Erik_Mag mudchicken Transportation Engineers are NOT automatically qualified to railroad. (Something MS-DOT could not understand) Similarly, it has been my experience that EE's are NOT automatically qualified for dealing with electric power systems.
mudchicken Transportation Engineers are NOT automatically qualified to railroad. (Something MS-DOT could not understand)
Transportation Engineers are NOT automatically qualified to railroad. (Something MS-DOT could not understand)
Similarly, it has been my experience that EE's are NOT automatically qualified for dealing with electric power systems.
Mr. Peabody's 'Wayback Machine' brings up a memory of a next door neighbor when we were living in Pittsburgh. The individual was a EE and was part of the team that conducted the Bikini Atoll Atomic Bomb tests. One evening called my fathers (Career Railroader) over to install ceiling lights and the switches to operate them - he knew what the circuits looked like on paper, but could not translate them to real world hardware.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Electricians and EE's are two different beasts, probably the same way that an automotive engineer may not be all that great at auto mechanics. As an EE, I've had a few decades of experience working with electronics techs and a good is worth his/her weight in gold.
I can MC's point about the "highway bubba's" not having a clue about railroads - a 2% grade on a highway is not that big of a deal, but is a very major grade for a railroad. I've also seen several examples of pretty serious settling on some freeways in my area, a prime example is CA-52 between I-805 and CA-163 (formerly US-395) which was built over a sanitary landfill - quite the roller coaster ride.
OT, but...
True Story. Automotive engineer decided to get rid of his family for reasons I'm not sure were ever made public.
He had access to almost pure carbon monoxide - which is used in automotive testing - where he worked (major auto manufacturer test facility).
He carefully drilled a hole in the firewall of his wife's car. I think he also plugged up some of the vents. When she and the kids got in the car to go somewhere, he told her he had to do something under the hood, whereupon he inserted a hose from the CO bottle into the hole and turned it on.
The car was in the garage, so it would be easy for authorities to assume that it was because the car was running in the closed garage that the family succumbed.
Alas, the engineer didn't realize that with the amount of CO he was releasing into a closed space (never mind the car) that the entire garage would soon be filled.
When he returned to the garage to remove the evidence, he, too, succumbed.
My father, a reserve police officer at the time, was among the first on the scene when the father didn't show up at a village government meeting and police went to see why. I have no idea why the police went, but that's for another discussion.
You can be smart, but still be stupid...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I said it when PSR first came out. No way to run a sustainable business. Any business will lose customers without trying, through mergers, bankruptcy, relocations, etc. They ran off business that didn't meet metrics, profitable or not. Throwing away ones you have while still failing to satisfy they ones you have is very short-sighted. Even the ones they kept got tired of the BS and left.
The OR will approach zero (which they think is good) as revenues approach zero.
No business has ever cut their way to expansion.
Rather late to the party but your right, its a depressingly common mindset these days, they arent in the business of railroading theyre in the business of business. Figured that out myself when i started reading up on the Class i companies for a project of mine.
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