Who said they had to be identical cars. If they are hauling coal or potash
or some other cargo that is going to go through a dumper then the cars have
to be similar (not necessarily identical) so they will go through the
dumper. But not all unit trains go through dumpers and there is nothing I
know of that says they have to. They can be bottom dump or whatever. All
that matters is the cargo is usually the same and the travels as one train
(unit is defined as one) from point A to point B. If you meet that
definition you have a "unit" train. It can be automobiles, nothing says it
can't be. We look upon these as long distance trains, but there are lots of
train that go very short distance that meet the definition of a unit train -
auto parts, containers, etc.
DEC
So the Silkers would be disqualified why? They didn't reblock, setout or
pickup en route as that would all take too much time. And what other cargos
did they carry? Near as I've been told, the Silk Trains were nothing but
Silk.
Or are you thinking that because they didn't always use the exact same
reefers/boxcars/whatever that they're disqualified?
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Yes. Technically, a unit train is a unit comprised of identical cars.
That's how they were defined in the UK, where they were "invented" back in
the late 1950s early 1960s.
A unit train is not a train of assorted hoppers, nor assorted reefers nor
assorted express reefers, it's a train made up of identical cars, carrying
one product from one shipper to one customer. However, over the years that
definition seems to have been warped slightly, at least on this side of the
Pond.
