JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The SMART Transportation Division labor union is calling out CSX Transportation for what is alleges as unsafe operating conditions that led to a serious injury at the railroad’s Radnor Yard in Nashville, Tenn., earlie…
From the article, what does this mean? Can somebody elaborate?
“The new lead tracks allegedly involve uphill movements where locomotives have to use higher throttle positions. The union reports that by the time a cut of cars is rolling and the slack is running out, train crew members have to run in order to pull the pin.”
Uncoupling the cars when “kicking” cars. You lift the lever (cut lever) at the end of the car and it lifts the locking block that allows the knuckle to open. It is possible to do this as soon as the car starts moving and the slack is in at that coupling, so you may not have to stay beside the car all the time it’s moving. However, many times the “pin” may not stay up. Then you’ll have to pull the pin and possibly hold it open until the cars separate.
Jeff
The letter referred to in the news item is the one Balt posted on another thread.
Jeff
I am familiar with that type of problem. Normally, a person pulls the pin as soon as the engine begins to shove for the kick, and the pin remains lifted as the car is kicked and let go. But maybe on average, every 50 kicks, the pin is lifted but does not stay up. So as I recall; a person would either ride the car and hold the pin up, and then jump off after the car separates from the one trailing it; or just run alongside of the moving car and hold the pin lifted until the car separates from the cut. Generally, the running alongside approach has been considered to be dangerous, and the safest method is to just shove the car into the track and leave it rather than kicking it.
What I quoted from the article sounds similar to what I have described, but I cannot reconcile the parts about higher throttle positions, kicking uphill, cars rolling, and slack running out. I cannot make any sense out of that at all. Usually you pull the pin way before the c
Wow…all these years I was doing it wrong!
I could just have pulled the pin when the locomotive started pushing!
No need to worry about the slack bunching up, then out, the bunching up till the kick became steady….
Believe me, it’s a lot more often than every 50 cars or so…try like one or two out of every ten.
And if you are kicking up hill, you have to have them going a lot faster than normal…wish the article had mentioned how many cars they were holding on to, that also makes a big difference in how it all works.
You’re not the only one. Oh well. This is why I like these forums. We always are learning.
Nothing makes an engineer quite as happy as trying to kick cars and not having the cut actually get made - by the time the movement stops it is well past the the clearance point of the switch - now the entire cut of cars has to be pulled back to make another attempt at doing it right.[/sarcasm]
I know, such hard work moving those handles.
So I guess it is because of those uphill kicks at higher throttle positions that you get the slack running out, but not running out far enough to let the car go. Then it runs back in again and drops the pin. Then you have go running to catch up and pull the pin before the kick is ended.
I can see you never kicked a car. You need the slack in to pull the pin (and no, they don’t always stay up), then you need enough oomph (scientific term) to get the damned thing to go where you want it to. Otherwise it will stall out (esp on curves and frogs), or if the grade is uphill away from you, it will be like the prodigal son and you get to do the whole process again.
I can saw a switch with the best of 'em.!
Uphill the slack will bunch up…the trick is that the movement has to stop hard or fast enough to “crack the whip” so to speak.
Because you’re going uphill, the initial speed is higher than normal, you can only walk so fast…I would imagine most carriers are like mine, running is forbidden, as is riding a car and using your foot to lift the pin.
In this instance, you have a very narrow window to pull the pin and hope it stays up…of course, you can always bald head the joint and kick it that way, but then the knuckle you are holding on to has to opened afterwards.
At the speeds you would have to be moving to kick uphill, if you had to hold the cut lever or pin up while waiting for the stop, you will be running, hard.
There was once a time when railroading was a real man’s job. Back in the day, men often worked 16-hour shifts (allowed under the Hog Law at the time). They were away from home for sometimes days. Equipment was old and unreliable. Many railroaders lost fingers or limbs–some were even killed or maimed for life.
I guess losing a limb made you a real man? Never really understood how risking bodily harm equates to being a man.
Yes I am very familiar with kicking cars, and know all about slack needed to pull the pin. I know the pins don’t always stay up, but most of the time they do. I know the kick amounts to “oomph” as you say, to get the car to roll on to its destination. But, I have never seen the slack run out during a kick until the stop sign was given to end the kick and let the car go. A kick seems like the last place the slack would ever run out.
So, I do not understand the complaint I quoted in blue above. It makes it sound like the guy pulling the pin has to pull it and hold it up while running alongside for every kick. If there is an actual ru
Thank you Mr. Harrison
I pounded the ground (I was usually pulling levers in the engine) for about 1 1/2 years. I can’t say I enjoyed it but I was in pretty good shape !
ps: I did alot of running.
I’ve got a great idea! Build a track that has a long uphill approach so the cars are shoved uphill until they reach the apex, then have a person pull the pin lever, and let the cars roll downhill to their respective tracks, using the many switches that could be remotely controlled. Maybe have a device on the downhill segment that could slow cars as needed so as to prevent too-high speed couplings. No running or riding necessary.
Build it and Harrison will close it!