The November issue of Trains was one of the best in a while. I was particularly impressed with David Lustigs story about the BNSF dispatching.
Living near the southern Transcon in AZ I frequently listen to their operations on a scanner. The respect which crews and dispatchers display in their communications impresses me with its professionalism. We are aware that salty and profane talk with its own unique language has always been a railroad credential. These railroaders save that for other workplace situations - you never hear it on the scanner.
More impressive is the way they maneuver 100 trains a day including Amtrak numbers 3 and 4 a keep a fluid operation between Belen and Barstow. Of course the in place infrastructure has to be there for this to be accomplished: and it is with double track CTC and high speed x-overs appropriately spaced. But when you listen to some of their stressful times and how they innovate to make it work from their Network Operations Center in Fort Worth you have to be impressed. Davids descriptions of the smaller Operations Center in California is a mirror image of what I hear from Fort Worth. Thanks for this story.
You never (or seldom) hear profane language on the radio because the FCC forbids it and enforces that little rule by revoking the license to use a radio at all if they catch you speaking something they don’t like. Obviously, if the RR were to lose their radio license, things might not go well financially for the RR when they have to go back to handing up written orders to passing trains. So they will remove the employee that endangers the Federal license to get Fox Charlie Charlie off their backs.
As for professionalism over the radio, most RRs are in the business of making money and use the radio to that end, and frivilous use of the radio interferes with that, so even discussing the score of game last night or such is discouraged, and usually communications are kept to a minimum so that the radio is not tied up with useless chatter and can be used for the necessary communications to run the RR.
When radio communications first showed up in the 60’s on many of the ex-CB&Q lines, there was a note taped to the radio council about the use of profane language on the radio. Within a couple of years the FCC recorded some instances and several railroads lost radio capability for 6 months. The CB&Q ‘Lines West’ area was one that was affected.
Later in the 70’s, there was an increase in profane language(about on par with CB communications), and warning letter were again issued. I am not aware of any railroad divisions that lost their radio communications at that time.
Current operation is pretty much ‘by the book’ - beside monitoring of radio communications, telemetry from locomotives are monitored and the engineer will be told not to use power braking, or not to use RUN 6 and above if he is doing it. The fallout is that most trains are operated by the rules on busy mainlines.
Since we’re mostly staffed by volunteers, we get an interesting range of radio discipline. Still, it’s rare to hear something totally unacceptable on the air, including wry comments and the like. It’s mostly just a difference of style.
It’s the same in the fire service, where everything is definitely recorded, and everyone knows it. The most common cause of profanity over the air is along the lines of something happening while the mike is keyed, as in “Engine 16 to command, we’re set up at the corner of Walk and Don’t Walk and ready to supply Engine… Holy S***!!! Did you see that!”
Every now and then I hear the marine channels, and they’re usually pretty civilized, too.
I wish they’d included the GVT dispatcher in their story on the DL - they’re still doing it on paper…
I am a big scanner fan, in fact it is on right now. It has been years since I heard an “issue” with word use. There is considerable professionalism in communications between crews and dispatch. There doesnt seem to be as much banter between crews passing as in the past. Is it possible that also is monitored.
In fact, everything is nearly by the book.
One example heard these days on the CSX is a reference to a signal which is called “Woodville”. I never understood it until a 1959 Indiana Official Transportation Map showed a villiage at that location. My 1975 map shows it, but by 1988 the designation had ceased to exist. There is no villiage there today, but the name continues…and probably will for sometime.
The really interesting conversations happen when someone’s microphone sticks open. (If you’re using a radio in a van, don’t place the mike in the cupholder when you’re done talking. It can hold the “transmit key” open.[:-^])
Many people are easily identifible over the radio by their voice. A railfan may not know who is saying something, but other railroaders will. So even if you don’t identify yourself, your voice may give you away.
Once in a while you’ll hear a conversation between a train and dispatcher that just makes it harder for everyone else. I’ve always figured it’s best to be on the good side of dispatchers, crew callers or managers. Less problems for them usually mean less problems for us.
I still here banter between crews on the metra UP north line. Usually it’s relating ti seniority and some times the engineer whistles, it’s funnier when they say there names on the air.
There is plenty of chatter on the radio. It’s just usually not on the road channel. I wish I didn’t have to have a radio so I could have some relative peace and quiet.