Western Railroad Discussion > Rail Train Rolling Toward Lind

Traffic is light on U.S. 395 as a rail train rolls west on the former Northern Pacific line between Ritzville and Lind in eastern Washington yesterday.

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Nice catch!
Are buffer cars no longer a requirement?
...Lorenzo

567Chant Wrote:
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> Nice catch!
> Are buffer cars no longer a requirement?
> ...Lorenzo

Why would you need a buffer car on a rail train? Excuse me for being ignorant.

Tor in Eugene

Torisgod Wrote:
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> 567Chant Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nice catch!
> > Are buffer cars no longer a requirement?
> > ...Lorenzo
>
> Why would you need a buffer car on a rail train?
> Excuse me for being ignorant.
>
> Tor in Eugene

In case of mishap, the rails could turn into giant icepicks. I chased a rail train in Milpitas almost 3 years ago, and there were 2 buffer cars behind the locomotive:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2896240

I believe the buffer cars were loaded, at least the covered hopper was - sand?

To walstib: Great angle and light there! I remember the area from trying to catch up to the 4449 between Spokane and Pasco.

Nice catch. Generally no "shiftable" load can be next to a locomotive. Looks like that head car might be considered a cover car as it appears to be between the first loaded car and the locos?
JB

this shows why you need buffer cars on a rail train:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi-0-fF2rBU
 

Very NICE shot of the same train that rolled thru my backyard. Your picture is much better than mine, you got to show the vastness of the area and the full train.

Larry

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That train dropped some 136# CWR along our CW line in Cheney yesterday.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

It looks like BNSF is using the pooled UP unit as a buffer car. lol