Train Jockeys--Patience of rocks, or bored to tears?

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Okay, I admit that I’m a railfan neophyte.

I also don’t have a clue what goes on in the cab.

Today my son and I dropped into Altoona Yard to watch some switching before the Altoona Curve baseball game. We watched an SD70 latch onto a Dash 9 and hook onto a coal drag. We had to leave before the coal drag left. But what I just described took the whole time we were there-- an hour and 40 minutes.

We also saw some other cool things. We saw a couple trans swap crews. We saw a pair of SD40-2 helpers come in from the Curve and get back in line for another run.

We saw a pair of GP38-2’s switch a cut of mixed freight, drop it, then head for the barn. What amazed me was that most of the switch throwing was done by hand. Only the A/D tracks were automated.

They also has a small switcher, but the didn’t fire it up until we were leaving. Another thing that amazed me is that they seemed to use all the engines. Of the ones we could see, only two didn’t belch smoke.

All I know is that if I ran a yard this slow at an ops session, they’d never let me run it again.

BTW: For those of you that don’t know the Altoona Curve mascot is called Steamer and wears a uniform with the number K4. His dog diesel, wears K9.

2

Since you have over nine thousand posts, is it safe to assume you are NOT a newcomer to the world of model trains? - a.s.

3

I do play with the toys. My first post on the big boy site. A moderator over their said I should do it.

4

when I hired, the TM said “you’ll be surprised about how little will get done in a shift”

He has not been wrong. Even the simplest of moves takes hours.

5

A lot depends on what type of yard you’re looking at Chip…

I am guessing the yard you saw was being used to block out cuts for road trains pick up…for the casual observer, this can appear to be a whole lot of nothing.

Its not, but the activity can seem to be slow.

On the other hand, a terminal yard where a lot of local trains are made up can be a very busy place.

I work for a Class 3 railroad, we are a switching and terminal railroad, the end terminus at the Houston Ship Channel for the UP, TexMex and BNSF.

So we are a pretty busy place.

This morning, our first move was to double up three tracks, swing them over to the middle of the yard and spot them for ground air as an out bound train…that’s 90 cars moved right there…we spotted and pulled the rip track, another 20 cars, finished up the night guys works, 45 cars switched there, then headed out to the receiving yard, pulled a 104 car inbound out, brought it around, shoved switch cuts in three yard tracks, switched the cut we were holding on to, then had a cup of coffee and looked over the rest of our switch lists.

Finished the coffee, went back to switching, got it all done by 12:30.

So in six hours we switched 149 cars, set out a outbound train, worked the rip track, and cleared out an receiving track…multiply that by the number of yard jobs working the morning shift at PTRA’s North Yard, 3 of them, and you can see we got a lot done.

And, depending on whether the following day is a traditionally slow day, the preceding days switching might be a little light…Mondays are normally slow for us, so tomorrow I can expect the work to be a lot lighter, as what we switch today is usually tomorrow’s outbound trains.

So what I will be working on tomorrow are the trains for Monday.

Sunday may be a “slow” day for the yard you were watching, so today’s lack of activity there might be a reflection of that…

6

there is a lot more happening behind the scenes to get that " little " bit of work done. Many moves can not be made untill something else has happened first or you only make more work for eveyone. it is hurry up and wait but like a fine waltze all things in good time and order.

7

Comparing the operation of model railroads to the real thing is night and day. You could switch 100 cars and build 5 trains relatively fast on a model compared to the real thing. One reason being is the operating rules that we must go by. Riding the shove on a cut of 30 cars then walking up takes time. Using some sort of protection when fouling equipment, then using proper radio procedure all day takes time also. Giving officials 100% rules compliance takes more time than most people realize.

The work can be repetative, but time goes by quickly when you have a lot of work to do. I worked the yard when I didn’t stand for anything else, usually at night. That particular job built 3 trains, One local and two through freights. The local usually had anywhere from 30 to 80 cars, while the other two ended up with as many as 100 cars each. Then if we had time there were customers with leads right next to the yard who had to be worked.

So I would say it’s not so much boring as it is repetitive, but it’s also what you make it.

8

In the operational railroad…It is the same thing every day, but never the same thing twice. Since the railroad is a living, breathing entity the situations are constantly evolving with every move that is made by a train crew, a yardmater, a train dispatcher, a trackman, a carman, a signal maintainer and all those moves are inter-related to each other.

9

Thanks guys. It’s always good to keep things in perspective. I really wasn’t trying to compare model railrading to the real thing, but when I saw the amount of time each move took at the yard, well let’s just say I wasn’t prepared for that either.

I will say that I could have stayed and watched a lot longer. In a way, it was really cool to watch the fluid nature of the way everything was woking in concert. I even saw a couple guys throwing switches for each other.