Our local BNSF yard does most of it’s switching with a couple of SW15s. On some occasions, like when there is an ethanol or grain train to assemble, they will use 3 road switchers. The yard is made up of parts of 5 railroad’s tracks, so assembling a big train gets to be a lot of pushing, pulling, and switching of cars. The 3 unit sets of road switchers are GP38s and GP39- a few still Cascade Green! These are the same units used for the locals that operate out of the yard.
When road power is pulled in to do heavy switching, who is the man on the ground? I presume the road locomotive sticks with his locomotives. Does the road conductor end up being the man on the ground, or is he the one organizing the switching moves?
Our CSX locals usually have a single GP38. If there is a big job where I work they’ll show up with road power - 2 or three units. Occasionally they’ll bring along a 38 as well, to help with any shuffling that has to be done.
I’m presuming that in our case, the road crew brings the train (with the multiple units) to the local CSX yard and taxis back to their terminal, and vice versa.
The guy on the ground will likely be the local’s conductor. Our local trainmaster often lends a hand as a utility worker. Sometimes the local car department shows up to speed the process as well.
If the local crew works out of the yard doing the heavy switching that day, do they just say “Hey guys- instead of running the local today, you guys are the switching crew” ?
Road service and yard service are two different classes of service. If a road crew is asked to perform yd work, that is a timeslip and a extra day of pay for performing work “outside the scope of duties” providing if its a yd where yd jobs are employed. I’ve been through this before. One day I report for duty on our assigned local. We had no work that day. The trainmaster tried to get us, as a local road crew, to go out and then switch the yd instead of letting us tie up & go home. If that would have taken place, my three man crew would have had to be paid an extra day of pay plus the 1st out xtra board engr, and 1st/2nd out extra bd condrs, would have claimed a basic day for no extra switch eng being called. What made things worse was the TM wanted us to do the work and not file a claim! After some discussion, he gave up and let us go. I had no problem doing the work. I just wanted to make sure I received every penny of pay for performing the work I was asked to do when its not within my normal duties. To some this may sound blunt but the carriers have union agreements that they must at all times live up to.