Out of more than 1.3 million freight cars in service in he U.S. in 2010, they would still be considered rare.Standard Railfan wrote:The DMIR, LSI,and BNSF have in the past run 3 or 4 ore jennies semi-permanently coupled together with drawbars.railohio wrote:Bad example. Outside of intermodal, articulated freight cars are rare.Toppysager wrote:CSX manifest
Super long CN trains.
- railohio
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Re: Super long CN trains.
"I shot the freight train / But I did not shoot the fantrip"
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Re: Super long CN trains.
1=3 truck loads
1.3 million freight cars replace 3.9 million trucks or more at any one time
1.3 million freight cars=articulated cars still rare lol
Just thought I'd sum the argument in a goofy way lol
Anyway back to the CN trains,huh?
(Sorry for repeating you RailOhio)
1.3 million freight cars replace 3.9 million trucks or more at any one time
1.3 million freight cars=articulated cars still rare lol
Just thought I'd sum the argument in a goofy way lol
Anyway back to the CN trains,huh?
(Sorry for repeating you RailOhio)
My Wife says my first love is trains..anint that the truth! Lol
- Standard Railfan
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Unless you are standing in the CN Ore yard in Two Harbors MN where there is nothing to see but ore cars.railohio wrote:Out of more than 1.3 million freight cars in service in he U.S. in 2010, they would still be considered rare.
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Re: Super long CN trains.
But we're actually talking about the probably of seeing articulated cars in a CSX manifest in Marion, Ohio, as was mentioned in the thread.
"I shot the freight train / But I did not shoot the fantrip"
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Re: Super long CN trains.
I count each "tub" as a "car". It is more accurate to count that way than counting 3 and 5 tub sets of wells/pigs, at least from the railfan perspecitve.CSX_CO wrote:Are you counting tubs/hitches or actual couplers? Big difference between the two.MQT3001 wrote:I have logged a 162-car NS Intermodal Train at Porter, and of course the 189-car monster mighty Marquette manifest they barged home from Grand Rapids.
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Those are platforms not cars
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Re: Super long CN trains.
There are old coal gons in scrap service that are draw bared in sets of 2s. If it is stuck together and has one car number it's one car end of story.
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Re: Super long CN trains.
I think we all get that, some of us are just trying to say we count articulated by the piece for railfan counting purposes.CAT345C wrote:There are old coal gons in scrap service that are draw bared in sets of 2s. If it is stuck together and has one car number it's one car end of story.
Re: Super long CN trains.
If we're talking "super long trains" why are we even talking about articulated cars or number of cars? Does it matter? It's the length of the train that matters. When I get on my train, I really don't give two sh!ts about how many cars it is or if I have any articulated equipment. I look at the length and tonnage and the makeup. You could say, "I saw a 200 car train!!!!11!!!1 WOW!!!1!!!11!" Okay, well what if they're all 42-foot 2-bay hoppers? Including a 3-unit consist, that's not even 8700 feet long. Which is still big, but not really the kind of big we are talking about here. A manifest train with 200 cars, averaging 60 feet per car, is a different story...now over 12,000 feet with a 3-unit consist.
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Why would a railfan want to use a different way to count cars?MQT3001 wrote:I think we all get that, some of us are just trying to say we count articulated by the piece for railfan counting purposes.CAT345C wrote:There are old coal gons in scrap service that are draw bared in sets of 2s. If it is stuck together and has one car number it's one car end of story.
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Re: Super long CN trains.
It is more accurate for train length. A 100-car intermodal train counted tub-by-tub is more or less equal to a 100-car manifest. But is the 100-"car" intermodal train was counted literally car-by-car, then it would be only 20 cars if they were all 5-piece sets. It is just a better estimate of overall length when a figure from say a Defect Detector is not available. Also, it takes out the variability of having some cars of 1, some of 3, and some of 5 tubs each. Again, it gives a better estimate of overall train length.Typhoon wrote:Why would a railfan want to use a different way to count cars?MQT3001 wrote:I think we all get that, some of us are just trying to say we count articulated by the piece for railfan counting purposes.CAT345C wrote:There are old coal gons in scrap service that are draw bared in sets of 2s. If it is stuck together and has one car number it's one car end of story.
This isn't to say I'm ignorant of the way railroads count the cars, which of course generally counts draw-bared cars as one. I just prefer to measure trains in the above way for the above reason.
Last edited by Saturnalia on Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Super long CN trains.
On UP at least, it doesn't necessarily count "drawbars as one". Most 3 or 5-pack wells, even though they all share the same reporting marks, are counted singularly. Each tub is assigned a letter, with "A" and "B" being on either end in regular boxcar fashion, having an A-end and B-end (handbrake is on the B-end on boxcar, but on both ends of an intermodal set). So it would be A-C-B for a 3-pack or A-C-D-E-B for a 5-pack. For an articulated tub set, my list will not actually show "DTTX 723510". It will say DTTA 723510, DTTC 723510, DTTB 723510 with the containers listed on their respective tub and it counts it as THREE cars.
Articulated spine cars are counted as ONE car, so a 5-pack spine will actually show up as TTAX 653647 on my list, followed by the containers/trailers that are on it. There is no TTAA, TTAB, TTAC, etc. for spines as far as paperwork goes, though you would still classify them as such in identifying them.
Here is a breakdown of ZMQG4 17 for example:
6 5-pack spines
7 single tubs
11 3-pack tubs
The "short count" of this train is "46" cars. Not "24" as many young foamites may want to believe. The 6 5-pack spines are counted as 6 cars and not 30, whereas the 11 3-pack tubs are counted individually as 33 cars, not 11 as they would be if they were spines. The "long count", counting each unit individually is 70 cars.
Not as simple as many apparently think. At least on UP...I don't know how other railroads do it...
No, you don't know everything...
Articulated spine cars are counted as ONE car, so a 5-pack spine will actually show up as TTAX 653647 on my list, followed by the containers/trailers that are on it. There is no TTAA, TTAB, TTAC, etc. for spines as far as paperwork goes, though you would still classify them as such in identifying them.
Here is a breakdown of ZMQG4 17 for example:
6 5-pack spines
7 single tubs
11 3-pack tubs
The "short count" of this train is "46" cars. Not "24" as many young foamites may want to believe. The 6 5-pack spines are counted as 6 cars and not 30, whereas the 11 3-pack tubs are counted individually as 33 cars, not 11 as they would be if they were spines. The "long count", counting each unit individually is 70 cars.
Not as simple as many apparently think. At least on UP...I don't know how other railroads do it...
No, you don't know everything...
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Re: Super long CN trains.
"Short Count" and "Long Count" are the terms I was trying to remember. Thanks for explanation, Tops.Mr. Tops wrote:The "short count" of this train is "46" cars. Not "24" as many young foamites may want to believe. The 6 5-pack spines are counted as 6 cars and not 30, whereas the 11 3-pack tubs are counted individually as 33 cars, not 11 as they would be if they were spines. The "long count", counting each unit individually is 70 cars.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Why do spines count differently than wells?
Re: Super long CN trains.
You mean...you don't know??MQT3001 wrote:Why do spines count differently than wells?
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Yeah, I don't know...why aren't they counted like Wells?Mr. Tops wrote:You mean...you don't know??MQT3001 wrote:Why do spines count differently than wells?
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Mr. Tops wrote:You mean...you don't know??MQT3001 wrote:Why do spines count differently than wells?
+1
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Can I say "plattforms vs cars" again?
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Re: Super long CN trains.
Ever seen a double stacked spine car MQT...?