The length of a train, including the longest trains, may be measured in number of wagons (for bulk loads such as coal and iron ore) or in metres for general freight. Train lengths and loads on electrified railways, especially lower voltage 3000 V DC and 1500 V DC, are limited by traction power considerations. Drawgear and couplings can be a limiting factor, tied in with curves, gradients and crossing loop lengths.
Conventional freight trains can average nearly 2,000 metres. Freight trains with a total length of three or four times that average are possible with the advent of distributed-power units (DPUs), or additional locomotive engines between or behind long chains of freight cars (referred to as a "consist"). These DPUs enable much longer, heavier loads without the increased risks of derailing that stem from the stress of pulling very long chains of train-cars around curves.
Read more about Longest Trains: Bulk Cargo, General Cargo, Passenger
Other articles related to "longest trains, longest, train":
... test and publicity stunt what would become the longest passenger train in the world ... The train was pulled by one 1500 V DC locomotive and had 60 passenger cars, of which only the first 14 cars held actual passengers during the run ...
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“Every American travelling in England gets his own individual sport out of the toy passenger and freight trains and the tiny locomotives, with their faint, indignant, tiny whistle. Especially in western England one wonders how the business of a nation can possibly be carried on by means so insufficient.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
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—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)