Are you picking up on this? Whys/wise? Ok - just checking…[8D]
2 items - Flashing Red on top of engine - I know amber and have seen it on rcl
but red?
This one mystifies me, which isn’t saying much! GCOR sez flagman must walk back 1 mile for whatever the situation was. I could walk 1-2 blocks and figure I had walked a mile! And if I had to walk an entire train, they would need to get me a golf cart! So how do you know when you have gone back a mile? I know men are born with the sense of from here to there is so many feet, but I can’t even measure what I have been told… well, not going to go there. [}:)]
Well Mook, you figure out how long your steps are and you pace it off. See GCOR item 19.3.2 Distances…HeHeHe. We don’t have to flag much anymore especially with no cabooses and block signal protection. This one is weird, but think about it Mook. O.K. your train is stopped in CTC. Why would you not have to flag to protect the *** end of your train? Block signal protection. If a train comes up on the signal to the entrance of the block that you are in it better be red! If it is a red intermediate (stop and proceed) you will stop and proceed at restricted speed (6.27) stopping short of elephants, dogs, gorillas and other trains. If the DS flags you by an absolute, guess what, you are still at restricted speed, and he will know if there is somebody in between his control points. If I absolutely had to determine distance, I would look at mileposts on my way back (aslo crossings, the bungalows are marked with the MP #)
Hope this helps…Kenny
I don’t think there’s any special significance to the red flashing light. All of those flashers are just attention-getters (or annoyances…depends on who you are!) anyway. The first time I ever saw one on a locomotive it was red. My little cousin wondered if it was a “police train”.
I’m pretty sure that not too much flagging is done any more (I’m sure someone who’s done it will disagree, and I’d have to accept that). Usually, with signal, warrant, or other block protection, the dispatcher can waive the flagging requirement if he’s so inclined. Back when I got an occasional road job, there were no questions about it. If you were moving slowly, you dropped fusees (flares to the uninitiated) from the waycar (caboose to the uninitiated). If you stopped, you went back “a sufficient distance” with lamp, fusees, and whatever else you might need. I don’t think I ever went back far enough… my biggest fear was getting left behind. Back then, they didn’t have mandatory distances. On some of our main lines now it’s two miles. But, as I said before, it doesn’t happen too often (keep in ind that crews are up on the head-end nowadays, so it would mean a walk of the train’s length plus the prescribed distance…you could be talking about four miles!).
As Kenny mentioned, mileposts are helpful in determining how far you’ve walked back, as are crossing bungalows, etc., with the milepost information (MP) stencilled on them. In addition, our main lines have quarter-mile markers in most places. I was told that before these quarter-mile signs went up, there were rings on the telephone poles (oops, I should have said “bands”…using telephone and ring in the same sentence has an entirely different meaning): one band for the first quarter-mile beyond the milepost, two for the half-mile, etc. Of course, the pole lines disappeared, so the signs came up instead.
A train is defined as a locomotive with or without cars coupled displaying lights and markers. A moving train must display a bright headlight in the front, and dimmed in the rear and display a red warning marker in the rear, either red flag by day, or red light from dusk til dawn. The use of red lights is FRA mandated.
Flagging your train is no longer required unless the CTC/ABS goes out and you are running steam era blocks. Then and only then is the flagman required to guard the rear of his train, either by flag or lantern and fusee, and that torpedoes must be laid down, unless the dispatcher gives you an absolute block. Rules governing blocks are subject to the railroad you are running on and the timetables.
Kenny is absolutely right. Mileposts or familiar landmarks are used to guage the position of your train. You know by your documents how many feet the train is so you can round and guess. Railroads do have measured test miles that you are required to check.
This talk of back up brings to mind a conversation I over heard on the radio. (CN train at Grayslake ILL.)
“CN dispatch, train 6367, request permission to enter main in a reverse move to pick up my conductor.”
“6367, CN dispatch, were is he at?”
“CN dispatch, train 6367, he’s a mile back protecting my rear John”
“6367, CN dispatch, is he crippled”
“No John”
“6367,CN dispatch, Then he can walk”
(A few seconds pause)
“CN dispatch, train 6367, We go dead in three hours”
(A few seconds pause)
“Train 6367, CN dispatch you have permission to enter main on a reverse move to pick up your conductor”
TIM A
Yup…tell that dispatch you hog law and your on his main line with Amtrak or a Piggy coming through and you’ll get just about anything you want! Easy for the dispatcher to say “He can walk” Ballast was the worst to walk on. Uneven, badly slopped in places, no shoulder…Many railroaders have bad feet because of the ballast.
Oh Tim - I am in tears! This was mostly what I was getting to - I was pretty certain that flag men went out with the way car, but the walk was what was killing me!
I guess that is why I am so happy with being the engineer - let the conductor walk the train! Plus as was stated - I would get lost in the dark! [:D] That should keep me in stitches the rest of the day!
Are you picking up on this? Whys/wise? Ok - just checking…[8D]
2 items - Flashing Red on top of engine - I know amber and have seen it on rcl
but red?
This one mystifies me, which isn’t saying much! GCOR sez flagman must walk back 1 mile for whatever the situation was. I could walk 1-2 blocks and figure I had walked a mile! And if I had to walk an entire train, they would need to get me a golf cart! So how do you know when you have gone back a mile? I know men are born with the sense of from here to there is so many feet, but I can’t even measure what I have been told… well, not going to go there. [}:)]
Well Mook, you figure out how long your steps are and you pace it off. See GCOR item 19.3.2 Distances…HeHeHe. We don’t have to flag much anymore especially with no cabooses and block signal protection. This one is weird, but think about it Mook. O.K. your train is stopped in CTC. Why would you not have to flag to protect the *** end of your train? Block signal protection. If a train comes up on the signal to the entrance of the block that you are in it better be red! If it is a red intermediate (stop and proceed) you will stop and proceed at restricted speed (6.27) stopping short of elephants, dogs, gorillas and other trains. If the DS flags you by an absolute, guess what, you are still at restricted speed, and he will know if there is somebody in between his control points. If I absolutely had to determine distance, I would look at mileposts on my way back (aslo crossings, the bungalows are marked with the MP #)
Hope this helps…Kenny
I don’t think there’s any special significance to the red flashing light. All of those flashers are just attention-getters (or annoyances…depends on who you are!) anyway. The first time I ever saw one on a locomotive it was red. My little cousin wondered if it was a “police train”.
I’m pretty sure that not too much flagging is done any more (I’m sure someone who’s done it will disagree, and I’d have to accept that). Usually, with signal, warrant, or other block protection, the dispatcher can waive the flagging requirement if he’s so inclined. Back when I got an occasional road job, there were no questions about it. If you were moving slowly, you dropped fusees (flares to the uninitiated) from the waycar (caboose to the uninitiated). If you stopped, you went back “a sufficient distance” with lamp, fusees, and whatever else you might need. I don’t think I ever went back far enough… my biggest fear was getting left behind. Back then, they didn’t have mandatory distances. On some of our main lines now it’s two miles. But, as I said before, it doesn’t happen too often (keep in ind that crews are up on the head-end nowadays, so it would mean a walk of the train’s length plus the prescribed distance…you could be talking about four miles!).
As Kenny mentioned, mileposts are helpful in determining how far you’ve walked back, as are crossing bungalows, etc., with the milepost information (MP) stencilled on them. In addition, our main lines have quarter-mile markers in most places. I was told that before these quarter-mile signs went up, there were rings on the telephone poles (oops, I should have said “bands”…using telephone and ring in the same sentence has an entirely different meaning): one band for the first quarter-mile beyond the milepost, two for the half-mile, etc. Of course, the pole lines disappeared, so the signs came up instead.
A train is defined as a locomotive with or without cars coupled displaying lights and markers. A moving train must display a bright headlight in the front, and dimmed in the rear and display a red warning marker in the rear, either red flag by day, or red light from dusk til dawn. The use of red lights is FRA mandated.
Flagging your train is no longer required unless the CTC/ABS goes out and you are running steam era blocks. Then and only then is the flagman required to guard the rear of his train, either by flag or lantern and fusee, and that torpedoes must be laid down, unless the dispatcher gives you an absolute block. Rules governing blocks are subject to the railroad you are running on and the timetables.
Kenny is absolutely right. Mileposts or familiar landmarks are used to guage the position of your train. You know by your documents how many feet the train is so you can round and guess. Railroads do have measured test miles that you are required to check.
This talk of back up brings to mind a conversation I over heard on the radio. (CN train at Grayslake ILL.)
“CN dispatch, train 6367, request permission to enter main in a reverse move to pick up my conductor.”
“6367, CN dispatch, were is he at?”
“CN dispatch, train 6367, he’s a mile back protecting my rear John”
“6367, CN dispatch, is he crippled”
“No John”
“6367,CN dispatch, Then he can walk”
(A few seconds pause)
“CN dispatch, train 6367, We go dead in three hours”
(A few seconds pause)
“Train 6367, CN dispatch you have permission to enter main on a reverse move to pick up your conductor”
TIM A
Yup…tell that dispatch you hog law and your on his main line with Amtrak or a Piggy coming through and you’ll get just about anything you want! Easy for the dispatcher to say “He can walk” Ballast was the worst to walk on. Uneven, badly slopped in places, no shoulder…Many railroaders have bad feet because of the ballast.
Oh Tim - I am in tears! This was mostly what I was getting to - I was pretty certain that flag men went out with the way car, but the walk was what was killing me!
I guess that is why I am so happy with being the engineer - let the conductor walk the train! Plus as was stated - I would get lost in the dark! [:D] That should keep me in stitches the rest of the day!