Mixed train

This article is about trains comprising a mix of freight and passengers. For locomotives suitable for hauling both passenger and freight trains, see Mixed-traffic locomotive.

A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons.[1] Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service was slower, because mixed trains usually involved the shunting (switching) of rolling stock at stops along the way. However, some earlier passenger expresses, which also hauled time-sensitive freight in covered goods wagons (boxcars), would now be termed mixed trains. Generally, toward the end of the mixed train era, shunting at intermediate stops had significantly diminished. Most railway passenger and freight services are now administered separately.

Green herb with a few tiny yellow-white flowers
Mixed train at Port Pirie, South Australia, 1951
Three small white and yellow flowers before green-leaf background
Mixed train, Bière–Apples–Morges railway, Switzerland, c.1970
  1. ^ Ellis, Iain (2006). Ellis' British Railway Engineering Encyclopaedia. Lulu. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-84728-643-7.