How do I know my left from my right?

Trains Magazine General Discussion
21

Zug: I took Balt as meaning the number in the reporting marks on a car; not the number of cars.[;)]

But thanks for that diagram and particularly the: “Extra bonus point: if the car has two handbrakes, then the piston extends towards the “B” end.” I had thought that but wasn’t sure and hesitated to bring it up. That’s really kind of handy as the cylinder has a tapered end that indeed “points” to the B end. Kind of frustrating though when you have to pick up a model Pullman to figure out which end is which and find that its underbody detail is lacking a brake cylinder.

Strange that axles are numbered from the B end. Using my analogy of the A end being the front, I’d have numbered the axles from the A end. That just seems more logical to me. [sigh] Another illogical detail to keep track of. [*-)]

22

thank you!

23

Zug, it’s not that they have a hard time counting how many trains you are stopped for. It’s that we in the field don’t speak the same language.

When a dispatcher says you are waiting on one, he (or she) means the last one. Not the first or second, etc. ones. When they say two, they mean the first one and last one.

Many times the dispatcher passes along information from our Hot Bearing desk to check a wheel. The desk monitors all hot box detectors. When they see a bearing or wheel running warm or heating up, but not enough to set off a detector, they will have us inspect the specific wheel. They will give the car’s initial and number, sequence in the train list and the specific bearing (example L-4) to inspect.

Jeff