It never ceases to amaze me how complicated railroads are and yet so simple.
Thanks for all the information. Now the Driver and I will work on air brakes again. (We think we found the brake shoes!)
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Down in the swamp, we call the trains that haul ballast, ties, rail and other MOW stuff work trains, and they can have dedicated engines assigned to that particular job for several days.
Locals do the roustabout work, run out and gather up all the odd or single cars that don't have a regular train they run in, or were left out there as BO car repaired in place, or those cars that go to and come from customers who only get one or two cars a week in the first place.
At the PTRA, we call the job that does that work a roustabout....(all of our trains are "locals", we never leave Harris county, if you get my point)
UP designates their locals down here as Y(yard) HO(Houston) and a number...so YHO80 is a local job that goes yard to yard in the metroplex picking up and dropping off cuts of cars...if they just stay in one yard, they are designated as Y80, (yard job 80).
As for the second part...a brake does not have to be applied so hard as to slide the wheel or cause smoke, although even a light brake will heat up the wheel after a good number of miles...I go with the idea another job (train or ground man) gave the train you saw a roll-by, noticed the hand brake was wound up enough to cause problems, called the head end, they dropped off the brakeman to go back and release the brake...and he smartly chose the crossing to do this at because it was easily accessible to the crew van and saved him having to walk any great distance, or jump a drainage ditch or two...bet the head end crew pulled up to the next crossing to wait for the van to drop him off for the same reason.
Work smart, not hard!
23 17 46 11
I'm sorry, SJ--I didn't fully read or comprehend your first question.
A pair of light engines might be on a local run, if they have some that originate in your yard. It would do the necessary work at industries en route to the end of their territory, then return to the home terminal at the end of their tour of duty (or, perhaps the following day after spending the night at an away-from-home terminal).
Another reason for a light engine move would be to pick up a unit train at an elevator somewhere along the line, and take it to the next crew-change point. I kind of doubt that one, because a full-fledged unit train would usually rate more than two units.
Around here, we get light engine moves between Proviso and West Chicago regularly--locomotives that have delivered unit trains to points beyond West Chicago going into Proviso for servicing, I presume, then later going back out to pick up a train of empties at West Chicago and take it west. One of the more amazing sights I ever saw on our line was an eastbound light-engine movement meeting a westbound light-engine movement, right at a crossing in Lombard.
2. As to what the indication of sticking brakes would be, it would simply be smoke coming from the wheels. Not hard to spot; I'm kind of surprised that you or Driver didn't notice that yourself when the car in question got close. It may have diminished, though, if the train had stopped for any length of time and was proceeding slowly. At that point the crewman would have been listening as well as looking.
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)
JoeKoh wrote: csx terms those kind of trains as"locals" and are designated like Y101 west on 1 clear holgate.sometimes when trains have broken a hose etc at deshler we have given the conductors rides to see what the problem is. great questions as usual mookie.stay safeJoe
csx terms those kind of trains as"locals" and are designated like Y101 west on 1 clear holgate.
sometimes when trains have broken a hose etc at deshler we have given the conductors rides to see what the problem is. great questions as usual mookie.
stay safe
Joe
On the CN (at least in Wisconsin), the 'locals' are designated with an "L" in their identificating number (i.e. L511).
A work train will be a MOW function - out fixing things, laying new track, etc.
A local is a jack-of-all-trades. The through freights (manifests) handle moving the cars between major points. The locals handle the actual pickups and deliveries at the industries. Another name that used to be applied to them was "peddlers."
This even applies to some unit trains. One symbol delivers the train to the appropriate yard, then another (local) symbol takes the train to its final destination. Happens all the time here with our local co-gen plant.
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...
Joe - I have heard the terms "locals" and "work trains". I think they mean different things - but both were frowned on as not something very pleasant. Seems like the work trains were more over a period of time - say a week of being out of town. Locals were just kind of bottom of the rung type jobs, but may have improved over the years.
We need a little more clarification, please.
Joe - if you weren't there, would the personnel still look out for the railroad people? Are they quiet watchers?
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
As to why someone was watching:
RR operating rules call for any employee to observe a passing train for things just such as this. It could have been someone specifically assigned to do a "roll-by", or simply another crew that the train passed.
If you are listening on the scanner, you will hear "1234, looking good on the roll-by, complete with the marker. Have a good trip." Or something to that effect.
1. Yes, when we run them. More likely, though, a more descriptive term is used, like "ballast train" or "American crane".
2. It was the hand brake, and he was probably releasing it after someone reported sticking brakes on a car of the departing train. He probably pulled it up to the crossing because it was the safest place to get on and off the car. (Without being there, that's the most likely scenario I can come up with.) Then he was brought back to the engine.
Two questions:
1: Do they still call them "work trains"? We saw 2 locomotives head out of town with no train. They were headed toward the west line out of Lincoln on highway 6. I am hazarding a guess that they may have been going to pick up something from either an industry not too far away or some grain cars at the elevators that are scattered between here and western NE. But rather than speculate, do they still have the work trains that will work all the elevators within the division and may stay out a few days at a time to collect the full cars, and/or drop off the empties to the elevators? How does this work in today's world?
2: Had a mixed freight leaving town. It only got the headend just a ways out of the yard before it stopped and soon a nice young man came walking back to our crossing, stood and waited for about another 8th of the train to go by him, then it stopped and he climbed up on a freight car and turned the independent brake.
A crew carrier came by, picked him up and I think may have taken him back to the headend. The train then left town. (The headend was around the bend and down the tracks so we couldn't see it)
Obviously they knew something was dragging, but anyone know what the indication would have been? Or who caught it?
Great train watching. Something different.
Mook
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