When railroads build trains at hump yards is the any certain order they follow? (i.e. loaded vs unloaded, destination, blocks of certain cars, etc)
They will normally sort them by where they are going, what they are carrying, and some other deciding factors determine the way trains are made up.
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The primary sorting methods is by destination.
However, there can be overriding issues, like HAZMAT placement, and too many loads following too many empties.
Nick
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It all revolves around train compliance on my rr BNSF the magic weight is 5,500 tons at tha tonnage the rear 1/3 of the train can not weigh more than the head 1/4 hazmat placement also plays into this, then their are trains that I run that does not have to be in compliance they are specified in the division orders with the exception of some trains that are 9,000 tons and over where I need to have a minimum of 10 loads on the head of the train.
Rodney
Cardinal rule number 1 in building a train is placement of HAZMAT's in conformity with HAZMAT position rules.
Beyond that 'merchandise' trains will normally carry cars for multiple destinations in predesignated 'BLOCKS'. The creation of BLOCKS facilitates the trains ability to set off and pick up at locations along the line of road.
Each carrier has it's own set of rules concerning the placement and numbers of 'heavy loads', 'long cars', number of loads traveling together vs the location and number of empties that are in the train, placement of HAZMAT's in relationship to cars that have longitudinally shiftable loads. These supplemental rules have been developed by the carriers to facilitate the movement of trains on 'their property' and not all carriers will have the same rules.
With a multiple block train, that has a wide range of commodities including HAZMAT and a number of empties and cars that have individual placement restrictions it becomes, at times, virtually impossible for a Yardmaster to build a train that is fully compliant with ALL the restrictions without the train needing to make a 'switch' after a set off to bring the train back into compliance with all the rules. Frequent offenders are have HAZMAT cars fall head out after a set off is made at an outlying point; having HAZMAT as the rear car in a train can fall afoul of the rules if the train requires a manned, rear end helper over some part of the territory.
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