So I saw a train today but i noticed all but one of the crew leaving the train and getting in a company jeep. I was wondering are they going on lunch break in town? I mean they were only maybe 10 miles from the nearest Yard. Then again there was an Intermodal that passed them by. Does this mean they were on lunch-break, cause they had time while waiting for other more important trains to pass? Is this a common practice? I am pretty sure the train was a local too, if that helps.
Many possibilities.
Crew may have outlawed, even though it was a local.
There may not have been room at the yard for them.
The cars in that train weren’t needed anywhere just now, but the crew was (perhaps even to “dog catch” another crew that had outlawed).
Just to list a few.
Lunch was a possibility, too. Used to see a local tie up on the main while they visited an adjacent convenience store…
if it helpsm I have seen other “locals” stopped at that same passing track.
Also I am not familiar with the term “outlawed” can you explain it to me?
Crews have 12 Hours from their on duty time to work. When they have exceeded 12 hours on duty they have outlawed and cannot perform any more service. They are still on pay, however, until they reach their final relieving point to mark off and then take the prescribed amount of rest before being eligable to be recalled to duty.
Balt, my wife and I have had the experience of riding with outlawed crews. Twenty-three years ago, we were going from Los Angeles to Seattle, and all was going well until right after we left Klamath Falls. We stopped, and backed back to the station–because a freight had gotten on the ground inside a tunnel. After some time in Klamath Falls, we began moving again, stopping here and there until we came to a pass track in the middle of a forest. We began moving again about dinner time because the line was at last cleared. My wife and I were in the diner when the conductor walked through (having removed his cap since he knew the former custom of removing his cap in a diner unless he was taking tickets; apparently Amtrak knows nothing of this custom), and I asked him if he were not going to be outlawed. He told me that the crews were already outlawed, and the only way for relief crews to get to them was for them to board the Seattle-Los Angeles train in Eugene and run the outlaws in relieve the outlawed crews when the two trains met–and permission had been granted by some body in Washington for them to proceed. Of course, they had had plenty of rest while we were waiting here and there; they may even have gotten some shuteye while waiting. As it was, we were ten hours late in arriving in Seattle.
I have ridden another train which had to have the crews relieved out in the country. In 1970, I was riding the Wabash Cannonball from Detroit to St. Louis. The train into Detroit the night before arrived late, and the crews were called out on short rest, which meant that they were not to work the full time. If we had not been held up by a freight that had broken in two–and some passerby had closed an anglecock while the train was stopped, making it necessary for the crew to walk the train, we would have reached the crews’ terminal in time.
Freight and passenger crews can work past the 12 limit if leaving the train where it is at causes a on going, clear and present danger to the public or another train.
They are allowed, under the work limit law, to move the train to a location that removes or negates the danger, but nothing more that that.
FRA approval s not needed, but the FRA must be informed of the fact.
We take lunch break whenever we can. On through trains we usually pack enough food for the trip, but there are cases where the dispatcher leaves us waiting for trains for hours at a time. Every railroad man knows where all the local restaurants and stores are at on his run, so when we get stuck at a meeting point we’ll get out and walk down the street to take lunch. This happens a lot more on locals as they have to clear the main and let traffic run more so than other trains.