Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill Jamie: As you know, railroad schedule symbols and airline schedule symbols could never be quite the same thing, as the airplane is a discreet entity while the train is a collection of things that changes from day to day. Railroads used to have romantic train symbols, but they faded away by the early 1980s. Back in the day, UP had the Van (VAN) and the Super Van (SUPRV), the Overland Mail West (OMW) and the California Livestock Special (CLS). Rio Grande had the Utah Express (UTE), the SPF (Southern Pacific Forwarder), and the Red Ball Express (RBX). Western Pacific had the Golden Gate Merchandise (GGM) and Bay Area Forwarder (BAF). Those were all colorful, full of romance, history, and importance. Heck, I'd even take SP's sensible alpha system or Santa Fe's number system over what we have today. UP's alpha system is ostensibly the same as SP's but because it puts the type of train before the origin-destination pair, it won't flow off the tongue, but is as cold as the columns of a spreadsheet. Wouldn't you prefer "Hinkle to North Platte Perishables" over "Perishables, Hinkle to North Platte"? The former sounds like a train; the latter could be nothing more than a crate! And with the addition of all the modifying numbers, the symbols today have become hopelessly unpronounceable. There was a time I could put a symbol into a sentence when I wrote an article, but I can't do that today without ruining readability.
QUOTE: Originally posted by EFCO The BNSF is similar but different. Sample non coal train: Z ALTLAC1 20 First letter is the train type code letters A through Z" A=Amtrak trains on BNSF track B=Bare table (intermodal with no containers) C=Loaded coal train D=light engine E=empty coal F=foreign train on bnsf track G=loaded grain H=hi priority merchandise I=deadhead crew move J=High/wide special K=helpers L=locals M=regular merchandise N=relief crew O=officers special P=premium service intermodal Q=Guaranteed service intermodal R=road switcher S=Container stack intermodal T=transferservice U=unit train other than coals or grain V=vehicle train W=work train X=empty grain Y=yard Z=Priority UPS The 2nd through 4th letters are the departing station initials, sometimes intuitive but not always. In this case ALT is Alliance, Tx The letters 5-7 are the arrival station, in this case LosAngeles, Ca The station abbreviations can be found at : http://www.bnsf.com/business/html/station_list.html The number after the stations is the section number (1-9). Which can stand for several different types of trains depending on what type of train is involved (the first letter) such as a grain train whose section number is 6 means "Beans" or 8 means "Corn". You get the drift, it's not that important to railfans. The last two numbers is the day of the month the train departed. So our sample would mean a High priority UPS train, from Alliance, Tx to LA, Ca. 1St section, departed on the 20th of the month For Coal trains the stations are the coal mine and the utility plant and the last three numbers would mean the train number count for the year.
QUOTE: Originally posted by rwargofamily How does one know what train number you are looking at? They never seem to use them on the radio here (Minnesota). Is there a list of current train numbers for each railroad posted somewhere?? Rick
QUOTE: Originally posted by BaltACD Each railroad has it's own train naming conventions and for the most part the naming conventions have become a level of 'accounting code' within the railroads computer systems. Some railroads such as CSX use a primarily numeric naming system. Others such has UP use a primarily alphabetic naming system. A brief explanation of the CSX system Q - this is the primary first letter of all merchandise (non bulk commodity) trains. R- First Letter of a 'rerouted' merchandise train L- First letter of a alternate schedule of a mechchandise train A - B - C - D - F - H -J - M - O - First Letter of Divisional Locals and Road Switchers E - First Letter of empty coal hopper train G - First Letter of Unit Grain trains - loads and empties K - First Letter of Bulk commodity trains that are not coal or grain (Ore, Coke, Trash etc.) N - T - U - V - First Letter of Coal trains - there are priority differences between the letters P - Passenger Trains W - Work Trains X - Extra trains of many varieties Y - Yard jobs Z - Foreign Line trackage rights trains For Merchandise Freight trains the first digit inticated the following: 1 - Intermodal 2 - Automotive 3 - East-West General merchandise 4 - North-South General Merchandise 5 - General Merchandise that is not E-W or N-S, ie NE - SW 6 - General Merchandise not otherwise defined 7 - is reserved for Regular Divisonal locals and Road Switchers 8 - is not used in merchandise trains 9 - is used with Extra Divisional locals and Road Switchers The next two digits are just numbers and do not have any specific significace by them selves. The final part of the train ID is the date of origin. Q173-13 - Regular Intermodal Train that originated on the 13th of the month. L173-13 - Alternative scheduled Intermodal train that originated on the 13th of the month. R173-13 - Rereouted Intermodal train that originated on the 13th. The combinations are nearly endless.
QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman The MP/UP system has had several variations on symbols. Originally it was just on or two letter O-D pairs and the origin date (e.g. LV-02 Little rock to Vanderbilt, tx) with only premium trains having a suffix and bulk trains having a prefix (e.g. CHZ and GWTHO) After the UP merger it went to 2 character station codes for the OD pairs. There always was a section code prefix provided for (2LV-02). Also after the UP merger they started adding more prefixes and suffixes for train type. Non-bulk trains also may get a suffix for additional trains on the same OD pair on the same day (AASKS, AASKSB) or a numeric indicator to designate a changed/rerouted/detoured schedule. The SP system required a section code whether or not there was a section, so a formal SP train might be 1-MRVLA-04. One of the computer gyrations after the merger was that symbols passed to the SP system had to have a section number added. After the CNW merger grain trains picked up an additional prefix to denote type of service (Shuttle-S, Dedicated-D, standard-L,E, Cycle-C). Over the years coal trains have picked up additional suffixes to denote various things such as heavy haul cars, extra length trains and 1500 mile inspection trains. Dave H.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
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