Last week I was spotting at my favorite interlocking station, when I saw a CSX train with a mother-slug unit. The first few cars that passed by were flat cars with steel plates, a couple of tank cars, and an empty Bulkhead Lumber car. Now this wasn’t out of the ordinary since there a some local businesses north of the area I was spotting at that use those types of cars, but what confused my was that the last three cars on the train where clearly MOW Gondolas in either NYC Markings or CSX’s bright orange MOW paint. CSX was at that time doing major repairs to most of the road crossings and some other various work projects. So would that train that was crossing the said crossings being repaired, be delivering ties to the various work sites while they are being worked on?
David,He probably spotted those cars on a siding for the MOW crew to unload as needed and since there are company/union work agreements and different job classes involved.
Actually upon further inspection, I found out there is a company north of where I was called Queen City Railroad Construction, and google maps showed a bunch of Gondolas on a spur serving that industry or it could be for a MOW spur similar to the one I showed you guys in a prior post.
Company service cars travel in regular train service all the time. They are no different than other shipment, except for who is paying the freight bill.
Sometimes if the roadmaster has just one car of ballast to unload, they will use the local to do that. Otherwise a car going to a team track is a car going to the team track, regardless who the shipper and reciever are.
The only time MofW cars travel in special trains (not in regular service) is when:
- There are enough cars for a unit train (ballast, ties, rail, etc)
- There is some sort of unusual emergency that requires expedited service (derailment, washout, bridge problem)
- The roadmaster has more than 3-4 hours work in one area
- The work supports a major track gang or project
Otherwise the cars move in company service.