US Freight Trains Operations

[OTTODAD]

Starting to fill my CAJON-OTTO route with loose consists and more locos I would like to learn how things are done on US freight routes.

Watching up to 100 wagons freight trains roll South from Salt Lake City, I have seen some consists being made up of one type of wagon and others with a mixture of various types.

Are there any general guide lines on how to assemble freight trains or are wagons just coupled together anyhow, or according to a assembly list so that parts of it can be dropped off on the way ?

So what is the procedure for making up a freight train in a yard. Have one loco pick up wagons and then add them to the growing in length train and having done it's job hand it over to the locos which will then take it to it's destination ?

That could be 4 locos up front, helpers in the middle and others at the rear. These locos could all be the same or come from various manufacturers ?

Do these other than the actual driver loco have to be drivable "Services" too, then being able to switch cabs right to the loco at the end of the train and if necessary drive it in the opposite direction, or can they be just loose 1,2 or three locos consists to be coupled on to by the driver loco ?

Should there also be drivable freight consists, named and stored with others non-drivable ones, which can then be inserted into AI start portals or can driverless consists be used and then give their locos a driver plus it's AI path destination ?

Knowing the HOW-TO will prevent me getting it wrong ! :)

Thanks, O t t o.

[Big_foot]

Otto, when you see 100 to 150 car trains with the same type of cars they a generally called unit trains. In most cases they coal, potash, oil and intermodal.

In yards trains are made up by a yard engine typically something between 1200 and 2000 HP. They are built according to destination to make it easier to setoff cars at specific destinations. There are also special marshalling rules for dangerous commodities such as spacing between a propane car and locomotive. Usually 5 cars of spacing is required. But this changes if the propane car is empty.

As for the locomotive you can have GE and EMD mixed up in your consist. This applies to distributed power as well. (robot units placed within train)

Hope this helps.

[OTTODAD]

Thanks !

Yes, that explains the real railroad side of how it's done. ;)

All that remains now is to learn whether to make all RS services locos drivable before coupling them together into a consist, such as assembling 4-locos to pull the train or to push it, or just the driver locos front or rear ?

If they are not drivable, will they supply their HP to the train ?

Checking the B-SB "Cajon Pass" scenario's 3 + 1 diesels, only the first one has a driver designated to it and I was able to switch to the single diesel at the rear and drive it in the opposite direction. But after a while got the message that the player train has left it's path, end of session !

O t t o.

[geejay]

On the Cajon, stack trains, trailer trains are common, some times mixed with auto racks. Another type seen is "ethanol trains", always with a spacer car such as a box car or hopper between the engones and tank cars. There are also "manifest trains " with a mix of many different cars.

[jimbf]

If you use Google Earth you can get some idea on the makeup and frequency of these long trans-con (trans continental) trains. Out of San Bernadino these tend to be left running as this allows the consist to travel up the steep grades of a rockies along a lower gradient. But typical of most class 1 railroads, much switching between track 1 and 2 takes place.

Having taken this route as an Amtrak passenger I can attest that the traffic seen onGoogle Earth is typical.

On the issue of ownership of equipment, it is not usual for US mainline railroads to swap equipment and even use leased engines, these not having a railroad "brand" marking but a rather generic (ugly) looking paint job.

[rdamurphy]

There are basically three types of trains.

Intermodal, which are never switched or broken up, nor interchanged. They're even repaired and have new brake shoes put on while they're in the intermodal yard. Light, fast, and seldom sitting in a siding.

Bulk trains. Coal, cement, gravel, grain (seasonal) and other commodities that take an entire train, even oil or chemicals. Hardly if ever broken up, especially coal Unit trains. Some of them even keep their locomotives as part of the units, depending on destination and loading/unloading arrangements. Very heavy, very slow, and require special handling because of the weight. Some railroads have restricted speeds for bulk trains on grades.

Mixed trains. Anything and everything, usually, about 50 - 60% loads, the rest empties. Empties are often routed back to their home roads empty, or specialized cars with special equipment are often always running one way empty, such as specially equipped boxcars, lumber cars, special purpose tank cars, and especially private owner cars. Sometimes they're run empty just to avoid demurrage charges, a daily charge when the cars are "off-line" regardless if they're emtpy or not. Other cars, such as Railbox cars are "Next load, any road."

Cars are supposedd to be blocked, by destination, but in reality, that depends on the yard crew, and how good a day they're having. I had a friend who hostled for the BN, he said a locomotive in the middle of a five unit consist stayed dead for almost a month because nobody wanted to take the time to uncouple it (both ends...) and move it to the shop. He also said that if he needed 18 axles and 20 axles were sitting there, he'd grab them instead of changing out locomotives.

Now, keep in mind, these are VERY general outlines, and the rules change from railroad to railroad, indeed from division to division, or even from sub-division to sub-division.

And what a particular customer is willing to pay for!

Robert

[spad30]

a locomotive in the middle of a five unit consist stayed dead for almost a month because nobody wanted to take the time to uncouple it (both ends...) and move it to the shop.

LOL that sounds really familiar. Once while holding brakeman on a local, we were expecting a few covered hoppers to be set out any day for a customer that needed them pretty quick. We kept track of the cars on the computer to get an idea of when they would arrive. Then one day we noticed they passed us without being set out, then again, then again. They made the trip between Montgomery and Atlanta at least 3 times before finally being set out for us to deliver. Blocking was always really hit and miss. There was one particular freight out of Waycross I used to catch a lot. It was usually very long, around 7 or 8k, and mostly empty. To top things off, Waycross used to almost always put a big block of phosphate on the very bottom, so it played hell getting it over the road in once piece. It was on this train that I had to replace my first knuckle.

[rdamurphy]

It's funny how people think railroads run perfectly and efficiently - unlike every other business on Earth! I once worked with a dispatcher who sent 20 boxcars of beer to Chicago instead of St. Louis, that was quite a mess! After several days of trying to get them re-routed, and having the railroad basically say they were going to charge us for Denver-Chicago and then back to Denver, and then interchanging them to another road, and then from Denver-Chicago - we found the cars hadn't even left the receiving yard! We cancelled the shipping orders, made out new ones, and they never said another word about it...

I know a receiver in Fort Morgan who could actually, physically, SEE the car full of fertilizer they needed, one block away, in the local switching area. They tried for three days to get the local crew to move the darn thing 500 yards to their spur. They finally waited until the local crew went home, uncoupled it, released the brake, and pulled it over to their spur with their stakebed truck! I'm glad it didn't get away from them, dangerous as all get out! Shoulda heard the crew in the AM! They couldn't change the switch because it was locked, so they just left it on the main track and started unloading it there!

I remember when the old SP used to be SP, I worked driving a truck out of a transfer warehouse. We'd unload the boxcars into semi-trailers and deliver the product, 3 trailer-loads per boxcar. We couldn't get the door open on the car, no matter what we did, so we called the railroad. 7-10 days to get the "door opening crew" out to fix it. So we asked them what we could do in the meantime, their (snide) remark was "if you can get it open yourselves go for it, otherwise, just wait..." We hooked a few lengths of binder chain together, ran it through the warehouse, hooked it to the back of a semi-trailer, and physically pulled the door completely off the car, bending it into a "<" shape in the process! Hey, they said open it yourselves...

Then there's the JB Hunt container being unloaded at BNSF's Denver Hub with canned goods on it... Did you know the bottom can fall out of a container if you overload it when it's picked up? I'll bet there's still pork 'n beans laying around out there...

Then there was the UP dispatcher who called two crews for the same local switching job, the first crew got there, took the locos and took off after their first switching move, a few blocks away, around a curve. The second crew showed up, reported the locomotives missing, and the police were called! That one made the Evening News! The best part? "Officer, where did you find the locomotives?"

"On the track."

Robert

[spad30]

It's funny how people think railroads run perfectly and efficiently

LOL that is sooooo true. Its sooo 100% opposite from efficient its not even funny. There were several occasions that we were told not to make a setout or pick up due to line congestion. I couldn't tell you how many times I went dead on trips that didn't even make 20 miles. A few times I never even got out of the yard, once never even turning a wheel in 9 hours of sitting. On one occasion I was called for a coal train out of the away terminal. While loading up we noticed there was a loaded grain train ahead of us, but we didn't think anything about it. Once ready to go I called the yardmaster and he says 'ok we'll get you rolling in a bit'. Well, 15 min turns into an hour. I call back again, he says he's gotta get the grain train moving first. Well duh. So we wait even longer till he finally calls us up and informs us that the grain train didn't have a crew and a crew hasn't even been called for it and there was no way for us to get around. So then about 3 more hours of waiting.

I also had another dispatcher route us down a double track stretch behind a dead train with no way to cross over lol. Then on another trip, on a coal train, we're making maybe between 5-10 mph up the steepest grade on the whole subdivision. All of the sudden the dispatcher jumps on the radio wanting to know why it was taking us soo long to knock down the next signal, being real snippy about it. I replied "do you not know that between signal a and signal b is the steepest grade on the sub and we're a 10,000 ton coal train with two engines???" Her reply was "oh" and not another peep.

Once while taking an empty sulfer train north, our trip had gone sour due to a surface gang. We knew we would be cutting it close making it in the yard before going dead. We were the lead train with about 5 more right behind us after they let us through the stop order. So with 3 hours to go, we called the dispatcher, told him we were getting short on time and that if he wanted to we were up for taking a siding and let the 5 others run around. He said "nooo nooo you have greens all the way, you will make it". Well ok then, anything can happen. So we meet a train in the hole at the last siding before hitting double track with about an hour to go. While passing the other train they radio for us to stop immediately, we had really bad stuck brakes around 50 deep. Remember now the 5 other trains are on our heels, with one in the hole waiting for said 5 trains to get by before he can go. So anyway we stop and I walk the train only to find the tank with a tight handbrake and 8 blue wheels with about a half inch trench dug in the tread and the trucks and brake rigging full of big ribbons of peeled metal. I could feel the heat 5 feet away. Needless to say we went dead on the spot along with everyone else.

As far as crew calling mistakes. I once had a crew caller forget to call me lol. The phone rang late one night and the first thing out of her mouth was 'i'm in trouble'. I thought oh great what kind of crap is she trying to feed me. So she then explained that she had completely forgotten to call me and the train and engineer has been waiting for over an hour. So I did her a favor and didn't even take a two hour call, which I could have done.

LOL pulling the door off the boxcar was priceless. I give that a 10! I would have loved to have had the pleasure to tell them "you said...." lol.

You know I say its really inefficient but mostly due to bad judgement and poor decisions.

[rdamurphy]

I heard a story one time, around the UP people I hang out with in OLI, a bulk train was stuck on the grade between Nebraska and Cheyenne, apparently the SP always added a couple of extra units to allow for road failures. When the UP "inherited" the SP, they weren't really totally aware of the "reliability factor" of SP locos. So, this poor guy, got stopped on a rather mild grade, and flat couldn't start again. He radios dispatch, the train behind him hears the radio call, gets on the radio and tells dispatch, "We're running light, about a dozen empty flats, we can help push!" Dispatcher immediately approves it, the second train pulls up behind him, takes off the FRED, hooks up. So, they call the lead, tell him they're ready. Minute or two goes by, no joy. Lead loco driver says: "I'm in Run 8, I ain't movin..." The newly appointed helper says: "This is 844, we got the Johnson Bar down in the corner, and we're not moving either, we'll have to back down a bit and let the slack out..." Lead guys says "Johnson Bar??!?, what the heck kind of engine is that..."

Yeah, they got her to Cheyenne...

I heard another story about 3985, after she was rebuilt, she was running to Oregon, and the steamers always pick up a few empty flats for braking. The Dispatcher, a bit unclear on the concept, assigned them an entire stack train! They get there, see what they're up against, and figure, why not, it's within our tonnage rating! Story goes, they maintained track speed all the way across Wyoming...

Robert