are you sure you heard the conversation as stated? because crews do not get off trains to remove obstacles. the only way i remove a obstacle is if im taking it off the front of my engine, while im getting off the engine to go home for at least 30 days
I am sure the cable shunt was in a signal box or other access to the circuit. Shunting across two rails would create too much of a danger should a train not stop before reaching it. Something about this conversation or set up doesn’t seem right to me. Wherever I’ve heard of these so called tests there is a TM or RFE plus a signal maintainer or supervisor involved for proper shunting, etc. The engine crew was only obligated to observe the correct procedure and speed for the signal displayed.
Our BNSF crews, quite often, stop to remove grizzly bear cubs from the tracks around Glacier National Park. The little bears come out on the tracks to scarf up spilled grain and often lick the rails, in sub-zero weather. A bit of warm water frees them, if momma isn’t around. That’s why I advocate our crews be issued .357 or .454 Magnums! It could get hairy! How 'bout the crew (out east) that rescued the puppy that was frozen to the rails? Please tell me you’d stop, too.
Seems to me that in the past ten years the conflicts between CEs and TMs had been reduced greatly. Perhaps the different union rules for Conductors and for Engineers have been standardized. Used to be that the Conductor could get off the train and run over to McDonald’s, but the Engineer couldn’t. Maybe that was resolved by our McD’s going broke and shuttering, but I think not.
As far as Roadmasters go, do they have to be Civil or Mechanical Engineers? I know I couldn’t lay out a ‘spiral easement’ even on my model railroad, let alone inspect a defect or a field weld. Up here, they even have to (re)inspect the tracks before an “Inhalation Hazard” train can pass in dark territory (our branches). Lots of nasty oh-dark-thirty “overtime” that they aren’t really compensated for, methinks.
Hays
Mudchicken – if you missed the reference, Google 1948 Buick “Roadmaster” for a picture. That was a classic “4-holer”. “Supers” and “Specials” were only 3-holers.
Hays
Our tourist line trainmaster is just about everything - and worked his way up the ladder. He also happens to be retired and has the time (although he is on the RR payroll, IIRC). He does everything from flag our no-whistle crossing to schedule crews (rather like herding cats sometimes) to helping clean the trains to running the locomotive. Great teacher/mentor and as even-handed as one could ask for.
The only Class One TM I’ve known personally seemed to be a nice enough guy, and the crews that worked for him never had a bad word to say about him in my presence. He was always friendly to me. IIRC, he came to TM from dispatching, so while he may not have been T&E, he did know something about getting trains over the road.
I generally encountered him when he was helping the local crews deal with getting trains put together where I worked - shuttling the conductor around, flagging crossings, etc.
I recall one encounter when he mentioned that he was going to have to cover for another, adjacent, trainmaster, which doubled his territory for some period of time.
I agree the main part of the job is to establish trust. Do not micro manage, respect your crews, ask questions on how & why procddures are done. All this will help a great degree in having good relations with the guys at the terminal. I have worked for TM’s who were smart enough to know we knew our job, they left us alone and basically ran the rr from the 18th tee at the local golf course. Then there are the clowns who think they know it all when they don’t know the difference between a drawbar and knuckle pin. One very important part is to know and understand the union contract. Officers who don’t know what the limits are in what can be done and what can’t have cost carriers dearly in spcl claim payouts. My basic feeling these guys have a job which needs to be done and thats fine. As a rule, I usually don’t get into a social type relation here. I only talk w/ them when its needed, strictly related to business, straight to the point and get it over with. Remember it is a us against them culture.
I may well be wrong, but having retired from the U. S. Army, I see Roadmasters and Trainmasters as akin to our Warrant Officers: totally technically proficient and not into ‘back-stabbing’. Army WOs get promoted after three years of service, to Chief Warrant Officer - 2, then every six years, up to CW5. Dat’s it, unless they step on their… The system does work.
Hays
Where do you think the terms Roadmaster & Trainmaster came from? Railroad management was styled from the military folks who built the things in this country in the first place.
Oh I caught it…lotsa chrome and tailfins too… All I got now is tailfeathers…
Henry your slightly wrong here, The banner is streched from rail to rail on 2 post attached to the rail. hooks across the top of the rail ( hard to exsplain it ) then they have either jumper cables or a c-clamp and a wire to it if hit the softer metal bends and falls away, wont damage a engine ( maybe the engineer ego) these banner checks are done at least once a year for engineers no signal maintainer is around when this happens only 2 trainmaster or a road forman and a trainmaster. the dispatcher is notified of what is happening so when the crew calls in bad signals they dont notify the signal maintainer right away.
Don’t really need to have that civil engineering degree until one gets above the Division Engineer level, but it doesn’t hurt either. The degree is a tool that can be used or abused. Most larger railroads have a mix of folks who came up through the ranks and some who have college degrees. You really don’t want all one or the other. You have to understand your profession, or you won’t be around long. I was on the railroad eight years before I got in the roadmaster corps. I learned from some very good roadmasters without degrees or non-engineering degrees (forestry, ag science, education, geology…) and some who never finished school. I’m grateful to have been around them all and hoping that I’ve been able to pass on some of what I’ve learned to those following me.
There are plenty out there that will never understand a spiral except to know what makes one defective by FRA rule (watch 'em lose it when there’s an AREA 10-chord, Klauder and that undefined “thing” that gets left behind a track liner*[:-,]) …To really understand a defective weld, go find a metalurgist or spend your time in the trenches with the rest of us grunts.
It used to be that yould be a licensed PE or LS without a degree, but those days are pretty well gone. You need that PE after your name to represent the company at the Chief Engineer level. PDN will probably chime-in here somewhere.
I’ve had just a few too many of those 72 hour days. In a lot of territories, there mig
A little story for you…
When I hired out with the railroad, I had a long-standing relationship with my train-master. I had known him for years, and was really in a pinch. Out of work, and in the hole monetarily, he hired me and mentored me through turning my life around. He brought me up from a brakeman on the yard job to holding the yard job as conductor, and then holding one of the road jobs as experience and seniority allowed. I trusted him and he trusted me. We had a few small bumps along the road where we expected a little extra then the other was willing to give, but for the most part, it was a healthy relationship. For the most part, everyone liked and trusted the TM. If you needed a favor, he was there to help you. Short a few dollars in your check? He’d make sure it was right.
When a position came available on a larger regional railroad, I made it known that I was going to take the job if it was offered. The hiring process took around three months. At that point, our relationship was strained, and while I trusted him as a boss, we didn’t get along like we had before. It started to become a game of who could screw the other over more.
From holding the yard job, and the PM switch job, I got to know the other railroad’s TM before I got hired there. He’d call me when he knew the job was going on duty, to see if we could get him accurate lists, arrival instructions, etc. This was “family railroading” in a region where everyone knew everyone, and we all got along. From what I knew, he was a great guy to work for. And that stood true while I worked for him.
He wasn’t one of the types of TM’s that had zero experience. He worked his way up from doing MOW, and through train service. He had a great hand on how all aspects of the railroad worked. He got a job offer from another railroad closer to his home town and he accepted it. That’s when the TM from hell came in.
The “new” trainmaster had been a real-estate manager, had been a railroad employee for a long ti