Train Symbols

[BaltACD]

Each railroad has it's own Train Naming conventions and 'rules' concerning priority and other operational realities based upon those conventions in general and for each train in particular. There is very little commonality between each railroads conventions.

Additionally these train naming conventions are built into each companies car and train management computer systems and data bases.

A non-CSX source for the CSX Train Naming conventions is www.bullsheet.com.

[dwil89]

I railfan the NS Pittsburgh Line regularly....On the scanner, crews often call the symbol at signals, but sometimes only call the lead engine. Listening in on the scanner at Altoona, or Conemaugh will hear trains calling symbols and train layout to Dispatchers and to helper sets coupling on to assist trains over the Mountain. Oftentimes, time of day, and the layout of a train will tell you its symbol, For example, PPLX Strawberry Ridge Coaltrains powered by sets of NS SD40-2's are normally symboled 536's and 538's for Eastbound and usually 537 or 539 for Westbound returning empties......There are usually two Eastbound Autoparts-rack trains a day on the Pittsburgh Line. 12N and 18N....with 12N usually appearing first, and often being a shorter train than the 18N. Westbound counterparts are usually symboled 11J and 13N... Loaded Westbound steel slab trains carry the same symbols each day, 69J, for example. Westbound 13G which is a general manifest that originates in Delaware and works at Enola before heading West through Altoona will often have a large cut of empty covered hoppers which are returning from having delivered chicken feed to the Delaware area. Time and repetition will often tell a railfan what symbol a train is....I was sitting on the front porch of The Station Inn in Cresson, Pa. the other day with my scanner on, with a relatively new railfan sitting on the porch with me. As a train would call a signal and tell his symbol, I would tell the other fan what kind of train it would be once it appeared, simply by seeing those symboled trains many times in the past and it just becomes second nature......Dave Williams @ [e-mail]

[TheS.P.caboose]

Very good SP9822. I live closest to the old SP coastline, but not far away from the old Saugas line, Burbank Junction, etc. Two of the trains I enjoyed were the PTLAF because it had a cut of manifest traffic that would be set out on the coast siding and the PCX trains because they had a lot of May Trucking Company trailers on flat cars.

[SP9811]

here is a awesome site that gives SP symbols....

http://www.carrtracks.com/spintro.htm

[TheS.P.caboose]

Agreed Big_Boy. The railroads are tight lipped about their business. Thats understandable.

Myself, I get out railfanning and enjoy what the railroad allows me to see, if anything when out. Along the UP coastline there are 8-10 freights a day plus Amtrak and Metrolink.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Yeah SP, I kind of doubt that symbols would be information that the railroads would distribute freely. Except for us railfans, employees are the only ones who really care.

The guy who created that website, has compiled a lot of information. But, by his own admission, it is far from complete. I found it interesting that CSX is converting some of their train symbols to BNSF style.

I would think that railfanning along more lightly used routes would make symbol identification much easier than if one was trying to identify every train passing through, say, Rochelle Illlinois.

The UP tracks near me are very lightly used, maybe 3 or 4 trains per day, and 2 of those are Triple Crown service. The Joint BNSF and CP trackage is a different story, you can't tell the players without a scorecard.

I suppose it really isn't that important to know where a train is coming from or where it's going to. It's more of a romantic curiosity. At least with BNSF's system, if you see a bunch of grain hoppers heading east, it's generally G, and heading west it's X. Z's go flying by in both directions.

[TheS.P.caboose]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

That is an interesting resource which explains what the symbols mean (I've saved the link), but it really doesn't help to identify a train when you see it out in the real world. Even a scanner won't help much, as trains are just refered to by their lead engine number, which has no connection to the symbol. My experience is limited to the railroads near me, BNSF, CP, and UP.

I have some Pentrex videos, and somehow they have gotten hold of a list or something, because they tell the symbols of all the trains they show. BNSF symbols are very descriptive once you understand them. The easy part is the type of train, the hard part is the origin destination pair, which can't really be determined just by looking at the train.

So, how do you tell the symbol of a passing train? The only really easy identification is Amtrak.

I've been thinking and your comments are valid. Might there be something like a Yahoo!Group for a specific area. I ask because here in Southern California there are several. For the Union Pacific coastline there's Yahoo!Groups headsupcoastfans that covers the coast between Los Angeles and Oakland.

I'm not sure if there is something like this that gives the train symbol and sometimes when the train is called for.

Just a thought. I hope it helps.

[Anonymous]

By me both CSX and NS call out signals as they approach them. Both railroads use the train symbols when they call the signals out. So if you have a scanner you can usually tell what train it is.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Thanks Don, I'll have to try listening for the detectors next time I'm out. I don't usually run into anyone when I'm railfanning, unless it's someone asking me what I'm doing. Of course, that's a different topic.[;)]

[tree68]

CSX in my area now appends the date to the symbol, ie A123-23. I've heard trains that were running a day after origination. There are four through freights that run the Montreal secondary. Through my area, the Q620 and Q623 are southbound, and the Q621 and Q622 are northbound. The difference is that two of them originate/terminate at Dewitt, and two at Selkirk. Thus even/odd is of no consequence - you have to know the trains.

[oltmannd]

Sometimes you hear the train call a signal, respond to a wayside detector or talk to the dispatcher on your scanner.

Sometimes, you just know the commercial schedule of the train and the type of traffic it carries. e.g. Mail 9 follows Mail3 out of Harrisburg mid-morning and usually has a lot of UPS traffic on the head end. .

And, sometimes, you just take an educated guess (a kind way of saying you're making it up) to impress your railfan buddies!

[Big_Boy_4005]

That is an interesting resource which explains what the symbols mean (I've saved the link), but it really doesn't help to identify a train when you see it out in the real world. Even a scanner won't help much, as trains are just refered to by their lead engine number, which has no connection to the symbol. My experience is limited to the railroads near me, BNSF, CP, and UP.

I have some Pentrex videos, and somehow they have gotten hold of a list or something, because they tell the symbols of all the trains they show. BNSF symbols are very descriptive once you understand them. The easy part is the type of train, the hard part is the origin destination pair, which can't really be determined just by looking at the train.

So, how do you tell the symbol of a passing train? The only really easy identification is Amtrak.

[TheS.P.caboose]

A good place that maybe able to help you out is: http://www.railfanswelcome.com/TrainSymbols.htm and along the bottom of the page is a list of the railroads they have the symbols for.

Odd and even or orgin/destination differs by railroad. I hope this helps out.

[bbrant]

Seems like anytime I'm out railfanning I always bump into someone who knows the symbol for every train traveling on the line. I have to admit I'm in awe of people like this. My questions is, how do you get to know which train is which?

For example, I visit Sand Patch grade. I see the trains and I have a rough idea of which some of them are from talking to others but I can't tell for certain. Are even symboled trains designated for eastbounds and odd symboled trains for westbounds?

Thanks,
Brian