There is a sign next to a UP track that says “ZONE INACTIVE”. This sign has a hinge on top and padlock on the bottom. This sign is in yard limits but not in the yard. Anyone know what this means?
Zone for Remote Control Units
Mud:
Do they unlock and flip the sign when they are entering with a remote control locomotive?
I believe it just warns crews that there is no/there is a remote controled unit in the yard.
The wording on this sign would be visable to a crew that has just left the yard, not on approach to the yard.
Not all remote zones are in the yards proper…Strang has several remotes that drag out beyond the yard proper, as does Settagast and Englewood.
The sign is a warning to crews leaving or entering the yard that they are in a remote control zone, and in this instance, the zone is inactive…if it was active, which is what it should say on the other or flip side of the sign, they would be required to contact the RCO, ask permission to enter the zone and work…they would be required to line all switches back to the position they found them, and advise the RCO when they are through and have left the zone.
Bet if you go back and look, both side of the sign say the same thing, ZONE INACTIVE…and when you flip it over, both sides say REMOTE CONTROL ZONE ACTIVE or something to that effect…remember, in yard limits, you can leave any switch lined any way, except crossovers, because everyone is working under CGOR 6.27, restricted speed…
Ed
Thanks Ed! I assumed it probably says it on the other side but I cannot check it out without trespassing and I don’t. The side I can see faces a grade crossing.
Richard.
Very interesting…I had never known that. [:)] Does the “any old way” switch alignment become an issue in very busy yards? Or are the crews usually aware enough of what’s going on they don’t “***-ume” anything?
Don’t ask a roadmaster that[:D]…You’ll get the obligatory lecture on rigid vs. variable switches along with protecting the shove, especially regarding switches close to the main track. (Those brainfarts in the yard usually come with a hefty pricetag.)
Mains must be lined and locked back for main line movement period.
As a courtesy and by protocol, we do talk to each other a lot.
Example…I switch on our major lead…the round house lead and rip track leads both intersect it…
I “own” that lead, and every track that comes off of it…if you want to come out of the “house”, you have to ask for and receive my permission…and as a courtesy, you line behind if you can.
If you don’t, you tell me that you left a switch bad…when I acknowledge that fact, the switch becomes my responsibility…if we run through it, my bad, not the crew that left it that way.
But if you “sneak” out of the house, don’t say a word to me, and my engineer come scooting around the curve and gets the switch, you can bet that the crew who failed to line behind, or inform me of that fact will be “downtown” right along we me and my crew.
Most yards develop their own protocols, but GCOR 6.27, and that railroads own safety rules govern…along with the SOFA groups recommendations.
Yardmasters ride herd on the yard crews, and do have to play traffic cop all the time, but most yard crews have worked the same yard and same job for a while, so everybody “knows” the other crews style of working, we all cover each other fannys…the whole idea is to not get in each others way.
Now, the rules in the GCOR and my railroad direct me as to what switches I have to line back…main line switches, house track and rip track switches, crossovers must be lined for the tangent route when not being used…unless they are “manned” during switching operations…but bowl track switches pretty much stay how the last guy who switched there left them.
Ed
Cool…thanks for the info! [:)] I had figured there had to be some kind of process involved, but I had never really thought about it. Thanks!