How do I know my left from my right?

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

OK, after you run out of wise cracks, I’m asking about the left and right sides of a railroad car.

I know the “B” end is the end where the brake wheel (or lever) is found and the “A” end is the other end but which side is the right or left? I suspect that’s standardized somewhere but I haven’t been able to find it. [D)]

And while we’re on the subject of describing a railroad car, which end is which on a passenger car that has a brake wheel in both vestibules? And, of course, how is the first question answered in this case? [D)]

2

Face the B end of the car.

The left side is on your left side.

The right side is on your right side.

3

I used to work with a guy whose left side or right side depended on whether he was looking from the front or rear of the vehicle.

4

If there are handbrakes at both ends of the car, one of them will be designated the A end and the other the B end. Then go back to the first answer you got.

If I remember correctly, the Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) transponders also indicate the right and left sides of the cars.

On articulated freight cars, the units tell the story: the A unit is at the A end, and the B unit is at the B end. If there are more than two units, their letters intervene (on a five-pack, for example, the units are arranged B, C, D, E, and A).

5

Unless you are looking at the A end then

Your right is the cars left

Your left is the cars right

Then we interject Port, Starbord, Fore and Aft.

6

I know this may sound like a silly question, but are you facing the B end from inside the car or outside?

7

[^o)][:^)]

8

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck…? [:D]

9

Was never really a problem…My Parris Island Drill Instructor convinced us all, it was very simple: Port was Left. and Starboard was Right… The front was where you got off, The Bow, and the garbage was thrown over the Stern ( Fantail for you Sea Dogs) The Engineer was always at the front of the train on the Starboard side. [:^)]

10

Unless they were on the CNW???

11

The matronly lady ask the young porter which way it was to the train she wanted.

He laughed and said, “Turn to the left and you’ll be right.”

She responded, “Don’t be impertinant young man!”

He laughed again and said, “Alright, turn to the right and you’ll be left.”

12

You are standing outside the car. If you are inside the car how can you tell which end is the B end?

13

Just have to remember where it is before you climb in…

Since we’re generally a north-south railroad, we just refer to the east or west side of the car. Kinda hard to keep it straight when you walk out of a car where the east side is the left side, and into the next car where the east side is the right side…

14

With our T&E crews, I’m lucky if they can get the car number right, let alone anything else.

15

Thanks for the sane reply, Dave. I knew it was something like that but couldn’t remember whether I was supposed to be looking at the A or the B end.

So you might say that the A end is assumed to be the front of the car regardless of which direction it’s moving.

I’ve got my own anecdote for everybody: An uncle of men literally herded a bunch of trucks across France in WW II trying to keep up with Patton. He always told of some driver recruits whose right hand he painted white so they would remember which way was right.

16

That’s ok. Most dispatchers have a hard enough time counting how many trains we have to wait for. we try not to confuse them with a big car number. [:-^]

And for the visual learners:

Extra bonus point: if the car has two handbrakes, then the piston extends towards the “B” end.

17

Zug: I am sure I am the only reader on the forum that is thinking - “ok - now that I have that information, what do I use it for?”

18

Jeopardy?

19

Interesting… without that diagram I was interpreting the “looking at the ‘B’ end” as being INSIDE the car with the ‘A’ end at my back. Maybe better stated, “At the ‘B’ end, looking toward the ‘A’ end, left and right are per your own handedness.”

20

Mookie: Forms used to report defects ask for the side of the car but don’t usually tell you how you know which side is which. You’re supposed to know that just as you know that the B end is the end with the brake wheel.