# A question for people who know something about trains



## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

As I was driving to work this morning, I got stopped at the barrier for a long freight train. It was a very long train -- I didn't count the cars but it took 11 minutes for it to completely pass by (I had 11 minutes to read my Kindle. Yeah!). Anyway, at the front of the train there were four locomotives. My question: were all those locomotives working to pull the train, or was one locomotive working and pulling the other three locomotives (taking them somewhere else?) along with all the freight cars?

How do they figure out how much a locomotive can pull?

L


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

If you listen closely you can hear the diesel-electric engines rev up when they're under a load or drop to an idle when the train is coasting. I think the "size" the train with the number of engines required to pull the train up the steepest grade.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

My oldest son and his family live in Altoona, PA near The Curve.  Photographers there constantly.  
I've seen this situation also.  Especially if you see them when they're on the side of the mountains
coming down into Altoona.  I wonder if they need them to help hold the train back coming down steep 
mountains.
deb


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> As I was driving to work this morning, I got stopped at the barrier for a long freight train. It was a very long train -- I didn't count the cars but it took 11 minutes for it to completely pass by (I had 11 minutes to read my Kindle. Yeah!). Anyway, at the front of the train there were four locomotives. My question: were all those locomotives working to pull the train, or was one locomotive working and pulling the other three locomotives (taking them somewhere else?) along with all the freight cars?
> 
> How do they figure out how much a locomotive can pull?
> 
> L


I asked my husband who is a train buff and majored in transportation in college and then worked in the industry for a few years.

First, they could all be pulling, run by a single engineer in the front locomotive--the others are just "power units" at that point, or they could just be "deadheading," pulled. The number of engines is derived by the weight to be moved (number of cars, the kinds of cars, whether they are empty or full and the grade, as Jeff said); there is a formula, all done by computer these days. My husband is reading Atlas Shrugged right now, loves the train stuff in it, and refers you to Dagny Taggert for more info. 



drenee said:


> My oldest son and his family live in Altoona, PA near The Curve. Photographers there constantly.
> I've seen this situation also. Especially if you see them when they're on the side of the mountains
> coming down into Altoona. I wonder if they need them to help hold the train back coming down steep
> mountains.
> deb


Hubby says "Darn right they do!" We've also been some of those photographers you see.....I've been to see steam engines all over the country. 

Betsy


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Ah, steam engines...


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I had a picture published in a fan mag once...

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

But. . . . . . did you make it into a quilt?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Nah....too complicated and not what I was doing then....I could see doing one with a steam engine off in the distance maybe....

Betsy


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

I absolutely love trains.  Don't they put some of those extra engines in the back to push in the steeper mountains, or was that back in the dark ages?  Seems like I have seen that.  I always did wonder too about all those extra engines n front though.


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## Richard in W.Orange (Nov 24, 2009)

I only know commuter rail ... some of the passenger cars have the motors, some need engines...but I've never seen more than one engine on a commuter train .... but you never know if its going to be in the front or the back ... which I think is weird...they can go as fast in "reverse" as they do in "forward" ... 

But I'm agreeing with the idea that its either for 'extra' pulling power or they need to get those engines to another yard.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Ah, steam engines...


My husband looked at the engine and said "European." and look at the roundhouse behind it!

Betsy


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Anju No. 469 said:


> I absolutely love trains. Don't they put some of those extra engines in the back to push in the steeper mountains, or was that back in the dark ages? Seems like I have seen that. I always did wonder too about all those extra engines n front though.


Miss Anju, they didn't have trains back in the Dark Ages.  They used horses, camels and elephants and they always put them at the rear for obvious reasons. I, too, love trains and have almost always lived within sight and/or sound of tracks, switching yards, crossings (and have been struck by a few crossing guard arms in my life... yeah, the train kind! Not the school crossing guard arms). If there's a good train going by, I'm likely to pull over and watch. I even wanted to be an engineer at one point in my life, but they have to do that math that Betsy's DH is talking about... of course, in the Dark Ages, they didn't have computers either and that was when I wanted to be an engineer... er, I mean... well, just sayin' as someone on these boards is always just sayin'...


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Ah, steam engines...





Betsy the Quilter said:


> My husband looked at the engine and said "European." and look at the roundhouse behind it!
> 
> Betsy


My husband looked at the photo and said "Germany," "Zug means train," and "look at the boxcar." DH has never been to Germany. He also thought roundhouse was nice.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Brendan Carroll said:


> Miss Anju, they didn't have trains back in the Dark Ages.  They used horses, camels and elephants and they always put them at the rear for obvious reasons. I, too, love trains and have almost always lived within sight and/or sound of tracks, switching yards, crossings (and have been struck by a few crossing guard arms in my life... yeah, the train kind! Not the school crossing guard arms). If there's a good train going by, I'm likely to pull over and watch. I even wanted to be an engineer at one point in my life, but they have to do that math that Betsy's DH is talking about... of course, in the Dark Ages, they didn't have computers either and that was when I wanted to be an engineer... er, I mean... well, just sayin' as someone on these boards is always just sayin'...


What exactly constitutes a "good train," ie, one that's worth pulling over and watching?

My father used to drive all over Long Island (NY) for his job (he sold liquid handling equipment) and brown-bagged his lunch almost every day. He loved to find an access road near an airport and watch the planes take off on land while he ate his sandwich. He never mentioned watching trains but it wouldn't surprise me if he did it.

L


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

This is the McGregor, Texas depot when it was new:



Click for full size image.

Here's the home page: http://www.johnsonsdepot.com/crumley/cyhome.htm









1981









Today​


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

Lots of folk here still pull over on the main highway to Guadalajara to watch the planes.  First couple of times I saw all this traffic I wondered what it was all about, but then realized where they were and what direction they were looking


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Jeff said:


> This is the McGregor, Texas depot when it was new:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And it's because of that train station that there is even a town of McGregor...

A doctor with the redundant name of Gregor McGregor granted the railroad a right-of-way and thereby earned the honor of having the town named after him. Like nearby Waco, McGregor was blessed with artesian springs. Lots were sold from a railroad flatcar in September of 1882 by a state land commisioner.

http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/McGregor-Texas.htm

I love reading about Texas ghost towns at that website. A lot of them are ghost towns because when the train was built it bypassed the town, and that was that.

L


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> And it's because of that train station that there is even a town of McGregor...
> 
> A doctor with the redundant name of Gregor McGregor granted the railroad a right-of-way and thereby earned the honor of having the town named after him. Like nearby Waco, McGregor was blessed with artesian springs. Lots were sold from a railroad flatcar in September of 1882 by a state land commisioner.
> 
> I love reading about Texas ghost towns at that website. A lot of them are ghost towns because when the train was built it bypassed the town, and that was that.


Ha-ha-ha. Yes, you're quite right, except we have no ghosts here, just a lot of old, empty buildings.

Stephen Austin capped the artesian springs after "accidently" wiping out the Waco Indian Village on the Brazos River.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Leslie said:


> My father used to drive all over Long Island (NY) for his job (he sold liquid handling equipment) and brown-bagged his lunch almost every day. He loved to find an access road near an airport and watch the planes take off on land while he ate his sandwich.


Sad to say, if he did that today, he'd probably be harrassed by the cops!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

scarlet said:


> Sad to say, if he did that today, he'd probably be harrassed by the cops!


Yes, very true. Here, the road next to the Portland Jetport has barbed wire all over the fence and a sign every 3 feet. If you stop for even a second, someone appears immediately to shoo you away.

A while ago...probably 20 years, now, although it seems like yesterday, the Westbrook HS band was in the Rose Bowl parade (I live in Westbook). They were having tailgate parties at the airport to send the kids off, and everyone lined the access road to cheer as the plane took off. Those days are certainly long gone!

L


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

...but you can still watch trains.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Jeff said:


> ...but you can still watch trains.


well... it depends where.... i almost got arrested for taking a picture of a subway tunnel.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

I should have known you'd have a contrary onion.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Jeff said:


> I should have known you'd have a contrary onion.


Now, there's no way I can answer this without sounding difficult...


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Meanwhile, as that giant freight train was rumbling by me yesterday, I was busy reading my Kindle. LOL.

I always wonder about the freight cars that say PanAm. Wasn't PanAm an airplane carrier?










Yes, I knew it was...

L


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Since Pan Am airways went bankrupt, others have used the name and..

In 1998, Guilford Transportation Industries, a shortline operator of railroad lines assembled from the routes of now defunct railways chiefly in New England, purchased Pan American World Airways and all related naming rights (Pan Am III).[65] The railway is now operated as Pan Am Railways.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

scarlet said:


> Now, there's no way I can answer this without sounding difficult...


Your onions are always welcome.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Jeff said:


> Your onions are always welcome.


Good, because they are free to a good (even bad) home....

(oh and if any one is worried that Jeff or I are annoyed at each other, nope, just more scarlet bantering with anyone who comes into her evil web...)


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Anyone who has avatars turned off must be lost. Scarlet changed her avatar to a row of onions in reference to a misreading of orion, opinion and onion.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Jeff said:


> Anyone who has avatars turned off must be lost. Scarlet changed her avatar to a row of onions in reference to a misreading of orion, opinion and onion.


don't give away the joke! a little confusion is good for the soul!


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

scarlet said:


> a little confusion is good for the soul!


That's your onion.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Jeff said:


> That's your onion.


yes, it is...


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

The house I lived in until age 8 was about a block from a railroad line heading out west from Chicago. Freight trains heading out from the city would typically have multiple engines and _lots_ of rolling stock. As the engines would motor past our street, they would be going probably something in the neighborhood of 10-15mph (us kids could run along with them). By the time the caboose rolled by, it was probably up to 50mph or so. I'd guess some of those trains were a mile or more long.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Annalog said:


> My husband looked at the photo and said "Germany," "Zug means train," and "look at the boxcar." DH has never been to Germany. He also thought roundhouse was nice.


Indeed it is -- the "Baureihe 38" -- the P8 series was still in use in Germany when I was a child, and my grandfather wrote a book about them so I have fond childhood memories of that specific type, which is why I picked that picture to post.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Indeed it is -- the "Baureihe 38" -- the P8 series was still in use in Germany when I was a child, and my grandfather wrote a book about them so I have fond childhood memories of that specific type, which is why I picked that picture to post.


Cool!


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