If I recall, in the past age the Mount Clemens sub was EB and WB. A train from Port Huron to Detroit was considered a WB and Detroit to Port Huron EB. I get the feeling that now the former is a SB and the later is a NB? If so, that is opposite of the usual rule that NB and WB are the same and SB and EB are the same. And it sounds like the even odd train number is not the traditional way of doing so as I describe below on the Holly.Man o' War wrote:Northbound, and was identified as Q130 by CN Desk 8 and a trackside maintainer. The SB counterpart operates as Q131 according to the railroad, although I've heard on more than one occasion a crew misidentifying a symbol. General rule of thumb on CN (with a sprinkling of anomalies), even symbols NB and EB, odds SB and WB. The Q trains on the MTC sub from their inception in 1990 and forward (Q140/Q141, Q142/Q143 and Q144/Q145, have all operated in this manner, so it's my best guess that 130/131 do this as well - but it's not beyond the railroad to try and confuse railfans!blueheron13 wrote:Was this Q130 a SB train? I'm guessing it was because Q131 is a NB intermodal train on the Mount Clemens Sub, and Q130 sounds like its counterpart.Man o' War wrote:Q130 by North Mount at 00:15. CN/CN, 10,000'+ .
Man o' War
Man o' War
Traditionally on GTW, and still on the Holly Sub, a NB train (which formerly was a WB before CTC) had an odd number train number and a SB train (which was formerly an EB) had even numbers. So this is opposite what Man o' War is describing as the case on the Mount Clemens Sub. Holly Trains 451 and 391 are NBs to Durand. Trains 502 and 116 are SB's as would be a 280. This applied to the coal trains when they ran over it. The locals on the Holly are exceptions as they have a train number (ie 950, 515, 513) that is static no matter which way they are running on their runs up and down the Holly. Maybe same with 514 between Flint and Pontiac. There is no return train of 502 but my guess is that if there were it would be 502 even as a NB as the five hundred series trains seem to be considered locals even though 502 is really a road freight. If there was a Mount Clemens reroute on the Holly, it keeps its Mount Clemens number even if it was running in the opposite Holly Sub direction.
I know there must be some chart somewhere that shows what trains have what number and why they are that number. For a long time 451 was numbered 393 or something because of where its destination or something was. When this destination or something changed (because someone took the business or something), the number changed but it sure looks like the same train that passes my house daily, mostly Ford mustangs and F150's in autoracks bound for the westcoast.
The one thing I know about railroads is that logic, reason and consistency have nothing to do with anything.