Kelly and myself were railfanning at WR tower today, and we herd some of the most interesting things on the TRRA’s main channel, 160.5000 MHz,
[Hey Jim, in the future why don’t you just say you heard some very inappropriate language. It’ll save you from violating our rule against swearing. Again, I don’t care if you do use the censored smiley or symbols… it’s still swearing in my book. - Bergie] [V]
Some one was in a VERY bad mood today at the TRRA. Can a railraod be fined if foul language is said over a company channel, or would the employee be fired?
A few minutes later, we were south of the TRRA’s Madison yard on IL Rt 3 headed to Valley Jct, then the female dispatcher came over with this message…
“I heard you were a stripper, do you mind coming over to the office and do a strip tease for us?”
When I herd that, I thought that the TRRA has finally lost it!
Those aren’t the railroad’s channels - they’re the FCCs. The railroad only gets to use them. If, indeed, the FCC happened to be listening in at the time, someone would be in hot water. On the other hand, odds are that the FCC wasn’t listening, and neither was anyone else, save a few railfans and the other people who happened to be working with a TRRA radio at the time.
Usually even a slip of the tongue will provoke a “Watch it!” type of warning from someone around here. An outburst like the overheard one would probably prompt an investigation and discipline for violation of radio rules. The radio channels are, or can be, recorded, and if someone started using obscenities, they’d have a pretty good idea who it was.
The dispatcher’s comment, though probably not pertinent to any operation, is just one of those things that makes the day a little livelier for everyone.
I am certainly suprised that you heard that kind of language over the radio. I know for a fact that I am monitored on the radio on a regular basis. Using foul language or disrespecting others over the radio is just asking for time on the street.
Train dispatching can be quite stressful at times. I will let off some steam with a sarcastic remark about another railroad when my trains have been getting slaughtered waiting on cross traffic. Or if a crew gets snippy with me and comments on how I should have done “this” instead of “that.” I’ll usually remark by telling them to send in their resumes and attach an appllication for train dispatcher. Or something like, “Hey, you’re more than welcome to come sit in my seat anytime.” And of course I know that all of us dispatchers are ranked by the crews. Once you run a certain line enough and get to know the regulars and even the extra board dispatchers you’ll either be happy with who you’re hearing or go: “Great! we’ve got this clown dispatching our railroad?”
FCC constantly monitors [ and fines] those using the railroad bandwidths. Radio rules are there for a reason! In LA, FCC was monitoring ATSF and wound up assisting the railroad police in locating and jailing a bunch of dumb jerk high school truants who swiped a pair of pak-sets out of the Pico Rivera yard office. (they thought they could get police band on these radios) FCC fines the railroad and the individual when they catch them.
Unclutters the local frequency and radio traffic real quick![^][^][^]
We’ll occassionally hear someone say some bad stuff on the radio. Most of us know better than to do it, but some guys don’t care all that much. I don’t cuss anytime, but with my boss even if I did cuss I’d make sure I didn’t do it on the air.
A few years ago, I was listening to a train crew that was having problems losing air in sub-zero temps and the dispatcher was calling the train every 2 minutes or so, because the train was blocking the main and he had 3 other eastbounds (southbounds now) to get into Shops Yards and 2 of those were just about running dead on law. The engineer asked the conductor on another channel if he had found the problem yet (if i remember correctly, the train was only 50 cars or so) and the conductor came back with “F” this, “F” that, and the dispatcher can get his lazy @ss out here in the cold and find the “F-ing” problem himself. Channel 2 (which they were on to contact each other off the train) is the channel that Neenah Yard monitors and sometimes the dispatcher. Just so happened that the dispatcher went to channel 2 to see if he can assist with the possible problem. And you guessed it. He heard every word that was said from the conductor. The dispatcher just politely told the conductor that the 5 day suspension without pay would be a lot cheaper than the fine from the FCC. He also told him that there will be a cab at shops to take him back to Point (the crew took a train from Stevens point to Shops and then return back to Point with another). A friend knew the conductor and he received 3 week suspension and went back to yard duty (before the WC was union).
So not only you have the FCC to worry about, it’s the train masters, ect that who is listening
Correct. You can get in a LOT of trouble. You get frustrated sometimes, but the wise course is to keep the temper in check. It’s not worth the trouble you can make for yourself. We were just informed that we can get in trouble just for putting pop or Gatorade in the ice chests on our trucks so think about what my boss would do for serious stuff.