Do you watch the cars too?

[CPSK]

Hi;
When I was a kid, I was mostly interested in the locomotives, not the cars. Of course when there were cabooses, it was always fun to wave to the brakeman, and something to look forward to when the train was finished passing.
But now, as I have come to think of trains as a lot more than fun things to watch, I look at the cars, think of what they are carrying (sometimes it's obvious, but sometimes not), where they are coming from, and where they are going.
I look for company names on the cars, such as Procor, ADM, OmYa, etc; and oh yes - those cars carrying the Epic trash containers... don't have to guess about them!
Is there a proven method to knowing which cars are empty, and which are full loads? Sometimes you can hear the difference, and of course with some cars it's very obvious And then sometimes I can guess by how much power is pulling the string of cars. 100 cars heading up grade being pulled by only 2 3600HP locos are probably mostly empties.

The other day I was noticing some Omya cars, and found one of their plants up in Vermont on the line between Rutland and Burlington. I have used Google to find other names as well.
Maybe I would enjoy watching some industry or yard switching from time to time, but it's hard to get near them. One place I found to see good yard action is Harrisburg, PA. A road parallels the yard, and it's a good place to hang out.
The first time I was there, I didn't realize I was watching a hump yard, and observed some cars rolling along without a locomotive pushing or pulling them.

Anyone care to comment?

Thanks

FW

[ex Budd man]

I always counted (and still do) the cars in every train. I was amazed by the fact that some car may have come from California or Canada. Solid blocks of hoppers or reefers were boring, I craved varity. Today the cars have changed and the roads I knew as a child are gone but its still fun and fasenating to watch as they roll by. Now my grand children have the same fasenation I had so many years ago.

[polybalt]

Is there a proven method to knowing which cars are empty, and which are full loads? Sometimes you can hear the difference, and of course with some cars it's very obvious

If the train is moving slowly enough, you may be able to tell if the coil springs in center of the truck frames are compressed, which indicates the car is loaded.

[Alloy]

An Internet friend went to the Horseshoe Curve observation point last year, and made the comment that much of what's out on the rails are unit trains of one type or another. I've noticed that myself, watching the UP and BNSF freights roll through Oakland. It's car after car of containers, mostly. So I miss the variety of car types that I grew up watching. Still fun to see the locomotives approaching, though.

[CPSK]

An Internet friend went to the Horseshoe Curve observation point last year, and made the comment that much of what's out on the rails are unit trains of one type or another. I've noticed that myself, watching the UP and BNSF freights roll through Oakland. It's car after car of containers, mostly. So I miss the variety of car types that I grew up watching. Still fun to see the locomotives approaching, though.

Interestingly though, here in New Jersey, where I have the pleasure to do my training (running) on a path in a park adjacent to the CSX River Line (North Bergen NJ to Selkirk/Albany NY), I have seen a lot of mixed freight, and not a single container train in over two weeks.
I suspect that my timing is off for the containers and pigs. I know that there is a UPS unit train that runs north Tuesday-Saturday in the morning (or at least back in the CR days it ran north through Bergen County, NJ at around 07:30-08:00)
I saw that train on YouTube somewhere in the midwest, from a year ago. The train runs through from North Bergen, NJ to LA, and was the hottest train on Conrail. There is of course another train coming into North Bergen from LA, but I had only rarely seen that one.

I just read on CNN.com that there is a strike on at the LA intermodal facilities, so that may be affecting container trains lately.

I also see a lot of tankers. New Jersey is infamous for its "chemical coast", so there are lots of chemicals coming and going. The other day, the train was moving slow enough for me to see that many of the cars had the telltale red fire symbol on them. Messy stuff if anything happens.
When I used to hang out with some guys who worked for CR, one guy declined a call to take the "HAZ" hazardous train, which would have paid a higher rate than normal trains.

FW

[umtrr-author]

I've always watched the entire train. I must admit I find them less interesting than I used to. Double-stack trains just don't hold my attention the way a mixed freight does, but it remains a very important part of current traffic so can't really complain.

[atsf sp]

I focus on the locomotives. But I always watch the cars to see if there are unusual loads or Fallen flags. I always take pics of fallen flags that I see.
LN Hopper http://jwdp.rrpicturearchives.net/showP ... id=2054960
CNW Hopper http://jwdp.rrpicturearchives.net/showP ... id=1987542
MOPAC Boxcar http://jwdp.rrpicturearchives.net/showP ... id=1987545
WC boxcar http://jwdp.rrpicturearchives.net/showP ... id=1987543
SOO Hopper http://jwdp.rrpicturearchives.net/showP ... id=1987543

[Gadfly]

Not in the way you mean, I don't! I find myself watching trains by, not for "fun", but it was a habit from my working days, burned into me like a brand. I "catch" myself habitually observing cars by, and I guess I'm still looking for sticking brakes, hot boxes (rare), sliding wheels (have caught that before), and dragging equipment! It's hard to stop it since I did it for nigh 30 years! It isn't because I "love" it; it's a habit.
You'd be surprised how this stuff gets burned into you after so long.

Gadfly

[justalurker66]

I tend to watch the rails ... the trains are nice, but I have found I am just as interested in the infrastructure they ride on (switches, signals, etc.) as the trains themselves. One doesn't have to wait to see the rails (although I have waited to see a specific signal aspect).

[3rdrail]

Being a child of the fifties, I lived at a time when there was still a lot of diversity in equipment, although regretably, my generation was too late to witness steam. One neat thing about that time in the Boston area was that I was able to see Penn Central consists. Imagine a twelve year old with various pieces of model railroad cars to run on his layout who routinely couples them up together without rhyme or reason- well, that was the PC ! I've always been partial to passenger consists, so it was they that attracted my attention primarily. EMD E's towing RDC's, RDC's towing old New Haven coaches, GP-9's MU'd to everything but the kitchen sink- it really was a different time in railroading for watching, shall we say "unusual" moves. I lived next to a wooden foot bridge in Boston called the Toll Gate Bridge. The bridge had wooden planking with spaces between them on the walk-ways. You would stand on the upper level and watch for either the New Haven, then later Penn Central, coming towards you from the north (downtown Boston) or south (Providence, RI). Your first indication that a train was coming was the bright but silent head light in the distance. As the train approached, from the vantage spot of being above, you could discern the movement of the cars within the consist. As a rule, most passenger equipment stayed pretty much true to the behavior of the other cars in the consist. RDC's snaked like a python while the Aero Train was straight as an arrow. It was fun to watch this movement as the train approached. Once it reached the bridge underneath, you were engulfed in smoke, particularly if you were above an Alco. It was so thick, it was disorienting and you held onto the side fence so as to make sure that you weren't floating in the sky. The wooden bridge trembled as if in an earthquake. Vision for ten or fifteen seconds was nil. At the same time, a giant roar beneath you made you realize that this was one powerful machine. After the smoke cleared, you quickly turned around to face the other direction and were witness to the tail end of the train quickly getting smaller and smaller as it rapidly made it's progress on the Boston - Providence Main Line. From the engine's roar, the "clickety-clack" of the car's wheels on jointed rail was the song heard, the volume of which quickly lessening. The whole train (and bridge too) was part of this great show. Without any of it's components- locomotive, cars, exhaust, speed, bridge, wooden planking, height, various sounds, it would not have been the very special experience that it was.

[John_Perkowski]

A couple of days ago I had a treat on my evening commute. I was on Missouri 45, paralleling the historic CB&Q (route of the Pioneer Zephyr) between East Leavenworth and Waldron, MO.

A train was southbound on the main. Yes, I look at trains, even coal unit trains. I like to look when Boeing is moving 737 fuselages from Wichita to Seattle.

This day, though, I didn't pass the train: It passed me. It was an inspection passenger run, under lead of an SD-70MAC, with business car Atchison in the middle, and one of the ex-SP commuter coaches converted to a theater observation on the tail. He was holding the mainline heading for Kansas City and Murray Yard.