Indy looms ahead..........

[Anonymous]

Hello all! Time for another post about my transfer. Here goes.....

While I was over in Indy inspecting the building of my house, I met with the conductor trainee coordinator today and he laid quite the pile of paper/books in my lap. But I learned a lot of stuff, and I have a heck of a lot more to learn. I might as well be a new hire; completely new territory with a different signal system. Hey Modelcar, I'll be in your vacinity around March when I train on J767 that makes the turn at Muncie. Otherwise I'll be qualifying on the East end of the Indy road going to either Walbridge or Stanley Yard in Toledo, and over to Crestline, OH. And then there's J776 that goes to Frankfort, IN. And for even more fun, my physical characteristics test has 119 questions on it. My 12 question test at Danville is a joke in comparison.
I'm willing to learn though, it's only intimidating due to the lack of familiarity. The one thing that sucks is having to qualify on my "own" time [:(]. Fortunately, I only have to qualify in one direction then I get paid to qualify Westward and in the Yard, which takes 60 days!! The Yard, should really be referred to as Indy proper because it basically is the whole city. Well, CSI is almost on, so I'll wait for some replies. All I can say is I'm excitied for the Change.

[Anonymous]

What's the new signal system you're learning?

[JoeKoh]

Walbrige or stanley yard??? could you be making a turn and going through Deshler??
If you do we'll wave.
stay safe
Joe

[jabrown1971]

QUOTE: Originally posted by n_stephenson

Hello all! Time for another post about my transfer. Here goes.....

While I was over in Indy inspecting the building of my house, I met with the conductor trainee coordinator today and he laid quite the pile of paper/books in my lap. But I learned a lot of stuff, and I have a heck of a lot more to learn. I might as well be a new hire; completely new territory with a different signal system. Hey Modelcar, I'll be in your vacinity around March when I train on J767 that makes the turn at Muncie. Otherwise I'll be qualifying on the East end of the Indy road going to either Walbridge or Stanley Yard in Toledo, and over to Crestline, OH. And then there's J776 that goes to Frankfort, IN. And for even more fun, my physical characteristics test has 119 questions on it. My 12 question test at Danville is a joke in comparison. I'm willing to learn though, it's only intimidating due to the lack of familiarity. The one thing that sucks is having to qualify on my "own" time [:(]. Fortunately, I only have to qualify in one direction then I get paid to qualify Westward and in the Yard, which takes 60 days!! The Yard, should really be referred to as Indy proper because it basically is the whole city. Well, CSI is almost on, so I'll wait for some replies. All I can say is I'm excitied for the Change.

Welcome to Indy. Feel free to contact me via e-mail.

[MP173]

Nate:

What prompted the move? Did I miss something on another post?

Best of luck.

ed

[Modelcar]

Nathan....Sounds like you have a lot on your plate to handle...Good luck in it all.
If you come by Muncie on CSX you will pass the large BWA plant on the west side and that is where I spent 37 years in the Experimental Lab.....and home is just 3 1/2 miles from that location....

[Anonymous]

Ed,

The move was prompted by several things. First of all, my wife is in veterinary school and there is no way she wants to work at a clinic in the same town as the school. The weird thing is that there are more vet clinics in Champaign-Urbana per square mile than churches; so she knows that she'd probably only be offfered a small salary due to all the competition. Moving to Indy gives her a much larger city to build a much large base of clientel. Second, both of us are from Chicago, and we miss the big city life. We both don't really want Chicago due to the high living costs and insane traffic, etc. Indy provides a big city life without the high prices and traffic is much more tolerable. Third, Indy provides me a much larger terminal to work out of with many more job choices and a much more secure future. Danville is one of those terminals that depends solely on one major customer, and if that customer were to find a new shipper, then Danville yard would be shut down. Plus, I applied to be a dispatcher at Indy, and If I were to ever be hired on I'd already be living there. However, a few sources on the train dispatchers website have informed me that my chances aren't real good right now, so I'll just have to wait.
Macguy, the new signal system I am learning is NORAC.

[MP173]

Indy is a nice town. My best friend lives down there and I am there frequently. The quality of life down there is pretty high.

What is the difference in the signals?

ed

[Anonymous]

NORAC signals are color position light, while the signals I operate on here are Seaboard (color Light). Color light look exactly like traffic lights, while the color position light are circular and there are a string of lights that go up, down, across, or diagonal meaning different speeds, etc. Please note: this is a very basic interpretation.

[Anonymous]

JoeKoh,

I've been studying my route maps and the timetable and I do not go through Deshler. I end up heading east out of Indy and take a north turn onto the Toledo Branch, a single main at Ridgeway, OH. The Toledo Branch runs north between Deshler and Fostoria.

[JoeKoh]

Nathan
ok so will go see you in Galatea just east of north baltimore. (thats where it crosses the willard sub) you'll be paralleling I -75. good luck
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by n_stephenson

NORAC signals are color position light, while the signals I operate on here are Seaboard (color Light). Color light look exactly like traffic lights, while the color position light are circular and there are a string of lights that go up, down, across, or diagonal meaning different speeds, etc. Please note: this is a very basic interpretation.

NORAC sounds rather complicated to me. [:0]

[mvlandsw]

Color Position Light signals are not NORAC. They are ex B&O signals.

[techguy57]

Nate,

I was born and raised on the westside of Indy, Speedway to be exact, and I went to college at Butler before moving to NW Chicago. Indy is a great place, all the conveniences of a big city but it still has the small town charm. My mom only lives about 5 minutes away from the Avon yard and when I'm in town I cn be frequently spotted on the Northside of the yard, usually behind SuperTarget, taking photos. Anyway after 20 some years there and lots of summer jobs that involved driving around town, I can tell you anything you want about the city like fun places to visit, excellent places to eat and the like. Feel free to email me anytime.

I visit Indy a lot so maybe I'll see you at work sometime when I'm down there. I'll be sure to wave! Good luck with the move and all other aspects of the transfer. Hopefully Indy will treat you right. And seriously email me if you have any questions!

Mike V.

[JoeKoh]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mvlandsw

Color Position Light signals are not NORAC. They are ex B&O signals.

the line is a former conrail(nyc) line.so they would have some cpls signals to deal with too.
stay safe
Joe

[Nora]

As I understand it, there's a difference between position light signals and color position light signals. Maybe someone else can explain in more detail. And there are other types of signals covered under NORAC, not just position light signals.

Here's a link to a sheet showing the NORAC signals -- this is the same sheet I was given in my (ill-fated) conductor training class.

(Edited to add: the NORAC signals shown in the link below include both position light signals and color position light signals. I know the difference but can't think of how to explain it very briefly and I have to go to work now.)

http://www.amdg.ws/Norac.pdf

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Nora

As I understand it, there's a difference between position light signals and color position light signals. Maybe someone else can explain in more detail. And there are other types of signals covered under NORAC, not just position light signals.

Here's a link to a sheet showing the NORAC signals -- this is the same sheet I was given in my (ill-fated) conductor training class.

http://www.amdg.ws/Norac.pdf

Those look rather complicated to me, perhaps just because I'm just used to the CROR CTC signals.

Here's a link to them --
http://www.tc.gc.ca/railway/Rules/CRORprint.htm#RULE

[jeaton]

Nate

Beside getting well informed help from all of the above poster, we know a well connected attorney in Indianapolis. Gabe seems to have taken leave from the forum for a few days, no doubt for family matters. I suspect that on his return he will be more than willing to provide sage advice on finding the safe path throught the legal mine field known as the great state of Indiana and its thriving central metropolis. You know, stuff like "get a lawyer".[:D][:D][:D]

Good luck on the transfer. We look forward to more of your "tales from the rails". (That is soooo bad, I'm sure nobody has a copyright on that phrase).

Jay

[Anonymous]

I can see by looking at the links posted in the previous replies that there is more to railroad signals that meets the eye. Looks like interesting but challenging information to learn.