very interesting all, not a part of railroading Dad was involved with. His first job was working at freight house loading cars and then got in charge of a "gang" loading. Then he worked in yard on 3rd trick as a clerk checking car seals for tampering., espec. those with cigs and booze That was dangerous work and he had to keep his lantern swinging as he moved around. No bright tower lights like today, just steam engines and lanterns. A switchman was backed over by a train one night when Dad was not working. Dad heard they picked up the body in pieces in a box. He and Mom were glad when he got enough seniority to work inside the yard office where he stayed the rest of his career with Frisco.
operatorHowever, speaking of coin flips, the worst was tank cars due to the sloshing action of their contents.
Strictly speaking, Chris's post and my reply are off topic but that "sloshing action" was the root cause of some problems in early Penn Central days. I was told that some engineers, running Tropicana's unit trains, were grounded for passing a Stop signal. They all swore they had stopped but the train suddenly lurched forward. Investigation showed that the trains had stopped but several thousand gallons of orange juice had not stopped. Even though the orange juice was packaged in quart, 1/2 gallon or gallon bottles, the cumulative action of all that "sloshing" was enough to move the entrie train several feet.
ChuckAllen, TX
But tank cars made go riders because you could break the rules and stand on the crossover platform. This meant a lot if you had a long shove or ride.
Lithonia Operator I thought there was supposedly no car-riding anywhere now. Although I assumed that rule is frequently broken. When you switch cars, either in the yard or at an industry, you usually must ride the point to protect the shove and/or get off just before you make a joint. Yes, riding a car is not illegal, but riding to a joint is both illegal and foolhardy. As to the car I hate to switch: Autoracks win out. We used to have to spot them so they could be unloaded. Therefore, you had the line the cars up so that all cars in particular cut had their contents facing the same way. As the Autoracks arrived from the mainline, we would create a list of the cars that contained whether the cars pointed east or west. Spotting autoracks was a pain.
I thought there was supposedly no car-riding anywhere now. Although I assumed that rule is frequently broken.
operator... However, speaking of coin flips, the worst was tank cars due to the sloshing action of their contents. I've stood next to a tank car after it left the master retarder and watched it almost "hop" down the track, coming to almost a complete stop and then almost violently jumping ahead as if it had been kicked in the butt. The retardation in the master would cause the contents to go toward the front of the car and then rebound toward the back causing this action. It was hilarious to watch but painful to deal with. And oh yes, back when I first started in the business when I need to get to the far end of the yard I would stand below the group retarders and jump on a moving car and ride it out. They were going about 7 to 10 MPH at the time and in hindsight it was a real stupid move but all the railroaders I was working with were doing it too. When I retired from this business ten years ago even standing out in the yard without a safety person watching for dangerous situations was not allowed or at least frowned upon. 73, Chris
73, Chris
One of my early on the ground experiences was being with a yard crew that was involved in switching a chemical plant in Clevelnad. One particular track was spotted with about 8 tank cars at separated spots along the track - each of the cars had various levels of contents. As I recall our job was to pull the bottom two (farthest from the engine) cars and replace them with two cars we had brought in our train. To do the switching, we had to couple all 8 cars on the track - with each coupling there was slosh as each of the cars on the track were part loads of product. As we coupled more of the cars together, the slosh got worse - bad enough that the entire 'train' would move a foot or two until the slosh worked itself out - then on to the next coupling until we had the entire track coupled and were able to set out the two bottom cars and replace them with the cars from our train then go about the process of spotting the track back up with each car at its designated spot. With each stop, we had to wait for the slosh to work itself to calm, then move on to the next spotting. The entire process took nearly an hour - something that looked on paper to be no more than a 15 minute job. Slosh away.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Low side gons and flatcars. Not enough places to grab on either.
I'm looking at this question from a slightly different point of view. I spend my railroad career as a software engineer and spent 2/3rds of it designing the operating software and installing the computerized control systems for what appear to now being a disappearing feature of modern railroads, hump yards. My big problem was the predictability of how the cars would roll after released from the car retarders. One of my more difficult jobs was calculating what the exit speeds for the cars should be, what I used to jokingly call "applied high school physics", Newton's Laws etc. Probably the worst were the long wheelbase TTX cars like auto racks and TOFC, COFC cars. In addition these cars usually had what were called resiliant side bearings. Both the long wheel base and the RSB's made their predicability when going around curves almost a coin flip. However, speaking of coin flips, the worst was tank cars due to the sloshing action of their contents. I've stood next to a tank car after it left the master retarder and watched it almost "hop" down the track, coming to almost a complete stop and then almost violently jumping ahead as if it had been kicked in the butt. The retardation in the master would cause the contents to go toward the front of the car and then rebound toward the back causing this action. It was hilarious to watch but painful to deal with. And oh yes, back when I first started in the business when I need to get to the far end of the yard I would stand below the group retarders and jump on a moving car and ride it out. They were going about 7 to 10 MPH at the time and in hindsight it was a real stupid move but all the railroaders I was working with were doing it too. When I retired from this business ten years ago even standing out in the yard without a safety person watching for dangerous situations was not allowed or at least frowned upon.
Autoracks or Intermodal!
When I hired on CN allowed getting on and off moving equipment at slow speeds (4 mph or less) and CP did not. Now it is the opposite.
I much preferred getting on and off at slow speeds, it allows you to save yourself from being subjected to hard slack action as the movement starts or stops.
There has never been an outright prohibition on riding cars, though as I mentioned certain cars cannot be ridden.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
jeffhergertWhen I was a trainmen, I hated riding cars that had the side ladder/grab irons close to the car side. Mostly certain types of box cars and gondolas. Not enough room for the size 13 boots.
My size 13's aren't really a problem. My issue is that the grab irons on our passenger cars weren't installed with my 6'5" frame in mind. Even one more rung up would make hanging on a car that much easier.
Not that we ride the cars all that often, as we don't often switch them, and we can usually ride inside. But it happens.
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...
Lithonia OperatorI thought there was supposedly no car-riding anywhere now. Although I assumed that rule is frequently broken.
Car riding has never been against the rules. Getting on or off moving equipment has been made against the rules on different carriers from time to time.
Still in training.
When I was a trainmen, I hated riding cars that had the side ladder/grab irons close to the car side. Mostly certain types of box cars and gondolas. Not enough room for the size 13 boots.
When I was working the ground: switching, setting out or picking up cars, we didn't have too many restrictions on riding cars or kicking cars. Now there are restrictions, some system - some local, on cars that can be kicked or ridden or mounted or dismounted while moving. And of course nothing is written in stone, they seem to like to change something once everyone is used to it.
I haven't had to worry about such things for 16 years, but I still have to take computer based training on some aspects that I'll (probably) never have to worry about again.
Jeff
Lever handbrakes suck. Anything with cushion drawbars is a pain (autos, centrebeams, most boxcars). Ditto for old, damaged or rusty handbrakes, salt and bulk sulphur cars often suffer from corrosion. Autos and a lot of older cars do not have crossover platforms so by rule you have to walk around, and sometimes you get a whole train of them.
Most centrebeams suck to ride, but the newest ones with a normal ladder are just as comfortable as any other car.
Our 'Trudeau' grain hoppers were built with an unusual handbrake design which is quite stiff and has a really long chain.
The worst cars I've ever encountered are CN's fleet of 93' heavy-duty flatcars, which are now mostly used for moving large oilfield pipe. No attempt at drawbar alignment control, can't ride them (not enough grab irons), can't cross over them (legally), and they all still have stemwinder handbrakes, which are even worse than levers. Some have a really weird handbrake design without a release lever, you are supposed to be able to turn the wheel counterclockwise and spin it off, except they jam all the time. So then you go find a spike and stick it in the gears to pry up and release the ratchet. The handbrake wheels are supposed to be lowered when not in use so they are flush with the flatcar deck, but a lot of people forget so then the brake gets hit and wrecked when the car is loaded or unloaded.
The best cars are newer hoppers and tank cars. Comfortable to ride, no extended drawbars, and most handbrakes operate smoothly. New tank cars are now built with a second vertical handrail, but when I started working we were expected to get on and off the single handhold ones while moving so I guess I just got used to it, and riding up on the platform is more comfortable than hanging on a ladder (at the time we were required to ride tank cars this way). Now we aren't allowed to get on or off moving equipment at all.
Yes what railcar do you just absolutely detest when you have to switch it. I seem to get the impression autoracks are the worst from previous and current conversations with T&E and Yard personnel.
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