These trains are dead heads because on weekends, at least, all scheduled passenger trains make all the stops. Any train passing through a station here at speed must be a dead head. Some toot their horn, most do not.
RJ Emery near Santa Fe, NM
Engineer and Conductor at a minimum. If it is truly a DH move, the Conductor may be in the train or on the locomotive, his choice.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
IMO, it is never a good policy to have the engineer alone in the locomotive (or in a cab) driving a train. That's a sure way to have an accident, as recent events on commuter lines have proven. Nothing is ever absolutely foolproof, and I'm sure PTC will have serious shortcomings come to light when and if it is fully implemented.
I'm watching the deadheads this morning. There are at least two an hour. Most of the movements, maybe all, have the loco in the rear regardless of direction.
rjemeryIMO, it is never a good policy to have the engineer alone in the locomotive (or in a cab) driving a train. That's a sure way to have an accident, as recent events on commuter lines have proven. Nothing is ever absolutely foolproof, and I'm sure PTC will have serious shortcomings come to light when and if it is fully implemented. I'm watching the deadheads this morning. There are at least two an hour. Most of the movements, maybe all, have the loco in the rear regardless of direction.
In normal commuter operations, the engineer is the only person in the operating compartment of either the engine or the cab car. Most cab cars are designed so that ONLY one person can occupy the operating compartment. Most Amtrak trains are operated with only the engineer on the engine and the conductor on the train with the passengers.
On my carrier that requires T&E employees to call signals on the road radio channel. The engineer calls the signal and the conductor responds to the engineers call - this calling also applies to results of defect detector inspections, arriving and departing scheduled station stop, obtaining permission to enter work zones, requesting 'restarts' when making a scheduled station stop within a work zone.
If a mandatory directive needs to be sent to the train. It can only be copied by someone in the control compartment and who IS NOT at the controls while the train is moving. This can be accomplished by the engineer at a station stop or by having the Conductor come to the control compartment to copy and repeat the directive to the Train Dispatcher.
Passenger carriers in the US have been operating with a engineer only in the control compartment for several decades.
BaltACDIf a mandatory directive needs to be sent to the train. It can only be copied by someone in the control compartment and who IS NOT at the controls while the train is moving. This can be accomplished by the engineer at a station stop or by having the Conductor come to the control compartment to copy and repeat the directive to the Train Dispatcher.
On a trip to Quincy IL, on Amtrak's Carl Sandburg #381, after leaving Galesburg the dispatcher wanted to issue a change in meet with a freight train. So our lady engineer made a nice controled stop, dispatcher dictated the order which she and our conductor copied, the both read it back and then the dispatcher "made it complete" and away we went.
After writing this, I wondered how many female engineers does Amtrak have out of how many total engineers and similarly how many female engineers do the major carriers have out of how many total engineers. Only speaking of train engineers, not mechanical, civil, electrical. Thanks.
Electroliner 1935After writing this, I wondered how many female engineers does Amtrak have out of how many total engineers and similarly how many female engineers do the major carriers have out of how many total engineers. Only speaking of train engineers, not mechanical, civil, electrical. Thanks.
Not a lot, but more than you would think. Old habits are hard to break when dealing with crews over the phone for too many years of being almost exclusively male.
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