i'm doing a project on freight trains that travel across the US / Canada border and am trying to find stats on what kind of cargo is being shipped / how often. is there a way to match a train ID / car number with the contents? help!
I live on the border and I see just about any and every type of railcar there is crossing the border. Any commodities flow either way across the border.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
The first source would be to contact both CN and CP about your needs. In addition, you could contact the American Association of Railroads since they compile data on freight car loading trends.
It's dry, dull and boring. And probably a Niagara Falls volume of info when your looking for a few drops.
But check this out: EBTC Study of Rail Freight Crossing the Canada-U.S. Border
http://ebtc.info/~ebtcinfo/images/stories/docs/pdf/ebtc-rrstudy.pdf
It shows statistics by volume of rail crossings from Calais, Me to International Falls, Mn.
I did not see any breakdown by carload.(I only skimmed thru it).
As to matching a car number with the contents, I would say that is a little more closely held these days. This is an issue more of security. More preventing any potential thieves from knowing cargo and targeting(it has been an issue).
Rgds IGN
I'd be talking to the AAR librarian and their statistics people .