jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I read a couple of articles about how freight trains are getting longer, for various reasons. I experienced that on Saturday. Riding along the highway, I saw what seemed like a never-ending train with hundreds of tank cars parked. A few minutes later, I came across a freight train traveling south. I didn't bother to count the cars, but they seemed to go on forever. Then I had to turn right, and I got stuck at the RR crossing. That train was still going. While I was waiting there, I counted 117 cars, and that doesn't include large number of cars that passed me on the road. They say that trains two miles long will not be uncommon.

I stumbled across a YouTube video with a guy shooting video of freight trains in Altoona, PA. I found it - see below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq8FFkb1yXw

Freight trains are something that most people seldom, if ever, experience, yet the country could not survive without them. Just look at the massive amount of freight being hauled by the first train in the video above. I zipped through it, but it seems to take about 14 minutes to go by.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Thanks for posting. I only watched about 6 min of the video, but yes a whole lot of freight is moved by rail. Growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s and 60s freight trains were a way of life then, as were coal barges on the river.
Have you been to Altoona? The curve and the Altoona Railroaders Museum are very interesting as is Steam Town USA in Scranton.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Here in AZ, it's not uncommon to see freights that are more than a mile long.

ghbowser Loc: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Check out this link for a live web cam at Horseshoe Curve, west of Altoona PA. Not uncommon to see trains over 12,000 feet long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YghZcdke78

pendennis

I worked in the auto industry for nearly 40 years, and trains are the lifeblood of the assembly plant. Everything from sheet metal, to engines, to axles, etc., can be very much densely loaded. Not uncommon for 108k pounds of freight per car. At one time, our company used a pool-car service for suppliers to consolidate LCL and LTL loads on rail cars to common destinations. There are also material handling engineers who design racks and containers, so sheet metal can be shipped from stamping plants, with nearly complete bodies in one rail car. And outbound, finished vehicles are shipped rail, and the technology of protecting vehicles has taken a quantum leap.

One of the more humorous loadings, at least from my perspective, are auto/truck tires. A weave stack pattern is used to maximize loading, since tires have a great deal of built-in "air". The weave also prevents loads from shifting.

Yes, trains are getting longer. Containerized cargo allows two "trailers" per flat car at the port of entry. At the destination, a semi picks up the trailer for the secondary move.

buckbrush Loc: Texas then Southwest Oregon

[quote=jerryc41]" Riding along the highway, I saw what seemed like a never-ending train with hundreds of tank cars parked. A few minutes later, I came across a freight train traveling south. I didn't bother to count the cars, but they seemed to go on forever."

Jerry, as a kid in the early 50s I frequently slept over at a buddies house. The trains would stop for a few hours next to his house most mornings. It was fascinating to hear the trains as they started up. Laying there, in bed, we could hear the click/click of the couplings slack being taken up as the train started. Our ears could hear the sound as it came closer and then passed his house and moved farther away in a train that must have had over a hundred cars.
Good memories.

agillot

Around Taylor ,TX , you could get stuck for a long time at small rail road crossing , like 20 minutes , some seem to go like under 5 mph .So , when you hear a train horn , speed up to get to the crossing before it does .

Jabe

A tie goes to the train however.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

It would probably be better to select an alternative destination that didn't require the crossing.

killroy

My first fulltime job was at a lumberyard. Had a set of tracks that came into and deadended inside the fence. Once a year we would get a load of 1x pine in all widths and lengths. Had to climb into the car and lay on your belly, grabbing one piece at a time, sliding them down to a guy below. Don’t recall how many board feet it was, other than it all got sold in the following year.

cedymock Loc: Irmo, South Carolina

If I am stopped by a train on my path, I roll down the window turn off the car and close my eyes and listen to that wonderful sound.

GrayGhost

Being that I photograph trains as a hobby in my retirement, I can confirm lengths have increased in some instances to over 15000 ft. As for racing a train for the crossing, you are a Darwin Finalist Candidate if you do. Racing trains to crossings is NOT a smart move for as noted above "ALL Ties go to the Train" and YOU LOSE. Figure out another way around that location if the crossing is blocked for your movement.
73
GG

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Jerry, that first clip was about 13.5 minutes, or 820 sec. long. I didn't want to count cars for that long but I did a stop watch and tracked how long it took one car to pass a point. There were different length cars but on average it took a little under 4 sec. That means there were over 200 cars on that train! Huge! I have a question though -- seeing how much freight can be hauled at one time by rail, are there any new tracks being laid down today? I don't mean a mile or two spur coming off a main line to accommodate a new industrial park, I'm talking about a main line that would travel interstate. So many lines have been converted to Rails to Trails it makes me wonder if we haven't been too hasty in reducing our shipping options. Now that gas and diesel are going above 4.00 a gallon, it seems we have short-sided ourselves.

Morry Loc: Palm Springs, CA

I often wondered why more train overpasses were not built to allow for better vehicle traffic continuation.

pendennis

We live about a half-mile north of a rail line which goes into central Detroit. The problem arises with the way over/under-passes were constructed prior to current interstate/expressway designs. The current designs are a panacea for the trains, for the auto traffic - not so much. The original overpass designs had fairly short spans, forcing a lot of split lanes crossing them. Most rail traffic in urban Michigan rides at grade level. We have some fairly high, and low, passes for the trains. In the winter time lots of bridge freezing, and when it rains, underpass flooding. Existing underpasses are fairly steep, creating these problems.