Hi group I am a engineer with the BNSF. The last time I walked from unit to unit while moving was a few days ago. I had a heavy train we had 3 units and the middle unit shut itself down due to low governor oil while I was going up a good hill the train was doing 18mph when the shutdown occured. I had the conductor take over while I went back and got the unit restarted by the time I got the unit started the train was down to 7mph I am glad the I had a conductor with 20 years of serivce. It is not big deal to walk from unit to unit while moving as long as you keep your whits.
Rodney
Engineer BNSF
Now that you mention it I sure do miss those Santa Fe F& FP-45’s!
This modern age of political correctness and safety awareness has surely taken the FUN out of railroading. Remember riding on the pilot, hanging on with one hand, trying to signal the engineer when he’s just opened the cylinder cocks and steam cleaned your overalls, again, and remembering when to jump off to throw the switch…?
I know what Zardoz means. I walked inside 2 FP7’s at only 15MPH. I sure hoped those huge pistons stayed in their cylinders.
Just had to do this last night on a loaded coal train, but we were only travelling 10mph. Generally not too big a deal at low speed, but most low speed main track is poorly maintained and you never know when there is going to be an unexpected bump, dip, or soft spot. Walking is less of a problem because there are handrails, but if you are resetting governor buttons or restarting a dead unit the handholds aren’t in the most convenient locations. It is something that I keep in mind every time I have to step outside the cab. A fall at low speed can still be extremely dangerous.
As for rules about doing this: there aren’t until you get hurt-then there are many rules that may have been broken, ie failure to maintain proper handholds, etc. so it is something to keep in mind.
On an earlier posting on this trace, someone mentioned walking the tops of the boxcars. Way back when (late 40’s) my dad was a brakeman on the WCF&N in Iowa. This was an electric railroad. He said the worst part of the job was walking the cars. In the summer the wire hung down dangerously low and in the winter the tops wer icey.
I used to walk along a Illinois Central siding and let the air out of all the cars 40 or 50 at times. It took them forever to pump them up
It’s really not hard at all walking on the walkways of a locomotive while it is in motion. Some crew members also take a **** from the walkway when in rural areas and at night.
Try going from a Geep into the nose door of an F-unit (we called them covered wagons). I did this on the NYC in the 60’s on dark rainy nights more times than I want to remember.
Exactly how loud is that?
Trainboy
So loud that if you shout at the top of your lungs, you can’t hear it, but not painful. (Definitely bad for your hearing!)
Watch your step ! 1st time out a SD-70’s engineer side door, BIG drop off, also the flapping panel doors, not to mention the bee going up my sleeve and stinging me right between the shoulder blades when your holding on for dear life at 60 m.p.h.
Um… why? If it’s because they get slippery in rain, well, so do the walkways on locos, and probably much worse. I can’t think of why it would be any better walking on the outside of the loco at max speed, than to walk between Amtrak cars at full speed. I’ve walked between cars many times and sometimes it is a bit worrysome, but I would be scared to death walking down the locomotive walk at 70 or 80 mph.
I have ridden the steps of an ac44cw at 60 mph just to watch the ge radial truck do it’s thing. It was amazing just looking at all of the different parts moving.
Hello All! I can relate to the comments about the noise on the EMD “covered wagons”; I run the engine room on an 8000hp towboat on the Lower Mississippi. The boat has a pair of 16-710’s, and the noise level on the upper deck catwalk while underway is about 119 db! Definitely more than enough to make you lose your hearing!
[:O]
Tom