I have always found the train, freight equipment and operations far more interesting than locomotives. Especially today, you see one Norfolk Southern locomotive you have just about seen them all.
I am amused at those who think the show is over once the locomotives of a moving train pass. Where do others rank locomotives?
It sort of depends…
A train of all coal cars, oil tanks, or other identical cars of any sort, from a distance where I can see a couple of dozen cars at a time to tell that it is a LONG train, or, if I am up close to where I can see details of individual cars, that is when what follows the head end power is interesting to me. But for most railcam views, once the engines have passed, then a long monotonous train of identical cars is of no interest.
Work trains or trains with unusual cargo, exposed on flats or specialty cars, are always interesting to watch.
But then, Dismals… err, I mean, Diseasals… ummm… I guess you’d know them as “Diesels” have little of interest to me at all. Nothing really interesting is on the outside… just blank panels with half hidden wheels underneath. What’s visually interesting to watch there? Sometimes they are interesting if I know what is on the inside or know some unusual factoid about a type/style of an engine.
I will say that seeing the engineer and conductor sitting in the cab of most Diesels is impressive, the way they are situated. I think it has to do with the wide side windows on some locomotives… in an automobile the driver is half hidden by the door post at the back of the side window, but in a locomotive the people in it are centered in the side window and it
It’s you.
I don’t know, once you’ve seen one gray covered hopper, a coal car or a gondola, you’ve pretty much seen them all
Yup Jim, she’s right, its you.
It’s you.
I see a LOT of unit grain, ethanol, and rock unit trains. The unit trains usually have 3 locomotives. This time of year I see some foreign power. The locals and mixed trains tend to have some variety in the power department… We even see some Pink Warbonnets, Greinstein Greens, and Cascade Green units come through.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It’s you !
Rich
It’s you! There isn’t enough graffiti on engines to gain your interest.
I am a big fan of watching the cars roll by. The locomotives, other than heritage units and older stuff are pretty much the same to me.
However, give me a general manifest train with mixed carloads and I am interested. I look at blocks of similar cars, wondering what is in the cars (see my thread on wine), where the cars are destined, and the revenue, etc.
Even with intermodal trains, the number of containers on the train is of interest, including the makeup of those container…domestic, international, trailers such as UPS, FedEx, etc. I find that NS runs considerably more trailers than CSX and seems to have an upper hand on the UPS business.
What is amazing is the number of JB Hunt containers. There are trains which will have between 50 and 100 JBP containers, often in solid blocks. The economics of that are of interest to me.
Ed
Shouldn’t this thread be on the “Locomotives” forum? M636C
Given his ‘take’ on locomotives, wouldn’t that be about the same as putting posts about freight trains in the ‘Passenger’ forum?
The show is far from over once the locomotives pass, interesting equipment or unusual items in tow may show up somewhere in the consist. This is when those who loose interest and sit back after the locomotives pass by find themselves in a hurry to get their camera’s, generally miss the shot, then complain. I agree, there is more than just locomotives, but for the locomotive being the least interesting thing, think not.
It’s all a matter of personal preference. My preference is to what’s up front with its multitude of permutations but I don’t ignore the rest of the train either.
Diesels will never come close to matching the sight and sound of steam, but I like 'em ,too. But I still want to see the whole train since I’m a compulsive car counter.
These days, with run-through power, borrowing, paying back, etc, it’s hard to say what you’ll see at the head end of any given train.
Since steam tended to be specialized to a certain extent to the territory it was being used in, I’m sure that train watchers of the day got tired of {insert type of steam locomotive here} and yearned to see something different.
Back here in the modern era, it can be interesting to spot something that is totally out of place, like seeing Soo and WC locomotives in the wilds of northern New York.
The rest of the train can be interesting, unless it’s a string of identical anything (previous comments excepted). If you’re watching the “salad shooter” go by, about the only interesting thing is the “art.” Otherwise it’s just a white wall. Same for oil, ethanol, and especially trash trains.
Manifest freights do offer some level of entertainment. Reading the placards on the hazmat cars can be enlightening, to say the least. And, as a railroader, I tend to do an unofficial “roll-by.” Occasionally something will be out of place, and it’s time for a phone call.
What interestes me is the combination of the engines, that is how many on the head end and how many on rear running as DPU. the types of cars are interesting as well.
If you get tired try picking out a car number and see how close you can get with the other cars. You will be surprised how often you will see the car number below or above the number you picked.
I find it interesting to see what power is on the point, especially what run-through power is there–This morning, I saw four NS units leading one BNSF unit on an oil train. And, I just saw four or so UP units on a train of covered hoppers–grain movement?
I used to think the locomotive was 90% of the interest. But association with others who appreciate the rest of the train has caused me to rethink that. It’s a total experience.
Tom
When ever I am at a crossing I always do a roll by. That is something picked up from days past as a driver. After the head end rumbles past, the trailing cars can be interesting in the fact maybe something is loose and dragging or a flat spot on a wheel. In the past I have seen plastic sheeting flapping in the breeze. Almost forgot the time I saw a blower fail , whata show. Night time is good time to see sparks coming up under a car. The engine must be a good one maybe or the head shed would not have used it. It is pulling or pushing the cars till something goes bang.----
Respectfully, Cannonball
I’m a student of freight car history, and I find a lot to see behind the locomotives. Just a letters-and-numbers thing with me, I guess (Asperger’s?). I don’t ignore the locomotives, because they’re the big part of the total experience of railroading from trackside. J’ever notice that you can hear the EMDs coming in a mixed consist, but it’s always the GEs you hear going away?
People have said that of the freight trains, the manifest trains, with their variety of freight cars, are the most interesting. I’d tend to agree with that–I make most of my notes these days on box cars and plain old gray covered hoppers (Ed, how many different sizes of these cars do you see? Are they all for plastics?).
Unsolicited advice:
Intermodal trains: try and pick out the DTTX cars that aren’t yellow, or the stack cars that aren’t lettered DTTX or BNSF. Interesting variety there.
Tank trains: check out the placards. Many of the so-called crude-oil trains are only carrying ethanol.
Coal trains: look for the cars with two rotary couplers: there should be no more than one per train, but it’s neat to see how, and when, they’re properly used in a train with distributed power.
Just a couple of ideas there. I tend to look for commodity restrictions on tank cars, lessees on privately-owned cars, build dates on newer cars, former reporting marks and numbers on older cars (this can be a