@Daryl
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As far as N scale being able to operate just as good as HO, I know you meant it as a compliment, but it is not.
Sorry, didn't mean anything by it. I've run into people that shy away from N scale layouts on ops weekends because 30 years ago they operated on N scale layouts with older equipment that had coarse detail and jackrabbit operation. Frankly, that's why I got out of N scale 35 years ago. Its not true today.
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First, the UP is left hand running throughout the Geneva Sub which includes the entire trek across northern Illinois. I have not seen this anywhere in writing, but have observed it firsthand.
I guess I should have said because of the commuter district. They swap the trains over to right hand running wherever they can, so its usually someplace in eastern Iowa or western Illinois. A lot depends on the amount of traffic and the spacing of the trains.
Many moons ago the CNW (and UP) was rule 251 current of traffic but the conversion to 2 main track CTC started about the time of the UP merger and its been bi directional for at least a decade or two.
One other thing on the Geneva Sub is there is (or was) a commuter curfew where they stopped running freight trains during rush hour so it didn't block the commuter trains.
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Second, while there may be a red, green, purple whatever plan, any locomotive can be on any type of train. In the hundreds of times I rode my bike to the UP/BNSF crossing to watch trains, I did not see any noticeable locomotive plan.
Then the plan was in full force. It also depends on the era, certain times they stratified the power more than others, also as the fleet mix changed, the plan changed. As they retired the C40's and -9's, purged the SD60's and bumped the SD40's to local service, maintaining fleets was less important because the remaining fleet was equipped for everything and the majority of the fleet were newer high HP engines. At the time of the UP merger the CNW fleet had everything from 1952 vintage GP7's to C44AC's, the UP fleet was all -2 or newer.
Plus a BIG deal before the 2000's was the issue of CNW ATC and ATS which severely restricted the ability of engines to lead a train. We always kept a spare CNW equipped engine at Fremont as an emergency engine in case an eastward train engine wasn't equipped with a CNW leader. There were special fleets of engines that were equipped with both CNW AC and UP CCS and an even more restrictive fleet that had CNW ATS too. That's why SP C44AC's were confined to be trailing engines on coal trains for the first decade after the merger. They weren't equipped with UP CCS, CNW ATC or UP DPU. They were glorified B units. It wasn't until they were shopped and repainted into the UP fleet that they were equipped. Now with PTC on board, the whole CNW cab signal thing is pretty much moot.
We also stressed keeping the correct power on the coal trains (pre-UP merger it was almost all C40-8's and post UP merger it was all C44AC or better AC's). Funny thing is if I add an SD40-2 to a consist of AC's, it actually has less pulling power than if you just have the AC's alone (due to the potential for the SD40 motors to overheat at low speeds).
The Blue fleet were all the ex-MP, ex-MKT, ex-SP non-cab signal equipped engine that couldn't operate on the UP or CNW as leaders. The only way you'd see them on the Geneva Sub was as a trailing unit. By now most of them have been melted down
The oddest CNW engine was a single GP7 that was equipped so the batteries could be used to run the traction motors so it could switch inside a specific industry building. After the UP merger it was inadvertently moved from that yard and there was a reasonably large brouhaha until it was moved back.