Consist Creation: Mixed Freight

Overview

This is a short guide on the step-by-step process of making a good mixed freight consist in Trainz.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my first guide ever! Please pardon any mistakes made, as I am currently in the learning process. If I get good feedback I may continue on making more guides, so please do tell if you found this guide helpful. Thanks!

Many times I have seen sub par consists on scenarios, with all the same cars or unrealistic proportions, so I thought I might make a guide to help those in need of a little boost in their learning curve, and to help the creation of better user-created scenarios. This guide will cover the step by step process in creating a mixed US mixed freight consist.

You may find it beneficial to explore the vehicle list beforehand, as there are many hidden jems in it.

Choosing Locomotives

What is a train without locomotives, right? Locomotives are an excellent way to start a consist. For our consist, I have chosen two Jointed Rail BNSF B40-8ws.
Two locomotives will be plenty to haul our medium-legnth train. Notice the second one has that red spare part on it. Having little things like that make a train look realistic, as this is often present on real trains. When choosing locomotives, try to choose similar locomotives. For example, I could have used an ATSF B40-8w If i wanted to; they both run under railroads that operated in the same area. A CSX GP40, however, would look out of place on this consist.

When using more than one locomotive, try switching the direction of one or more of them, but always leave the first one facing forwards. When using three or more locomotives, try not to have three in a row facing the same direction. Always try to get at least one turned around. Most trains in reality have at least one locomotive faced the other way, so having this adds a large touch of realisim.

Adding Rolling Stock

The most important part of a consist is the cars. To start our consist out, I’ve decied to use some ACF centerflow hoppers.
I have chosen three different variations of this car to start out with. Varying the chosen car’s skins adds realism, as no two cars are exactly the same. Using the same car more than once, however, is perfectly fine if used in moderation. Having 2-3 spread throughout the train is fine, but not 7 in a row.

Next up is four 50 ft. Boxcars.
Again, I have used different variations of the same basic model. When adding cars, try to do little sections of the same kind of cars. ex. three hoppers, four boxcars, and then a couple gondolas.

Here I have added two gondolas. What’s nice about these is they are open-top, so visible loads can be added via the vehicle details menu.
As you can see here, I have loaded the gondolas with pipes. Varying the loads is a good idea, as it adds the “Mixed” to Mixed Freight. After these, I placed a few more cars following this procedure.

Finally comes the caboose. Now, when choosing a caboose, try as best as possible to use the same railroad name as the locomotives. I didn’t have any BNSF cabooses, so I used an ATSF Ce-11.