Being a “train watcher” with a BNSF line right outside my office window and a double track BNSF line 100 feet from my summer home, I have noticed the following. ZIt seems to me that there is more train traffic from the middle of the week thru the weekend. Relatively light traffic the first couple days of the week. Is there a reason for this or am I imagining it?[?]
Where are the trains coming from and what kinds of treains are they; e.g. coal, stacks, pigs, mixed freight, etc.? Stuff coming from the west heading east for example, may bunch up toward the end of the week. Basically it depends on delivery dates for certain commodities, etc.
work safe
Hypothetically (just pulling this out of my head) speaking,
Trains haul products to/for distributers / other consumers. They’re generally closed on the weekends, so they produce no products on those two days. They start producing stuff to be taken by train mid week, and it arrives late in the week, and the cycle starts again…
If this was Santa Fe in Kansas or Oklahoma on the weekend, this event would be referred to as a “California Weekend” account of the push from industries on the coast(s) kicking out a huge amount of finished product at the end of the week. Starting on Tuesday morning, we would have trains that left California Friday night, Sat & Sun…
Hi Red Flasher - not a dumb question at all. As noted above, later in the week tends to be the heaviest time for intermodal loadings. The trains move later in the week and over the weekend. Deliveries from the ramp to the customer are heaviest Mon - Tues.
Therefore the way it plays out… if I load my trailer / container on the train on Thurs, it can ride the train Fri, Sat, and Sun, and can be half way across the country ( on a Santa Fe “Z” train) by Monday morning. So if I loaded it Thurs and its delivered Monday morning, that’s the 2nd business day, A.M. later. That’s very competitive with a solo over-the-road transit, but cheaper.
I used to live in Emporia, Ks, and traffic on the Santa Fe started to kick up in volume late Wednesday night through Sunday evening. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were usually the busiest. Monday and Tuesday were very slow.
OH the GOOD OLE DAYS!
Take care
Russell