Im a UP conductor, operating out of roseville to fresno 3-4 times a week.
The track pretty much parallels highway 99. At nighttime we are constantly getting truckers highbeams flashed at us. Is it out of anger? or train appreciation.
Sometime I wish that we had a highbeam switch to flash back at em, as if to say " how do you like me now? " ha ha…
Seriously, sorry I know the lights are bright but we cannot dim them.
Same thing happens to us alot (NS Conductor) on my territory. People are being ignorant and thinking that the train is like another car on the road and we should dim our lights everytime we meet a car. Just like these people that buy a house where their driveway is in the middle of a siding and raise hell when the train stops there for 20 minutes on a meet. I just say nicely, well now you know why you got such a deal on that property. And the same people that get made and complain everytime a train blows a crossing and they bought the house that was built last year beside the crossing thats been there 50 years.
As a former truck driver, I can tell you you’re blinding the hell out of the trucker. I used travel US 36 across MO and when I met a train at night, I’d flash my hi-beams and the engineer would dim their lights. This was before ditch lights so maybe something has changed to where you can’t dim them now. I know you can turn off the ditch lights so maybe that would help.
Well I live on a farm and even though im only 15 i have rode to drop of grain and we have a road that runs with a track (NS) and we met one on time and its bright, but the engineer dropped his ditchlights which helps. Hahaha if you want to get them back get a spot light and flish them back . Mike
When a trucker flashes his High beams, it means one of two things, Your lights are blinding them, or to move over, your in the clear.
I am a Truck driver, and trust me, its not out of ignorance
The ever present event recorder on the locomotive makes it less likely the headlight/ditchlights will be dimmed now days, as it is a rule violation.
I understand the rule violation, but when you’re blinding a Trucker hauling 80,000 lbs at 65 mph, that’s not the best choice to make. Imagine if your family were about to meet that truck and the truck driver couldn’t see them.
I used to run team and run the night shift. When running I-80 across Wyoming engines on the Overland route blinded me so many times it hurt. I had a 1 million CP spotlight that was mounted to the truck you know hitting the cab normally made them at least turn off the ditch lights so I could see.
Is your family more likely to meet that truck and die, or not have money for food, becuase you lost your job? I dunno, I’ve seen trains coming before and the lights are bright. I can’t blame engineers for not dimming, as it is a rule. This is one of those “do your job, even though everyone thinks your an idiot” than it is out of spite or something like that. As a firefighter, I see this every now and again too. I was at a car fire a while back, and a guy stopped and said our flashing red lights were too bright, and we should turn them off. The only answer you can give them is too bad, it isn’t happening.
Just think of it as the payback for the awesome views of trains you get every now and again in places like this.
Generally I dont have trouble with the trains at night. I recall a few in the southwest that will usually switch off thier train lights when rounding a curve where it hits the interstate very bright. But only for a moment until the sweep clears the interstate.
Lights from a trucker means yer safe to come over or you are making too much light.
I wore rifle glasses at night that had a particular tint of color that really knocked down headlights quite a bit but kept the necessary “World” clear to see.
The only time I have trouble with light is at night in populated areas that contain many gas stations, convience stores etc… the light pollution flooding out from these facilities are amazing and unnecessary. That is one reason we are out in the county some distance from these places.
Here is one of the daytime videos in rain where the lights are pretty bright:
http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/4876/100carsupfinalff9.flv
Hasn’t been that much of an issue for me.It’s certainly no worse than stupid four wheelers with their stupid “driving lights”,or night construction spotlights,or some flashing billboards.
Iam a trucker by trade out of Arizona.
Iam shure iam talking for a few exp drivers out there and alot of them are model railroaders like myself .there are alot of cry baby truckers out there any more. I fore one know the trains cant dim there lights its part of the safty.I cant even get another trucker to dim there lights on the road way even when there are no trains around.
I have been a truck driver for almost 20 years (21 all the way back to my straight truck days) and I do know that some engineers can and will dim for you. If this is a rule violation I don’t know when it was written, or started being enforced more effectively, but about 6-8 years ago I had a regular run up to Colville, WA north of Spokane every week. Heading south down 395 near Addy almost every week, a little after midnight I would meet a BN freight headed north and the tracks curve in such a way that the trains headlights would be blinding for highway traffic. So one week I high beamed him back and he dimmed his headlights until he rounded the curve to where he wasn’t blinding highway traffic. After that he would dim every week, and I would give him a THANK YOU with the clearance light interrupter. It was uncanny how often we would both be at that same spot at the same time every week. Being a model railroader and railfan, I often wished there was some way that I could have met that engineer for coffee some time ( I would have been Happy to treat [:D])
Now days leaving Portland and heading up the Columbia River Gorge at O-Dark thirty in the morning, I am often blinded at several places where the tracks are on a curve near the interstate, and will admit that I have been tempted to get a high candle power spot light just to return the favor. I DON’T for a heartbeat believe that it is a safety issue, with the stopping distances a train requires, how likely is it really that they are going to see something in time to stop anyway. reading about trains and grade crossings in particular, it seems that they almost never even try to stop before hitting a vehicle any way. How many situations are they going to see in time to do anything about? Maybe they need a three level headlight system, Full bright in remote areas, a non blinding intensity level for when around non-railroad personnel and the dim they use when waiting for an oncoming train. Seems
at least theres somebody out there who still uses their marker light interrupter, most of the drivers dont anymore…
Actually I use my interrupter all the time, I even have a “signature blink” 2 long blinks 3 short and another long. I will admit that the decline of common courtesy has happened in the driving community as much as it has happened in society in general. Also, believe it or not, the interrupter switch is an added option, that must be spec’d when the tractor is ordered, and all too often the people spec’ing out the trucks, are believe it or not, you guessed it, NOT the people who will be driving them. so there are things the driver would like to have that the head office number crunchers don’t think are worth that one time $25.00 expense for a vehicle that they will have for 5 years/500,000 miles or sometimes more. The last company that I worked for were surprised when their new tractors showed up without trailer brake hand valves, again you guessed it, not standard equipment (but should be) but must be spec’d when ordering the tractor.
Do You know what COMMON SENSE and COMMON COURTESY have in common?
NEITHER one are COMMON ANYMORE.
Doug
Then I see things not really improving. Either that or fleets not allowing that switch to be in the cab.
I would use mine without thinking. Sometimes I do it automatically and wonder… hmm did I thank the fella back there?
Once in a while I do so on my four wheeler and things really settle down to convoy once I set the cruise to the truck’s govenor in front. Traffic sure is smooth without the drama of near misses, makeup, phones, me first etc.
This has NOTHING to do with ignorance, and it is NOT AT ALL THE SAME as someone buying a house where the driveway crosses tracks. This is about SAFETY which is a subject that railroads hound their own employees about (I am NOT saying that railroads shouldn’t be safety conscious) those @#%*&% headlights are blinding in some situations, and it is a SAFETY issue in those cases for highway traffic.
The only time someone’s house having a driveway crossing tracks would life threatening is either crossing the tracks to access or leave the property, or if there is an emergency requiring fire, ambulance or police response. Or also in the case of a serious derailment. Drivers being blinded by a bright headlight while driving at night, can be a very dangerous situation.
Doug
We have a form that is filled out when a train hits something. The one question asks what the headlight setting was. God help you if you hit something and your lights were on something other than bright.
I know some of our engineers will dim their headlights for on coming trucks, but not for other traffic. We have a number of ex-truck drivers, perhaps those are the ones that do it.
I do not.
Some ditch light switches on older power are seperate from the headlight switch. On newer engines, some have a bright without ditch lights and a bright with ditch lights position. Some only have a bright with ditch light position. This is in addition to the off, dim, and on some a medium position for the switch.
Maybe that will be the next thing. No bright headlight zones.
Jeff