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The ATSF Robinson accident was clearly a case of a trainman panicking to line a switch correctly when it already was lined correctly.  So he lined it wrong in his panic.  As far as I can tell, this pattern of thinking and action is a common occurrence, and well known to railroad culture.  I have read of other examples of the same type of occurrence, and was also told about one on the Milwaukee Road, where a trainman thought a switch was wrong as a passenger train was approaching fast.  He panicked and threw it wrong in the face of the train, and then realized that it was wrong, so he threw it back just in time. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Since trainmen throw switches all the time, it is hard to separate one recollection of switch throwing from another.  This sense of indefinite recollection can cause a loss of confidence as time runs out with a fast approaching train.   <o:p></o:p> The rule to stay back from a switch during a meet seems to be intended to help reinforce the recollection of the person staying away from the switch, so that he clearly knows that he has not already thrown the switch.  Staying away from the switch is a way of preventing a trainman from taking any sense of ownership of the switch before an impending meet.  That is my own reasoning on the matter, and I have no other reference to back it up.  In fact, I am not sure exactly how the rule reads about standing by the switch during a meet.  In other words, is it OK to walk up to the switch, touch it, or look it over during a meet before the opposing train arrives?  I am not sure what today’s rule says about it.     <o:p></o:p> I went back and looked over that article on the ATSF wreck at Robinson siding to refresh my memory about what it said about the switch, which I recall as being unique somehow.  The article says that the switch was not typical of the other sidings, which had spring switches to allow trains to leave the sidings without opening and closing the switch.  East Robinson had a standard manual switch fitted with two locks, one on the switch stand, and one on a foot treadle.  The foot treadle was a precaution against the switch points being fouled by wreckage from a collision at a nearby crossing, the article says.   <o:p></o:p> The fireman in the Robinson accident not only walked right up to the switch, but he then proceeded to unlock the treadle lock.  I interpret these actions to mean that the fireman was doing everything possible to speed up their impending departure.  In other words, if he had not done these things before the meeting train went by, he would have to take the time to walk up to the switch, and unlock the foot treadle padlock after the train passed, and this time consumed for the task would have delayed their departure.   <o:p></o:p> Apparently, the fireman felt that there was no practical reason to wait to unlock the treadle since the switch would remain lined for the main, and that is all that mattered.  This reasoning could easily be extended to rationalizing that it would be OK to unlock the switch as well, as long as he did not throw it.  I do not know if he did or did not do this, and I also do not know if the official record ever determined this fact.  This is a very key area of the story, and I don’t think it was explored as well as it could have been in the article. <o:p></o:p> Whatever the fireman did at the switch apparently raised the concern of the engineer waiting and watching from some 130 yards or so away in the siding.  The engineer clearly was trying to communicate something to the fireman by tooting the horn and then flashing the headlight on and off.  He must have seen the fireman doing something at the switch stand, and this concerned him.  Three possible things that the fireman could have done when he first approached the switch would be as follows: <o:p></o:p> 1)      Unlock the treadle. 2)      Unlock the switch stand. 3)      Throw the switch. <o:p></o:p> The article says he only unlocked the treadle, and not the switch stand.  And also, according to the article, the fireman did not throw the switch until he ran back to it after he panicked and concluded that it was lined wrong when his confidence failed.  But no matter what the fireman did on his first encounter with the switch, the engineer might not have understood exactly what it was that he saw the fireman doing.  The engineer might have been concerned about any of the three possible actions at the switch, plus the act of simply walking up to the switch, all of which would be against the rules.   <o:p></o:p> If the second lock and treadle feature of this switch were highly unique (the article does not clarify how unique it was, only that it was unique in this area), the waiting engineer might not have realized that the switch had a treadle with its own lock, and he therefore might not have realized that the fireman had only unlocked the treadle.  Instead, he might have thought the fireman unlocked the switch stand, or maybe even thrown it by mistake.   <o:p></o:p> The article does not mention whether the switch alignment could be seen by the waiting engineer by a target.  To me, that seems likely.  If so, the engineer would have seen that the switch was lined correctly.  So that leaves either the unlocking of the treadle and/or the unlocking of the switch stand, and possibly the actual throwing of the switch wrong that would have concerned the engineer enough to make him express concern to the fireman.  <o:p></o:p> Whatever caused the engineer concern, his expression of that concern unnerved the fireman into worrying that the switch was lined wrong.  If the fireman had not gone up to the switch and unlocked the treadle, he would have been certain that he had done nothing incorrect with the switch, and also, the engineer would not have seen anything to cause concern and thus would not have expressed any concern to the fireman.  The whole thing played out kind of like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock.   <o:p></o:p>
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