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[quote user="RRKen"] <blockquote> <div><img src="/TRCCS/Themes/trc/images/icon-quote.gif" /> Bucyrus:</div> <div></div> The issue is the delay of two hours.  It is that delay time that needs to be explained, and saying it was a broken knuckle does not explain it.     <div style="clear:both;"></div>   </blockquote> Okay.  Had a coalie going east, at Tama, knuckle  broke, 20% new break.     Walked 91 cars back, sure enough.  I was carrying a hose and wrench.   Had the hoghead toss one down, and pull me up to get it.  loaded it on the platform, and proceeded back short of the joint.   Of course I left the wrench and hose where he dropped the knuckle.   The pin had a cotter pin holding it in.    A chunk of ballast did not work, neither did an old spike.   There was however a car in Tama yard, so I walked over, grabbed the pin, and went to work.    Made the joint, tested it, and put the pin I borrowed back.   Walked back to the head end.  Delay, 1:45 or there abouts.   It's easy if the knuckle is within 10 cars or so, but back 90 cars, you have little choice.   I am not a jogger, nor is it advisable  on ballast shoulders  no matter who you are.     I am sure that conductor did his best to fix the issue. And no, nobody walks back after loosing the air knowing it is a broken knuckle.  So you don't carry a 90 pound spare with you, (if you even know the type that broke).   To think otherwise is folly.   And before anyone says it,  the J has been there  a long time, and given the nature of railroading,  don't tell me that they never pulled a knuckle, or lost their air causing delays in all those years. <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote] I understand broken knuckles.  I know that a lot of time can get eaten up while fixing one.  I can see how it could take two hours or even four hours.  But my point was not that the knuckle took too long to replace.  My point is that the train should not been left standing on the crossing for that long.  It is more work to cut the crossings, but that is what should have been done.  However, I will concede that if the crossing was behind the break-in-two, and no other locomotive or crew were available to pull the hind end back, there might not have been any way to cut the crossing.
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