Train Crews at Work.

[G Mack]

Hello everyone,

The thread titled "Crew Scheduling" by JOdom brought a question to my mind that I've wondered about for some time. Due to the way train crews are scheduled, do you guys get to work with the same group of people or is just about every trip with someone different?

Where I work we have a steady group of guys that I get to see just about every day. In a way, this is good in that you get to know the other worker's, their personalities, what kind of worker they are (go-getter or slacker), what they are good at doing and how they prefer to do it, and many other things. We all gather around and shoot-the -breeze about a lot of subjects and generally have a good day at work. Is it any thing like this on the railroads? Personally, I would find it somewhat stressful to always be paired up with a stranger at work. Do you guys on the train crews have any problems along these lines? 

I've noticed that on many of the cab ride videos, the crews don't do much talking between each other. Of course, this is probably because they have some stranger standing in the cab with a camera on them; I probably wouldn't like someone filming me at work either. Also, the noise level on some of the locomotives is most likely high. But, do the crews get to talk to each other very much while on the road or is the trip spent mostly in silence?

Hope to hear from some of our railroad workers and I thank you for your responses.

Gregory 

[BaltACD]

In some crew districts, the Engineer and Conductor are a paired item; in others each of them operate in their own first in first out pools, which depending on the work that is available in the district may have different numbers of men constituting the pool.  Even where pools are staffed at differing levels, the engineer/conductor pair that works out of their home terminal, will usually work together from their away from home terminal to complete the round trip. 

Small talk between men occupying the cab of a moving train is a distraction and has been the root cause for many train accidents....inattention to the task at hand.  When trains are stopped for meets and other reasons, there is more than enough time to catch up on all the 'news'.

[Anonymous]

When I worked the extra board it was rare that I work with the same person often. If you both claimed the same amount of rest and were the same number of times out then maybe. But you have guys marking off for various reasons and taking their vacation days, so this can throw things off. I liked working with someone different just as I liked working somewhere different everyday. I always tried not to get off subject while moving especially with someone I am unfamiliar with. And when approacing someone's work limits there would be a dead silence until permission to enter the limits was sucured. Many a job lost due to being in work limits without permission. While stopped we would talk about most anything. It was always nice to work with someone with whom you got along with and maybe share a common interest.

[G Mack]

When I worked the extra board it was rare that I work with the same person often. If you both claimed the same amount of rest and were the same number of times out then maybe. But you have guys marking off for various reasons and taking their vacation days, so this can throw things off. I liked working with someone different just as I liked working somewhere different everyday. I always tried not to get off subject while moving especially with someone I am unfamiliar with. And when approacing someone's work limits there would be a dead silence until permission to enter the limits was sucured. Many a job lost due to being in work limits without permission. While stopped we would talk about most anything. It was always nice to work with someone with whom you got along with and maybe share a common interest.

A little confused about the work limits. Do you mean like entering a section of track that's being worked on or something else?

Gregory

[BaltACD]

When I worked the extra board it was rare that I work with the same person often. If you both claimed the same amount of rest and were the same number of times out then maybe. But you have guys marking off for various reasons and taking their vacation days, so this can throw things off. I liked working with someone different just as I liked working somewhere different everyday. I always tried not to get off subject while moving especially with someone I am unfamiliar with. And when approacing someone's work limits there would be a dead silence until permission to enter the limits was sucured. Many a job lost due to being in work limits without permission. While stopped we would talk about most anything. It was always nice to work with someone with whom you got along with and maybe share a common interest.

A little confused about the work limits. Do you mean like entering a section of track that's being worked on or something else?

Gregory

Correct....

Scheduled MofW work will take place within designated limits that have been set by Train Messages that each crew operating in the territory has in their possession.  These messages normally identify the limits, both Mile Post and Track(s), hours and the employee to be contacted for permission to operate through the limits.  RR warrior is correct that crews get taken out of service for operating within these limits without permission....It is a Firing offence akin to running a Stop Signal.

[wabash1]

i dont know about not talking much due to distractions, never stopped us , never ran a stop signal and never entered working limits, its like any other job sometimes you work with differant people or yo get the same guy everyday ( or girl)

[SFbrkmn]

As for the small talk, its only natural and normal to talk w/your co workers. While going down the trk, we will discuss job briefings, our jobs in general, shanty talk gossip, our pay and other items such as news events, weather, ball game scores, our home life, etc. This makes time fly better, the shift pass faster and most importantly, at night when you do need to stay awake and alert, just having someone to talk with helps a great deal.

[CShaveRR]

I pretty much work with the same crew all the time (with the exception of our hump condustor, who has different days off than the rest of us).  I have little in common with these folks, so rarely contribute to the non-essential banter that often goes on.  When I do talk, it's usually something railroad-related, or possibly an elaborately-contrived play on words (a.k.a. a sick joke).

Which is not to say that this is a bad environment--I know these people and how they work, and what I have to do to work with them, and make our operation accurate and efficient (I didn't say "safe", because that's something that we all take care of on our own, and I'd do that no matter whom I'm working with).  I have the respect of these folks--something that isn't always the case when somebody different shows up (they usually learn fast, though, that it's not cool to mess with Number One!).

[dldance]

I've noticed that on many of the cab ride videos, the crews don't do much talking between each other. Of course, this is probably because they have some stranger standing in the cab with a camera on them; I probably wouldn't like someone filming me at work either. Also, the noise level on some of the locomotives is most likely high. But, do the crews get to talk to each other very much while on the road or is the trip spent mostly in silence?

From first hand experience, it is really intimidating to have a camera crew in the cab.  I called signals but that was about it.  Also makes it hard to concentrate on safety.  At one point there was a camera lens about 6 inches from my face.  So at that point - it is all business.

dd

[Big Ed]

On my territory with Norfolk Southern, the pool I've primarily worked on has 8 engineer and conductor spots.  It's kind of a crap shoot who you will get as a hogger and conductor each time.  I'm a conductor trainee and have worked with as many as 4 different engineers and 3 different conductors in one week. 

I'm not sure if it always works this way, but say for instance if the conductor marks off for whatever reason, they'll take the next person in that particular pool who's rested before they take someone from the extraboard (which more often than not is exhausted anyways).  Plus you have the constant bumping going on between people wanting different jobs (lots of young guys around here) which makes getting the same crew more than 2-3 trips in a row sort of a rarity.

As far as cab chatter from what I've seen/experienced it's faily common to get some decent conversations going back and forth on just about any topic imagineable.  Especially when we're out there at 3am and keeping each other from nodding off, just calling signals and or approaching slow orders isn't always enough.  Of course as a trainee, I'm always asking lots of questions on anything and everything.  Surprisingly to me, most of the NS widecabs in the 8900 series and on up and pretty much anything with a non-conventional cab has been pretty easy to hear each other in.  I figured you'd have to scream at the top of your lungs to hear each other, but that's not the case.  Some of the older power does make it more difficult to hear one another....overall not that bad though.

[G Mack]

I've noticed that on many of the cab ride videos, the crews don't do much talking between each other. Of course, this is probably because they have some stranger standing in the cab with a camera on them; I probably wouldn't like someone filming me at work either. Also, the noise level on some of the locomotives is most likely high. But, do the crews get to talk to each other very much while on the road or is the trip spent mostly in silence?

From first hand experience, it is really intimidating to have a camera crew in the cab.  I called signals but that was about it.  Also makes it hard to concentrate on safety.  At one point there was a camera lens about 6 inches from my face.  So at that point - it is all business.

dd

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond to my post.

I recently watched a Pentrex video of a cab ride over Cajon Pass. While it was interesting to me to be able to see the inside of the cab, I could tell that the crew was trying hard to avoid the camera. And it was like you say, about a foot from the engineer who seemed to be concentrating on the view ahead or out the side window; I felt somewhat sorry for the poor guy. They were probably very relieved when the camera man got off the train.

Gregory 

[G Mack]

As for the small talk, its only natural and normal to talk w/your co workers. While going down the trk, we will discuss job briefings, our jobs in general, shanty talk gossip, our pay and other items such as news events, weather, ball game scores, our home life, etc. This makes time fly better, the shift pass faster and most importantly, at night when you do need to stay awake and alert, just having someone to talk with helps a great deal.

Having someone to talk to does help the time go by. We work a ten hour day at my place of employment (FedEx Aircraft Maintenance) and I like to get on a job and stay busy with it throughout the entire day. At times we get a slack period and it makes for a long day of doing busy-work or leaning on the shop table and talking to the other guys. But at least I can get up and walk around the hangar, get a cup of coffee or visit the (usually broken) vending machine.  Can you guys on the train crews get outside the cab at all, say if you are stopped in a siding or are you required to stay a certain distance next to your train? I can see how a late night run could begin to wear on you with not much to see but the track ahead. How do you guys handle it when fatigue really starts to hammer you hard? Can you trade off positions or run up and down the walkway to get the blood flowing again? 

Gregory