If you are interested in operations on the major railroads in the West, then the following railroad freight train symbol books are for you. Each book gives a brief history of all of the scheduled freight trains on the system. Each train symbol is described, detailing traffic handled and the work the train performs en route. The Santa Fe and Union Pacific books have regional timetables to help you plan your activities trackside and identify trains you photographed on each railroad.
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Santa Fe Freight Train Symbol History 1968 to 1984
This was my first Santa Fe freight train symbol book and covers locals, unit trains and scheduled trains as of October 1983, with several updates that occurred early in 1984. The major portion of the book covers the history of the scheduled regular trains under the old train symbols system (using numbered symbols from 31 to 599 and letter symbols) through the big change in 1974 to all three number symbols (103 to 991). Unit trains operated under four different symbol systems during the period. The latest change was the Plus System incorporated in May 1984. 85 pages in 8&1/2 by 11" format. $10.00
Santa Fe Freight Train Symbol History 1984 to 1993
This book covers the changes to Santa Fe freight train symbols and schedules from May 1, 1984 to February 1, 1993. Something new in this book is the addition of train performance data (how often the train operated and how often it arrived at its destination on time). This data and the regional schedules at the end of the book may be used to plan your activities trackside and also to identify trains you photograph along the system. 55 pages in employee timetable format. $10.00 Both Santa Fe books for $16.00
Sample regional timetable: WARNING this page is very wide. It is from 1995 and covers eastbound scheduled trains between Barstow and Belen, NM.
Union Pacific Freight Train Symbols No. 5 1991
This was the fifth in an on going series of books covering train symbols on the Union Pacific and is accurate as of September 1991. Something new in this book is the addition of train performance data (how often the train operated, loads and empties handled, and how often it arrived at its destination on time). 68 pages in employee timetable format. $12.00
Western Coal
2006 Compendium of Western Coal Mines, Electric Utilities and the BNSF and UP
trains that serve them
This was my seventh book covering BNSF and Union Pacific coal train symbols. It is currently out of stock. Don't worry Brian, I have your order and you are getting the last copy. I am working on another revision that will bring the data up to December 2007. Here are some details about last year's book. The first 20 pages cover general information about the history of western coal, various government regulations, transportation concerns, and power plant developments. The next 38 pages cover BNSF train symbols. This section provides details about each coal mine and electric utility. The last 29 pages cover UP train symbols. There are also cross references from car reporting marks and States to the BNSF and/or UP destination symbols. The 89 page book went for $18.00.
Sample from the book for BNSF symbol HOH.
