NO SUCH THING AS A SHORT STOP???

[ironhorseman]

No, this isn't about baseball.

On a MondayI went out for a run and came acrossed a stop train on a siding here in town streched all the way out into the country. I waited about 15min in the cold for this thing to move. It didn't so I ran somewhere else and came back 30min later. It moved just as I got back but only 4 car lengths. I figure it was here a while before I got here which maybe it was stopped an hour or more. I got back into town (it's a small town) and it started to roll. I beat the tail end of to the cemetary maybe a mile and a quarter from where I was when it started. It had 2 pushers: green BN SD40-2 and Dash 9 H2 with front door open.

The following WednesdayI was out for a run and got stopped by a UP coal train, same place. There was MOW machines on the track. The train was running wrong main when it was stopped. Interesting it didn't switch subs like usual. So I waited about 15min for this one. Finally I was gonna head back the long way. I told these people it'd be faster to go around than wait here and told them about the previous Monday. They offered me a lift and I rode in the back of the pick-up to spot north of town where I continued my run home. I got back into town and decided to head to cemetery to get a better look at the engines. Just as I got there the last MOW went by and he started to move again. I raced him down to the depot. Took me 5min to run to the depot and got there just as the last car did. He picked up speed pretty quick. I don't know if this stop had anything to do with the wreck further on down the line that day.

There have been many other times when trains stopped on this high-speed corridor and the stop is quite a long time. Back in the summer a train stopped here, 10min later one stopped behind that, 10min later one came from the opposite direction, 10min later another from the opposite direction, 10min later the stopped train moved and 20min later the one stopped behind him moved. (this is a double track main with 2 sidings, by the way).

I know I had a question about all this but I forgot what it was. [%-)] Too busy trying to recall the events. Oh well, maybe I'l think of it later. Is any of this making sence?