This week, there has been a red board on each of the three tracks, marking the end of a work zone, right where I can walk by it. Although all three tracks have these boards (directed at westbound trains), the nearest one has an aluminum device clamping the assembly to the nearest rail of the track. It doesn't impede traffic in any way, and it seems like only the near track had this. I'm assuming that the board was also driven into the ground (or at least the ballast) here. The connections are a definite tripping hazard for anyone walking between the board and the rail for whatever reason.Could something like this transmit a message to a PTC-equipped locomotive? It would be superfluous and unproductive if it did and couldn't be quickly superseded by the employee in charge giving a crew permission to pass the red board.I guess I don't like it (whether it's just a tripping hazard or a superfluous layer of protection). Anyone else have any ideas about this?
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Us old groundpounders always carried a pair of red plags folded-up above the liners in our hardhats. When we got out in the boonies with a Form-B we would open up the flags and lay them over the rail next to the red-board, 2 miles from the yellow/red or old yellow advance boards. Had three of those run over in my career.
Twice was lodged the complaint that the head end crew didn't see the red board that was quickly dropped when the shredded flag was produced. What is described sounds like a cross between that logic and a smashboard. Any sign of a portable derail nearby? (Getting those old boards to go into the ground and stand up often was like sticking a plastic fork into concrete)... I can better tollerate the idea in multiple track territory, but what happens when you are released by the 4man to pass the redboard on a Form B)
That's the new standard holder for placing temporary boards. Yellow, Green and Yellow/Red boards as well as the Red boards. It has been noted that it could be a tripping hazard.
Jeff
Sure doesn't sound like an idea that a person who is familiar with the hazards of ballast walking would have.
Ya know, like in the dark, under the snow. etc...while carrying 50 pounds of overnight gear. Sounds like basic training!
Aren't those designed so that the sign is out of the striking distance from passing trains? I've seen the old style stake-in-the ballast signs set on by the rails by, let's say, more spatially-challenged folk that were quickly knocked over by the first passing train.
That's when the signs aren't completely covered in dirt and grime with the reflective material worn out, or using the smaller-sized signs (for instances of tight clearances, i.e. between close mainline tracks) when a larger one would have been more appropriate.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
jeffhergertThat's the new standard holder for placing temporary boards. Yellow, Green and Yellow/Red boards as well as the Red boards. It has been noted that it could be a tripping hazard. Jeff
Thanks, Jeff--I was kind of afraid of that. More storage capacity needed, inability to fit between two tracks, and the aforementioned tripping hazard.I saw one today on a yellow/red board.
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