Recently, the BNSF Railway has begun combining trains. An example of this is train S-LPCSCO1-03, passing through Fullerton Junction.
This train originated at Logistics Park Chicago IL with BNSF 6624, 6700, 5393 and 5777 all on the head end of the train, pulling 76 loads of double-stacks weighing 8122-tons stretching out 6750-feet.
On January 3, 2020, this westbound stack train was combined with train BNSF stack train S-MEMSCO1-02 (Memphis TN to Long Beach CA) at Panhandle TX. The first train in the siding was the S-LPCSCO, and then the S-MEMSCO1-02 came in behind the first train coupling to it with BNSF 6931, 6824 and 8882, also all on the head end, followed by 82 loads of stacks weighing 3777-tons and 7264-feet long. (Many of the containers on the S-MEMSCO1-02 were empties.) The 5393 & 5777 from the LPCSCO were moved to the rear of the newly combined train as Distributed Power units.
The new version of the LPCSCO now had a power set up of 2x3x2 diesels (BNSF 6624 and 6700 up front, BNSF 6931, 6824 and 8882 as mid-train DPUs and BNSF 5393 and 5777 as the rear DPUs. The new train had a length of 14,526-feet – or 2¾ miles long! Photographed passing through Fullerton CA on January 5, 2020, this train is (these trains are?) roughly 40 miles from its destination of Long Beach CA.
