Quote from: trainman203 on May 04, 2024, 07:12:31 PM"Consist" used to mean the cars in a train. I don't know when it started meaning a bunch of diesels coupled together.
Consist is the proper railroading term. This is one case where the model world and the real world agree on the term. I remember as a kid sitting in towers on the B&O listening to the consist being given to the dispatcher for trains leaving the yard. The info given included the numbers of every unit in the consist, whether it was running or dead, car count expressed as loads vs empties, and caboose number(s) all over the train line, which was a party line telephone system that connected all the towers with the dispatcher. We were always on the lookout for odd number series in the consists, such as the rare occasions when a C&O GE u boat would stray onto the B&O main.