This is from 10news.com. Officers Find Abandoned Train Running with note
from crew. The crew of a 44-car bnsf freight train, abandoned a running
locomotive in Bay Park and took a taxi home after learning they had worked
the maximum hours under federal rules. San Diego Police said friday.
Here is the link http://www.10news.com/news/4699778/detail.html
yeah everybody here is pretty upset about this and, to me, are blowing this whole thing out of proportion. i would like to see what some of the guys in the busniess have to say about this as the relief crew that took control of the train last night after it was “found” wouldn’t comment to the circus of news reporters
In my town the railroads sometimes tie up with the units idling for a day or so.
I think this happens alot. Crew runs out of hours and gets some rest.
In trucking you would be fired for “Service Failure” if you did that.
LOL, when I first read the topic and the first entry, I immediatly had images of a crew hopping off an actual moving train to catch not a railroad taxi, but an actual cab, home after realizing they were getting close to their hours[:D]. I think I need some sleep.
But Seriously, after reading the linked up news report my jaw just dropped at the law enforcement officers. I could see if the crew spiked the train on a road crossing, but the way I take it, it was a routine crew change with no crossing obstructions. The cops act like the crew just stopped and took off for Tijuana! I am surprised they didn’t have all the crews involved show their driver’s licenses[;)], and ask them to steer this beast off into the shoulder to clear the tracks.[:o)]
The note inside of the cab part was interesting. Did the crew just leave without telling BNSF or was this some type of log the crew is required to keep and the police thought it was some note saying that they left? The whole thing is quite comical.
I’m not sure myself, but am taking a guess that the “note” the law enforcement agents are talking about are probably some of the prior crews track clearances, warrents, bullatins, etc., giving the next crew some idea of what’s going on, unless one of them had a hand written note across it reading “and you won’t take use alive BNSF Management”[:D]. Then I could see this being a news story. This whole thing reeks of news hungry reporters zeroing in on the big bad railroad again.
Now if we railfanned like they did, we would be busted, plus some pretty bad pictures [;)]
From the news story, BNSF pretty much acted like no big deal.
I bet it is tied to the London bombing hysteria, the police probably thought something happened, or decided it posed some type of risk. Hope this isn’t a sign of things coming from the post 9/11-London attack. All we need is more hand ringing and feelings of despair.
A side note, odd how the whole London attack is now 2nd page news, I heard more about the softball/baseball events being cancelled from the Olympics. Sad…
legally are the police allowed to climb aboard a locomotive?I know in ohio they have to ask for permission to search an automobile or enter a house without a warrent or just cause.and not to metion they entered the railroad right of way which is private property.I cannot imagine what my have happened if the officer bumped into a control or something and the train started moving i know the chances of that are slim,but you never know what could happen with a person moving stuff around in the cab and they have no idea what they are doing.
Ha ha ha…
Crews routinely hog out…and take a company cab/van back to the nearest terminal or a taxi home if they are near there.
Federal law even prohibits them from entering their time slip in the tie up computer till their next on duty day.
Leaving a train running for the reasons stated is normal, and leaving the train alone with no one on board is normal, as long as the hogged crew follows the rules, the train can’t be moved by a casual trespasser, and nothing will happen.
This goes on daily at every railroad in the US.
The note most likely was a copy of the train sheet; with a simple note telling the next conductor and engineer what time the train was tied down, and why.
Crews do this as a courtesy to each other, and most railroads require a delay report to be filled out by the train conductor and submitted at the end of the run, so the relieving conductor would need to know when the train stopped, and why.
Just a few bored cops and a reporter with to much time on his or her hands, and no incentive to get the correct information.
The cop had the right to enter the locomotive, if he suspected something was wrong, and, unless he knows where the reverser handle is kept and how to install it, and how it works, about the only thing he could do is release the brakes, and he would have to reach up to the middle of the engineers desk and pull the brake handle to do that.
If the hogged out crew followed the rules, all of the locomotives were isolated, with the reversers removed, and the hand brakes tied down, so it isn’t going anywhere.
And yeah, it looks like the reporter used his cell phone camera!
Ed
Are they allowed to do that is the BNSF does not supply a relief crew[?][?]
[quote]
Originally posted by Southern Pacific
[
Sounds like the Reno sheriff’s department. As for local tv news reporters, sometimes they don’t even know exactly where they are. The closer one is to a news story the more one realizes how inaccurate they can be.
Gee, with “on the ball” police survelance like that, we should be able to get a much better night’s sleep.
Was the reporter a “Bubble Headed Bleach Blonde”?
Give us “Dirty Laundry”!
The cops, who probably know nothing about how railroads work, were probably worried that joy-riders might come along and make off with the train, I mean, you wouldn’t wander off leaving your car idling…
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the thing i loved about this is they stated when the crew learned they worked the max hours. I can see it now the crew had a 4 hour run then sat there for 8 hrs waiting then out of the blue a crew member looks at his watch thinks a minute then it hits him. and he jumps up and notifies the rest of the crew we have worked to long and now we are hog law lets go home uses his cell phone orders a cab and goes home. come on if thier is one thing a railroader knows is what time he went on duty and he counts the minutes down to getting off. the company aint getting 1 extra minute of work out of him. and dont be standing around the engine when the relief crew shows up. ( unless you like foot prints on your back) these guys are not wasting time going home . abandoned train come on i guess the cars they set out for industries are abandoned
The only thing suspicious in Dey-Go is the news media.
I know it’s bad to generalize about any group of people, but I really hate the media. This story is beyond dumb.
To the people that know about railroading(like us) this isnt worth posting on the internet, or even TRYING to make a big deal out of it. When a crew Dies, they get a cab home, then a relief crew comes, and then it goes. People should shut up unless they know what they are talking about, all i did was laugh at this thing. “well they should have left the train in gear and jumped off”, this dink needs his head checked.
Alec