on Amtrak we are given four road days a year. one is used for the book of rules the others to ride the head end of trains on your section. I was hired by PRR in 1961 as a block operator on the Phila, terminal div. promoted to TD in 1970. when qualifying on a new territory we were given the opportunity to ride the head end of a train.
tree68Nora! Long time, no see!
No kidding! My fiance saw a link to this thread in his Trains newsletter and suggested I add my two cents. Looks like a lot has changed here!
Nora...
Nora! Long time, no see!
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Where I work, we get road days on any territory before we mark up as qualified on that territory. And any dispatcher holding a regular job is supposed to get road days on that territory at least once a year. So I've seen most of the territory I'm qualified on, but a lot of it I've only seen once or twice. Some areas (such as areas I've lived in or the yard I worked in), I know better than others.
We do also have access to video, taken by a camera on the geometry train, of most of our tracks.
mbv9415 I don't know if the other western giant has dispatchers ride or if these guys are coming up on their vacations to do it, but some seem very familiar with local spots. When the Creston Sub gets backed up with westbounds trying to get into Hobson Yard (Lincoln), I have heard dispatchers with a Texas drawl talk to train crews about bunching up at a road crossing near the I-80/US-6 junction east of Lincoln. Hearing that drawl on the radio "I'm going to have you pull west of the signal to Shakers". Shakers is a strip joint west of Waverly,NE. How does the DS in Texas know that?
I don't know if the other western giant has dispatchers ride or if these guys are coming up on their vacations to do it, but some seem very familiar with local spots.
When the Creston Sub gets backed up with westbounds trying to get into Hobson Yard (Lincoln), I have heard dispatchers with a Texas drawl talk to train crews about bunching up at a road crossing near the I-80/US-6 junction east of Lincoln. Hearing that drawl on the radio "I'm going to have you pull west of the signal to Shakers". Shakers is a strip joint west of Waverly,NE. How does the DS in Texas know that?
He'll know that becuase the crews have commonly referred to it by that name, and it is a regular event. No doubt the crew bus also uses the name as an easily understood location. And such local names often survive long after the namesake has disappeared, puzzling subsequent generations.
John
Part of the 'physical characteristics' that Dispatchers MUST know is where trains can be held, with the ability to get to the crews and not have the trains block any road crossings. Each of those locations on each territory are well known to both the crews and dispatchers on that territory.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Been there, done that?
I dispatched on the BNSF and ideally management would like to get dispatchers out to ride their territory once a year if relief is available. Of course, when you do go, you are a sounding board for every crewmans gripe about every dispatcher on the railroad. One engineer I was riding with from Minneapolis to Staples years ago asked me in the course of the conversation what religion I practiced. I paused as I didn't know where he was going with this but then to be safe I figured said I was atheist, no particular religion. He said he figured as much. All dispatchers act like they're God. And then the KC office decided it cost too much money to fly their dispatchers to outlying territories like Amarillo and the Hereford Subdivision, so they directed dispatchers to ride a train to get to Amarillo. Even on a Z priority train, that burns off a good two days of your 5 day road trip. Better yet if you took a grain train out of KC to get there. You would burn off your five days before you got to Wellington if you weren't careful. I always used to like to drive to my territory and then poke around with MOW and local crews to get a better feel of what I was dispatching. The Ride The Train crap kept me from ever taking a road trip again.
I would like to with your permission add the above comments in the Rule Book for my model railroad, Eastern Illinois Santa Fe. I am developing this Rule Book for Operation on my layout. You can see my railroad at www.atsf93.com
I would like to give you credit for your remarks if I can have your permission.
mudchicken UP & CSX already have UP's PMV technology available to them. The ATSF side of BNSF has had Geometry Car (#85) video available to them since since 1986. Took until 2003 for the CPU computer technology to catch up. Historically, railroads have had more computer power than most other industry in this country. The challenge is channeling the information data flow to do the most economic good. (There still are plenty of Luddites out there that think railroading is a dying industry.)
UP & CSX already have UP's PMV technology available to them. The ATSF side of BNSF has had Geometry Car (#85) video available to them since since 1986. Took until 2003 for the CPU computer technology to catch up.
Historically, railroads have had more computer power than most other industry in this country. The challenge is channeling the information data flow to do the most economic good. (There still are plenty of Luddites out there that think railroading is a dying industry.)
That is something that nobody talks about regularly in all the Public Relations videos, brochures and websites. Thank you.
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
BaltACD [snipped - PDN] . . . In railroading - the playing field and resources you start with are all the ones you have to play with - and those resources can fail creating additional problems. But PLAN is a four letter word the neither discipline can do without - not only for the original plan - but the plans you have to be reviewing in your head for your response when something in Plan A fails and Plan B fails etc. etc.
But PLAN is a four letter word the neither discipline can do without - not only for the original plan - but the plans you have to be reviewing in your head for your response when something in Plan A fails and Plan B fails etc. etc.
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/short-stories/18339547/little-action
It also included in the anthology Open Throttle:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL9338299W/Open_Throttle
which I also referenced in more detail over in the "Required Railroad Reading" thread (middle of Page 2): http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/242552.aspx?page=2
The story - as I recall it - is mainly about trying to get a Boy Scout special passenger train over a division despite a myriad of problems that crop up. There are several times where it says to the effect of "In his mind, he was there with the crew, feeling the heat of the sun and sweating amid the dust, hearing the whistle of the approaching special", etc. At the end of the day, he goes home after a 12-hour shift and his wife asks him how his day was, and he replies that it was pretty ordinary. She opens his lunchbox and says, "Why, you didn't even touch this nice lunch I prepared for you !". Which must have happened pretty often, because he was described as a thin man, with balding hair . . .
- Paul North.
Wizlish Murphy Siding Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! I think I know this one! He shaves his head so he doesn't pull his hair out? No, he pulled it out so completely he doesn't have to shave it 'pre-emptively'. And what little grows in gets pulled out before it can 'show'...
Murphy Siding Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! I think I know this one! He shaves his head so he doesn't pull his hair out?
No, he pulled it out so completely he doesn't have to shave it 'pre-emptively'. And what little grows in gets pulled out before it can 'show'...
If it's the one I know its hereditary, you should have seen both his grandfathers.
mudchicken [snipped - PDN] . . . (There still are plenty of Luddites out there that think railroading is a dying industry.)
zugmann Deggesty And, the Luddites do whatever they can to throw their wooden shoes (sabots) into the machinery. Would that be consodered sabotage?
Deggesty And, the Luddites do whatever they can to throw their wooden shoes (sabots) into the machinery.
Would that be consodered sabotage?
You are correct Zug:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabot_%28shoe%29
Johnny
DeggestyAnd, the Luddites do whatever they can to throw their wooden shoes (sabots) into the machinery.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
ValleyX I can't speak for now but I know that dispatchers used to ride some of the territories when they'd let them. Frequently, we'd hear that they'd request to ride but were told that they couldn't spare the manpower for them to be out of the office. Our universal gripe was that they'd always ride the fastest trains instead of what we thought they should ride, the trains that took the worst beatings across the road, for a look at what we thought was "real life".
I can't speak for now but I know that dispatchers used to ride some of the territories when they'd let them. Frequently, we'd hear that they'd request to ride but were told that they couldn't spare the manpower for them to be out of the office. Our universal gripe was that they'd always ride the fastest trains instead of what we thought they should ride, the trains that took the worst beatings across the road, for a look at what we thought was "real life".
That sounds familiar.
I did have a student dispatcher ride with me last year. His plan was to ride with us from Fremont to Missouri Valley on the Omaha Sub, then catch a westbound to ride over the Blair Sub. That plan would've worked too, if it hadn't taken us 8 hours to get to Mo Valley.
At least he got to see how it is when things go wrong.
Jeff
Dispatchers can't be exposed to sunlight, get wet, and don't feed them after midnight.
Andrew Falconer The dispatcher's view on the computer monitors would be enhanced by topographical maps made from satellite gathered measurments and images.
The dispatcher's view on the computer monitors would be enhanced by topographical maps made from satellite gathered measurments and images.
Are you speaking from experience, or just guessing?
An "expensive model collector"
dakotafred Andrew Falconer The dispatcher's view on the computer monitors would be enhanced by topographical maps made from satellite gathered measurments and images. Why didn't you say so in your original post? Maybe dispatchers don't have to get out of their bunkers anymore.
Why didn't you say so in your original post? Maybe dispatchers don't have to get out of their bunkers anymore.
I believe I owe Andrew an apology for misreading his post. He seems to be saying it would be DESIRABLE for dispatchers to have these maps, not that they have them already. Sorry, sir.
Dispatchers may also have access to track geometry car video which shows a similar view to a train traveling down the track, often available in both directions. Some newer video is similar to "street view" where the viewer can scan 360 degrees around the area.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I worked for 45 years in th information technology industry When I was a computer operator, I had situation ranging from 1 to 5 programs abruptly ending at the same time to a powe failure that brought the entire data center down. All you can do is take a deep breath and let your training take over and solve the problems.
While I'm sure they have track and grade profiles available, I don't think they are displayed on the "working" screens. Most of our crew change locations now have displays showing the dispatcher's screens. We can see where trains are and what the dispatcher is doing. They have a lot, but not all, of the same detail the dispatcher has.
They are not to scale. In one spot, at junction points for example, the screen might show 1 or 2 miles in 6 inches. In another there might be 10 or 15 miles packed into 6 inches. Just depends on how many control points and their individual complexity required to be displayed.
Norm48327 Having been involved in aviation for over thirty years I am more familiar with air traffic control but presume "rail traffic control" is decidedly paralell. As Balt says, if you don't plan ahead, the hole you're digging keeps getting deeper.
Having been involved in aviation for over thirty years I am more familiar with air traffic control but presume "rail traffic control" is decidedly paralell. As Balt says, if you don't plan ahead, the hole you're digging keeps getting deeper.
The difference is in many cases the ATC can change the dimensions of the 'playing field' by working in another flight level. In railroading - the playing field and resources you start with are all the ones you have to play with - and those resources can fail creating additional problems.
Norm
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