Yes it matter which foot, get on with the lead foot, and slip, you will do a full face meet with the equipment.
If you use your trailing foot and slip, the motion will turn you away from the equipment.
Get off on the lead foot and it will jam or stab your foot into the ballast and you will learn how to do hand stands real quickly.
Get off on the trailing foot, and if needs be, you can drag the foot till you detrain.
Okay I see what you mean. But you are talking about a stationary train where getting on and off is like climbing or descending a stationary set of stairs. Even this is a little confusing because you descend the steps of a passenger car facing down the steps, whereas you descend the steps of a locomotive facing the opposite direction of your travel. In other words, you face the locomotive and descend the steps backwards.
For stationary steps of a passenger train, either going up or down, I would start with my right foot because I am right-handed, and I assume right-footed too, although I never thought about my footedness much. I guess I would lead with my right foot in starting a descent of locomotive steps too, although I would be descending backwards. A left-footed person would lead these moves with their left foot.
Try looking at it this way;
If the train is moving right to left, you get up with your right foot and plant it in the right corner of the stirrup or step. If the train is moving left to right, you get up with your left foot planting it in the left corner of the stirrup or step.
You do it the same way if you are getting off. That is assuming that you are smart enough to be facing the equipment in the first place.
Thanks. for the clarification. I see where I was interpretting the use of the word leading wrong.
[sigh]
Getting on and off the equipment was never a problem. We had a discussion about what we used to be able to do on my last day–it was a major offense to stop the hump back then, and to that end, pinpullers were encouraged to hop up, cross through, and get the pin on the other side if they couldn’t do it on the right side. I only did that when I had the platform above the drawbar, of course. One would also have to climb up to knock off a handbrake in most cases–and hang on if the conductor or yardmaster stopped the shove, because slack would run out.
It doesn’t make sense to talk about the lead foot when boarding–according to what some people have said here, it would be impossible to board with your trailing foot, because that would be the second foot to leave the ground! What you needed to remember is that the first foot onto the stirrup or step was the one that went into the trailing edge of that stirrup or step. Leading stirrup, except for the trailing car. Ed’s got the reasoning right. Getting off, trailing foot, aimed in the direction of movement. It was easy, and brakemen used to take pride on how quickly the train was moving when they did it.
Of course, boarding a waycar at the end of the train was made easier by those curved handrails along the side. you could make the grab, grip in the other hand, and that rail would swoop you right up onto the platform. I know I’ve done that in excess of 12 m.p.h.
Saving time…the officers who had to explain that we could no longer do it claimed that it didn’t take any longer to do it “right”. But should things fall behind schedule, the fact that you now have to stop and start every time is very much a factor, especially when the operator is using a remote–they don’t always respond as quickly as an engineer would. And it is totally amazing how long a move can take when a brakeman stops the engine, gets down, moves the engine, and stops again just to get on the other end! I couldn’t believe some of the things I saw.
A level S is the highest form of employee probation. Breaking the same rule while on probation can likely result in a discharge.
I was once told that a person’s hands have so much gripping strength that they can hold a grip on grab irons against a pulling force that can pull the upper arms out of the shoulder sockets.
Interesting video about almost all of the aspects of the conductor’s job, such as ‘‘CN conductors are always ready to report for their next shift - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year’’ - isn’t there an ‘‘Hours of Service Law’’ up north ? [:-,]
The video is about 5 mins., 41 secs. long - here’s where/ when the several segments pertaining to this discussion are:
Note that as each person Paul points out detrains, the momentum of the trains movement and their body mechanics spins them away from the train.
And, as they entrain, the same momentum/ mechanics picks them up, although the young lady does have to pull herself up some…average height people do not have to exert as much effort, but short folks like me and she do.
But the effort is no more that that needed to take the first step up a flight of stairs.
Note also that going from the stirrup to the crossover platform was done in the same movement again using the momentum of the train, the lady takes one step up in the stirrup and the next step up to the platform, all in a fluid movement.
With standing equipment you have to both pull with your arms and push with a leg to move your body mass and weight up onto the car.
Of particular interest is the close up of the lady placing her foot in the tank car stirrup, note the movement of the train and her natural placement put the trailing foot against the trailing edge of the stirrup. in the corner as it were.
Just like the stirrup on a saddle, once your foot is there, its very hard to remove it or for it to slip, and very secure, you let the train do most of the lifting.
It becomes second nature.
One thing that was drummed into our heads was this…if the train is moving fast enough that you have to think about it, the train is moving to fast for you to safely mount.
And you were expected to tell the engineer to slow down, or stop if necessary.
And on a personal note, tank cars are for me at least, the easiest to entrain and the most comfortable to ride, note the young lady positions herself on the crossover platform behind the hand rail, so any unexpected slack can not toss her off.
Many ways to look at a situation that could have dangerous outcomes.
Thank You.
I wonder about the standardization of the dismounting practice of getting off trailing foot first. I know at least one road where the standard dismounting practice was to dismount leading foot first. You would simply let go with your leading hand, and at the same time, you would disengage your leading foot, and then pivot 90 degrees outward and hit the ground with your leading foot first. It is as natural as can be.
There is no need to rely on ground contact to cause your body to rotate. You rotate it yourself before you make ground contact.
That’s how we were taught…I never fell coming off with the leading foot, but never quite got the motion for dismounting with the trailing foot down.
Nick
I had a training booklet, I think I gave it to the B&SV to use, that showed both leading and trailing foot methods to dismount moving equipment.
Myself, I think the trailing foot method is safer, but I won’t argue the point. I’ve never done the other method. I can’t recall seeing it done, but may have many years ago. Since we can’t get off moving equipment (except in emergencies, but then your in trouble for getting into that situation) the point is moot.
Jeff
Well that is very interesting to learn that there actually were two different acceptable methods of dismounting, and that I was not just imagining things. To me, the trailing-foot-first dismount seems a bit odd.
With that method, depending on where your foot hits the ground in relation to your body, it might swing you around. But it also might flip you over backwards. It also seems weird to make contact with you trailing foot with your straight trailing leg crossed over behind your leading leg. It seems like that would have a tendency to break a tendon in the trailing knee joint, break the trailing angle, or injure the trailing hip joint.
The mere fact that after 54 posts, it still isn’t very clear how to do this suggests a lack of good, standardized practices. No wonder there are accidents.
Back in 2001 a CSX supervisor had to jump on a loco moving 12 mph and he was 52. He made it and only one time to try.
The loco was pulling a 47 car freight with no engineer and was being slowed by a CSX GP40 that had caught and coupled to the last car so someone could jump on the loco and shut it down. This chase loco ran unloaded, “backwards” at up to 60 mph to catch the wayward freight.
This incident became the basis for the new train movie, “Unstoppable” which no way resembles the original incident…
Rich
It is very clear to those of us who have been taught, and actually done it. I think some of the confusion comes from trying to convey in words what really needs to be seen.
Accidents come from doing it in the wrong place or at too high of a speed.
Jeff
Yeah, the Male species does have a lot of trouble with this concept. Some never get a second chance to try when they should have never tried in the first place.
Rich
Here is a YouTube video of the incident. Unfortunately it does not show the actual moment when the supervisor got on the engine, so you cannot tell if it was leading or trailing foot first! Sorry about the idiocy narration, it is from one of those sensationalistic reality news TV shows.
Yep - I’ve had a couple of times where a “slow roll” wasn’t. We’re not supposed to get on or off a moving train, but it’s done. A lot depends on the experience of the worker (and the location involved).