American Operations

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baillelx

New member
I am going to attempt my first American railroad in Trainz12 but would like some advice on a couple of points (no doubt more will arise later).
Most American Diesel locomotives are single cab unlike British and most European. Do they ever operate body (rather than cab first?) how do they deal with branch line freight with no turntables or any other way of turning? I have been looking for a switcher in the trainz contents,so far no luck. Any suggestions? Do American Railroads have mixed trains. I.e. in a BNSF consist could there be boxcars or hoppers from other railroads mixed in?

William
 
With railroads pooling locomotives, leasing locos, patch paint jobs ... a UP, ATSF loco on a long haul train Produce Train from the LA basin to NY, a first priority, gauranteed shipment/arrival withing 24 hrs express train, may travel all the way across the country, and back again. An Ex-Conrail loco could sometimes make its way all the way to CA, in rare cases.

N&W actually deliberately operated high hood units, long hood forward, so as to protect the crew in colisions.

A unit train nowdays can be never broken up, and cars are married together for an eternity (unless one is sent to the shop for repairs). ie: unit coal trains, trash trains, tank train ... etc ...

Mixed freights, when the local switcher picks up cars from industries they are all mixed up, and one car is designated going to NY, an the next are going to CA, or AQ (Antarctica:hehe:). The train goes into the inbound recieving yard, and is flat switched, and broken down, and sorted, onto many specialized departure tracks.

Other times the mixed up drafts of railcars are sorted, coasting downhill into the hump yard bowl, where switchs are thrown, sending cars to proper classification hump yard departure tracks.

A yard switcher then takes the assembled trains to outbound departure tracks.

One thing about Trainz is: a 1902 steam loco would never haul a long consist of modern day Husky Stacks ... as that would be mixing eras ... and would be far too silly !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&NR=1&v=25Qhbdijv5Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=YLdK9zaLaG8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ50ootTfsQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py2tAkW9WCU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj2sfYCpHOo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsSNfz6Vgsk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_utzLojCIE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT7OvyLJqtU
 
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William,

Just to add to the helpful advice above the answer is yes - you can see cars from one railroad e.g. CSX in those pulled by another railroad e.g. BNSF. It is very common indeed.
 
Thats great thank you. Do you know if there is a download of a US switcher which could also be used for local freights? And just to confirm, if there is no way of turning an engine at the end of a branch line its perfectly normal for the loco to operate body first?
 
Most branch lines are not even signaled, except at the mainline junction.

A wye, or turntable was a luxury that only well to do branchline could afford.

In olden times the 4 poling pockets were used, employing a wooden or steel post, hand held by the conductor, that was used to push a railcar, by the loco ... but was outlawed due to injuries to crews.

The conductor sometimes rides the last car of a train giving hand signals, or radio instructions to an engineer backing a train, running blind.

Oftentimes the conductor rides the step on the oposite end of a loco.

There are thousands of small switcher diesel, electric and steam loco's ... OMG the list is endless ... give me an example of what you need and I will point you to a link, or what to download.

The GE44Ton, SW, MP, and GP class diesel loco's, were favorites on RR's, for their tight turning radius.
 
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baillelx said:
...<snippage>...Most American Diesel locomotives are single cab unlike British and most European. Do they ever operate body (rather than cab first?) how do they deal with branch line freight with no turntables or any other way of turning?
Click to expand...

While most North American companies in the modern day prefer to operate cab in first, yes, it does happen that switchers operate long hood forward when necessary. If you go to the end of most branch lines on North American railroads which predate the end of the steam era which is almost all of them, there was generally a wye at the end so that the locomotive could be turned around. Because the outer ends of many branch lines have been abandoned for years, this may not be visible today. The topgraphical maps of Genessee, Idaho, dated 1981 (viewable or downloadable at the USGS website) shows a wye at the end of a now abandoned NP / BNSF branch line. In many cases, though, trains need two units to provide enough power, and they are operated back to back, so that the crew needs to do at the end of the branch is run around the train, and switch to the other cab.

Note that the historical switch engines, like the EMD SW-7, SW-9, SW-12, and SW-15 units, and the Balwin S units were designed to be operated hood end forward.

Do American Railroads have mixed trains. I.e. in a BNSF consist could there be boxcars or hoppers from other railroads mixed in?
Click to expand...

They used to have far more mixed trains formerly than they do now, since many trains today consist of similar types of cars for the same customer. But yes, it has been cuistomary for nearly 150 years for free interchange of freight cars, so that nearly any train could have a car in it which did not belong to the railroad operating the car. There was also a custom in North American railroading to operate trains which carried both freight and passenger cars, so as to provide both freight and passenger service. When the term "mixed trains" is used in connection with North American railroading, this is the type of train which is normally referred to.

ns
 
Just my input... Wyes are still around. In NW Ohio I can think of three; is full operation, a new one being built, oh, 2 years ago?
 
I don't know of any GE 44 tonners that were used in shortline service unless it was a very short line. They were mainly used as yard and industry swith engines.

On the otherhand, the GE 70 ton was used extensively as a road engine on many short lines and branchlines.
 
Dap said:
I don't know of any GE 44 tonners that were used in shortline service unless it was a very short line. They were mainly used as yard and industry swith engines.

On the otherhand, the GE 70 ton was used extensively as a road engine on many short lines and branchlines.
Click to expand...

The Claremont and Concord uses GE 44 tonners as their locomotives.

You also still see these as well as 70-tonners around the grain elevators in the Midwest.

John
 
Look into the EMD GP series, especially the GP38 and GP40 series. Most modern shortlines and branch lines are powered by "geeps".
 
There is also a tendency for lines to use their 'older' engines in switching capacities. Older RS2's or RS3's or early GP's, saving the newer engines for mainline hauling. I use good old weathered early diesels for short hauls and switching, the more modern engines like the SD70's for mainline long hauls. It's also not unusual to see mixed loco consists either, GP38's in with an SD40 or two.
 
I know of a few shortlines that still use alcos... RS1's, 2's, and 3's, and even S1's and 2's. I also thought I would add that sometimes when switching, a locomotive might be run long-hood forward just as often as short-hood forward. Direction really makes no difference generally speaking, though if I remember correctly, FRA regulations require a conductor to be present when a loco is being run long-hood forward. So visibility can be maintained on both sides of the train. (Though I don't suppose this matters in the virtual realm :p!) Hope this helps
 
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Bluewater said:
JointedRail has all North American Locomotives and railcars. Take a look!
Click to expand...
Well, to prove you wrong, they don't have every locomotive, since they are missing a RS1, RS2, RS3 and many more ALCo's! :hehe:
Their locos are well detailed though. (I have a few myself!)
 
I live very close to a UP mainline Northwest of Chicago which also hosts Metra commuter trains. There are various small industries along the line which the UP services. I often see one of the larger yard engines coupled to an SW engine and a caboose. The larger engine will sit on the main as the SW uncouples and takes the spur to collect cars from the industries. The caboose acts as a spotting platform.
 
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