Originally Posted by
jackal
Odd. I worked passenger trains on the Alaska Railroad with 23 cars (11 ARR and 12 pull-contract cruise line cars) with just a standard crew complement of conductor and brakeman. Interesting feeling to know you are responsible for the safety of over a thousand people on-board...
There are some pretty long (>10 cars) LD trains worked by a crew of one conductor and one assistant conductor...
First, like I said, I think it's 10 cars but it could be 12.
Second, they only count passenger cars. Cars that passengers are assigned to occupy. In other words, baggage cars, dining cars, cafe cars don't count since passengers don't have an assigned seat in those cars.