BRAKIE Well the reason was clear since it was a required thing to do.Heaven help the hapless crew that lets a car or worst half of their train roll away.
Well the reason was clear since it was a required thing to do.Heaven help the hapless crew that lets a car or worst half of their train roll away.
I was referencing why I didn't like leaving my set-outs on the main, to pick up empties first... because you end up having to set and release even more handbrakes.
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gregcis there any insentive to just grab a pick-up with just the loco and put them at the front of the train or is this just the conductors preference?
A lot of conductors I worked was bullheaded in their ways but,would allow such a move especially we was going for a short day.
I recall one day we had 4 cars and no pickups on a industrial lead..We went for a short day and was home in 5 hours.
However..
90% of the time we went for the overtime by taking our sweet time doing the work..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
GraniteRailroaderMaybe I'm just lazy, but I don't enjoy climbing up to set handbrakes multiple times for no reason. It sucks in the rain/sleet/snow.
Climbing up the side of a boxcar with icy ladders then stepping around on another icy ladder,then placing your foot on a icy brake wheel platform while holding the icy top grab while cranking or releasing the brake wasn't a fun thing. Newer boxcars with lowered brake wheel is ten times safer then their older 40' brothers. Today they use a brake stick to tighten or release the handbrake.
Not directly speaking to your inquiry but your reference to a bobber (4 wheel) caboose is interesting. I am under the impression that at least on the Pennsy (can't speak for the Reading) they avoided (if not by rule then at least by practice) having a bobber (presumably wood framed) be between engines and other cars whether pulling or shoving.
Dave Nelson
gregc it was pretty obvious that a peddler would only switch trail-point spurs on the way out and the facing-point spurs on the return.
it was pretty obvious that a peddler would only switch trail-point spurs on the way out and the facing-point spurs on the return.
One of the night switcher jobs I worked, we'd push 2 or 3 cars ahead of the engine and ride them the first couple miles to the customer to avoid having to do the set out on the way back. Other times, because the grade was agreeable to doing so, we could do a "flying switch" or simply roll the car into the customer track. This was up until 2010 or so when I got done as a "career" railroader. If there were empties, we'd simply run in and grab them, set them aside, and run the loads back in first. Set the empties back on the customer track outside of the derail or outside of their gate so that they weren't in the way. Why do this? The customer got their cars 8-10 hours earlier, the empties were in a position to not be stuck by blue flags, and it was one less thing to do on the way back after being in rain/sleet/snow for hours. On the way back it was as simple as securing the remainder of the train, grabbing the one or two empty cars, doing a quick brake test, and back towards the yard we went once coupled up.
Other times the customer needed the car for a specific time frame due to whatever rush they had going on, and we simply would drop the car off on the way by, and then pick it back up empty with the rest of their cars on the way home. Just food for thought.
When I was switching customers, I always wanted to do it with the least amount of work possible. If I left the "drop offs" on the main while I was picking up their "pick ups", that mean I had to secure extra handbrakes, etc. Say you have a ten car train, with five to deliver and five others that are going to the next station. You're picking up five cars at "Industry X". You keep your set out attached to the engine, setting two (maybe three... situation dependant) handbrakes on the remaining five cars on the main track. You go in and grab the "pick ups", setting a couple handbrakes on those once set back out to the main. You then spot the "drop offs" at the customers track and secure the cars. Now when you go back to the main track, you're light engine and all you have to do is hook up air lines and release handbrakes on a couple cars.
If you leave the "drop offs" on the main, pick up the "pick ups", and then place them, you end up having to secure additional hand brakes because the "drop offs" would be the ones you set the brakes on, on the main track. So you end up having to undo those handbrakes, reapply more on the five "next station" cars, and then move them to the industry.
Maybe I'm just lazy, but I don't enjoy climbing up to set handbrakes multiple times for no reason. It sucks in the rain/sleet/snow.
BRAKIEWe would not make a run around move if at all possible after all we would switch that industry on our return trip.
BRAKIEIf we had set outs on the return trip then the pickups would be placed in the middle of the train out of the way.What that means you would take several cars with you to make that pickup while leaving the return set outs and cabin/caboose.
took me a while to get. by having the return trip set-outs at the back of the train on the trip out means they'll be at the front of the train on the way back!
is there any insentive to just grab a pick-up with just the loco and put them at the front of the train or is this just the conductors preference?
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Greg,Every conductor I ever worked had his plan for placing pickups in his train.. If we had set outs on the return trip then the pickups would be placed in the middle of the train out of the way.What that means you would take several cars with you to make that pickup while leaving the return set outs and cabin/caboose.
We would not make a run around move if at all possible after all we would switch that industry on our return trip. If we had to switch that industry a more simple flying switch would be made. A brakeman would ride the car to operate the brake and would stop the car at the clearance point.. Any pickups would be shoved ahead of the engine to the next trailing switch where another flying switch would be made so the car would be placed in the train..
i've finally started operating my layout. I have a coal train that just swaps cars at the mine, short passenger train and a peddler.
so far, i naively have a bobber caboose behind the loc. at an industry i find myself doing the following:
i'm curious if this is the approach taken by the prototypes?
another approache might be to
also, does it matter where in the train the pick-up should be located?