I think now North Dakota requires the volatile elements to be removed before rail transport. Something that had already been required for pipeline transport. It’s been in effect for a couple years (IIRC) and there have been a couple of derailments where the oil burned but didn’t have the violent explosions the earlier derailments did.
Not that I’m advocating for single person crews, but are you saying engineers tire more easily than trainmen? After all, they too have to do a lot of walking when switching. When making a joint or shoving a track, it’s their judgement that’s in control of the movement. The engineer really is just moving levers and handles to their commands.
They sure do if they’re the only person on the train, and the folks at the loading or unloading facilities don’t help them make the cuts or joints.
I thought this was an ingenious use of technology by Burkhardt at the time, allowing practical assembly and spotting of comparatively long trains, as well as over-the-road operation, by one person.
Personally I thought degassing at the point of origin would fix the dramatic fireball trains pretty definitively, and I think subsequent experience has borne this out. Fires after unit oil-train derailments, though, are still quite concerning enough…