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TYPES OF RAILCARS
LOCAL VS LONG DISTANCE
MIXED FREIGHT VS UNIT
DISTRIBUTED POWER
UNITS (DPU)
When a train becomes so heavy or so long, railroads will add locomotives in the middle or the rear of the train. These locomotives would be called distributed power units (DPU). This allows less strain on couplers and more convenient pulling of the train than all the locomotives in the front.
SHOVING PLATFORM
When a train is backing up, a conductor or switchman is needed to spot. When a train crew is used for a local train, they use a shoving platform like what you see in this photo to
allow a safer and more comfortable place for the spotter instead of them hanging from the last car on the train. some companies use cabooses for these operations. Alaska Railroad uses a shipping container on top of a flatbed
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