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[Anonymous]

This is for a screenplay I'm writing.

If so, WHAT TYPE of cargo train would this be -- I am hoping it would be one with an open-top cargo car.

Thanks, any responses will be helpful.

[michaelstevens]

I can think of one possibility, or one category of FREIGHT (in North America) train -- those are the CSX garbage trains -- they run from Queens (?) via Albany via Philadelphia via Baltimore to an enormous landfill somewhere in WVa or Western PA.
They consist of (as many as 50) 85' flat cars, each with 4 containers (tarped over) painted grey (Coltainer) or dark green (no markings).
Otherwise, I think that your gondola will be stuck in "mixed manifest" freight trains which will re-lay it from yard to yard -- e.g. New Haven to Selkirk to Morrisville to Hagerstown to Charleston.

Good luck with the movie !!

[Anonymous]

Also, it depends on what you mean by "non-stop."

All trains are going to stop when it is time to change the train crew at the end of a shift. Like the rest of us, trains crews only work 8 hours or so - they don't stay with a train 24/7, so any train will stop to put a new crew on and continue.

I think your question is whether your train will be broken apart when it stops. (Cars will be removed or added as needed as the train continues on its journey until it reaches the "end of the line.")

That depends on the train. If it is a mixed through manifest (scheduled on a timetime) freight train (not a local), chances are your gondola will not be touched and your stowaway will remain undiscovered. And these trains will not stop again for hours after it gets going in the first place - that is until the next crew change 8 -10 hours later. (Now, your train may stop to allow another train to pass, but no one gets out to check the train, and once the other train passes your train continues on its way.)

By the way, these stops are all good opportunities for your hero (is he the hero or the antihero in your story?) to get on or off the train.

Also, check out the Rand-McNally Railroad Atlas (your library may have it) It shows railroad lines in the USA and you can then pick what lines make logical sense to your story.

[Anonymous]

Every train has to stop sometime. The one way this may be possible in a true long range train is to have a sleeper with a kitchen and 2 sets of crew.

We used to run non stop from Washington State to Boston Mass with apples in about 80 hours or less with a semi truck. Stopping every 800 miles for fuel. Lavatory, Cooking etc was done on the move.

To see railroads do this will probably be a long time coming. Until then we must use what we can under the law. (The Hog-Law that is)

[tree68]

Check www.bullsheet.com. It'll take some research into all of the different trains, but you can probably find something that runs that way. The obvious choice for open top cars would be hoppers, and since coal travels from WV to NY and CT, and empty hoppers go back, that would be your candidate. Bullsheet is strictly CSX.

[Anonymous]

I don't mean to speak for Screenwriter, but his story opens with a helicopter shot moving in over a train in the NY, CT, WV area. His hero is found passed out in an open topped freight car.

An empty hopper would be difficult to get into and out of. And (I think ) uncomfortable. The best choice for the scenario would be a gondola. I would imagine that CSX runs empty gondolas in mixed freights in that area. Does bullsheet.com cover that?

[dehusman]

A gondola would be switched between New York and W Va. The question is how did he get into the gon. Carrying someone into a gon would be no easy feat, since the top of a gon is easily 8-10 feet off the ground. If he fell (or was pushed) off an overpass into a gon he would be more than likely seriously injured, since the drop would be 15-20 feet down onto a hard (steel or wood surface). With an empty hopper there is always the explanation that by hitting the slope sheet of the car its a glancing blow and he then slid down the slope sheet, thus avoiding fatal injuries (disclaimer : do not try this at home, jumping, falling, etc into a railroad car will result in serious or fatal injuries. It is only because its fiction that the hero won't be killed.) In a gon a passing train might be able to see inside and spot the hero. In a hopper car you'd have to be almost directly overhead. Some hopper cars have rung inside the end so you can climb out. Plus it adds the added possibility of suspense as the train arrived the flood loader in W. Va and the coal train begins to be loaded, the hero awakening and crawling out just as the far end of the car begins to load with coal.....

Dave H.

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by milw2004

I don't mean to speak for Screenwriter, but his story opens with a helicopter shot moving in over a train in the NY, CT, WV area. His hero is found passed out in an open topped freight car.

An empty hopper would be difficult to get into and out of. And (I think ) uncomfortable. The best choice for the scenario would be a gondola. I would imagine that CSX runs empty gondolas in mixed freights in that area. Does bullsheet.com cover that?

Generally no, but it would provide a sense of the routing of a representative train. The work being fiction, the train makeup is flexible, but hitting some "real" towns as he moves south would provide a bit of realism. The Q620-623 are all manifest freights - a gon is as likely as not (although he'd be headed for Montreal if he used them).

[ndbprr]

How about a TOFC car - 86' flat that handles trailers. Containers and trailers are high priority and move fast. he could be on a TOFC car with one trailer at one end and him at the other.

[dehusman]

So you think a flatcar could go 5-600 miles with a guy laying on the deck with nobody noticing? You can see the deck of a flatcar standing flatfooted on the ground. The Railroad would get a couple tresspasser reports within the first 100 miles or so, especially on a TOFC train that the RR police check frequently.

Dave H.

[ndbprr]

I think it could be set up in this case so he wasn't visible from the side. he could also be in the bottom of a well hole car. Let's face it. The premise isn't plausible to anyone who knows any way. Sarcasm noted and unappreciated.