I am outta here in less than 2 hours and not back until Thursday- so here is my report for this week!
1: #6664 - SD60 - Norfolk Southern! Had a really odd whistle - first time I have seen one on the lead - do they always sound that “different”? Or just bad whistle?
2: Coal train pretty much made up - but must have been adding a few more cars on the rear. Do the hostler engineers do that? Any situation that the road engineer does anything more than enter and leave the yard? What is the union’s call on this one?
3: Do they allow any smoking inside the cab?
4: Saw a couple of coal trains with a FRED on the rear locomotive (helper) and some without. I see more without than with, but why would they need a FRED on a backward running helper and why aren’t they on all of the helpers?
5: Situation: You have two engines on head-end, none on rear on one train. And you have one engine on head-end and one helper on rear on another train. Which is more difficult to start from a dead stop - from a slack standpoint? Seems to me the rear engine would help keep the slack in check better than the two or more engines on the front end?
And some food for thought:
Talked with a gentleman that is there a lot of the time when we are. He said he watches 10 different places around town and out of town. He said he just did a 16 hour day at our location a few weeks ago - he tries to do it once a year. Saw 74 trains go by in that 16 hours.
He has a wedding band, but think he may be a widower and just looking to take up a lot of free time. Either that or she is mighty patient.
Now Mookie likes to sit, but 16 hours? Would have to drag a small house behind Millie for Porta-Potty, refrigerator, microwave, books, well, you get the idea. He does it all in the cab of a small pickup truck! That’s my hero!
And referring back to my lousy engineer posting - just want to have it footnoted that
I am outta here in less than 2 hours and not back until Thursday- so here is my report for this week!
1: #6664 - SD60 - Norfolk Southern! Had a really odd whistle - first time I have seen one on the lead - do they always sound that “different”? Or just bad whistle?
2: Coal train pretty much made up - but must have been adding a few more cars on the rear. Do the hostler engineers do that? Any situation that the road engineer does anything more than enter and leave the yard? What is the union’s call on this one?
3: Do they allow any smoking inside the cab?
4: Saw a couple of coal trains with a FRED on the rear locomotive (helper) and some without. I see more without than with, but why would they need a FRED on a backward running helper and why aren’t they on all of the helpers?
5: Situation: You have two engines on head-end, none on rear on one train. And you have one engine on head-end and one helper on rear on another train. Which is more difficult to start from a dead stop - from a slack standpoint? Seems to me the rear engine would help keep the slack in check better than the two or more engines on the front end?
And some food for thought:
Talked with a gentleman that is there a lot of the time when we are. He said he watches 10 different places around town and out of town. He said he just did a 16 hour day at our location a few weeks ago - he tries to do it once a year. Saw 74 trains go by in that 16 hours.
He has a wedding band, but think he may be a widower and just looking to take up a lot of free time. Either that or she is mighty patient.
Now Mookie likes to sit, but 16 hours? Would have to drag a small house behind Millie for Porta-Potty, refrigerator, microwave, books, well, you get the idea. He does it all in the cab of a small pickup truck! That’s my hero!
I have a friend, about your age, who goes to Fostoria, Ohio, at least yearly with one or more of his married sons (I never hear about the wives), and spend 24 hours or better documenting the trains at the site. I’m sure there are some “food-and-facility” breaks in there somewhere…or maybe they use a camper. He says he’s getting too old to keep this up much longer. I know from experience that his wife is very tolerant, and somewhat knowledgeable (sort of in the same league as Driver Ed). All three of his sons are competent and thoroughly knowledgeable railfans…I’ve only met one of their wives, and that was at the wedding.
Maybe he does have a wife somewhere, that does things he doesn’t like to do - he just looks like he would be good husband material. He doesn’t seem to be really knowledgeable about the way the railroad works, only interested in stats - kinda like Brother Carl - but BC knows how the railroad works, too! He brings his own food to the site - been there at lunch with him. The rest I don’t know. Just a curious situation.
I’m not a right seater, but do have an answer. Some, like the early radio controlled units that the SP had (long and short snout SD40T’s) were either on and slaved to the mother (the one with the engineer) or off. The new ones are able to be controlled independently from the mother (as if they had a live driver) or slaved, or off line.
Interesting note for the Mook --------- Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the SP converted some BH class box cars [AAR mech class XM] (“High” cubic 40 foot long with 6 foot door box cars) that they put radio recievers and diesel air compressors and a radio controlled automic brake valve (26L, I think, not sure). Called an air repeater car. Was used to help control unwanted train movement from slack action in 10,000 foot trains. That train from Trona to Long Beach that ranaway on Cajon sure could have used one, but they were all cut up when the SD40T2 DPU’s came along.
I am outta here in less than 2 hours and not back until Thursday- so here is my report for this week!
1: #6664 - SD60 - Norfolk Southern! Had a really odd whistle - first time I have seen one on the lead - do they always sound that “different”? Or just bad whistle?
2: Coal train pretty much made up - but must have been adding a few more cars on the rear. Do the hostler engineers do that? Any situation that the road engineer does anything more than enter and leave the yard? What is the union’s call on this one?
3: Do they allow any smoking inside the cab?
4: Saw a couple of coal trains with a FRED on the rear locomotive (helper) and some without. I see more without than with, but why would they need a FRED on a backward running helper and why aren’t they on all of the helpers?
5: Situation: You have two engines on head-end, none on rear on one train. And you have one engine on head-end and one helper on rear on another train. Which is more difficult to start from a dead stop - from a slack standpoint? Seems to me the rear engine would help keep the slack in check better than the two or more engines on the front end?
And some food for thought:
Talked with a gentleman that is there a lot of the time when we are. He said he watches 10 different places around town and out of town. He said he just did a 16 hour day at our location a few weeks ago - he tries to do it once a year. Saw 74 trains go by in that 16 hours.
He has a wedding band, but think he may be a widower and just looking to take up a lot of free time. Either that or she is mighty patient.
Now Mookie likes to sit, but 16 hours? Would have to drag a small house behind Millie for Porta-Potty, refrigerator, microwave, books, well, you get the idea. He does it all in the cab of a small pickup truck! That’s my hero!