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[quote user="Paul_D_North_Jr"] One follow-up question regarding your "unique psychological cause" statement above:  Is that assertion one that you saw or read someplace, or your own conclusion from reviewing the article in Trains and the ICC report ?  I'm not challenging it, either way - I'm just curious - and a little surprised  - that this 'syndrome' might have gathered enough 'official' attention to result in a 'finding' to that effect, and if so, I'm curious as to the who/ what/ were/ when aspects of it - that's all. Thanks again. - Paul North. [/quote] Paul,    With regard to this syndrome of last second panic in believing that a properly lined switch is not properly lined:   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> I come to this conclusion that it is a syndrome largely by my own analysis, although I have heard of accounts that seem to corroborate the problem.  It also makes sense logically, because I know that if one were the last to use a switch, the compulsion to second guess oneself about the position of that switch rises as the consequences of that switch being wrong rise.   <o:p></o:p> I read a story in Railroad Magazine that goes into some detail about this potential pitfall, and how to avoid it.  I still have that issue, so I might dig it up to check it.  As further evidence of the syndrome, the Robinson wreck plays it out perfectly.  In other words, whether the problem of switch panic is a syndrome or not, it actually happened at Robinson.  It snuck up on the fireman responsible for the Robinson wreck.  It seems like it could sneak up on anybody, as was the topic of the Railroad Magazine story.   <o:p></o:p> I have also read of one or two incidents where this type of switch panic caused wrecks, and I was given a verbal account of an incident on the Milwaukee Road where a trainman panicked and threw a switch wrong in the face of a passenger train, and then realized his mistake and threw it right again just in time.  He threw it wrong in the first place, thinking it was wrong and he was throwing it right. <o:p></o:p> As further evidence of switch panic being a syndrome, there is the rule prohibiting trainmen from standing near the switch during a mainline meet where the consequences of switch panic second guessing would be at their highest.  Somewhere, I have seen confirmation that this is the reason for the rule.  Perhaps it was on this forum not too long ago when we were discussing something related to this.   <o:p></o:p> I have known about the rule for many years, but up until this recent revelation about the purpose, I had been mistaken about what the purpose for the rule is.  I had thought that the purpose of the rule was to prevent trainmen from being injured or killed if dragging equipment happened to snag the switch and rip out the switch stand, thus injuring or killing a trainman who was standing near it.    <o:p></o:p> Fatigue and/or miscalculation is another type of cause for switch throwing mishaps.  This is a very common cause for this type of accident in yard switching where it is common to mistakenly throw switches under cars or locomotives.  It seems like a natural peril when one is throwing a lot of switches in a given amount of time, and when one gets accustomed to throwing switches as soon as the wheels clear the points.   <o:p></o:p> But the kind of switch mistake that I am referring to has an entirely different cause than fatigue and/or miscalculation.  What I am talking about is the panic throwing of a switch where the cause is based on a loss of confidence.  It is not the same thing as miscalculation such as occurs when throwing a switch under an engine or car in the yard.    Other than my own reasoning and antidotal evidence as described above, it would indeed be very interesting to discover some official reference that details this loss of confidence switch panic as a syndrome.  I would not be surprised if such a study does exist, but I have not seen it if it does.
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