Where do freight trains stop?

Question

I have never seen a freight train stop. Maybe it's just the city I live in, but it seems like a freight train would stop at a few factories or something to load up, but I have never seen one stop. Passenger trains stop all the time at the station, but never freight trains which seem very long to stop anyways.

Answer 1

The only train that will stop at local industries is your local switcher. He probably comes once a day and he's just one train. He comes out of a freight yard outside a nearby large city.

He got the freight cars from other trains, that probably tore through your town at 50 mph on the way to that yard. They came from some other major yard hundreds of miles away.

But nowadays, I'd say most trains are going thousands of miles, and they don't stop for anything but crew change or fuel. That'd be

- Unit trains, a whole train of just one thing for one customer. Say, a coal train from Wyoming oilfields to a Georgia power plant, or a grain train from Iowa to Virginia chicken farms, or the Barnum & Bailey circus train.

- Intermodal trains (that's truck trailers or containers). They go between the largest cities, i.e. L.A. to Atlanta. Sometimes they unload a boat full of containers onto a train in L.A., it goes straight to New York and is loaded on another boat. This is faster than sailing the boat around the Panama Canal.

Answer 2

Some good answers above.

Wolf is right, when saying that "locals" do the industrial switching, spotting or pulling loads and empties from the shippers and consignees. These cars are usually gathered up and taken to classification yards, where they will become a part of a train consist heading to its destination.

But, more and more, locals will line-up the cars in their train outside of a terminal, "blocking" them according to destination. Then, a thru freight will pick these cars up in block, and they will move from there to destination without the delay in the classification yards.

Trains are also stopped for other reasons, including some given above, such as clearing the main track into a siding to let another train to pass or to be met. This is usually on single track main line.

But, trains can be held for maintenance of way work, held out of a yard account no room, the crew has expired on the Hours of Service, the train has mechanical or electrical problems, held for a "non-clearing" train (one that is too long for any sidings on the district) as well as other operating needs that may arise.

Answer 3

They stop in train yards to be classified and put in another train for the destination and sidings to let other trains pass. Trains will also stop where ever they are if the crew has hit the 12 hour limit of service(aka "the dog law"). Sometimes switching is done a night to minimize traffic problems at grade crossings. I live near a railroad track and one day had a train stop because of a broken coupler. A freight train can take over a mile to stop. You just need to look in the right place to see a stopped freight train.

Answer 4

The locomotive will weigh somewhere between 100 & 150 tons,each freight car can weigh around 100 tons fully loaded. In the US a train of 120+ freight cars isn't unheard of,with several heavy locomotives doing the hauling,so you can figure a weight for the whole ensemble of up to 12,000 tons or so. In the UK freight trains are much shorter with the heaviest weighing in at 2,000 tons or thereabouts. The momentum each train will have will obviously be astronomical and to ensure safety stopping distances have to be generous.This will stop wheels locking & skidding causing damage to the wheels & track as the dymanics of the wheel to rail interface are different to the tyre to road interface on a car or truck.The total area of surface contact between the wheel & the rail is surprisingly small & because it is a steel to steel contact on an often slippery surface it will have to take a long way to stop.The stopping distance also stops the loads within the freight cars shifting.

Answer 5

Freight trains stop often... to permit passenger trains to pass, waiting to enter yards, and reaching those yards.

Now a-days (especially in the USA), MOST rail-freight is containerized and or in UNIT trains (one product), so it travels from more CENTRAL yards, rather than freight-depots in each town. A freight will stop in outlying yards, and drop off a few cars which will be shuffled to their destination by a yard engine.

I remember in the 70's when Sunnyvale California had dozens of industrial spurs... Libby Fruit, Concrete & Lumber Yards, etc.

Answer 6

Freight trains stop at depots and when there is an emergency or a red signal. Only local freights stop at factories and stuff like that.

Answer 7

The intermodal trains stop and unload the cargo containers at the intermodal yards. There's also mixed freight yards as well. They stop, just not at stations. They stop for red lights too.

Answer 8

They stop at factories and plants. Sometimes they are used to move raw materials between locations. Some just carry products to loading docks or factories where they are loaded/packaged for final destinations.

Answer 9

Most go to rail yards or places like container ship docks. Sometimes a small siding along a route will bring a stop to drop or pickup cars. Then cars are shuttled to industrial plants or manufacturing facilities.

Answer 10

The trains start at a depot, where trucks bring the load for the cars, they then travel a great distance to another depot, where the cars are unloaded and distrubuted. You're probly not near one.