Western Railroad Discussion > CN Train Symbols

I am looking for a breakdown of CN train symbols...

Not every train but what 100 series trains are, etc.

This is for a train sim game

Thanks

Bob

Could be their intermodal symbol, Q-193/194,etc.

OK... Here goes. CN's symbols are made up of 5 parts, 1 letter and 4 numbers. Example Q 12111 01 would be broken down as Q-121-1-1-01.

The first letter identifies the type of train:

A - short haul, intra-divsional manifest
B - loaded and empty unit potash
C - loaded and empty unit coal
E - expedited vehicle and priority manifest trains
F - foreign line detours and test schedules
G - loaded and empty unit grain
H - CP co-production trains
K - intra-terminal transfers
L - locals
M - long haul, inter-divsional manifest
O - company service trains - office car specials and point-to-point work trains
P - passenger trains
Q - intermodal trains
R - road switchers
S - loaded and empty unit sulfur
U - other unit trains
W - work trains
X - customer one off extra trains
Y - yard jobs

The first 3 numbers are the train number. This designates origin, destination, and train priority within the train types:

001-099 - VIA passenger trains
100-199 - Intermodal trains
200-299 - Auto and expedited manifest trains
300-399 - long haul manifest trains (some unit trains in the 370's and 380's)
400-499 - short haul manifest trains, and OCS trains
500-599 - locals
600-699 - VIA passenger trains
700-799 - unit trains other than grain
800-899 - unit grain trains
900-999 - commuter trains in Montreal and Toronto and road swtichers on the fmr IC

The 4th number identifies the region where the train originated. This allows CN multiple uses of the same train number:
1 - Atlantic Region (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick)
2 - St Lawrence Region (Quebec and Eastern Ontario)
3 - Great Lakes Region (Ontario)
4 - Prairie Region (Western-most Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan)
5 - Pacific Region (Alberta and British Columbia)
6 - GTW Region (all GTW lines east of Griffith IN)
7 - Gulf South Region (former IC lines souht of Centralia IL)
8 - WC Region (All former WC lines and the DWP)
9 - Gulf North Region (GTW lines west of Griffith, IC lines north of Centralia, and the former CCP)

The 5th number identifies the train section. The regular section of any train will have a 1 in this position. An advance section will have a 0, and following sections will have 2, 3, etc.

The last two numbers are the day of the month that the train originated.

Mark

GREAT! Thank You!

If you are a MSTS fan I am working on some activities for a CN run

Thanks!


Bob