Heartland Division CB&QThe CB&Q operated many branch lines and mix train were a way of life for a large number of them. Locomotives at the end of WWII, were small steam locomotives, and a 4-6-0 with small drivers was a common type. By the 1950's steam was on the way out, and an assortment of locomotives were used. Examples are the GE 44 ton engine, EMD SW-1, EMD SW-7, and EMD GP-7. That is not a an all inclusive list. Passengers would be hauled in a combine passenger car modified for branch line service with stoves for heat. Some of those cars were were former motor cars (gas electric doodlebugs) with engines removed. Also, at least one of the old wooden, side door cabooses had benches installed for passengers.
twhiteWhat's a 'Cabbage?' I'm not familiar with the term.
There is a great book on the subject - click here
The CB&Q operated many branch lines and mix train were a way of life for a large number of them. Locomotives at the end of WWII, were small steam locomotives, and a 4-6-0 with small drivers was a common type. By the 1950's steam was on the way out, and an assortment of locomotives were used. Examples are the GE 44 ton engine, EMD SW-1, EMD SW-7, and EMD GP-7. That is not a an all inclusive list. Passengers would be hauled in a combine passenger car modified for branch line service with stoves for heat. Some of those cars were were former motor cars (gas electric doodlebugs) with engines removed. Also, at least one of the old wooden, side door cabooses had benches installed for passengers.
Here are examples of my mix trains for my branch lines. I would encourage people to include branch lines on their layoutrs because they are fun to operate.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
My favorite mix train was and remains N&W's Abingdon Mixed train..AKA The Virginia Creeper..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
Howdy, Dean.
"Mixed," in this consist, is a scheduled passenger run that has a freight car or two (or as many as need to be moved) in the consist.
I remember waiting on a platform in Fukuoka-ken for a scheduled train which was usually a pair of DMU. When it arrived, it proved to be a C11 class 2-6-4T and two elderly (read filthy) coaches, with a goods box and an empty drop-side hopper between.
That particular branch didn't move enough freight to justify a separate freight train, even though it had a few producing coal mines (mom and pop size) on the route. The empty gon was scheduled to be loaded with coal, and the box was loaded with LCL for the end-of-the-line freight house.
That is what I am modeling.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
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I'm confused! Until I saw this thread, I always understood that a "mixed" train had a consist of mostly freight but had a passenger coach or combine tacked on the end where the caboose should be. This provided passenger service on branch lines where it wouldn't be profitable to run a regular passenger train. Several railroads, the Burlington Route in particular, rebuilt combines, sometimes with a cupola for the trainmen to keep an eye on the train. The D&RGW narrow gauge lines (and possibly other NG lines) added end ladders and roof walks to coaches and combines for mixed service.
I'm a little dull from the turmoil in my life (losing my housing subsidy---and the prospect of losing my model RR stuff in the downsizing!), so I don't recall the article, even though I read it. Maybe he meant mixing heavyweight and lightweight/streamlined equipment, but that doesn't really make it a "mixed train." Or am I wrong?
The present-day, "Cabbage," is a carbody diesel (gutted F7 or similar) with concrete ballast in the fuel tank and the prime mover replaced by a baggage room. The controls in the cab can control the loco at the other end of the train during the, "Push," phase of push-pull operation. Seems the FRA thinks every passenger train should be fronted by a big, heavy battering ram...
As for mixed trains, three scheduled trains each way on the Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo consist of a locomotive and a single coach, and can be filled to tonnage with any non-placarded goods wagons that can't wait for the daily mixed freight. If the company business car has to be moved, the freight gets left for the next run.
Texas--
Frankly, it's been so long ago (early 1960's), I'd have to check an Amarillo-Lubbock map. I know there were a couple of smaller towns between the two cities, but as to their names, I'd be totally lost. I think it's about 140 miles or so between the two cities, as I remember.
PS: What's a 'Cabbage?' I'm not familiar with the term.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
twhitethe Santa Fe had a branch line that connected with their mainline through Amarillo coming in from the north, and there was a daily mixed train that came through down from somewhere in Kansas (or maybe Colorado)
I can't find any Amarillo-Lubbock trains listed. I've got Lubbock-Crosbyton #89-90, Lubbock-Bledsoe #79-80, and Lubbock-Seagraves #77-78. I'm not good on geography in that part of the country. Is Amarillo between any of those two points?
markpierceSo, what is your favorite mixed train, and do you model any?
Mark--
I remember when I was stationed in Amarillo Texas in the Air Force, the Santa Fe had a branch line that connected with their mainline through Amarillo coming in from the north, and there was a daily mixed train that came through down from somewhere in Kansas (or maybe Colorado) that was usually powered by a PA set, along with about thirty freight cars, a standard baggage and a couple of streamlined coaches at the end. It was the most unusual 'mixed' train I'd ever seen. Santa Fe also ran a daily mixed from Amarillo southwest along a rather busy branch to Lubbock. This was back in the early 'sixties when Santa Fe was still promoting both local and transcontinental passenger service. One thing about the Amarillo-Lubbock train, the passenger cars were ALWAYS ahead of the cattle cars, LOL! It made for some interesting train-watching.
Mark; I'm with you on that because on my system --- along two walls in basement to join into a center peninsula leaving 35" ailes between-- I fashioned this like two branchlines going into a wye then onto a 'mainline' that eventually interchanges with BNSF--with any luck at all.
The period I'm modeling 70's/80's supposedly didn't have too many mixed trains but there were a few around. I even can use tourism as a means to justify mixed or better yet our 'customers' never gave up on trains because they were smarter...heeheehee
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
jecorbett The terminus of the branchline will be a summer resort area that will require passenger service.
The terminus of the branchline will be a summer resort area that will require passenger service.
While a mixed train might be adequate during the "off season," I'd hope that a dedicated passenger train would be needed during the height of the tourist season.
On the layout I'm planning, the branchline trains run on the mainline before going on the branch. That was quite common for the prototype. For the modeler, it gives the branchline trains a longer run and reduces the need for extensive facilities at the branchline/mainline junction. The saved space can be used for other purposes (more industry, more scenery, etc.)
Mark
twhite I always enjoyed the Mina Branch, I'd parallel it when I'd come up US 95 to Fort Churchill when I was in the Air Force in Texas. I understand that the rails have been torn up below Hawthorne, now.
I always enjoyed the Mina Branch, I'd parallel it when I'd come up US 95 to Fort Churchill when I was in the Air Force in Texas. I understand that the rails have been torn up below Hawthorne, now.
Yeah, I drove along it some eight or ten years ago and the track (rail and ties) had been pulled. The former Mina yard was a bare expanse. The freight depot was still standing, barely.
You're right about the cab-forward photo. There is one in Signor's book, as well as a train headed by a Ten-wheeler, and my favorite photo, pulled by a Mikado (a close-up, whole-train view with snow-covered mountains in the background, while the cab-forward was taken at some distance to show the entire train which was much longer but did include two military vehicles on a flat car.) (Whew, that last sentence is too long.)
My layout is freelanced. I have a branchline planned that will interchange with my mainline and it will have a mixed train. The branch will serve two towns and a number of industries. The terminus of the branchline will be a summer resort area that will require passenger service. Among the industries planned are a winery, a cannery, and a creamery, a sawmill, and a firearms factory. I might try to squeeze in one or two. Hopefully, I can complete my mainline scenery this year which will allow me to begin construction of the branch line next year.
Unfortunately, my Yuba River Sub doesn't have a branch-line (though I'd sure like to knock out a wall and put one in, LOL!), so the closest I have is a local, the 'Yuba River Express' which is usually my Pacific or my Ten-Wheeler, an express car (for Kokonie Salmon in season), baggage-mail and a couple of coaches. It's kinda/sorta based on the old WP "Feather River Express", and like that train is ANYTHING but an express--it stops at fishing holes along the river. I've often thought of adding a couple of freight cars for set-outs along the line.
I remember photos of that Mina mixed train. I think one shows it being pulled by one of SP's older AC-2 'flat-face' 2-8-8-2's. That train had a LOT of character! I always enjoyed the Mina Branch, I'd parallel it when I'd come up US 95 to Fort Churchill when I was in the Air Force in Texas. I understand that the rails have been torn up below Hawthorne, now.
Because my shortline is 'mostly' freelance I do run mixed--twice daily. I have a single GP9(bought recently at a basement sale) haul a combine with mail, two LCL box cars and an extra coach if needed--we still use cabeese here.
Has everybody read Andy Sperandeo's article on page 144 of January's Model Railroader on running mixed trains? It reminded me of my favorite mixed train, the Mina Mixed (or Local) on the Southern Pacific Railroad, train numbers 605 and 606.
The train was a bit unusual in that it carried a Railway Post Office. Typical passenger-car complement was two cars: a baggage-express-mail car and a chair car. The train left Sparks, Nevada in the evening and arrived in Mina in the morning, and then returned to Sparks in the late afternoon. It ran on the SP mainline between Reno and Hazen, making an average of 30+ m.p.h., and then on the branchline between Hazen to Mina at an average overall speed of about 20 m.p.h. I believe it ran until the early 1950s (the year of 1953 is in my head). A one-way trip would take about eight hours. The train is pictured on pages 268 through 273 in John Signor's book Southern Pacific's Salt Lake Division.
So, what is your favorite mixed train, and do you model any?