# I never knew trains were so long...



## Birdy (Oct 17, 2008)

Until I was looking at google earth and saw a freight that was super long. I know people are going to laugh at me because I honestly don't know a lot about trains, but I had a wow moment.


I love google earth. Except for the parts where the image is blurry.


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## Birdy (Oct 17, 2008)

Oo I'll have to look into that.


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## kai (Oct 19, 2008)

i once rode an intermodal that was so long it couldn't side for anything even the passenger trains were stopping for it, the only time I saw the front of it was when the engine passed me at the yard, we rode the back half and still didn't even see the rear very often...and this is on a route where normally you have that oppurtunity even near the back...I hope CN doesn't wonder why their trains keep falling off the tracks!


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## Birdy (Oct 19, 2008)

Gorgeous train. 
I just recently found out there's a set of tracks not too far from my house. Sometimes when I sit out on my back porch in the evening I can hear it. One day I think I'm going to go out there and just watch it go by.


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## veggieguy12 (Oct 20, 2008)

kai said:


> i once rode an intermodal that was so long it couldn't side for anything even the passenger trains were stopping for it, the only time I saw the front of it was when the engine passed me at the yard, we rode the back half and still didn't even see the rear very often...and this is on a route where normally you have that oppurtunity even near the back...I hope CN doesn't wonder why their trains keep falling off the tracks!



I came into Seattle from Havre, MT on an IM so long that I lost count after 84, and I didn't even see the end. Caught sight of its length on a U-curve in the low-mountain wilderness; never saw the whole of it at once, and was probably sitting in the 3rd fifth of the consist. Unbelieveable.


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## dVEC (Dec 2, 2008)

Rode a pusher unit on a coal train in Texas that was at least 110 cars, probably more (lost count). Was pretty surreal.


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## veggieguy12 (Dec 2, 2008)

rememberusername said:


> I rode a train that had 9 units on the front.



Train like that ought to have a story begins with, "I rode on the 5th of six engines pulling..."


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## dVEC (Dec 2, 2008)

rememberusername said:


> I rode a train that had 9 units on the front.. wasnt THAT long of a train



Sounds like they musta been transporting them somewhere, probably to do repairs or something.


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## dirtyfacedan (Dec 2, 2008)

Up here in BC, all day and night there are 110 car single consists of potash (Canpotex) and coal, as well a the Canadian grainers. The grainers mostly have their power at the head end, middle DPU in winter. Potash trains power is often all head end, OR rear DPU. Coal is always Head end, and with a single center DPU, sometimesit's at the rear. This goes same for both CP and CN most of the time. There are only a few spots in southwestern BC where you can see an entire 110 car train from either end.


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## kai (Dec 2, 2008)

when the full unit canpotex unit trains are heading east (empty) they have power up front only, when they are westbound they always have mid train DPUs. Fuck though, those canpotex trains are freaking long....makes me wonder what scale the many mines they employ must be devastating the earth, same with all the coal trains comin outta sparwood....god it's hard to think, even all the steel the trains are made out of...


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## dirtyfacedan (Dec 3, 2008)

kai said:


> when the full unit canpotex unit trains are heading east (empty) they have power up front only, when they are westbound they always have mid train DPUs. Fuck though, those canpotex trains are freaking long....makes me wonder what scale the many mines they employ must be devastating the earth, same with all the coal trains comin outta sparwood....god it's hard to think, even all the steel the trains are made out of...



Your right about the Eastbound Canpotex trains, long as hell.....


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## veggieguy12 (Dec 3, 2008)

Impressive photo, dirtyfacedan!


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## Birdy (Dec 3, 2008)

I agree. That photo is awesome!


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## TBone (Dec 4, 2008)

Longest US Freight:

"The longest and heaviest freight train on record was 
one about 4 miles in length consisting of 500 coal cars with three 3600 
hp diesels pulling and three more in the middle, on the Iaegar, WV, to 
Portsmouth, OH stretch of 157 miles on the Norfolk & Western RR on Nov 
15, 1967. The total weight was nearly 47,250 tons."

Longest Freight Ever:

"The heaviest and longest train, with the largest number of wagons 
recorded, was run on the 3'6" gauge Sishen-Saldanha railway in South 
Africa on 26-27 August 1989. The train consisted of 660 wagons each 
loaded to 105 tons gross, a tank car and a caboose (guards van). The 
train was moved by nine 50kv electric and seven diesel electric 
locomotives distributed along the train. The train was 7.3km 
(4.5miles) long and weighed 69393 tons, excluding locomotives. It 
travelled 861km (535 miles)." 

I also read it took somewhere around 4 miles to stop the train.

In making this post I found the apparent record breaker:

"The longest train ever was 7.353 km (4.568 miles) long, and consisted of 682 ore cars pushed by 8 powerful diesel-electric locomotives. Assembled by BHP Iron Ore, the train travelled 275 km (171 miles) from the company's Newman and Yandi mines to Port Hedland, Western Australia, on June 21st, 2001."

also:

"While not having set a world record for length, there's a train line in the Sub-Sahara that is used to transport copper from mines deep inland to harbors, where it is loaded onto ships, and those trains are regularly more than 2.5 miles long, and that as said on a regular basis, and not just on a one-off occasion."

So yeah, trains can be real damned long.


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## dirtyfacedan (Dec 5, 2008)

kai said:


> ..makes me wonder what scale the many mines they employ must be devastating the earth, same with all the coal trains comin outta sparwood....god it's hard to think, even all the steel the trains are made out of...



A little of topic, but here goes.

I was thinking about the potash mines the other day...i remember hearing something about them coming out of a strike. Sorry about he link to Canwestglobal's (fuck corporate media giants) Canada.com website...but http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=19016767-bb45-43f8-987e-311be0b2905d

Also... http://www.icem.org/en/27-North-Ame...99-Day-Strike-at-Potash-Corp.-of-Saskatchewan

I didn't notice much of a drop in the amount of Canpotex trains on the westcoast of Canada...maybe they had a lot of potash stockpiled.

the mines are here... http://canpqlx.sasktelwebhosting.com/popups/potash_mines.htm


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## kai (Dec 5, 2008)

Widerstand said:


> I disagree with this statement... I have seen countless Canpotex trains south of Eastport and west of Hinkle that were long and load and had no mid or rear end DPU's on them.



please bear in mind the only places I have seen them are on cp's main and southern secondary line heading from saskatchewan west...I did see one near lethbridge once which would have been headed to Eastport but it also had a DPU...otherwise I always see the westbounds with helpers and the eastbounds without...the trains you saw wthout dpus were headed towards portland or back to saskatchewan?


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## Birdy (Dec 5, 2008)

4.5 miles?! Wow.


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## kai (Dec 6, 2008)

i definately agree it's good to know, as it stands I was pretty much under the assumption that fully loaded Canpotex trains headed to west over the mountains always had DPUS...do you think maybe they ditch the slaves in Cranbrook, I did read in the CC that it said westbound/swbd canpotex from Eastport usually have mid train dpus. Do you see westbounds both with and without or strictly without? Seen them with dpus as far west as kamloops and as far east as moose jaw...not sure if the trains rolling to thunder bay would have them...also does anyone know where the canpotex facility is...do they stay on CP mains until moose jaw heading east or go further, pm me...i been wondering this for a while...also DPUS on canpotex east to Thunder Bay??


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## dirtyfacedan (Dec 6, 2008)

Most of the Canpotex CP trains near Van have no DPU's, both directions. It would seem they use pusher, and mid DPU mostly in winter, some of the time, in some places. There are at least one, if not two, even three a day. Between them, and the grainers, coal, sulfur (some mixed, some not), and the junk trains.....it gets to be a busy place.


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## kai (Dec 7, 2008)

i haven't seen any canpotex trains west of kamloops but I can imagine that no DPU would be necessary but I have canpotex and coal going through the CP yard there with DPUS in the middle and on the ends. As far as east of kamloops I always see Canpotex with DPUs. Dan, do you know if they ditch the DPUs in Boston Bar or Chase? I have heard and seen lone units in chase before but don't spend much time riding in that area...although shame on being from BC and all I tend to know my way around the ontario lines a whole lot better then I do the west, but I know what i've seen on them potash trains...empty no DPU's and Loaded with DPU's...If there's no grade through Eastport south then I think it's safe to say they might take off the DPU in Cranbrook cause I know they generally add them around Moose Jaw or Swift Current and I have seen them east of lethbridge on CP's secondary southern line in Alberta. 

Just a quick off topic question...do any of you know about Union Pacific's role in the southern portion of western Canada...I see UP trains around the Crowsnest area, and around cranbrook and even further west of cranbrook towards nelson and also in Coalhurst near lethbridge...do they switch jobs with CP or do work on Canadian trackage?


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## Shoestring (Jan 30, 2009)

*Longest I've ever ridden was from Ipswitch, South Dakota to Aberdeen, South Dakota with 430 grain cars! Ipswitch to Aberdeen is like only 35 miles and I was in the rear unit when we picked up the last set of add-ons. The reason I knew how long it was is because the brakeman came back and told me what we were doing was going ahead (while out), plus being that close to the Aberdeen yards,... that we were taking all the grainers into the yard and saving the GP-38's a trip out to Ipswitch the next day. We still only had three units at around 3,200 HP each, but slowly made it on in to Aberdeen.
(This also was when Burlington Northern in that area was running "Dark Territory" back in 1991)........................The longest set of trailing units on a train I rode was 21 units. They were doing a "unit transfer" from Marysville, Kansas to Kansas City's "Neff Yards".*


TBone said:


> Longest US Freight:
> 
> "The longest and heaviest freight train on record was
> one about 4 miles in length consisting of 500 coal cars with three 3600
> ...


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