In another post, someone wrote that when rolling out of the CN Joliet yard it is standard practice for someone lineside on the way out to give the train an inspection.
My questions are:
When are trains inspected and what are people looking for?
On a RR, are only their own trains inspected or are trains of foreign roads inspected as well?
Are only originating trains inspected at yards, or are run through trains inspected as well?
I hear West Chicago tower always giving roll-by’s to trains on the CN tracks in west chicago, whether it’s a CN train or not. However, they never give roll-by’s to the trains on the UP tracks. Why not?
Do passenger trains also give roll-by’s?
My understanding is whenever a train passes a RR employee, even like MOW people in the field, they are required to stop their work and give a roll by. Is that actually standard practice and how often does it actually happen?
Are there any other “standard inspection points” other than what I have listed above?
On a train inspection we are looking for anything dragging , missing or broken , in operateive brakes , making sure all of the hand brakes are released , bad wheels ect .
On a railroad all trains oringinating in a yard recieve an intial terminal airtest reguardless if it is a home road train or a foreign road train .Roll through trains are given a roll by inspection .
Passenger trains are given roll bys and yes any Rail road employee is required to observe a train rolling by .
And, crewmen on a train passing another will inspect the train they are passing–and such inspection can lead to interesting results. In April of 1971, I left Portland on the City of Portland, headed to Chicago, and I fell into conversation with the flagman as we were sitting in one of the domes. As we were approaching a pass track, he told me that he had to go down and inspect the freight (also eastbound) that we were about to overtake and pass. As we were passing the freight, I remarked to no one that it was nice to be run around, and not held behind, the freight. A lady behind me agreed, and we fell into conversation (she told me, several years later, that she had hoped the flagman would come back and she could join in our conversation; he never came back). We spent the evening talking about some of our experiences in traveling by rail, and we covered other topics as well. Fifteen months later, we were married, and we still enjoy traveling by train.
The tower operator at West Chicago is a CN employee, and is only required to inspect the trains on his railroad. However, those guys have a connection to the UP, and if anything untoward cropped up, he would be either on the radio or on the phone, you can bet.
This is actually a very complicated question. Since others have commented speciafially about West Chicago, let me give a more general response.
Under FRA rules, a railroad is required to give a train a complete “initial terminal” brake inspection (technically called a “Class I” brake test) and a complete mechanical inspection at the train’s “initial terminal”
A railroad is also required to give a train an “intermediate”: brake inspection (a Class IA brake test) at 1,000 miles.
For designated “extended haul” trains, a railroad must provide the Class IA inspection at 1,500 miles.
There are special rules for brake and mechanical inspections for events such as pick ups and block swaps which occur at points other than a train’s initial terminal
If you are correct - things have changed…Tower operators historically have been required to perform a rolling inspection of anything that goes past the tower, no matter the ownership. All towers that affect the operations of two or more carriers have part of the cost of operating and maintaining the tower and its personnel shared by all the carriers served and tower operators normally have radio communications with all carriers trains that the operators signals affect.
The reality is that any railroad employee that is out on the right of way is required to perform a visual roll by inspection of any passing train and take action to communicate any defects observed to the train. In the ‘olden days’ hand signals could be communicated with the crew members riding the caboose. Today other means are used. The most direct way is to call each carriers Emergency Contact number and the report will get routed through internal channels to the proper train. Such procedure are established and explained in training videos that employees must watch as a part of their yearly rules qualifications.