# Odd train



## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Got stopped at a grade crossing yesterday as a ~100 car train rolled by.

Odd thing 1: Old(er) motive power. Two SD40-2s - maybe 45s - and a GP40. I'm no good at IDing diesel locos, especially the more modern, so that's a guess. But like I said, they were old(er). Not the NS power usually seen around here.

Odd thing 2: _Not... one... single_ intermodal or well car. About a third of the cars were GATX hoppers of varying lengths and the rest of the train was all boxcars. Most of the "regular" box cars were NS. The rest, which included some hi-cube, had reporting marks ending in X, so not RR-owned. Very odd to see a train around here with no intermodal containers. They usually make up about half the consist.

That said, the extent of my "rail fanning" is getting stopped at grade crossings, so maybe it's not odd at all.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Not sure where your "here" is, or what railroad, but no, not odd at all.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Here = NC. About 2 mi. south of the NS Linville hump yard.

I can't remember the last time I saw a train w/o _any_ containers.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Here (CN's Toronto-Chicago mainline) trains are either ALL containers or NO containers. And manifest (general freight) outnumber the containers. Very rare to see any containers mixed in the general manifest trains.

On a different line (Toronto-Edmonton & Vancouver/Prince Rupert) container trains will dominate.

CP runs much fewer trains on their lines and some trains will be half container half manifest.


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

I guess I’m lucky. There’s never intermodal traffic on my local lines. They’re boring cars anyway lol 
Lots of GP & SD40-2s though. GLRC has a beautiful lightning stripe scheme. Mostly covered hoppers, tankers, scrap gondolas, boxcars, occasional paper product hi-cube, and center beam flats. Was lucky to catch one heading for the yard last week at midnight just as it crossed the river & adjacent road. I was the only car there. Too bad it was too dark for photos. An unusual catch here is BNSF locos pulling coal porter unit trains empty back west.

Incidental, the GLRC yard in Saginaw, MI is rather interesting. It’s triangular shape, which might be handy for modeling with a peninsula. Good use of space, the edges are all storage tracks, service & turntable in the middle, office way off to the West end. Been meaning to go up there and utilize the foot bridge over the South yard approach to get overhead photos. Kind of a rough neighborhood though.
Some lucky youtuber talked GLRC into doing a cab ride in one of their SD40-2s from Saginaw, MI to the former CSX, now GLRC yard in Flint, MI.


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## LocoChris (Jun 26, 2021)

The local freight trains (short travel distances) will usually be the ones t o have the older locomotives like those that you mentioned. The long distance freights and especially the intermodel trains have the newer locomotives. I guess I watch too much JawTooth.


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