Knowing a little less than your average train nerd, but still being a train nerd can be a struggle. I struggle with the taxonomy of some of my train tie clips. Recognizing trains is a little bit like how Michael Polin once described mushroom hunting - your eyes have to tune into interpreting the landscape to see the mushrooms. You have to be 'on'. Same with recognizing train types. One's ability to identify train types depends on the type of train in which one is most interested. I cannot tell the difference between most modern freight locomotives in the united states because they all have that weird angle-y beveled hood thing going on. Sure, the two locomotives below have many different details, but I still can't tell an EMD from a GE.
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| EMD SD75M |
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| GE AC4400CW |
Of course, I can see some differences: the one on top's nose angles in, while the one on the bottom has a weird twonkey vent sticking out of the back. But I've already forgotten which one was the GE and which one was the EMD by this point, and now I have to start all over again looking at banister heights and door placement. The real point here is that I just don't care enough about freight locomotives. Now, when I look at what the locomotive in the bottom picture is towing, that's when I get excited.
I can tell you that the locomotive is towing a Metrolink train with the following consist:
- Hyundai Rotem cab car, purchased by the agency after a couple-three accidents occured in the mid to late aughts where the older model Bombardier-made cab cars derailed or were otherwise compromised.
- Three Bombardier trailer cars -- I can see a faint hint of rivets in vertical lines on the sides of the the first and second of these cars, so I am guessing these are the first wave of Bombardier trailer cars, not the second wave purchased by Metrolink, which are more smooth.
- A Hyundai Rotem trailer car, purchased along with Metrolink's order of the cab cars mentioned in #1.
- Some form of locomotive. Too tiny. Can't see it well enough
That's just the point. I just wrote a whole paragraph about a Metrolink train and I couldn't care less about the freight locomotives. Show me the person who can write as much about those freight locomotives as I just wrote about the Metrolink consist, and I will show you their blog -- it's a blog that would be boring for me to read.
And btw, why is that BNSF locomotive towing a Metrolink train? Oh my god, what a story! Starting with this:
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| https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-metrolink-crash-ntsb-crossing-20150225-story.html |
But you can go read someone else's blog about that one.
