"Spotting?"

[Rail Freak]

I was watching You Tube Videos & heard the word spotting, as in 1st spotting/2nd spotting etc. Does this mean the train is too long for the platform & the train pulls up in order to load passengers?

 

[Acela150]

It's referred to as a Double Stop, Triple Stop, etc. One stop for sleepers another for coach. And yes it means that platform is to short and the train can't fit both stops on that platform.

 

[Seaboard92]

The Lake Shore Limited before the removal of the Boston baggage car it wasn’t unheard of to make three and four spots in places. Between baggage, sleeper, coach, and baggage work.

 

[tim49424]

Empire Builder usually makes a double spot in Columbus, Wisconsin. One for pax, one for bags.

 

[railiner]

"Train spotting" is also a British term for rail-fanning...as in: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-trainspotting-mean

It also is used a slang term for certain illicit drug use practices

 

[basketmaker]

Remember one trip on the CZ #6 (eastbound) after a holiday weekend. They had to spot 8 (yes 8) times at Winter Park (when they stopped there instead if Fraser-Winter Park). Boarded 298 skiers heading home after the long weekend on the slopes. There was no real platform or cover there. And it was snowing to beat the band. The resorts used to provide buses to the stop and most of the folks stayed on them until arrival. But they had placed all their baggage trackside to speed things up. Well we were about 2 hours late and all their baggage had a good 3" of the white stuff built up on them. That was a very interesting trip.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Rail Freak,

it doesn't necessarily mean the train is too long for the platform. While that is one reason, it may be something as simple as spotting for loading or spotting for a a group. Some trains are spotted for mechanical or dumping.

 

[bratkinson]

Another reason for an extra stop at a station...refueling the locomotives. Had that happen a couple weeks ago on #7/27 at Havre, MT. We stopped for perhaps 10 minutes for refueling then moved slowly into the station platforms.

 

[zephyr17]

Another reason for an extra stop at a station...refueling the locomotives. Had that happen a couple weeks ago on #7/27 at Havre, MT. We stopped for perhaps 10 minutes for refueling then moved slowly into the station platforms.

I wouldn't call that an extra spot, it is fuel stop at the fuel pad just east of the station. The Southwest Chief does something similar at Argentine Yard, and I wouldn't consider that to be an extra spot at KC, the fuel pad there is just further from the KC station than the fuel pad at Havre.

 

[zephyr17]

I've been on trains with double and triple spots more times than I can count. Almost every time I ride the Coast Starlight, we have a double spot at Chemult, OR, one for sleeper, one for coach. Maricopa on the Sunset had a triple spot, one for bags, one for sleepers, one for coaches. Seem to recall the occasional double spots on the Empire Builder at Wolf Point, Cut Bank and other small stations on various occasion. I also seem to remember double spotting at Wisconsin Dells last time I rode it. Basically anywhere there is a short platform and they have both sleeper and coach passengers boarding or deboarding.