Car length. 70 cars, 80 cars etc.
I have seen a CN mixed freight from Buffalo to Toronto with only a C44-9W and a SD40-2W haul 178 cars. Insane huh!
Tonight , CN 148 from Chicago to the Maritimes was 175 wells, flats and spine cars fully loaded , powered by a Dash 9,a Dash 8 and a SD75I. Once in a while we see mixed freights of 175 to 185 cars . Normally trains are 80 to 130 cars.
CN Intermodal train, I believe it was 171 cars and 3 loco’s…
It took a LOOOONG time to pass by the crossing, good times. [:)]
The CN and CP intermodals i’ve seen out in the valley are regularly loading to 12000ft , the eastbound empty car trains are being sent as double trains with up to 130 cars seen regularly . Back in 1978 when I worked for CP - they tried lifting 200 empty grain cars from the elevators in Vancouver - only to block several crossings when it arrived in Pt Coquitlam – many complaints!!! – don’t think they tried it again !! – Anyone know different .
A dock switcher with 2 crewmen.
last sunday, 126 cars. 4 locos leading. couldn’t tell you what kind as i’m not that advanced yet. it really sucked but was a lot of fun. i parked my car on the opposite side of the tracks thinking it would be a really short train like usual. well it wasn’t so i was stuck on the opposite side of my car and i wanted to leave. got a lot of pictures for sure though.
I answered this a long time ago and my answer remains the same - any coal train after the locomotives…
Sigh…
La Mook
155 cars, all coal
I’ve seen coal trains above 150, never bother to count intermodels.
Around 180 empty coal hoppers - 2 unit trains worth, headed south through Rantoul, IL on ICG behind just two Geeps. It was obviously a short-of-motive-power move as those trains usually came true with a couple of units for half as many cars. Those Geeps were earning they keep that night.
I ran a mixed feight of 181 cars once. A nightmare.
LC
155 cars heading WB out of the Croxton Yards in Jersey City. Mostly empty boxies. The Erie was not a balanced RR, meaning that it carried more freight EB than it did WB.
As a matter of fact noted poet Joyce Kilmer wrote about the Erie boxcars. “The House with Nobody In It” begins with,
“Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track …”
I saw a 200 car grain train on CP being pulled By Ac4400cw and a SD40-2 you would think there would be at least one Sd90Mac on the train This was on branch line in Saskatchewan they had stored grain cars for the winter and brought them back to the terminal and decide there going to bring the 200 cars back so they wouldn’t make 2 trips back and forth
The Three Rivers about 20 freight box cars and 4 passenger cars. HA Ha Ha
but really a Ns train with about 150-170 cars on it.
I saw an empty coal train on the C&O in 1967 that was around 300 cars.
The longest train I saw pulled by one engine was 103 cars northbound out of Bakersfield.This was pulledby a UP SD40-2 back in the 70s.
Wow, I am amazed that I didn’t see any obvious “fish” stories on here–as length of train stories often become in my part of the woods. I once saw a NS mixed freight with 162 cars on it, on the old Wabash line between Decatur, IL and St. Louis (very flat). The kicker was that there was only an SD-60 powering the freight. Never heard an engine ruble like that before. My Dad says he saw a 235 car fright train on the CNW line between Peoria and St. Louis–although with 8 units (also very flat).
Longest I ever ran was 202 empty coal hoopers with 3 Geeps and I think 2 SD40-2’s. Went from Morgantown Power Plant in Southern Md. to Bayview Yard in Baltimore. This was back in the early 80’s and the main thing I remember about it was that any of the train handling I was used to doing on the grades was of no use. Trying to guess when to set-up for Dynamic braking for instance was hard because I couldn’t accurately judge when the weight of the train would start shoving me downhill. Like all things it would take some getting used to.
The most I’ve seen one engine pull was a 117 car empty coal train. Usually don’t bother to count cars, but when I see a train with a lot of engines or just one engine, I do count.
In the mid 70’s I saw a Amtrak 27 car passenger train on the North East Corridor going towards Wash. D.C. pulled by 1 GG-1.