Last summer, my daughter and I had a chance to watch the remote control switching action from a bridge overlooking the joint BNSF/UP yard on Seattle’s Harbor Island. My daughter remarked that it was just like a model railroad: the man controlling the empty locomotive was off to the side with a ‘walkaround throttle’.
Here are a couple of photos we took of the operation:
Here’s what I observed in our brief visit to the Harbor Island yard:
The switching was carried on by two crewmen, both of which were wearing harnesses supporting the chest-mounted control transmitters. One crewman stayed near the locomotive, while the other operated cut levers further down the yard. Although I cannot say for sure, it appeared that the crewmen were trading control of the locomotive depending on which end of the cut of cars was being dealt with.
Not surprisingly, this technology is controversial. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLET) has opposed remote control technology on safety and job security grounds, as discussed in the following link:
http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=4525
It has also led to conflict between the BLET and the United Transportation Union (UTU). An arbitrator recently awarded the job of controlling locomotives remotely to UTU groundsmen rather than to engineers. An article about this development can be found here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1215/is_2_204/ai_98265133
I’d love to hear from any operationally-minded folks who have modeled this type of operation.
With the advent of wireless DCC, operating a model r