What do freight trains carry? What would you say?

"What do freight trains carry? What would you say?"

Uh, er freight comes to mind.....Sorry, I couldn't resist.

"What do freight trains carry?"

That depends on the type of freight car, i.e. open top hopper, covered hopper, boxcar, flat car, center beam flat car, tank car, or mechanical refrigerator car. 

This is what my company puts in the boxcars!   Gigantic rolls of PAPER!  Destined for everything from printing papers to corrugated boxes.  

Tachindy and rattler, thanks for the great ideas! I can use spools from thread to represent the paper rolls, and I have drums, etc. as well. I will add two more boxcars to the consist with those loads visible through an open door!

Bill, I think you should include a serious safety message about staying away from the tracks at all times. Then you can talk about fun stuff. Why not go all modern and talk intermodal?

tackindy posted:

This is what my company puts in the boxcars!   Gigantic rolls of PAPER!  Destined for everything from printing papers to corrugated boxes.  

Is he inflating some air bags to keep the rolls form shifting?

Yes Elliot,

 Those are inflatable air bags to keep cargo from shifting in transit, these are also used in trucking as well.

Doug

This is what my freight train has at the moment.

And oil

Real railroads trundle a lot of empty cars to and fro.  I think a lot of model and tinplate roads do even more of that.

colorado hirailer posted:

Real railroads trundle a lot of empty cars to and fro.  I think a lot of model and tinplate roads do even more of that.

 

 

Perhaps, but some of them must have something in them or the railroads wouldn't make any money. In the model world, part of the trick is to keep the doors closed.

I think sharing the what you have is great, add in containers and you've covered about everything.  However, I've always been attracted to the unique, so here's a short list:

Boeing 737 fuselages, weekly from the Midwest to Seattle (Renton).

Massive transformers or other power plan equipment (see Schnabel)

Circus trains

Farm equipment along with the Heavy equipment as you mentioned above

Also, you most likely do this anyway, but relate it to something in their life, their neighborhood, or historically to the area.

keep up the good work.

Some of the more unusual things I have seen around here in the last few years are wind turbines for generating electricity Boeing 737 airplane fuselages. The 737's come through here fairly regularly on special trains, one engine hauling only 2 fuselages and 2 support cars and that's it.

Other trains I see are mostly unit trains with oil tankers (could be other contents too, but I think mostly oil?), automobile carriers, grain hoppers and intermodal containers with a mixed freight thrown in every once in a while. This is all on BNSF tracks in the Kansas City area. I believe they are the old Santa Fe tracks, and I think it's the Emporia sub.

I also agree with others above about train safety and stressing to the kids to stay away from the tracks and how dangerous trains are to be around. I think that is a good idea to talk about.

EVERYTHING.

Garbage.  From NJ and NY to dumps in Ohio because they don't want it in their neighborhood.

Near me I've seen the Tropicana train moving oranges to the plant in Hudson county. There's also garbage trains, 'rolling pipelines' of gas, oil and other chemicals; autos and auto parts; heavy construction and farm equipment; military equipment... 

Corn syrup in tank cars. Lots and lots of corn syrup. 

Paul

Let's not forget all that lumber for their houses - (and the containers that carry almost everything their parents buy at the big box stores.)

And did some UP baggage cars carry GRAIN after Amtrak?

In my area its plastic pellets jumbo covered hoppers and grain.A far amount of iumber bulkhead flatcars.Stack trains and chemical tankcars mech refer cars and lastly boxcars.Don,t see as many coal trains nowa days.Ony now and then.

Bringing it home and making it personal.  The breakfast cereal they ate for breakfast this morning was shipped in boxcars or piggy back trailers to the grocery distribution warehouse.  The paper towels used in their homes, the paper they write on at school, shipped in boxcars or piggy back trailers. The orange juice, fresh vegetables, and groceries they eat came by train to distribution warehouses. 

Their lap top computer,  i pads, cell phones, TVs, toys, shoes and cloths they wear ... shipped in containers from China then loaded on rail cars to inland distribution centers.  The cars their parents drive shipped via rail.   

The cement, lumber, drywall, roofing material, steel, paint used in building their home or apartment building all at some point traveled by freight train.  Heating oil that heats their home possibly came by train to the fuel oil dealer who then delivered the oil to their home. 

And yes, like others have already said ... emphasize SAFTEY!!  

Bill - its absolutely wonderful that you are going into the schools and sharing your love and knowledge of trains with the kids!!  BRAVO!!!

Well, I have 2 suggestions.  I think both would be considered freight but one would actually be in the passenger train group...and that would be mail.  Don't know if they carry any mail this way today but Amtrak has some modern mail cars.  The other would be roadrailers.  Where the roadrailer would be the actual rail car and at the same time is a truck  trailer that would carry the freight.

Rick

As expected, you guys have come through with flying colors!  Thank you all so much for the great ideas. Many if not most will be incorporated into the event.  I am missing some cars, like the center-spine lumber cars, but I will try to make a substitute. 

For those who may have missed the prior photos, here's the layout at the Capitol campus back in February during set-up. Not complete, but all blank spaces did get filled eventually. You may recognize a fellow OGR member, too!

More after the show.  We set up Wednesday, run Thursday.

And, the thank you from one happy youngster.

These days we call it "FAK" - freight of all kinds

I dug into some Federal reports that are required to be filed. Here is a BNSF 1st qtr 2015 Excel spreadsheet that I still have on my computer. If you look at the various pages, you'll see the "FAK" details.

Putting some tonnage and dollars to the what may get the students attention.

Every issue Railway Age has a complete list of all commodities carried by the industry, plus whether they are up or down from last year. That might give you a place to start from.

If you're talking about yesterday's railroads, you'd talk about machinery and parts, since those were the days when machine tools were built here in the USA. Some machinery still travels by rail.

Lumber still goes by rail. Household furniture and appliances, not so much as in days gone by.

Don't forget that about half of a freight train are empty cars. Not coal, oil, auto racks and others.

Wow ..... great display layout!

Thank you for educating kids and helping our hobby, National Capital Trackers!

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

tackindy posted:

This is what my company puts in the boxcars!   Gigantic rolls of PAPER!  Destined for everything from printing papers to corrugated boxes.  

 

Is he inflating some air bags to keep the rolls form shifting?

Yes, they call them dunnage bags.   Those rolls weigh a ton (no really they do!).  But sometimes they put those bags between to keep them from shifting.  The train rolls INTO the warehouse at one of our paper mills and they drive the clamp trucks right into them and load the rolls.  Then they secure them if needed, and the train pulls the string of cars back out of the warehouse and pushes another in!  It's interesting to watch a train inside a building!  

Down here in southeast Florida freight trains carry; cars, trailers and inter-modal shipping containers, tank cars. FEC carries a lot of sand in their 100 ton hoppers from Ft. Lauderdale area up to Daytona or Jacksonville. FEC carries just freight right now. Norfolk Southern runs on FEC tracks to Miami & back to Jacksonville, so you will see a variety of cargo on NS.

Amtrak runs on the CSX tracks on the west side of town and FEC is on the east side of town. Also have Tri-Rail(also runs on CSX tracks) a commuter train from West Palm Beach to Miami FL.

Lee Fritz

This is awesome. Do you have "safety first" in any way? Even if its the MOW car. There were so many cars and cabooses sporting different slogans. Just a few and pointing out that there have been many programs might help. But even sitting there would get the point across to some without a single word. The lightning bolt bay window immediately pops into my head at the first mention of RR safety. It made its mark pretty deep.  Shoot your gonna need a siding soon. Maybe two lol.

Ask, then answer your own question with "anything and everything", then ask for input on what they think might be on them. Hard to be wrong If you get silence, answer further, then ask again.

Crates can be marked toys, books, pencils, crayons, Fra-gee-lee (fragile) computers, cereal, meat, eggs, milk, dog chow, medicine (putnam div. inspired that thought lol) shirts, pants, socks, etc. local store names maybe, and put them on or just near a station or platform since you can only haul X number of cars or may not own exactly what you want to show.

  An unconnected siding thrown down (do I see room?) might hold some historical or operational points; steam, mow, caboose, brakeman, stockcar, electric, crane car/derrick, milk car or milk tanker (both would inspire thought about " options") and a steam whistle vs a horn would be an interesting comparison. A bell and wh/horn blasts might play into safety. And "they can't stop!" Oh wow is that important! "Almost no brakes"" can sneak up on you, even though loud up close" they will get that, "like a car can" Flaging and lanterns held great interest to me when young; a figure would be nice.

Are there any large factories or businesses locally you could include items from? "My daddy/mommy works there". I think making it personal includes about anything a kid knows is part of their community. Or you might just teach them something about their community.

This is awesome. I'll be thinking of this all day....oh to be a kid again; eh?

     ♥♥♥ 

This is great. I thought of two other items: garbage and waste ash (from our local coal-burning power plants).

Elliot and others: I just realized I forgot to say something about safety in my original post. Yes, that is an important part of the presentation. We did so last time as well, with mention of the need to stay off railroad tracks and away from trains. We will indeed emphasize it.

If the school asks us back again (as they did before), I will try to get some materials from Operation Lifesaver to handout.

This is a bit 'off the wall', I know, but...

when I read this thread title, the first thing that popped into my mind was Johnny Cash singing a rapid fire response to the title question....in the "I've Been Everywhere" mode.

So, I know he never did such a song.....but if he had, it would have been a favorite of mine, for sure! 

Of course, nowadays, the current generation kids would probably rather have some rapper dude belt out a rhythmic answer to a shuck-n-jive beat.

Proud and happy to be an old phart, I am...

KD

645 posted:

rattler21 posted:

 

 Added after BigBoy 4005's post:  From the Boy Scout merit badge book -  If you are in a car which is stuck on the tracks, immediately exit the car and walk towards the train coming at you.  Debris goes in the direction the train is traveling.

John in Lansing, ILL

Here is the corrected version:

If you are in a car which is stuck on the tracks, immediately exit the car and run towards the train coming at you. 

Almost every time when I hear about a situation where a vehicle is stuck on the tracks a train is coming which means there is very little time to react. If one runs you will cover more ground than if you walk increasing the chances of avoiding debris when the train strikes the stuck vehicle as time is usually of the essence.

 

As to the OP's question the answer is simple:  Whatever the shipper wants transported is what the railroads will haul. That said the commodities railroads excel best at transporting are bulk loads (think coal, grain, oil, aggregates [gravel, rock] ) which tend to move in unit trains. Intermodal is also a bright spot. While boxcars are still in use today they are slowly being superseded by containers and truck trailers.

I was taught to move toward the train at a 45 degree angle.  What does OL say about that today.

They carry all sorts of stuff:

Empties...

And things that can go boom...

Rusty

On a 3-footer during the WW2 years, mine carry a lot of LcL (Less than Car Load) stuff as well as lumber, gravel and coal in open gondolas.

Flats carry large banded lumber loads and occasional wheeled vehicles for the Army...

I have Army marked boxcars, which in op sessions are considered to be carrying munitions and explosives for training purposes. I also have gas tank cars, and each have to handled in a certain manner (neither can be adjacent to locomotive or caboose if at all possible).

Report from set-up:  Fellow National Capital Tracker Chick K. and I set the layout up this afternoon.  We had connectivity and trains running in about 2 1/2 hours. We had all scenery in about an hour after this photo was taken. There were parent-teacher conferences this evening, so we stayed around to give a few (lucky?) parents a look as well. 

My "teaching freight train," that you all helped me with, extends almost half way around the layout!  It will be slow running, but my CSX TMCC SD-80MAC  handled it with no problem.

Now for a good night's sleep, and an early start tomorrow.

i caught this freight out of my hotel window in Vegas a while back...