I've occasionally placed the engine in the middle of the train - on branch lines run with a push-pull train aka the GWR. So passenger car with drivers station in the front, then engine, then freight wagons and vans bringing up the rear
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Having seen The Laker and The Mountaineer pass by, daily, decades ago, the Soo Line attached milk and occasionally express cars equipped with passenger trucks ,to the back end of the consist and more often than not brought up the markers. These would really make time as if propelled by a rocket despite being exclusively made of heavyweight passenger cars..An occasional off road car would be in the mix but that was very rare. I only witnessed this twice.Someone told me quite awhile ago this saved time in local drop offs as the added cars were built in the consist by the sequence of their being dropped at various points without breaking up the consist at the engine. Local switchers would spot the cars for unloading. At least that what I was told, but on the Soo, I saw them at the back end.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
Funny the October issue of CTT has an article of the arrangement of passenger cars and in one set up it has it listed as milk states milk and milk cars(refrigerator) and then coaches and thats it so basically theres my answer other set ups have like a baggage ( unmanned) or a boxcar ( normally used to carry mail) as the lead car
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
rtraincollector,
This is a great video.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Ralph
phillyreading Most of the time freigt cars are put up front because of the weight factor. If you put a passenger car in the front of a freight consist the frame of the passenger car could warp or buckle under stress from the weight behind it. The same can be said for most cabooses, you don't see them up front. Lee F.
Most of the time freigt cars are put up front because of the weight factor. If you put a passenger car in the front of a freight consist the frame of the passenger car could warp or buckle under stress from the weight behind it. The same can be said for most cabooses, you don't see them up front.
Lee F.
Lee I didn't go looking for this it was just sent to me tonight by a friend that models in HO who happens to be in FL also but it made me think of your post
servoguy The cabooses were very strong because they had to handle the force of a pusher which would often be cut in behind the caboose.
The cabooses were very strong because they had to handle the force of a pusher which would often be cut in behind the caboose.
Servoguy I wasn't going to go into detail but yes I have seen cabooses right behind an engine with a long freight and a caboose at the end also. I know they made them just as strong as most of your hoppers or boxcars.
This is a good question.
This info. is good to know, in order to run our scale model trains prototypically correct.
Thank you,
Caboose where design for the rear as a warning for an train coming up on them from the rear. I found out the real reason freight are first is because when they need to switch freight out they drop the passenger cars off temp at a near by station go get/drop off what freight cars the need to and then go back and get passenger cars and continue down the tracks.
The steam-era answer would be freight in front, passengers behind, to get them as far from the smoke and cinders as possible. But Amtrak put their express cars at the end of the train.
Bob Nelson
Question if a train was hauling both frieght cars and passenger cars which would be on the end of the train the passenger cars?
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