There have been a few occasions over the years, where I have noticed something odd… Well, maybe not odd… Well, let me explain. On more than one occasion, especially on the BNSF and UP, I have sat and watched unit trains, like coal or grain drags, along with container trains, and TOFC trains go by, and tacked on the end, like an “oops, we forgot one” will be the odd tank car, box car, or something else that would be out of place for that type of train. One day, while watching a eastbound stack train go by, there was a single ADM tank car on the end of the train, and one other time, a coal train had two or three empty container cars on the end. So, I got to thinking (always a dangerous proposition, just ask my wife) are these cars “bad orders” or car loads enroute to the customer that is getting part or all of the unit train? Or were they stuck on the end, because the train was going to terminate either in a yard close to a customer, or is it indeed a car that didn’t go out on another train, and stuck on the unit train so it could get to the same yard as the rest of the train it should have been on? Or, are they going to the “home shop for repairs”?
I know that the co-gen occasionally has a hopper they can’t unload (mechanical malfunction, load frozen, etc) that will sit by itself until they can get it cleaned out. If CSX pulls some empty flats out (which they often do after the vehicles are unloaded), the hopper may be at one end or the other of the train.
Although not nescessarly the same, I have seen a few trains that are all empty flat cars, and they have one boxcar on the end…no doubt to tell where the end of the train is.
I’m with Tree, all the above and more. One possiblity you didn’t mention: the car was on a late inbound train and missed its connection with the outbound train, thus earning someone (a yardmaster perhaps) a “service failure” or whatever they choose to call it. Spying a fast train going in the right direction looks like a good way to avoid being blamed for the service failure at the next yard where it might miss a connection again.
Otherwise I think the most likely scenario is it was part of a block of cars that got bad ordered and now it’s playing catch-up with the rest of its buddies.
I think in many cases, it is just a set of specific circumstances.
For example, one day i was listeneing to the scanner (from home), and heard CN 422 calling the dispatcher. They stated that they had a 1 car setout at Aldershot (Ontario), and the DS went and talked to the higher-ups, and said to just bring the car to Mac yard, and they’d worry about it later. Similarly, a different 422 needed to lift a cut of cars from aldershot, but told the DS they were already at tonnage, and would just barely make it to Toronto. The DS told them not to worry about making the lift, and they’d worry about it later.
Another time, a CN train was going to switch the Brantford yard, and instead of lifting the cars, they stuck a set of orders in the coupler, and a short while later another train came and lifted the cars. We talked to the crew, and they said the other crew was likely short on hours or already at tonnage.
I think it boils down to what’s available to move the cars, and whatever it takes to Git-R-Done.
The PRR used to tack a shorter car in front of the caboose when 86’ trailer train cars first came out. They had a slew of Caboose derailments when going through corssovers and used that as a solution.
I’ve been told that the N&W tacked an occasional hopper of coal to the marker end of the eastbound Powhatan Arrow to fill out some steamship’s tonnage when the regular coal drags came up a carload short.
Coal isn’t a uniform product. There might have been kilotons of other grades of coal already in Norfolk - but none of the contracted grade.
SSW upon occasion in the early '90’s sent Soo double stack five packs (lds) on the rear of the Spaulding,IL EJ&E coal train. They were added at Harrington,KS.