Railroad terms

[downsrep]

Anyone know a good website to look up railroad terms? I monitor the BNSF frequencies in Aurora, Illinois, at 161.100 (Aurora sub) and the 161.385 channel from Aurora to Galesburg. I always hear the terms "z" train and "brick gal" (I know I'm not hearing that right). Also trying to find a site that has mileposts on it for the train lines, especially BNSF in Illinois. When they give a milepost on the radio, I can then figure out where its at.

 

[burner50]

Z-Train is a train with the alpha starting with Z----... these are the high priority everyone get out of the way trains.

 

[BigC801]

Yes on the BNSF a Z train is hot, they get every one out of the way for it to run, on the UP not so much, they normaly sit with the rest of us, normaly they are stack trains, an I is a normal one and Z's are the hot ones. As for the mile posts and stuff ( called timetables) they are hard to get now, even for us at UP its hard to find BNSF timetables.

 

[DPD1]

I setup a RR term glossary on our site a while back. It might help a little.

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_rrglossary.html

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Makers of the "TrainTenna" Monitoring Antenna

 

[burner50]

Yes on the BNSF a Z train is hot, they get every one out of the way for it to run, on the UP not so much, they normaly sit with the rest of us, normaly they are stack trains, an I is a normal one and Z's are the hot ones. As for the mile posts and stuff ( called timetables) they are hard to get now, even for us at UP its hard to find BNSF timetables.

Z trains are hot thru iowa on the UP... waited over 2 hours for one to go by today... almost always TOFC

 

[BigC801]

Z trains are hot thru iowa on the UP... waited over 2 hours for one to go by today... almost always TOFC

Ya we hear they are up there on the triple main going to LA and Global, but in kansas city nothing is hot till u have an hour to work then they want u to hurry and for some reason all green lights pop up. lol It has been nice with all the work they have been doing up there, we have been getting alot of stack trains out of Des Moines, Still takes 2 or 3 crews to get it to KC though. lol.

 

[pliquett]

I don't know if this will help but I drive for a freight company and we put loads on the rail. TOFC loads (Trailer on flat car). We use the term "Z" because it refers to the type of trailer used. A "Z" is a chassis or a trailer with the wheels permanently attached. A "U" is a container that can be unfastened from the chassis and stacked on a flat car. You can look at the numbers on a trailer or container to tell what type they are. CSXU234567 would be a container where FSTZ987654 would be a regular trailer. If nothing else you can fill this with other useless information.

 

[downsrep]

That explains the "z" train dialogue. A lot of TOFC's on the BNSF line through Aurora/Naperville Illinois!

 

[DPD1]

That's probably one of the best train spots in the country. I grew up with the EJE in my back yard, between the BN at Eola and the CNW at W. Chicago. We use to ride our bikes to Eola. That was back when it was nothing but corn fields around there. No station at Rt. 59, no nothing.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com
Makers of the "TrainTenna" Railroad Antenna

 

[downsrep]

That's about where I'm at, just south of Fermilab north of I-88, just west of Eola.

 

[downsrep]

That's about where I'm at, just south of Fermilab north of I-88, just west of Eola.

 

[burner50]

Ya we hear they are up there on the triple main going to LA and Global, but in kansas city nothing is hot till u have an hour to work then they want u to hurry and for some reason all green lights pop up. lol It has been nice with all the work they have been doing up there, we have been getting alot of stack trains out of Des Moines, Still takes 2 or 3 crews to get it to KC though. lol.

i hear the TRT is gonna start in boone again and work east on trk 1 all the way to proviso starting next spring so you may get some more next year!!

btw what circ and board do you guys work off of in des moines?

 

[Allan_Love_Jr]

Out here in the Omaha area the term "Z" Train on the Union Pacific means....."The Bird".

 

[burner50]

there are several names for it thru iowa

 

[BigC801]

i hear the TRT is gonna start in boone again and work east on trk 1 all the way to proviso starting next spring so you may get some more next year!!

btw what circ and board do you guys work off of in des moines?

Im out of Kc on the MX283 RT15 board, run to CB and DM. How is the CMTS going up there, around here its the mass hysteria?

 

[burner50]

cmts sucks...

plain and simple

you still have to use tcs for orders and well everything but timekeeping stuff

 

[scannerrail]

Found this for you

Train-Type-Codes Expanded Description_____

TYPE TRAIN-TYPE CODE DESCRIPTION
A - Amtrak Trains Operating on BNSF Track
B - Bare Table Flat Intermodal Trains
C - Loaded Unit Coal Trains
D - Light Locomotive/Engine Moves
E - Empty Unit Coal Trains
F - Foreign Train Operating on BNSF Track
G - Loaded Unit Grain Trains
H - Hi-Priority Merchandise Trains
I - Deadhead Crew Moves
J - High/Wide Dimensional Specials
K - Helper Service
L - Local Trains (Regularly Scheduled)
M - Regular Merchandise Trains
N - Hours-of-Service Relief Crew
O - Officers Special Trains
P - Premium Service Intermodal Trains
Q - Guaranteed Service Intermodal Trains
R - Road Switcher Trains (Regularly Scheduled)
S - Container Stack Intermodal Trains
T - Transfer Service (Interchange Delivery/Receipt)
U - Unit Trains other than Coal or Grain
V - Vehicle Unit Trains (Autos and Auto Parts)
W - Work/Maintenance Trains
X - Empty Unit Grain Trains
Y - Yard Jobs (Regularly Scheduled)
Z - Priority UPS - LTL Intermodal Trains

 

[BigC801]

Well on the UP the codes go like this,

A AUTOMOTIVE (PARTS OR VEHICLES)
C COAL (LOADS OR EMPTIES)
E COMPANY EQUIPMENT MOVE (Lite power/engine move)
G GRAIN (LOADS OR EMPTIES)
I - standard intermodal - lowest priority intermodal
K - priority intermodal - generally represents specific customer commitments
L LOCAL
M MANIFEST
P PASSENGER
Q Manifest, is quality manifest (Normaly reefers and other food)
R Rock
S SPECIALS
U Unit train (anything in bulk commodity normaly not coal or grain)
W COMPANY (MOW or ballast)
Y Yard
Z - premium intermodal - highest priority

There are a few more special codes but i cant remember off the top of my head right now.

 

[burner50]

Well on the UP the codes go like this,

A AUTOMOTIVE (PARTS OR VEHICLES)
C COAL (LOADS OR EMPTIES)
E COMPANY EQUIPMENT MOVE (Lite power/engine move)
G GRAIN (LOADS OR EMPTIES)
I - standard intermodal - lowest priority intermodal
K - priority intermodal - generally represents specific customer commitments
L LOCAL
M MANIFEST
P PASSENGER
Q Manifest, is quality manifest (Normaly reefers and other food)
R Rock
S SPECIALS
U Unit train (anything in bulk commodity normaly not coal or grain)
W COMPANY (MOW or ballast)
Y Yard
Z - premium intermodal - highest priority

There are a few more special codes but i cant remember off the top of my head right now.

An E train sounds like a blessing, but never is... You're always stuck pulling some huge industry out in the middle of nowhere


I'm in a place now where I get called for e trains all the time.... actually i just got home from an "E train"

 

[Allan_Love_Jr]

Yes on the BNSF a Z train is hot, they get every one out of the way for it to run, on the UP not so much, they normaly sit with the rest of us, normaly they are stack trains, an I is a normal one and Z's are the hot ones. As for the mile posts and stuff ( called timetables) they are hard to get now, even for us at UP its hard to find BNSF timetables.

I don't know about that. They have been known to hold Trains at Mo valley for two hours for just one hot Z-Train.