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I believe so. The helpers at the back were the only manned ones other than the lead engine

@@thehighiron thanks for that.

Thank you sir

Thanks man

Thank you!

Thanks

You too!

Thank you sir

It is a very nice location

Yep!

Apparently not. All I did was count the cars and everyone and their mother had something to say about even just that.

@ I’m not going to correct you or anybody else. It’s just an observation that people are counting 3 or 5 packer as 1 car. It’s totally not as viewed from the side of the road. Look it up yourself.

@@diegohorton869 I’ll keep counting them as separate but alright

@@thehighiron internet is here to help you, be better than others.

Exactly

I don’t know. Calculate it yourself. I already provided the amount of cars.

Yeah we realized it was gonna do that for a while so we left.

In all likelihood "cars" refer to 'platforms', as the presence of single-unit, three and five-piece articulated cars mixed together muddies the result of any attempt to count cars. I use the platform-as-cars methodology since I've seen plenty of stack trains that turned into manifests halfway through, and a strict articulated-as-single method would give a misleading idea of the train's length (as if it was for any purpose other than the viewer's curiosity).

They're generally unloaded at dedicated intermodal facilities using smaller versions of the type of gantry cranes seen at container ship terminals, or machines that amount to giant fork lifts equipped to pick up containers by their top corners. The train consists themselves don't change much, if containers need to continue on another train they'll be staged at the facility and then loaded on the next train headed to their destination where they'll be transferred to trucks for the "last mile" journey. An exception to this practice would occur when small blocks of container cars travel in manifest (mixed) freights like the one visible in the distance at 0:46. Those will make their way to intermodal facilities when their train reaches its destination yard.

No it’s about 5 km long

@NorCaliRailroading2023 Yes. Some cars are shorter..

@@paweszaduro7946 it’s cause on a different video, there was a 295 car long intermodal train, the same type in the video, was 18000ft long or a little more than 5km and this one was shorter by 20 cars

Pretty much

I think it was to let the other train pass and then stop to check breaks and let the helpers leave.

I’m not sure of this exact location but it’s just off Summit Valley rd

Between Lugo and Summit on the Cajon subdivision

Treat the railroad like crap to pump up the stock price. Definitely worked for the Rock Island.

I don’t know. I just watch trains

Likely this train is actually 2 trains which originated at different locations but are both heading to Long Beach and thus converged and were coupled together somewhere in the middle of the journey. Where they originated is anybody's guess from Illinois to Texas and anywhere in between.

@@davidwhiting1761that’s what I assumed

Yep. So long as the power is balanced and the cars are loaded to weights greater than 45 tons apiece you can shove with all units. It's not like they're shoving empty cars or a caboose - then there'd be some restrictions. I would guess it'd be allowed to shove on a train with it's EOT in place - so long as the helper doesn't need to tie in to the train's brakeline. Locomotives specifically assigned to helper service anymore have a device called Helperlink which pulls up the pin from the coupling at the push of a button and uncouples the helper from the train while the train is in motion so that the train being assisted can continue its journey without having to stop to uncouple the helpers and the helpers can return to base sooner. You don't have to have the helper tied in to the brakeline with Helperlink. This train likely had to borrow the 3 helper locomotives from a following train in order to get up the grade, so in this instance since the helpers aren't equipped with Helperlink they have to tie in to the train's brakeline and stop to uncouple at the Summit, and if you have to tie into the brakeline you have to remove the EOT in order to access to brake pipe. The helper crew replaced the EOT before rolling back down the grade.

Okay but who actually counts 3 and 5 packs as single cars. Never really knew people chose to do that.

@@thehighiron The railroad does, which is why the whole thing has a single road number. Historically, it's also the reason for those permanently coupled pairs of airslide hoppers: they counted as one car when calculating fees for switching. Anyway, not criticizing you, just making a nerd point.

In which case you say "platforms" and not cars.

@@beeble2003no I get you

​​@@thehighiron- My understanding is the reason for the unit (3, 5 unit 'cars') is to reduce tare weight, thus efficiency.

Seems to me that this single train was performing the job of 100s of trucks. And only added additional power where need to get over the summit.

⁠@@tomedgar4375actually about 540 trucks. Good point you make!

Thanks

No I’m pretty sure you can have as many engines online for this purpose

All engines are on and needed climbing out of Los Angeles up to the high eastern deserts. They are also needed going down hill for dynamic braking. As trains have crashed down that hill due to brake failure.

they reckon after 9locomotives the signal gets a bit fuzzy ( through the jumper cable )