FTGT725 wrote:I've heard that passenger trains are limited to 1500 feet in length. Is this true and if it is, why? What was the longest passenger trains either in the past or present?
I'm not aware of any rule limiting passenger train length, but the Amtrak website states that the Auto Train is the longest passenger train in the world with two engines and fourty plus passenger cars and auto carriers. If we knew the exact consist, we could figure the length in feet.
The Coast Starlight was 18 cars long when I rode it in 1976 and it was too long to fit on the platforms at Seattle's King Street Station.
The Ringling Bros/Barnum & Bailey Circus train is about a half mile long - though not composed entirely of passenger cars.
Except for mail & express trains and the Auto Train, 18 cars on the Super Chief/El Capitan in the pre-Amtrak and early Amtrak period is the longest scheduled passenger train of which I'm aware. Platform lengths are often the limiting factor. There may be some factors related to braking that I don't know about.
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