As some of you know I have just finished converting some PRR passenger cars for my layout. I have 6 Bachmann Spectrum cars being pulled by my steam loco. I have a Cornerstone station platform (about 4 foot long) but the cars are longer than the platform. That got me wondering what happens in the real world if a passenger train has longer cars than the platform. Do the passengers at the front disembark and the train moves forward to let the rest of the passengers off.
Depends on the station. Conductors will try to get everyone in 1-2 cars for each stop. You may allow both sleeper & coach passengers to get off at one time. 4 feet may be enough to allow this. Passengers on other cars don’t get off here. Sometimes you may still have a situation where the train will stop twice to get the train as close to the station as possible.
I witnessed just such a situation in Benson, Arizona two months ago. An east-bound Amtrak train slopped to let passengers off, then moved forward two car lengths to allow people to board.
So does this mean that the conductor will control what car or cars the passengers get on/off and then you have to walk through the train to get to your designated section.
As much as possible, people destined for the same stations will be seated in the same or adjacent cars by the train crew, so that it won’t be necessary to open any more vestibule doors than necessary. This has a safety benefit because it minimizes the number of areas that must be monitored, and it has an efficiency benefit because fewer employees are needed to monitor those doors. Many passenger cars, such as Amfleet II’s and sleepers since the late 1930’s, have a single vestibule. If the switching crew that assembles the train happens to place two cars together with their A ends together, it can create a problem for the train crew.
There have been, and are, platforms that are very short — sometimes only one or two cars long at points where the station is small and traffic is light. In such a case, multiple stops may be necessary. Traditionally, the coach section is usually (not always) ahead of the sleeper section. It might be necessary to stop the train so the passengers can detrain or board at the one coach that is designated for “shorts”, which means passengers whose stations are at intermediate points. Then the train pulls forward to do the same for the sleeper passengers.
I have seen trains make as many as three separate stops when necessary.
I just amazing how much you guys know about how trains operate. So I can run my layout now and know that the platform does NOT have to be a long as the train itself.
In the late 90’s/early 2000’s, I distinctly remember the Silver Meteor or Silver Star stopping to pick up passengers, and the station is right next to a road and grade crossing, so the train would stop in such a way that the last car was clear of the road, and we just had to walk to which ever car we were getting on at.
Since we were riding in the sleepers at the front of the train, we walked to the edge of the station platform, right off it, along the tracks a few car lengths, and then got on.
The Amtrak Capitol Limited makes three stops at Cumberland: sleeper passengers, coach passengers, and a crew change stop (smoke break for embarked passengers).
Passenger conductors would place their passengers as “shorts” “intermediate” and through.The through passengers usually had to walk the length of the train to their car.Pullman porters could also assist in loading passengers for their assigned cars-your Pullman ticket would have your car number on it…
In the 60s most trains was short (3-4 cars) and the conductor wouldn’t care what car you choose to ride in.Some conductors was known to punch your ticket as you boarded these dying trains.
Back in the 1960’s I was on a long PRR train that made two stops at 30th St. Philadelphia and then one stop at Wilmington DE where the crew had the passengers in the hind cars walk forward to get off. Same crew, same train, but two different ways to handle the situation.
Making two stops usually took longer, but having passengers walk up in the train sometimes ended up having somebody who “didn’t get the message” missing their stop.
Yes, it’s possible to have passengers walk through the cars to get to the right doors. But as was pointed out, it’s too easy to have somebody who didn’t get the word. This works best on trains that cater to passengers traveling relatively short distances, who might travel with little or no luggage, such as the trains you find on today’s NEC. It’s a bit much to expect passengers to carry several large suitcases through several cars, so multiple stops are more common on the long-distance trains.
LIRR does this all of the time. 12 and 14 car trains cannot platform at stations designed for 10 cars. Either the head 2 or 4 cars or the last 2 or 4 cars will not platform at that station. They alternate if the head two cars do not platform at Merrick, then the tail two cars will not platform at Belmore. Keeps the loads balanced. When the conductor collects (inspects) your ticket, he will tell you to move. Of course these are commuter trains and do the exact same thing every weekday throughout the year. Commuters, always riding the same train, and likely enough the same seat were savy to this, and sat where they wer supposed to be.
If you goofed up, they might not hold the train for you to get it right, but will take you to the next station where you can get off, and get a train in the opposite direction to correct your mistake. That conductor might or might not take pity on you with the payment of a fare.
Such happend to Mom when she was about 20 or so. She was reading a book and missed the Irvington station, she went and told the conductor if she could geto off at the next station and take the next return train. Conductor told her no. She should stay on this train and be warm and safe as this was going to be the next train back to the city anyway.
Reminds me of a story that was told on the PRR…A passenger mail train with one coach had a passenger to miss his stop even though the conductor announced the next stop…Also note the passenger brakeman would announce the next stop as well.
I will mention most passengers was frequent riders and knew their stop.I rode NYC’s RDC from Columbus to Cincinnati back in the mid 60s several times and knew the stops.
The RDC was faster then taking Grayhound because the bus stopped at every small city between Columbus and Cincinnati.Still this NYC RDC was living on borrowed time since it was all that remained of a first class passenger train that once ran between Cleveland and Cincinnati…
May I present a situation. So lets say we are in a rural area, with a small depot that handles small freight and passengers/mail, and has a small platform (1 car length). Our train for today has a locomotive and three cars (RPO, Baggage, Coach; in that order) and has to pick up/drop off mail, let off/on passengers. Would they stop for the RPO and then pull forward to stop for baggage, and then passengers? Or how would they stop for this situation?
Multiple stops if the limited space requires it. Sometimes a station platform ends at a grade crossing, and trains have been known to use the street pavement as a sort of unofficial platform extension in order to get the work done in one stop. At a small station like you describe, there would usually be a timetable notation saying checked baggage is not handled there, so baggage wouldn’t be an issue. Express shipments and/or mail might, though. This could get even more problematic in steam days if the engine had to take on water and the tank or standpipe wasn’t conveniently located.