How does the freight train system work?

Question

i live in L.A., and whenever i drive to palm springs, along the 10 i see dozens fo freight trains, both long and small. some are moving others just sit there for hours. and there are sometimes lone cars sitting there, and sometimes groups of them not connected to any trains. im just curious about them. they dont run like any other transportation system i know

does anyone know a website which can explain how trains move through the country, and why they leave some cars behind?

Answer 1

Hey Abra. It's a very complexed system. I'm a railroad conductor, and there's a lot I don't understand either. There are "Through Trains" that don't stop. And there are "Locals" that stop at different towns. Sometime the Locals need to wait for the Through Trains to leave, since the Locals will get in the way. The cars that sit there may be empties waiting for a destination, but not always. I work on a Local that picks up car loads of sugar from an American Crystal Sugar plant. Sometimes the sugar cars sit for days until ACS finds someone to buy them, like Hostess or General Mills cereals. Other cars, like covered hoppers, are in demand in the fall when grain is harvested. In the summer there is little demand and they sit all summer. This is only a small perspective of a very large picture.

Answer 2

You're seeing the Union Pacific Line which was also the Sunset Limited line for passenger trains. I drive my bus up that way to go to Living Desert Zoo.

You'll see trains sitting at lights, and sitting forever cos they're low priority. There are high priority trains who get to go first.

Then those with no engines are being stored on a siding to be delivered by the locals or picked up and taken away.

The reason UP has so many sitting...they'll deliver when they feel like it.

Answer 3

This then would be the 'real world' railroading.

Most times, if a crew spends 12 hours on duty, they may only spend six or seven of those hours actually 'moving'.  The rest of the time, you're stuck, waiting for another train.

That's why I find it so funny that so many people think Amtrak is always late due to superiority less than that of a freight train.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I know I wish I had $1 for every minute I've spent waiting on Amtrak.  My computer here would be in an ocean side bedroom on the island of Maui................

But, if you want to get a good understanding of what railroading entails, and if you're not in a hurry, just keep hanging around the 'rail' category.  Lot's of very knowledgeable folks 'round here..............

Answer 4

I've been an engineer for 10 years and still don't know.  My boss apparently has even less knowledge than me.

Answer 5

Well the answers you have are all pretty good. It IS complicated and at times makes absolutely NO sense at all, even if you're on the "inside" so to speak. As for the question how does it work? Pretty well mostly.

Answer 6

If you are talking about the area at S. Riverside & I-10, (found that one on Google Earth ( 34° 3'58.68"N 117°22'45.39"W) )    It is a switching yard used for assembling trains.

  Think of the trucking industry (not full loads but mixed trailer loads, like UPS) where the truck pulls into a distribution center and everything is taken out and sorted for destinations and is sent to all the different trucks going to destinations.

   Now think of a train as carloads of stuff, each carload normally going to one address.  The train arrives at the sorting yard.  The road locomotive goes on its way and a yard loco pushes the string of cars up a hill (the hump) and as the cars are pushed over they are disconnected (sometimes in small groups) and roll into the yard.  Switches are thrown and retarders (external brakes) slow the cars so they don't hit too hard.  The assembled cars are pulled out to go on the road, often several strings going to one location.  A train may be made up of several destinations - lets suppose the train is going to Dallas via Phoenix and Santa Fe.  The 20 cars going to Phoenix would be last in the train, with 30 cars to Santa Fe in front of them and 20 cars to Dallas at the very front.   When reaching Phoenix, the last 20 cars would be dropped and the train might add 10 cars going to Santa Fe.  At Santa Fe, the last 40 cars would be dropped off and perhaps more added to go to Dallas.

  Meanwhile, back in the yard, there are cars that couldn't be assigned to a string.  These have to wait till a train is going in the right direction to get them to or closer to the destination.

  Today, much of this is automated - the bar codes on the side of the cars permit computers to keep track of moving cars and handle the sorting.  

  There are large and small sorting yards all over the country to handle major and minor distributions

Answer 7

What you saw was a railroad yard, wikipedia has a good article on the different types of yards.