All right, I’m fairly certain that I’m about to exhaust a good bit of my knowledge of actual railroading, but here goes. On Wednesday night my wife and I were going to pick up our daughters from a friend of ours house after we’d gone on a date. Going out to her house I ran up upon the tail end of a freight train consisting of empty flats and powred by two NS -9s with a BNSF -9 in the lead. The lead engine was stopped about 25 yards from a crossing with the headlight and # boards dimmed and the interior lights were off. I assumed (yes I know, I shouldn’t do that) that the engine had gone on the Law and that the crew’s alotted 12 hours were up so they stopped the train on the mainline short of a crossing to allow a new crew easy access to the engine to run it the rest of the way down to Dothan, Al.
The area in question is single track mainline on the Dothan Subdivision (CSX Bowline) and there were sidings both back in Troy, AL (about 5 miles back) and also a long passing siding used regularly for meets in Banks, AL (about 4-5 miles ahead). I know that the train has to stop when it gets onto the law, but considering that the area is single-track, would it not be more feasible to have either the crew run 10 minutes over and get into the siding in Banks, or had them stop back in Troy?
Any answers to this one would be more than welcome.
I’m no expert, but for what its worth, nobody would put his/her job on the line for that 10 minute over the law. The crew probably wouldn’t do it on its own and I doubt that a supervisor would put his name to it either.
I don’t disagree with you at all on that one, its not worth the person’s job just to get the engine 10 minutes down the line, but they could have stopped the train in the passing siding in Troy, it is long enough (IIRC the siding is 2500 ft long and the train was only 1000 ft, so plenty of room) instead of parking it on the mainline. Oh well, I guess if you can run it 5 more miles, then run it and park her wherever you stop…
I doubt it was a “OMG, we’re out of time - stop the train!”
The DS probably knew exactly what he/she was doing.
This train may have been running on the “yellows” of a train ahead of it, which may have been tying things up, too.
If the next terminal down the line was plugged up, they may have “held out” the train where you saw it.
There may well have been a “dog catch” crew enroute to the train to continue its trip. It’s possible that even though the cab was dark, the crew was there, waiting for said cab.
They might have had a problem and the conductor was out doing some troubleshooting.
While it could have been a dispatcher error, I would have to guess that the dog catch crew was close at hand and probably could get at the train easier. If that could be done before the main was needed, then no doubt the dispatcher figured it would be just as well to have them tie down where they did, rather than in a siding.
I have occasionally heard radio traffic where the crew gives the dispatcher a heads-up long enough before they die on the law so that the dispatcher can have them tie down in the most convenient place.
We had a wonderful event down here in San Diego where a southbound BNSF freight had to tie down on a siding about five miles north of Santa Fe Station sometime around eight or nine in the evening. The crew departed and then the locals went into a panic. We had TV news crews out and local cops crawling over the lead unit trying to figure out what to do. It was hilarious. Don’t know when the relief crew showed up (don’t know if San Diego even has T&E people living down here) but the display of general ignorance in the meantime was spectacular.
Good point. Just how accessible to a messenger vehicle was the end of the siding?
I believe that reminders to the dispatcher about approaching the limit are a requirement on our railroad. I have to tell my supervisor (even though he probably knows it perfectly well) if I even suspect that I’m going to be sticking around for the whole twelve hours.
One minute over the hog law does not just bode ill for the traincrew but also for all supervisors, dispatchers, trainmasters, managers, etc. in sight. Rarely does a crew have to do it without the brass knowing where they are and why. And, yes, usually a spot is chosen in advance so as not to tie up the line and so that a new crew can be brought in quickly and easily.
A number of factors can influence where a train goes on the law.
When a train goes HOS on a single main track between sidings, generally, the train has has some mechanical occurrence (UDE, Defect Detector Activation, Engine failure) that has prevented it from making the normal run to the next point of clearance of the main track.
On CSX crews are required to notify the Dispatcher when they have been on duty 9 hours of the time that they will exceed 12 hours.
Of course like anything else, you mileage and excuses for going HOS on single main track may vary.
when i pull up to a crossing and stop i will dim the lights and sit there til i am given permission to proceed,Just because a train is sitting there does not mean he is dead, and trust me if that train was blocking any traffic they would be instructed to go to the next siding and clear, with out penalty to the crew or carrier, there is provision that allow a train to clear the main and work over 12 hours.
Thanks for all the information. I wasn’t completely assuming that the train was on the law, however I felt safe to say that it was since I didn’t see anyone roaming along the length of the train to give the impression of a defect or mechanical problem.