(The following article by Anita Miller was posted on the San Marcos Daily Record website on November 30.)
SAN MARCOS, Texas — Watching the freight trains roll by and wondering what might be inside is a little amusement adopted by most San Marcos residents given enough time.
But at this time of year its a fairly easy question to answer. They’re full of the clothing, electronic equipment, sporting equipment and toys that will make the upcoming holiday season blossom.
According to Mark Davis, regional spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad, the majority of the around 30 trains that pass through San Marcos every 24 hours are currently hauling consumer goods, many from Pacific Rim countries en route to store shelves.
“Most are primarily coming from Los Angeles going toward Memphis or the east coast,” Davis said. He said “intermodal traffic,” those trains composed of flatbed cars hauling shipping containers, make up the bulk of train traffic this time of year, though the “peak season” from August through the middle of November, has come and gone. “In November a lot of companies start building up for the holiday sales and end of year sales.”
This past year, Davis said intermodal traffic has increased by seven percent.
Though the containers give few hints of what may be inside, other rail traffic is easier to categorize. “The San Marcos area sees quite a few aggregate or rock trains from the quarries in the area, aggregate and especially stone for cement of construction in general continues to be very strong in the area,” he said, adding that many of those loads are from quarries near San Marcos and Georgetown bound for construction in the Houston area.
“Also in our corridor,” he said, speaking of the San Marcos area, “you will see coal trains both loaded and empty primarily going to San Antonio Power & Light.”
Other rail cars are plainly carrying automobiles.
Due to the high price of fuel, rail traffic has been up over the past year. While that doesn’t necessarily translate into more trains coming through on local tracks, it sometimes means those trains are longer. “The average train length is about 75 cars, that’s moved up about three cars in recent years.” Davis said coal trains, however, are on the average longer. “Over the last several years we have been operating longer coal trains. They are now typically 135 cars rather than 110. That extra 20 cars enables us to better utilize the locomotives.”
Davis also explained what had been a mystery to some train watchers, the locomotive at the end. “The one on the end is helping to push the train. That is done by radio signal from the lead locomotive – whatever the engineer does, the rear locomotive does. That allows us to increase the train length by at least 20 cars, so in essence you’re able to haul more coal, move more cars and it frees up more locomotives to pull trains.”
The category of rail traffic that most concerns the general public, that carrying dangerous chemicals, makes up only about 20 percent of the local traffic, Davis said, explaining that the routes through San Marcos are not “key” for that type of transport.
What does move through here, he said, may be bound for manufacturing plants in Mexico. “That would include corrosives used mainly for metalworking and some agricultural applications and flammables.” He said propane and liquid propane gas are also moved, as is bulk chlorine used for water purification.