Can crew members walkout onto the catwalk (sides of the locomotive) while the train is in motion, or is it against the rules? I know during switching it is done a lot, but what about main lines with 30+ speed limits?
I believe it can be done, but over 30 mph and while rocking would be a little dangerous.
I routeenly ( brain lapse, forgot how to spell) walk on the cat walk going 10 mph.
Yes, but some have said it is kinda tricky.
Adrianspeeder
been out there at 50 mph as long as you have a hand on the grab iron its not bad. and its not against the rules
Been on them doing 25mph a little wobbley but not bad. I had to do it because the second locmotive shut down going up hill and needed the power.
Rodney
Many times the Engr or Fireman when they had one has gone back to check the Engine on the walkway while the train was moving and when the crew was only a two man crew the Condr was in the Engine while the Engr checked the Engine over. I was a train Dispatcher for 30 years and made many road trips over the the territory I dispatched and observed this many times and we were moving at the max speed. So it is not a new thing noty unusual to see a man on the walkway.
G. L. Braasch
[:D]i work for the CN Railways and there is know rule about walking on
the cat walk at any speed .If your bells are ringing and you do not wont
to stop you walk back and get the other engine going .i have done it
30-50 times in 33 years 27 off them as a hogger [8]
YA SURE CAN, BEEN BACK AT 70 KINDA TRICKY BUT IF YOU HOLD ON YOUR OK. USUALLY BEST TO TAKE OFF YOUR CAP THO I HAVE DONATED A FEW TO THE ARIZONA DESERT IVE BEEN A FIREMAN AND ENGINEER FOR 48 YEARS WITH THE GOOD OLD SP AND NOW THE up
Yes, because out here in Ohio, it happens quite frequently on CSX and NS mains.[yeah]
AND JUST IMAGINE – BEFORE THE DAYS OF DYNAMIC BRAKES (THAT IS, BEFORE DIESEL DAYS) – THE BRAVERY OF BRAKEMEN WALKING ON TOP OF FREIGHT CARS TYING DOWN THE RETAINERS! NO HANDRAIL THERE!
It’s required sometimes to check if everything on the engine is working correctly right. Like to check the brake hoses. That’s what I thought. I may be wrong though.
From, The name might be Fred
All you have to do is be aware of where you are at. And just hang on. I have rode on several excursions behind diesels and steam, as a passenger. If you have ever been fishing and standing up in the boat, you develop “boat feet” which helps you stabilize yourself. “Train feet” is the same thing only you are trying to walk on a moving solid surface instead of water.
Uhh, retarders have always been on the sides of cars. Brakeman haven’t been on top since about 1900.
Sincerely,
Daniel Parks
Ya, but Daniel, he means while the train’s moving. Now adays We’re not allowed to apply handbrakes while in motion unless it’s an emergency or a gravity switch move.
Brakemen rode the tops of cars much later then 1900. When my uncle hired out on the SP he rode the tops for many years. I’m not sure when that was but it was sometime in the mid 50s. And they had to do it in some of the most miserable conditions. Imagine trying to go from car to car in a blizzard at night moving at track speed. It make the walkway on a locomotive seem a lot more harmless.
Welcome to the forums!
Some of the guys that I work with now rode the tops of cars when they first hired out, that would put them in the mid to late 1970s.
I think it was pretty much all done by the 1980s, though.
I rode the top of 40 footers that still had staff brakes w/dogs; and I hired out in 1971 at the age of 19.
Retarders are in the yards. Retainers are on the sides or ends of cars by the control valves. Brakemen rode the swing position on the SP. best story as related by an SP brakie was when he asked what the swing man did his engineer said with a serious face. The swing man has to go to the outside of the car on curves so the train doesnt tip over on em! This poor fellow believed him and said he was pretty tired out by the time they made the next terminal. It is against the rules to get on top of cars if they are moving or it is not your job (ie a conductor cant be on top of a hopper fixing it)plus you have to have fall protection.
Walking the cat walks arent bad but I am not fond of the flared radiator concept. Being 6’4 I happen to whack my head on the larboard roll if we get to truck hunting.
Well back then, the hand brakes WERE the brakes, period, back before that dude oh what’s his name…Westinghouse came along.