LOL, CN’s too cheap to give us a tape measure. The trainee is given a 6000 ft piece of string.
They better not lose it either…
Automatic 59.5 demerits if they loose it.
Seriously though, the clerk calculates the length of the train, but the conductor is responsible to ensure it is correct(by car count).
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If it takes you 2 hrs to walk your train up you deserve to answer to the man . like i said the lame excuse and in the states we dont touch the speedometer its against the fra rules.and yes we time ourselves thats how you know if the thing is off or not. and if its off the speedometer is off, all the excuses you gave makes no sense or there is no reason for it. I will say if in dark territory you wont be running on bad blocks to the switch but also if the opposing train didnt haft to slow down to get your switch you wouldnt haft to wait on him so long. but ive said that already and you didnt want to be confused with the facts when your mind was made up. and dont think your the only person whos pulled a 2 mile long train or walked a 2 mile long train its not that uncommon. and i have walked many trains that long.
The distance counter on the head end box gets its input from the same source as the speed indicator and event recorder. It is typically an axle alternator (bolted onto the end of the axle bearing box - connected to the axle by splines in the axle) or a traction motor speed sensor (a proximity probe that counts teeth on a special gear on the comm end of the traction motor).
These will be as accurate as their calibration for current wheel diameter.
I don’t write the rules, I just do what I’m told according to our rulebook and our operating instructions.
Fact: The RTC gives me an item 9(The following switch(es) shall be lined and locked in the reversed position) on my clearance to leave the siding switch lined and locked in the reversed position. Guess what I’m doing? I’m lining myself into the siding and leaving it lined and locked for the siding, regardless of where the other train is because those are my instructions from the RTC that must be acted upon. If the RTC doesn’t give me an item 9, then I’m lining the switch back after my tailend clears.
I am not leaving the switch lined for the siding because I don’t want to walk all the way back up, but because I have been instructed to by the RTC. Since the crew on the other train is instructed by the RTC with an item 8(You shall encounter the following switch(es) lined and locked in the reveresed position) on their clearance to stop and line the switch, they can also confirm the tail end is in the clear. That is how we do things up here, that is what I was taught. Got an issue with that then take it up with CN and Transport Canada.
I understand what you meant in your first post but to accuse me of being lazy, and calling our operating practices a lame excuse like you did is completely uncalled for.
If he cannot understand his own book of rules, how is he supposed to understand CROR?
Maybe he’s a “pretend railroader”.
I do understand what your saying and if its what they want you to do then do it but it is faster this other way regardless if your in signal terrtory or dark . I didnt read all of your post but if i understand correctly In dark territory the way you run its automatic that they make you slow down and check the position of your switches or be prepared to stop and line them back. if you didnt haft to do this because things were lined back then you go flying by. the rule here
didn’t even bother to read his entire post? Now who’s lazy…
Even down here in the lower 48, and the northeastern of thsoe 48, we don’t get a choice in the matter. If we are in dark territory and have to park our train in the siding - we must eyeball the marker into the siding. Then you normal it back up. Saying that,I have also received additional line 13 instructions on a Form D telling me there will be a switch against me somewhere along the dark terriroty. So you stop, and normal it up. No biggie. Not every train on the railroad is a UPS hot shot freight. And laziness has ZERO part in it. We don’t get that option. We do what the magic box in the engine tells us.
Diffn’t railroads - diffn’t rules.
You don’t have to slow down for every switch. You only slow down and stop for the ones that the RTC tells you could/will be lined against you. If the RTC doesn’t give you any warnings at all then you give er over the road for your entire tour of duty.
If all trains had to line their own switches back, it would take a lot longer to move freight because of all the conductors having to walk back up to the head end. You’d have trains stopped everywhere for an hour at a time instead of one stopping for 2 minutes to line a switch back.
A heavily used siding near here has at least one spring switch. Several other switches (a spur also takes off from that area) have heaters, but I haven’t looked closely enough to see if they are indeed remotely controlled.
One thang i have noticed on many BNSF trains is the ETD has a very dim flashing red light. and some are very bright and you can see them up 15 miles in the columbia basin on the scenic sub.