Why are CSX trains putting an engine in the middle of their trains now?

champer

It's just due to the way the train is made up. Sometimes extra engines are added at the front, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes at the rear. Quite often the middle engine was at the head of another smaller train which has now been coupled to the rear of another to form what you now see, and they haven't gone for the hassle of removing its engine and running it around to the front.

Old Man Dirt

With out knowing the total length of the train (or total tonnage) it is impossible to be sure. One reason could be to not over tax the couplers in the train. A locomotive at the end was used for decades as a helper. But this made for a lot of slack being taken up and taken out resulting in coupler failure. Putting any additional units needed in the middle of the train reduces coupler slack and stress both of which contribute to derailments.

x-Wulfgar-x

Efficiency

Anonymous

It would seem that they are just moving it from place to place, because they used to have to be all in a row, so control wiring could connect them together, so they split imitate what the head locomotive with engineer is doing. It's possible that they could have radio control now between the primary locomotive and all the slave units.

John

My guess is that if the string of freight cars is long enough, the middle engine would provide additional power and additional braking capacity. Think of it as having spare fingers on your hand in order to grasp something

Hank Hill

Because of its natural structure, Venezuela can be divided into eight very distinct geographic natural regions. In the evaluation of a natural region, the human element is not present. The natural region groups of Venezuela formed as a consequence of the association of geo-physical elements such as: geological constitution, relief, climate, hydrography, vegetation, soils, among others.[1]