I was at the Folkston Funnel yesterday and a north bound CSX train tripped the detector with dragging equipement that turned out to be a broken airhose about a 1/3 of the way back on the train. How often does this happen? Also the conductor was having trouble getting it off and needed help holding up the hose to get it off so the next south bound train stopped to help him out, why didn’t engineer get out and help?
An even more perplexing question is, why didn’t the broken air hose set the brakes and stop the train ? Loss of air pressure in the trainline should have alerted the engineer.
On a normal 1000 track mile division with a routine traffic volume of 50 or more trains a day, you are looking at least 3 to 4 UnDesired Emergency brake applications daily - most are just where the air hoses came uncoupled. Where there are mechanical issues with cars, be it burst air hoses, broken knuckles or some other form of mechanical issues today’s Conductors don’t appear to have the mechanical aptitude of the preceding generation of Conductors and are not able to make the repairs that their forebear’s made without thinking about it.
Engineers may or may not help the Conductor…that is a crew issue and without knowing any specifics I won’t make any further comment.
It is not all that uncommon for a mechanical issue with a train to delay it 4 to 6 hours or more if additional personnel are required to remedy the problem (getting Mechanical Department personnel involved). Personnel are not ‘standing around’ waiting for a mechanical issue to occur…they are either performing their normal daily responsibilities or at home on their off time.
I assume that both emploees were unionized and may not have been permitted to help.
If the cars were Autoracks or other cars with long travel coupler/drawbars, then the excess hoses are chained up or supported by a sling to keep the hose from dragging. It is possible that the hose had lost its support but hadn’t yet become uncoupled or otherwise damaged enough to put the train in emergency. If the Engineer leaves the locomotives the crew will have to tie down handbrakes on enough cars to hold the train in place should the brakes leak off. And then release them once the repairs were made and the Engineer was back on the engine.
Yeah, all these young whippersnapper conductors can’t do anything. Yet somehow I replaced more than my share of airhoses and knuckles. Anything really in-depth is why we have mechanical guys and wreck trucks. Those guys are trained in more car repairs than we are. And I don’t want my 2-cent repair coming apart and causing 10x more delay and issues down the road. Somehow I don’t think the carrier will pat me on the back for “trying my best” and not calling for help. It’s a different world that is more about liability than “getting the freight over the road”.
As far as the engineers, it would depend on the type of protection that the carrier requires. Many types require the engineer to be in the cab. Plus the whole issue that a train left unattended must be properly secured, and engines shut down to be in accordance with all applicable rules.
Not all newer employees are mechanically declined, but a significant number don’t seem to know one end of a wrench from the other, additionally many of the younger employees know better how to apply make-up correctly than the mechanics of changing a air hose (we have a significant number of female conductors and engineers for that matter). Some of the new employees are great, some not so great and some would be better served in another profession - ie. the same as it always has been. Proficiency with video games and computer operations knowledge don’t help one with getting a train over the road in the field.
[quote user=“zugmann”]
BaltACD:
Where there are mechanical issues with cars, be it burst air hoses, broken knuckles or some other form of mechanical issues today’s Conductors don’t appear to have the mechanical aptitude of the preceding generation of Conductors and are not able to make the repairs that their forebear’s made without thinking about it.
Yeah, all these young whippersnapper conductors can’t do anything. Yet somehow I replaced more than my share of airhoses and knuckles. Anything really in-depth is why we have mechanical guys and wreck trucks. Those guys are trained in more car repairs than we are. And I don’t want my 2-cent repair coming apart and causing 10x more delay and issues down the road. Somehow I don’t think the carrier will pat me on the back for “trying my best” and not calling for help. It’s a different world that is more about liability than “getting the freight over the road”.
As far as the engineers, it would depend on the type of protection that the carrier requires. Many types require the enginee
My computer skills have helped me more than once. And running a RCO engine is like a giant video game at times…
But it really doesn’t take any kind of mechanical aptitude to replace an airhose.
Engineers cannot leave the cab unless the required number of handbrakes are tied down and the reverser and other controls removed from the engine. Also in many cases where there is a problem, the conductor will dismount the train and the engineer will slowly walk the train by until the problem area is adjacent to the conductor. Also based on the fact that this tripped a dragging equipment detector, it is likely the bracket was broken, and the hose was hanging down low enough to trip the detector, but had not parted setting the brakes. Typically the solution is to wire up the offending hose. But since the conductor did not know what the problem was and the locomotive was probably a was up the track, it may have been faster for the crew in a train on an adjacent track to stop and assist. I hope that answers all the questions.
These days there’s no hurry to get the train out of the way of some highballing passenger train. You just get pissed-off shippers who are much easier to deal with, and with today’s Amtrak you can blow them off easily despite the law.
Good gut shot. I would love to come over some day and watch you plow your field with that horse and board…[;)]