Freight Train Symbolic Names

Ralph:

There is no standardized industry means for identifying trains.  Some use a combination of letters and numbers representing the origin and destination terminals and date the train originated; others, such as NS, use a virtually incomprehensible series of numbers and letters, meaningful only to themselves and anybody with the desire to know.

Curt

The names given freight trains in the steam days have a certain punch to them.  Examples:

   - CB&Q "Advance CD" (Chicago-Denver)

   - CB&Q "Tri-Cities Merchandise"  (Clyde/Cicero-Rock Island/Davenport)

   - Great Northern "Texas" (Seattle-Billings, for CBQ connection to destinations along    the Colorado & Southern and Fort Worth & Denver)

   - CRI&P "California Goldball" (Burr Oak Yard-Tucumcari, NM)

   - PRR "Yankee" (NJ-Chicago)

   - D&RGW "The Ute' (Denver-Salt Lake, via Moffat Tunnel route)

 

I don't know about the eastern roads, CSX and NS, because I don't model them.

 

BNSF uses 7 letters followed by a number. The first letter is the type of train followed by two, 3 letter origin and destination codes, very similar to airline baggage tags. Finally a number to designate which train it is that day since some routes have multiple trains each day.

 

CP uses a letter for train type followed by a 3 digit number for origin destination pairs. Two consecutive numbers are assigned to the route, in the classic style. I forget which is eastbound and which is westbound odd or even.

67 and W are the specific train ID. There's a bunch of others in that range with similar suffixes that are unit oil trains. 24 is the origination date. Look up NS train symbols. There's a variety of websites that have them. NS, CSX, CP, and CN all have similar styles. UP  and BNSF get a little complicated and I have yet to find a website that lists all of them.

 

Trevor

Find a copy of the February 2015 issue of Trains magazine. Great article in there called "Breaking the Code". It'll tell you everything you want to know (and more).

My favorite was Southern Pacific's Blitz Local, which served the Mojave-Lancaster-Palmdale area in the California high desert.  The name -- obviously -- was unofficial, but everyone used it and it was entirely accurate in its description.  Every time I saw the Blitz Local it was either running very fast to duck into a siding to clear a through train, or switching a spur track with great haste between main line trains.  The Brakemen were always running.  That sort of railroading is not allowed today, but thinking about the Blitz Local always brings back memories of the era of railroading when a railroader's reputation was based on his skills.

 While I don't know how Norfolk Southern's entire list of symbols work, the numbers do have meaning.

 

Here in Central Kentucky, 100 series trains are typically manifest freights with all sorts of cars. 200 series trains are either autoracks or intermodals. 700 series trains are coal trains, while 900 series trains are either passenger or MoW trains.

 

CSX has a similar system, with the Q001-Q199 reserved for intermodal trains, Q200-Q299 series reserved for autorack trains, and Anything between 300 up reserved for manifest freights. Typically the numbers are an indication of which parts of the system the train is traveling to & from. We have 500 series freights here on CSX, which travel north-south for the most part on the western part of the system. It's not the best explanation out there.

KCS had a local/dodger the crews called the "Superdog". It routinely worked 12 hour shifts 6 days a week, and often went dead.  It was called the "Superdog" because you were "super dog-tired" at the end of the shift.

 

 

this is an interesting pamphlet if you can find a copy...

 

published Oct 1948.

 

you can see from a sample page that even back then there didn't seem to be a standard across roads for train number or symbol

 

cheers...gary

SimRacin40 is correct on the NS symbols.

 

 Some do actually tell you their destination by the number because the same symbol runs that same routed destination ever time. Sometimes extras will be used when a train hasn't been filled out such as a M94 is an extra 194.

 

 200's are Inter-modal or auto racks. 100's are mixed timed freight. 8's are usually coal trains (loaded or empty) that originate on the system,700's and 400's most likely came from a foreign road.

 

 Then you have local symbols that vary on each division. Here on the Pokey we use J's or U's. And district work trains at least here use 9's like a 936.

 

 And the symbol will most always tell you the direction of travel such as a 194 is an east bound,and a 195 is west. Sometimes if the crew swaps trains en-route with another train,that crew will retain their original trains symbol. 

 

 Special moves sometimes carry odd symbols also .

Don't forget K trains which are reserved for hazardous material trains, W for work trains, and P for Amtrak.

100s - general merchandise and automotive (parts and autoracks loaded & empty)
200s - Mainly Intermodal, some automotive
300s - General Mechandise
400, 500, 600, 700, 800s - Unit Trains (entire shipments of Coal, Coke, Grain, Steel, Oil, Ethanol, etc. for 1 customer)
900s - Special Movements including work trains, OCS movements, excursions, and lite engine moves)
000's - special train service (mainly high/wide shipments)

Symbols can be both numeric or alpha numeric. If the alpha character is the third character in the symbol like in your 67w example, it is a regularly scheduled train.  However, if the first character is an alpha character, it is either a local, or an extra section. For example, Z6W is an extra 66W.

M=100
I=200
W=300
X=400
Y=500
Z=600
Q=700
S=800
O=90
R=000

Local
A=Alabama Division
B=Dearborn
C=Pittsburgh
D=Illinois
G=Georgia
H or K= Harrisburg
L=Lake
P=Pocahontas

The last numbers in your example (24) is the date of origination.