that auto racks coming into Houston unless it is a through train, are empties and headed to the UP Loading facility where they are loaded for distribution to points outside the Houston Metro area. Is that a fairly correct assessment?
Virtually all Houston-bound racks are loads. The greater Houston area is a huge market for vehicles, UP and BNSF have big facilities.
I’m not aware that either one does any “blending”. The only exception is KCS. They have the VW business. They bring Mexican made VW’s to the Port of Houston facility where they are blended with German made VW’s coming off ships and then sent to other parts of the U.S.