I've been tasked with teaching a RR related safety course in my Fire Dept. Im wondering if anyone may have or know of anything similar in a powerpoint presentation. Or an idea for any loco diagrams or pics of things like traction motors and basic loco items. Thanks for any help anyone can send me way!!
taskforce3guy
Brother -
Teaching a railroad safety course for a fire department without having any actual railroad training is not a good idea. There are so many "little" things that just wouldn't mesh well together. Your best bet is to contact your local railroad(s) and ask them to bring a representative by and have them teach a basic safety course.
The best line of defense you have when working around a railroad is the railroad dispatcher. If you have ANY incident that will require fouling the railroad tracks, you best be calling them right away on their emergency number or the number they advertise for emergency personelle to contact them.
The only advise I can offer you is this: If you have an incident where you must foul railroad tracks and haven't been able to reach a railroad dispatcher immediately, post lookouts in a position where they can see trains coming atleast a mile away in both directions and maintain radio contact with them at all times. The only "universal" stop signals in the railroad industry are red flags, red fusees, and someone who is frantically waving their arms next to the tracks. I would NOT suggest walking down the tracks in order to do this, but safely from a position that allows you to see any oncoming trains and potentially signal them of the emergency ahead.
Your only real protection is the railroad dispatcher in cases like this. They need to be your first and last line of defense, no matter what the department may want.
I understand your dilemma, I'm a long serving volunteer with a local agency, as well as having spent a few years in the Metropolitan DC area as a live-in firefighter in a train-rich environment where we had to deal with it busy CSX main tracks.
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Yea I've grown up a railroad family and being the only career firefighter in my family has been quite the break from the norm! Im pretty well versed on RR safety, escpially when it comes to HAZ-MAT. As a diehard railfan ive got a pretty good grip on RR operations and the like, was kind of hoping to find some sort of outline or idea as to put it together in a powerpoint presentation. It kinda one of those "owe someone a favor and theyre asking for this" since they all call me " the train guy".
Thanks Brother,
BE SAFE.....
Send me a PM on here with your email address and what railroads you are relatively close to. I do have some railroad safety stuff that I could share.