For this reason I always count the "platforms" or "wells" on intermodal and other articulated equipment, because it gives the best estimate of train length, without having to be trying to figure out where the couplers are, or count containers.BL2-1843 wrote:Also, while I counted 121 freight cars on S385, crew said that had 131 cars, meaning there were ten intermodal cars in this train that held 41 containers on my count. Plus, I have no time to note if cars are five packs, three packs, or singles. If a five pack equals one car, its easy to see how many containers could be on just ten cars.
So in a 5-pack well or spine set, that's 5 cars to my count. Same for a 3-pack, which would be 3 cars.
For the same reasoning articulated autoracks count as two by my convention.
At least, that's how I count for TRRS. I've heard of this method being called the "long" count, with the "short" count being by actual cars, so a five pack, three pack or one pack would all count as one, as the crews referred to it. So the correct railroad count would be based on each car number, but from a railfanning point of view, you count based on what you're trying to measure.