Does BNSF double-up returning empty coal trains? I’ve been meaning to count some on the Racetrack that seem really long but yesterday, one empty coal train went by followed immediately by another train that was mostly empty mixed freight, but with 35 empty coal gons on the end with the same reporting marks as the first train.
I see plenty of BNSF coal trains in both directions (full east and empty west) and they always seem to be about the same length, although I seldom bother to count the cars.
the emptys in the M train were probably out of the other trainsets and were B/O somewhere along the route and needed repair.When that happens they travel in M trains to get back to the mines and back into their assigned sets.
Most trains out of Chicago are in the 120 to 135 area all depends on the train set contracted to that mine.
Most of the coal trains I have seen, (UP, BNSF, EJE, etc) all seem to be in the 110-130 car range. One day, for lack something better to do, I was counting the length of some coal trains…The shortest was 112 cars, the longest: 127…
the coal trains we take out of chicago from the BN are exactly the same except empty we get a few days later even the power is the same they just dump and send em back I heard they don’t even uncouple them but I don’t know for sure on that one
That makes sense as I’ve never seen this before, although I have seen both trains on a fairly regular basis. If the first train had 35 missing cars B/O’d it wouldn’t have been noticeable. The M train usually has lots of empty grain hoppers, tanks, lumber flats, and box cars, based on the unscientific observation of the truck springs.[:)]