Railworks America

I love American railroads, but have never travelled in one of them. What surprises me are the extremely shor platforms you see on most routes. Can someone explain how these are operated? Do you just drop off people along the track? Or do trains not stop at those locations? Or should the passengers move forward if they want to leave the train? In Europe as a rule platforms always are long enough to accomodate the whole train. So I am confused.

RudolfJan wrote:I love American railroads, but have never travelled in one of them. What surprises me are the extremely shor platforms you see on most routes. Can someone explain how these are operated? Do you just drop off people along the track? Or do trains not stop at those locations? Or should the passengers move forward if they want to leave the train? In Europe as a rule platforms always are long enough to accomodate the whole train. So I am confused.

Undoubtedly there have been errors made in the platform length of primarily freight routes like Cajon Pass, Donner Pass and even the NEC.
Most of the current commuter routes like Pacific Surfliner and Miami have full length platforms suitable for the assigned consist length. Larger settlements were served by longer express trains that made no stops at the smaller stations and have longer platforms.

Also, it is my understanding that when the great streamliners graced US rails, there was hardly any local traffic allowed on them.
Any passenger travelling only one or a couple of stops without seat reservation was confined to a day coach, usually up front. I can imagine the train stopping with the baggage car and day coach opposite the small town depot, using whatever short platform there was. US platforms are generally very low, selding much higher than the railhead. Steps dropped down from the vestibule when the door was opened, and a stepbox was put on the platform. gravel, cinders, concrete by the conductor before letting passengers out or in.
Local trains were quite short, one to three coaches at most. Or a single RDC, gas-electric, Doodlebug or other self propelled railcar.

Kijk eens langs een spoorlijn als Amersfoort - Zwolle. Kleine stations zoals Putten of Nijkerk hebben perrons voor 8 bakken DD-AR, terwijl de IC's met soms 16 bakken IC3 voorbij razen.

Sorry about the Dutch language interlude.

I've seen Amtrak make double-stops, too. They may come in and stop with the baggage car on the platform and wait for the crews to exchange baggage. Then, the train pulls forward and stops on the conductor's signal so passengers can board. IIRC, on the short-distance routes in IL, the crew will fill certain cars with certain destinations so they may only have to have one step box down, rather than each car in the train being opened. I think this method has been used everywhere for decades. I suspect that it depends largely on the expected volume of riders entering or leaving the train at each station.

Thank you all for your clarifications! And for the Dutch interlude

This makes it more clear to me and helps to create some interesting scenarios.