Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Stack/Manifest Combo Symbol? (Northern Transcon)

Hello all, 

Over the past number of months, I've noticed BNSF has been running some mixed manifest / container trains along the Northern Transcon. Many of them have had around 40-60 marine containers up front (sometimes more, sometimes less), followed by a section of mixed manifest. Most of these trains I've seen also include a handful of centerbeam flatcars loaded with lumber. I'm asuming these trains cary an "S" symbol throughout their journey, but if anyone has a symbol or any other information on this train, please let me know!

-Matt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/20 01:15 by MNrailfan00.

East of Spokane, they can go either way East. The ones coming through Mandan have been S-TACLPC. The manifest block has been set out at Northtown.

BB

 

does anybody know what the approx. length is on these stack/manifest combos?

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> does anybody know what the approx. length is on
> these stack/manifest combos?
>
> 66

the trains through Mandan have been 9,500-11,000 with manifest and up to 12,500 ft. With stacks and racks. Here's a couple of posts on the subject:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4959115,4960667#msg-4960667
 
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4933951,4934105#msg-4934105
 


BB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/20 06:26 by bmarti7.

BNSF has been building some trains at Stacy Street Yard in Seattle that are marine containers up front, mixed freight on the rear. They are usually set up 3x2 or 2x2 and the mixed freight portion of the train is dominated by lumber loads, especially Sierra Pacific. The couple times I have been able to catch the symbol, it was S-SEACHC. The trains don't seem much longer than a regular stack train, just that some of the train has been replaced with this manifest traffic. Maybe they are a bit longer than the normal "S" train. This has become more common in last few months. I recommend the Skykomish rail cam on YT.

bmarti7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> goneon66 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > does anybody know what the approx. length is on
> > these stack/manifest combos?
> >
> > 66
>
> the trains through Mandan have been 9,500-11,000
> with manifest and up to 12,500 ft. With stacks and
> racks.
>
> BB

thanks for that info.  

so, am i to assume that these "non-clearing" stack/manifest combos are only run e/b?

66

When I was at Izaak Walton last december I saw 2x2 stacks up front and manifest block on the rear, and when I was on Bozeman Pass I saw a mega train manifest then two mid dpu followed by a block of autoracks with a rear dpu. The other day they ran a 4X2X3 S-LPCTAC in the front with QSSECHC on the rear combined it in Minot ran it all the way to Seattle would have been a sight to see go over Marias. 

wow, huge stack trains over both bozeman and marias passes would have been a neat sight.

so, maybe the huge "non-clearing" combos go e/b through mandan and w/b through minot?  ..........

66



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/20 06:59 by goneon66.

goneon66 Wrote
> so, maybe the huge "non-clearing" combos go e/b
> through mandan and w/b through monot? 
> ..........
>
> 66

that seems logical-there haven't been any no-fits westbound through Mandan.

BB

bbcc Wrote:
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> BNSF has been building some trains at Stacy Street
> Yard in Seattle that are marine containers ......

They are also building these trains in Pasco.

The trains running out of Seattle/Stacy and over the Scenic Sub have not been especially “mega” trains like some others here are discussing. I recommend watching Skykomish Virtual Rail on YT. This morning one went by at 6:21am, 3x2 with 64 wells (intermodal cars) plus another 35 or so commercial cars, mostly lumber.