The east end of the La Plata platform, the part looking a bit closer to the track, is a raised section. I am guessing for easier access for wheel chairs. I was there last month (stayed at the Depot Inn and Suites for my birthday) and watched the westbound Chief make it’s stop. It seemed like they tried to line up with the raised portion even though they didn’t have any handicapped passengers. They slowed way down and with one of the trainmen (trainwomen in this case) directing the stop, released and eased forward. And still missed by about half a car. They just pulled out their step stool and boarded passengers. Had they made the raised platform, they wouldn’t have needed the stool.
I recall in the book, “Life on a Locomotive”, about an engineer for the Northwestern, Buddy Williams, that an old head instructed him to always keep 100 feet in his pocket (just in case) when stopping a train. Do engineers think this way today?
When I ran streetcars at what is now called the Shore Line Trolley Musuem 1957-1995, I would always aim to stop 50 feet short of the intended location and then release the brake gradually to ease up to the intended spot. On the freight on the B&M the regular engineer took over before stopping at Sommerville Yard, and we had already slowed to yard-limit speed, but I think I observed him doing what you described on the passenger runs from Boston to Portsmith, NH. Power was always GP7 1567 or 1568, up on the passenger and back on the freight, winter, 1952-1953.
I worked as a commercial pilot for several years during the 1970s before deciding on another career path.
The FAA had hired a bunch of controllers who knew very little about piloting an airplane. They frequently issued impracticable instructions. Finally, the FAA figured it out, and provided basic flight training for many of the controllers. I am not sure whether they still do it, but it struck me as a smart move.
If you ain’t done it, don’t rag on the person who does, especially if the mistake is a minor one and causes no real harm.
I was a commuter to New York on the North Jersey Coast line from 1969 to 1996 and remember well some mainline back-up moves by trains I was on. The ex-Pennsy trains from Penn Station in New York City left the multi-track mainline at Perth Amboy Junction at Rahway for the ride south on my way home in the evening. During the evening rush there were dozens of trains on short headways moving fast and furious through the area including Metroliners, Clockers, and mainline locals.
If there was a delay and trains got out of sequence, the tower operators at Rahway sometimes mistook an approaching train and set-up a wrong move. Rahway was a flying junction where the tracks to the old New York & Long Branch went down ramps and under the mainline so there was no need to crossover busy tracks. However, once in a while my train would not get routed correctly and we would overshoot the junction switch and come to a halt on the mainline. This was the time of GG-1s and old P-70 coaches. Imagine sitting on the mainline while a Metroliner zoomed past at high speed and rattled the old coach windows and nearly sucked them out.
After sitting for a while my train would slowly back-up until clear of the interlocking and then proceed down the ramp to the branch. I do not know what rules or regulations applied to the back-up move but I trusted that my train was protected by the signal and interlocking system. The possibility of a rear-end collision always entered my mind but if you are a daily commuter you can’t dwell on such things.
The Sounder commuter trains come through the platforms very hot and yet stop very quickly. These commuter trains between Seattle and Tacoma commonly undershoot/overshoot the very short ~10’ disabled/wheelchair raised platforms. I’ve seen them back up 1’ or 10’ to 30’ many times.
I don’t know why they couldn’t have added a few more feet to the platforms. The conductor is always there to lower the short aluminum folding crossing plank, and has direct communication with the engineer. Very few of the people are not capable of shifting over a little extra. After all, they made the trek into the station and platform already.
I don’t mind walking if that’s what it takes, but could be bad if ground is uneven and stepstool won’t work. I am short and they would have to push/pull me up if it is too high. With platform, it is always even and never a problem. Never been on a train where that has happened, but then I usually board at big stations in big cities. And that would definitely not work well if there was a handicapped person who needed to board
A little off topic but stopping a train within platform limits is not easy. Dad was a steam locomotive engineer (engine driver) on the old Great Western Railway in UK and later, British Railways, Western Region. After working through the grades he became a Passed Fireman just as WW2 started, working south Wales branch lines and mid-Wales lines. As a Passed Fireman he had all the qualifications to be a driver and could fill in for drivers who were off sick. It also meant a transfer to another location where there were vacancies for drivers. His happened to be Severn Tunnel Junction on the south Wales main line. As a young driver with low seniority he had to start in the banking link, assisting heavy war time trains through the difficult Severn Tunnel.
In one of our many discussions, this one held around 60 years ago, the topic of stopping trains came up. Bringing a train to a smooth stop within station platform limits requires some skill, the longer the train the more difficult it gets due to the response time of the vacuum brake to apply and release on the train. He told me of the first time he handled a long (fourteen cars or so) heavy passenger train. It was a south Wales to London train that he was banking (assisting as lead engine and driver in charge) through the Severn Tunnel and on to Badminton where he would come off the train.
Preparing to stop at his target he said that he opened the brake valve to admit air to destroy some vacuum (to apply the train’s brakes) then closed it to hold the vacuum reduction and waited for a response from the train. Nothing happened so he opened it again to get more reduction in vacuum and closed it to hold the reduction. Again nothing happened and he began to get worried and was just about to make another reduction when he felt the brakes on the train take hold. Now the train, with brakes coming on on all the fourteen or so cars, began to slow faster than he had
Back in the 1990’s, I was on an MBTA push-pull commuter train during a mid-morning run on the Providence line (the NEC) that blew a station stop heading into Boston. Not all trains made all stops. Some ran express between Sharon and Back Bay; our train was one that made all the stops.
I was riding in the cab control car near the cab (all MBTA trains run push into Boston), and the engineer had left the vestibule door open with the conductor riding up front with him. I could hear them talking as we ran along on time.
As we approached the next station from Sharon at Canton Jct., the engineer made no move to slow the train as we came off the Canton Viaduct. As we hit the near end of the platform at ~60mph, I heard the conductor say, “Aren’t we supposed to stop here?” Next thing I heard was a big air release and we start slowing hard. I look out the window as we pass the station and see a dozen or so people standing there, some raising their hands in disbelief as they watched us zoom right by them. The looks on their faces!
The conductor starts running out of the cab back to the rear (the engine) as the train grinds to a halt well past the 8-car station platform. The engineer starts calling for permission to make a reverse move, but before I could hear the reply he slammed the vestibule door shut. Not too long after, we started easing back.
After a while we got back to the platform and boarded the passengers. However, we were no longer on time. [:)]
The station at Tucson has a paved platform but it is even with the tops of the ties, not even at rail level. The station has homemade two-step stepboxes that are rolled into place for the “Sunset Ltd.” It isn’t as bad as missing the platform completely, but not by much.