what do the trains even do?

[Herozen]

i'm on year 2 and i've had 3 trains go past. are they supposed to do something?

[Dashwoods - JB973]

They drop things

[Frandez]

Sometimes doesn't drop anything at all... This is just my thoughts that u need to being there (railroad) for trains to drop something.

Sometimes they drop their unique drop that can't be found on the world, I have obtained shoes that can't be drop from any monsters or buy from the guild house. Don't know about barrels tho, cause shoes that I got from barrels can be bought from guild house or drop monster or treasure chest in the mines.

[juleziscewls]

The main gimmick is that the train will drop items as it passes by. Usually it's pretty common items (wood, ore, geodes, etc.), and the trains aren't common/consistent enough that I'm looking out for them or relying on them for materials, so I don't really pay much attention to them anymore. I do like going up there to forage or collect fiber when I'm low on it though.

You don't have to be at the station for the items to drop, but they will despawn after the day is over. There's a secret pair of shoes you can only get from the train drops, but they aren't particularly useful, mostly just for fun collecting.
The stardew wiki has a really in-depth page on all of the intricacies of the train station if you want to find out more details

[Nakos]

The Trains ... they go ... downtown ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4UymgYKNE

[Herozen]

i've had another train since this post. none of them have dropped anything. wonder if mine are bugged

[dexter]

It's possible that they just didn't drop anything.
https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Railroad#Trains
I don't usually get drops when I go there. Not really worth going to imo unless you want the boots, but they aren't useful.