# What is this train doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062 "2005-03-11T18:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/1 "2005-03-11T18:47:56Z")
In the morning I frequently am blocked by a train. I don’t mind too much, but it seems to be taunting me. It moves forward for a while, then stops and then goes back! Back and forth back and forth until I am ready to - well, never mind, I don’t want you to have to testify later. Anyway, what the heck is going on? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/2 "2005-03-11T18:57:14Z")
This anywhere near a railyard? It sounds like a train loading up cars. They move forwatrd until the rear of the train is beyond a switchpoint to a track section with cars to be loaded, then backs up to engage the coupling mechanism. Repeat until all cars are loaded. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/3 "2005-03-11T19:00:51Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > This anywhere near a railyard? It sounds like a train loading up cars. They move forwatrd until the rear of the train is beyond a switchpoint to a track section with cars to be loaded, then backs up to engage the coupling mechanism. Repeat until all cars are loaded. Not as far as I know. York PA may have a railyard, but if so, I’m unaware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/4 "2005-03-11T19:23:59Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Not as far as I know. York PA may have a railyard, but if so, I’m unaware of it. [There’s one](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=18&X=1764&Y=22130&W=2&qs=%7cyork%7cpennsylvania%7c). And that’s exactly what’s happening. I live near a switchyard myself. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/5 "2005-03-11T20:22:15Z")
But it doesn’t have to be by a railyard. There are switching tracks that run beside the normal tracks. Cars will be dropped off on these tracks and then picked up later by a different train. These can be close to a plant or refinery that has some rail traffic. I have first hand experience with this exact same thing, luckily the switching usually happens far enough from the crossing I have to take daily that I don’t get stuck by the tediously slow switching trains. It also happens a lot in the middle of the night, you can hear the train cars banging like mad. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/6 "2005-03-11T20:51:33Z")
It could have been servicing an industrial spur. For example, the tail light plant where I used to work had a spur out back, along the dock. When the train came to call: It stopped at the switch, and left some cars on the track. The switch was thrown, and part of the train ran down the spur, picking up two full boxcars of outgoing goods and two empty tank cars. The train went back to the main track, and the switch was thrown back. It backed up to pick up two empty boxcars and two tank cars full of plastic pellets. Forward again past the switch, which was thrown again, then back down the spur. Dropped off the empty (or full of empty cargo cages) boxcars and the full tank cars. Back out to the main track, threw the switch, back up to reunite the rest of the train. Then, the train left. All that took about 20 or 30 minutes, and a string of impatient motorists had to wait at a crossing. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/7 "2005-03-11T22:15:46Z")
A lot of jurisdictions have a time limit for a train blocking a public road, and if it is blocked longer than the limit, the railroad can be fined. There have even been cases of cops writing the engineers a ticket. Unfortunately, Pennslyvania does not have such a time limit. > [@](#): > > PENNSYLVANIA > Pennsylvania does not specify the amount of time that a crossing is permitted to be blocked. The > statute does have a couple of references to blocked crossings > Penalty > It is a summary offense for any railroad to continue to block a private crossing used by nearby > occupants of land or farms for work trips. The railroad must be given at least fifteen minutes notice to > remove its rolling stock. 18 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 6908 (1999). > Pennsylvania law makes it a summary offense for any railroad to obstruct or block the passage of a > highway or obstruct any crossing with its rolling stock. 18 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 6907 (1999). From [the FRA](http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/safety/cross_chp3.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/8 "2005-03-11T23:15:56Z")
I suspect you’re talking about West Market Street in York, near the Route 30 bypass. That is adjacent to the yard for MA & PA Railroad (Maryland & Pennsylvania), a short line handling goods to Hanover and other places. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/9 "2005-03-11T23:27:13Z")
> [@MC$E](#): > > A lot of jurisdictions have a time limit for a train blocking a public road, and if it is blocked longer than the limit, the railroad can be fined. There have even been cases of cops writing the engineers a ticket. Unfortunately, Pennslyvania does not have such a time limit. I’d presume that ‘blocking’ a crossing suggests leaving a train parked across it? If it’s shunting, then surely it’s _using_ the crossing? ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/10 "2005-03-11T23:54:52Z")
> [@MC$E](#): > > A lot of jurisdictions have a time limit for a train blocking a public road, and if it is blocked longer than the limit, the railroad can be fined. There have even been cases of cops writing the engineers a ticket. Unfortunately, Pennslyvania does not have such a time limit. I have some kind of spur or train facility near where I live–after the trains been blocking the roads (there’s a few seperated by a quarter-mile or so) for a certain length of time, railroad employees in trucks come out and seperate the cars just at one of the crossings. Wonder if that has to do with a legal time limit, or they’re just being nice… ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/11 "2005-03-12T00:09:38Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I’d presume that ‘blocking’ a crossing suggests leaving a train parked across it? If it’s shunting, then surely it’s _using_ the crossing? In my city, it’s illegal for a train to block a crossing for more than 10 minutes total. There’s no distinction (that I’m aware of) between “using” and “blocking,” thus trains must be held to certain length/speed standards. Note that this does not apply to the railyard and nearby crossing which lie outside the city limits. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-train-doing/294062/12 "2005-03-12T01:17:05Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > In my city, it’s illegal for a train to block a crossing for more than 10 minutes total. There’s no distinction (that I’m aware of) between “using” and “blocking,” thus trains must be held to certain length/speed standards. > > Note that this does not apply to the railyard and nearby crossing which lie outside the city limits. In that .pdf I linked to, there are different limits in certain states if the train is moving or stopped, and sometimes exceptions from fines if there is a mechanical problem. Most states only allowed 5 or 10 minutes total.