I wonder if what coburn35 is talking about could be possibly be found in the “General Responsibilities” at this link: http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/rulebook/toc.html somewhere under “2.0 Radio Rules”. I’m not familiar with all RR rules, so I wouldn’t know for sure. Then again, the rules for radio blocking (if an actual existing possibilty) could vary from one RR corporation to the next.
The CN uses radio blocking, at least they did when we detoured over them in Western Iowa.
The CN track warrant form has on line 17 in addition to “other specific instructions,” Radio Blocking in effect behind____from___to___. This allows trains in the same direction to operate without the dispatcher having to give a new track warrant to the following train(s) in non-signaled TWC territory.
Also on the form is Record of train location for Radio Blocking (Rule 1004, Item 4)
(preceding train ID) clear of: then lines for Location, Time preceding train cleared and who reported the train clear.
It works just like Coburn35 said. A following train can’t enter the limits without the train ahead reporting clear of some point. Once the first train reports clear of, say MP400, the following train may then operate to, but not pass MP400 unless the first train reports clear of a new location. The first train can report clear to the following train directly or thru the dispatcher.
When we detoured, we used company issued cell phones. This was because sometimes the distance between trains exceeded our radio’s range. We picked up the cell phones where we entered the CN, and turned them back in where we left the CN.
The fifth edition of GCOR has provisions for radio blocking under Rule 14.4.1.
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff…
Will get the book out of my locker tomorrow and read the rule…
Ed