I have questions that I hope someone who knows BNSF policy can answer for me.
Heard from someone who saw them that BNSF had 3 loaded coal trains parked down in SE Nebraska since around the time the train traffic stopped going south out of Lincoln to KC and SE US. This probably would have been some time in June. No way to cross the water down there.
He said he saw one back into Lincoln the other day. Entire train DPU first and having traveled about 50 miles, backward. Today we saw same thing - one that would normally go south and then east to Alabama/Georgia area - backing in DPU first - going very slowly.
Questions: Does someone ride in the DPU to watch unmarked xings; no horns were sounded thru 2 xings where we sit. Does the crew stay in the head end motor for safety? Do they post any kind of local personnel at cross buck xings in the small towns or farm land between here and there to tell them they are clear to back thru particular xing?
I would expect that the locomotives used in DP service don’t know if they are leaders or trailers until their controls are configured for operation. It would be my guess, that BNSF would place a crew on what was once the rear end DP engine and use it as a leader with what had been the lead engines becoming DP engines now on the rear of the train.
Not being BNSF, I could be wrong, but using the rear DP engine as a leader makes more sense than backing the train operating from the original lead locomotives.
I know they run forward and backward equally - but why no horn if there was a crew in the original DPU? We can hear them coming for at least 2-3 xings and while I could hear the motors, there was no xing whistle.
There is always to be someone on the leading end of a movement, which is why some railroads have “shove platforms.” This is especially true over crossings.
Assuming the DPU was running, it should have had air in the main reservoir (corrections gratefully accepted), so sounding the horn and bell should have been possible. I’ve done shove moves with a dead engine on the leading end, so had to rely on the shoving locomotive to sound the horn (while I tweeted the backup hose).
If the “lead” DPU was dead (a possible reason for the reverse movement), they may not have had air available for the horn.
Another possibility is all crossings being flagged before the movement crosses.
Driver said that since all the xings around us are gate protected, maybe the conductor was riding on the DUP on the opposite side and we couldn’t see him? He would have been in the cab with the engineer coming into Lincoln, they stopped and let him walk the train (ugh in humidity) or ride him to the DPU and then ride in on the outside of the DPU/new head motor.
Someone would be riding the rear end for a move like that. Watching crossings and for any thing else that would affect the move. Under certain limited circumstances some railroads allow an unprotected (no one watching the back) reverse move, but generally it’s limited to a train’s length.
While it’s more than just pushing a couple of buttons, changing leading control ends would probably be best for such a long move. Possible reasons for not doing it would be how the locomotives DP circuitry is set up. All newer engines have the DP software integrated into the on board computer for both lead and remote set ups. Older engines need a portable box (Harris Box) to lead, but not to be a remote. Possibly the leader had an integrated control, while the DP needed the box, but none was available, so they couldn’t change ends.
If the unit(s) that were the rear or pushers were running, then it would be safe to assume they were the current lead units in this instance, and the two units that had been the lead units were either in DPU mode pushing, or running but not cut in, (isolated) if the DUP set up was unavailable.
A back up move of that length is possible, but not very efficient.
They may have been moving slowly simply because the crews were not accustomed to that area, new to the area and yard, or the two units on the (now) rear were not cut in and the single (now) lead was having to pull the entire train backwards with the long hood leading if it was set up that way.
As for not blowing for the crossings, that’s a mystery to me, I would.