Several of the guys who actually drive these things have mentioned it, and its importance. I don’t drive these things – never have, unfortunately – but I had to have it in a different way, as does MudChicken. To Emphasize: you absolutely have to know your territory. There is a good deal more to that than knowing what the signals are, and what they mean. You have to know where the curves are, and the speed limits on them. You have to know that East Podunk, the little down up the liine has a reduced speed – and the local roadmaster likes to lurk there. You have to know where some of the bridges are. You have to know your grades. If you are running on a caution you have to know your visibilities. Can’t possibly signal all of it!
And as has been said – if you don’t know the territory, it would be well to have a pilot… !
you dont just jump on a engine and go running some where your lic states what track you are qualified on. if you are detoured there will be a pilot given to your train. it should be a engineer as you can give the train to him to run. must carriers will send conductors out to do this job . When we say you know your territory its hills curves little humps or a little dip that cars will “sit down in” and tear your train apart. the signals are just a small part of the big picture. and you know when your with a good engineer he is smooth and makes it look easy.
Amen to that wabash1 not smooth yet but working on that I have been set up for 8 months now and every train is learning time because no 2 trains of the same tonnage operate the same.