Western Railroad Discussion > What’s busier line out of Barstow?

Curious if anyone had insight on the trains leaving the west end out of Barstow? Is it busier going SW towards San Bernardino or more NW towards Mojave and onto Bakersfield?

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San Bernardino

Most definitely the Cajon Sub towards San Bernardino and Los Angeles.

San Bernardino and LA by about three to one.

It was four to one Cajon Sub in this 3-day sample from Thursday, 7/23/20, to Saturday, 7/25/20, report here-  https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5080583,5080583#msg-5080583

[BNSF, UP, Amtrak combined] Of the 234 trains seen passing the Barstow camera, 28 were for Barstow, the rest went via: 
BNSF Cajon Sub to SoCal 167 81%= BNSF 129, UP 32, AMTK 6. 
BNSF Mojave Sub 39 19%= BNSF 36 (NorCal), UP 3 (Mojave).

Of the 193 BNSF trains past the camera in three days: 
28 14% were Barstow BNSF trains: 24 H manifest, 1 PHX Baretable, 1 CLO Vehicle, 2 yard switchers.  

36 19% were NorCal BNSF trains: 20 Z (STO 10, NBY 9, RIC 1), 8 Q (STO 7, RIC 1), 5 grain (FRS 4, SWA Swanson,CA 1), 1 S OIGPEA6, 1 U GTYHLG1-18M military, 1 V CLORIC1. 

129 67% were SoCal BNSF trains: 48 Z (LAC 24, SBD 23, 1 unknown), 35 Q (LAC 21, SBD 13, 1 unknown), 30 S, 6 B (LAC 5, SCO), 6 V (SBD 5, WATson 1), 3 U ethanol for Watson, 1 U LACCRL5 2-car geometry special for Carlsbad, NM. 

Intermodals to the west- Z Q S B V types- 
NorCal BNSF 30= STO 17 57%, NBY 9 30%, RIC 3 10%, OIG 1 3%. 
SoCal BNSF 125= LAC 50 40%, SBD 41 33%, harbor 32 26% and unknown 2 1%...

...UP was much simpler than BNSF, 3 coal trains for Mojave, the other 32 trains via Cajon Pass.  All six Amtrak Southwest Chief #3 and #4 were Los Angeles trains. 

mapboy

Thanks for sharing this!

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Great job Mapboy.Lot of effort that is appreciated.Bill Webb

Interestingly a percentage of the outbounds come in as one train and are split at Barstow. They run West as a 4 X 4 and 250 or
so cars and get split at Barstow, A number are split and half go North and the other half to LA. The LA number also gets inflated
byt a number of Locals and Basin Destination trains (like a Hauler) that run nearly daily. It's a busy place and listening to the DS
and the Router with the PTC desk thrown in affirms that.

Out 

The highlighted Z train traffic through Barstow is manned by long pools, and the crews do not swap there. As of today, here is a look at conductor pool turns for traffic at the Barstow terminal:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Needles:  board 60 (to Bakersfield) holds 7,  board 80 (to San Ber) holds 8, board 91 (to LA) holds 8.                                                                                                                                  Los Angeles: board 31 (to Barstow) holds 37 (one turn added this morn), board 91 to (Needles)  holds 7                                                                                                                                Bakersfield long pool to Needles holds just 4 condrs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I hope these stats are of help                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Sam