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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie Went to my favorite spot on Sat - without the Driver - he wasn't back from fly fishing yet. Then in celebration of his return, had him take me there Sunday morning, too! Nice of me, don't you think! Saw a total of 72 engines. Not trains, engines. Some on trains, some just out for a ride. (about 5 hours total both days) Anyway - have some questions as usual. 1. Whisper cabs - with windows shut, just how quiet is it really? The bell bangs away when they go by us - can you hear it inside the cab? Can you hold a conversation and not yell (only if you want to?) 2. I think an engineer actually put together a coal train while we watched. They pulled forward and backed up 3 different times, then left town - same engineer. Now - how is he paid for this? I know the old engineer was paid by mileage, but what about the back and forth - how do they figure that out? 3. This same engineer, when he was backing up - was doing so on a slight curve and over a crossing. He kept leaning out the window and looking down at the ground. Then when he was straightened out, he just backed straight up. What was he looking at? (No not the mirror!) He made quite a point of watching the ground, like if he slipped off the track, he could run for the door? Not a clue what he was watching or what he could do if if something happened - whatever if might be..... But - this same nice engineer, stopped right in front of us so we could look at the engines very carefully - A Dash 8, and 2 Dash 9's. Whooping it up! Reporterette/Foamette Mookie [/quote] Mook- Here are my answers. 1. The new widebodies are MUCH quieter than the older standard cabs. You can still hear the bell as a distant "ding,ding" instead of the older units "CLANG, CLANG". 2. This depends upon the agreement and what kind of service the engineer is in. Here there are four categories of service for pay purposes: 1) Yard; 2) Road; 3) Travelling Switcher (5 day) and 4) Travelling Switcher (6 day). There are also arbitraries that may apply such as more than three stops to switch on a road job around here will get the Engineer extra pay. Certain shove moves get conductors extra. 3. The Engineer was looking at the ground to determine his speed. Believe it or not, looking at the ground is much more accurate at low speeds than the speedometer. Always do it when coupling. Keeps the conductor much more friendly. LC
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