When a crew is switching an industry, is it necessary to set brakes on cars set out temporarily during switching moves? When a train couples to a such cuts of cars does the engine stop or simply slow down when coupling. Thanks for any info you can provide.
TRNJ, North Carolina
We usually set the brakes on the caboose and the next car.
As far as coupling cars…We stopped just before making the joint to ensure the knuckles was lined and and at least one was open and then made the joint and connected the air hose.
is it necessary to set brakes on cars set out temporarily during switching moves?
We usually set one handbrake for safety since it only takes a few seconds.
BTW.Back then we had to climb the end ladder to set or release the handbrake…Not a fun thing to do when there’s ice on the rungs…We would take the extra minutes needed to use a fuse to melt the ice.
Brakie,
Thanks for the reply. My layout is set in 1964 (the year I joined the Army!) so my little plastic brakemen will have to be careful in bad weather! I really appreciate the work of Lance Mendheim and your informed comments will add to my operational fun as well.
My “TRNJ” identity is for “Terminal Railroad of New Jersey” or Jersey Terminal, a terminal road owned by CNJ and B&O. One of my favorite engines in my Atlas HH600 which came in CNJ livery but which has been “patched” with a black rectangle below the cab with “TRNJ” and the engine number stenciled on it. Looks good even though I agonized over covering “Miss Liberty” with paint! I aslo enjoy my three 44 tonners with Loksound decoders. Sweet runners!
John in NC
And since your layout is set in 1964, you won’t have to worry about the brakeman saying “give me three step protection”. And the engineer acknowledging. [:)]
Right you are!
John
On the PRR/PC.
Our words was “In between 7166”
Engineer 7166 In between…
7166 I’m in the clear.
Engineer:7166 In the clear.
Same applied on the C&O under Chessie/CSX
In between 4244.
Engineer:Roger…4244 In between.
And when we was finished it was:
4244,I’m in the clear.
Engineer… 4244 In the clear. Roger.
Of course you had two other men watching your back which IMHO made things a lot safer.
before all that radio chatter and osha rules, we just carried a few chocks of wood in the hip pocket of our overalls and stuck one under the wheel when necessary. as for putting yourself in harm’s way, raise your lantern up high and wait for the engineer to respond with a single toot…
charlie
I don’t think so since that’s the signal to release the brakes!
Surely you ment to raise you lantern and swing back and forth above you head which means to apply the brakes but,that signal doesn’t work in yard switching since the air hoses isn’t connected.
When the radio isn’t working, my conductor shows three fingers raised. I respond by showing him the reverser handle.
Must be nice to have sharp eyes…[bow]
Been many years since I had the eyes of a hawk. [:'(]
Before lacing up the airhoses, we would stretch the joint to make sure that the pins had dropped and the joint was good. Nothing more embarassing than to make the joint, lace up the hose, and release the hand brake and have the car roll off.[:O]
Sorry, forgot to sign the last post.
Bill Allen
Des Moines, IA
Conductor for CSX.
Modern rules for setting cars out anywhere, for any length of time is…
1 car = 1 brake
2 cars = 2 brakes
3+ cars = 2 brakes (or howevermany is sufficient to hold the cars)
Supposedly you have to do a 1 minute standing brake test anytime you’re setting cars out, even in switching moves. It’s hard to get a clear answer though if you need to do that just for temporary setouts or if just shoving on it for a quick test is good enough… always different answers.
Always have to switch on-air too. Also kicking cars is outlawed. Also no riding tank cars on a shove. Ugh.
Hah… when I was training, one night I was out with the Conductor at an ADM place… their spur takes 5 tank cars of corn syrup. The spur is curved and on a downhill slope. Spot 1 is, at best, 5 feet from the wheel stops. We coupled up, he cut the air in and started knocking off the brakes… pin hadn’t dropped, the cut starts rolling downhill… haven’t ever seen anyone leap up and start franctically tying a brake that fast before, lol. Fortunately we had made the air so the brakes shot before we hit the wheel stops.
i am sure there is a good reason for all the modern ways of doing things. still,. it gives me a chuckle to learn about all these new ways and especially the constant radio chatter. i am just an old fuddy-duddy but we would have never gotten anything done working the way that is required today and sure as heck we would have never gotten an early quit… six or sixteen.
charlie
I can understand hand signals when you’re engine light or with just a small cut… but even WITH a Switchman, how did you handle getting signals to the engineer from the bottom of a long cut or, say, when shoving around a curve or something?
Speaking of early quits, we’re not even allowed to knock off earlier than 7 hours now. I think that’s just a Florence Division rule though.
most of the yards i worked in were designed so signals could be seen all the way down the track from one end to the other. in the event there was a curve, you could step back away from the cut so the engineer could see you, you could climb up on top of the cars to be seen, or another crew member could relay the signals.
some large operations had “utility men” that just hung around the yard office sucking up to the yard master and drinking coffee until they were needed to help a crew handling an extra long cut.
if you had a hogger that didn’t want to lean out of the window to see the hand signals, you didn’t let him rawhide you by making you step back all the time. just run him into a cut of cars going fast enough to knock him off the seat box. that will make him lean out a little further so he can see you. then he can go on disability for bruised ribs.
i don’t think i would last a day on today’s railroads. someone said that "kicking cars was now considered a no- no. doesn’t anybody flat switch any more? of did i misunderstand. we used to try to see if we could have cars rolling in 4 or more tracks at the same time. yeah, a few of them got cornered if they didn’t roll into the clear but that is why they had a car department. it was not just a place to keep the “foul balls”
i always liked switching at night since the lantern signals were easy to see in the dark. of course if you had to handle empty flat cars in the dark, that was a different story. those darned things can be nearly invisable. one night i was too lazy to walk 40 car lengths in the rain so i had the guys kick me down through a clear track on a caboose. i was going to stop it with the hand brake when i got close to the yard office. turns out the track was not clear but had some empty flats in it. i should have paid attention to the turnover.&n
Easy,we had 3 men so,we could relay the signals.
As far as switching around curve…One of us would coon the ladders of a boxcar or covered hopper and stand on the roof in order to relay the hand signals to the engineer or the conductor who would relay them to the engineer.This was also a balancing act.
When I started railroading in '66 it was not a job for the faint of heart or for the weak.
Right, kicking cars isn’t allowed (though I think that’s another strictly Florence Division rule on CSX… same with not riding tanks on a shove) but we definitely still flat switch. I work out of a TINY place in Charlotte called Pinoca Yard… here’s the place on Google Maps:
Comes complete with the ragged, 1920s-era carshop from the old Piedmont and Northern! The main up on the north side at the intermodal ramp is ex-SCL.
Anyways, flat switching without kicking cars involves just what you’d expect… grabbing a cut to be switched and shoving it into every track where you need to set out cars… couple up, cutting the air in, making a cut, pulling out, going to the next track, etc. Yeah, switching is all done on-air now.