FUD Wrote:
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> At what point does a siding become a 2nd main
> track? And what kind of switches are used? 60 mph?
> 40? Good old 10 mph hand-throws like SP used to
> use? One would presume that they're 1)
> dispatcher-controlled; and 2) fast enough that a
> substantial train can enter a siding in something
> less than 1/2 day.
>
> I think there's a functional definition for "long
> train" - one that won't fit into the sidings along
> the line, if it's single-track. For those sitting
> at a grade crossing, it's one that makes them wait
> for more than 2 or 3 minutes; a 10-minute wait is
> effectively forever.

I'm interested if there is any consensus on what would be a safe maximum length or maximum tonnage of a train. Congress might direct the Department of Transportation to come up a figure. The recent second derailment of a Norfolk Southern train was two hundred and twelve cars long. Had it been split in half how much safer would it be? I always though a hundred and twenty car train was a long train. There has to be a limit, or will they just keep adding cars until it pops off the rails.