Under our rules if the crossing can be seen to be clear and will remain clear of traffic, manual protection need not be provided, even when shoving cars.
Same for us.
Jeff
Speaking of that which would make a brakeman or conductor nervous - what happens to the guy hanging on the ladder at the rear end of a backing move of a 100-car-plus string of cars if the Big E has to dump the emergency air?
I have visions of them being flung halfway to the next division point when the slack runs out.
How fast are we shoving???
There have been some fatalities within the last few years of trainmen riding shoves being ‘bounced off’ the car they were riding. For awhile, riding shoves wasn’t allowed under some circumstances. They also started doing more rear end set outs. That’s where you pull through an open yard track, whack off the cars and move up/replace the EOT.
Works great, until the yard doesn’t have a way to pull through it. That happened to me last year. We came into the terminal on an eastbound train. The west end lead was out of service due to a derailment a day earlier. The yard sits on the side of a hill, the east end switch into the yard being at the top of the hill. We had a 2 mile long train.
I dropped the conductor off at the entrance switch and pulled by, starting down the other side of the hill. Once entirely past the switch he stopped me. We were lined into the yard, he got on the rear car and we shoved into the yard. The tracks to be used are about 3/4 of a mile down the lead. I’m starting out shoving the entire train up, then over the top and then down into the yard. A 2 mile long mixed manifest with many long travel cushioned drawbars and the conductor riding the rear car.
Normally, most of us like to shove with a little air set to control slack. With this thing that wasn’t going to work. Too many brakes to shove against, I was worried about jack-knifing the train. No air, and the slack might roll out getting a knuckle or bouncing the conductor off the car. So I made a few light sets and releases hoping I could get some of the brakes to stick, not fully release that is, and have some control that way. We completed our work and afterward I asked the conductor how the ride was while shoving. He said it was fine, there was no bad slack adjustments.
I felt better but I was worried the whole time. More so than the time we came over the
Things that make a train crew nervous?
Unwanted Herbaceous Mustelidae
[:D]
Ol’ Green Knees…
You mean the dread Mustela ignobilis genuviridens?