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Harrison Shuts Down Atlanta

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, April 7, 2017 8:33 PM

BaltACD
Malicious compliance is a female dog!

Better be 100% perfect 100% of the time.  Nothing like having a huge target on your back.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, April 7, 2017 8:54 PM

zugmann
BaltACD

Better be 100% perfect 100% of the time.  Nothing like having a huge target on your back.

Just do to the letter what you are instructed to do - no more, no less.  Don't interpert what those instructions are SUPPOSED to mean - that is above your pay grade.

Having been on both sides, it is beyond most field level managers to be able to formulate instructions that create the intended result based on the words in the instuction ALONE.  Just comply with the words that are written - no more, no less.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, April 7, 2017 9:00 PM

if only it were that easy.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, April 7, 2017 9:03 PM

zugmann
if only it were that easy.

If you think - it is that easy!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, April 7, 2017 9:16 PM

Whatever you say, boss.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, April 7, 2017 9:32 PM

blue streak 1

With closing the hump at Tilford one has to wonder if this will mean less delays at Howell CP crossing or more for Amtrak's Crescent ?

 

 
Well 19 took 1:10 - 1:20 longer ATL - Anniston than usual today.  Guess Hunter blocked Howell again ? 20 made it without any apparent delay.
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Posted by n012944 on Saturday, April 8, 2017 12:41 AM

While I hate to rain on this parade of people looking at this from the outside in, however I have a different opinion on the last month.  Locals have been put back on, extra boards have been beefed up.  Ridiculous rules have been trashed and managers of walking the halls have been shown the door.  U men have brought back, remotes have been banished, and car department are now back in yards doing brake tests before the train crews are on duty.  

 

Morale is up in my office, better than it has been in a long time.  It feels like I am working for a railroad again.  

As for those "angry customers" here are a couple of quotes from another board.

 

 

"I don't know if it is a direct result of EHH or if it is changes made prior to EHH just now kicking in, but I will say, as a customer, CSXT has gotten a heck of a lot easier to deal with in the past week or two.  I don't know if it is those fearing job elimination just going rouge and making decisions on their own, figuring whats the worst the can do, fire me?  Or if "the fog" is truely lifting at Water Street and those positions being eliminated are truely dead weight bureaucracy freeing up the managers to do their job and make their own decisions. 

We've been working a lot with car management. We've bought a bunch of bad order Gons and woodchip cars from CSXT, refurbished them, and put them back in service with them.  Decisions that where taking 3 to 5 days to make because they had to get a whole series of people to sign off on it are now being made on the spot by the manager or in just a couple hours after consultation with just 1 or 2 other people. Quite the refreshing change."
 
"Color me cautiously optimistic, but as s customer I give EHH an early B+"

An "expensive model collector"

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Saturday, April 8, 2017 12:51 AM

BaltACD

 

 
zugmann
if only it were that easy.

 

If you think - it is that easy!

   I couldn't do it.   The last few years before I took early retirement, I often thought of doing exactly what they said, but I couldn't do it to our customers.   I often felt like it was the customer and me vs. our management.

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

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Posted by schlimm on Saturday, April 8, 2017 2:02 AM

n012944

While I hate to rain on this parade of people looking at this from the outside in, however I have a different opinion on the last month.  Locals have been put back on, extra boards have been beefed up.  Ridiculous rules have been trashed and managers of walking the halls have been shown the door.  U men have brought back, remotes have been banished, and car department are now back in yards doing brake tests before the train crews are on duty.  

 

Morale is up in my office, better than it has been in a long time.  It feels like I am working for a railroad again.  

As for those "angry customers" here are a couple of quotes from another board.

 

 

"I don't know if it is a direct result of EHH or if it is changes made prior to EHH just now kicking in, but I will say, as a customer, CSXT has gotten a heck of a lot easier to deal with in the past week or two.  I don't know if it is those fearing job elimination just going rouge and making decisions on their own, figuring whats the worst the can do, fire me?  Or if "the fog" is truely lifting at Water Street and those positions being eliminated are truely dead weight bureaucracy freeing up the managers to do their job and make their own decisions. 

We've been working a lot with car management. We've bought a bunch of bad order Gons and woodchip cars from CSXT, refurbished them, and put them back in service with them.  Decisions that where taking 3 to 5 days to make because they had to get a whole series of people to sign off on it are now being made on the spot by the manager or in just a couple hours after consultation with just 1 or 2 other people. Quite the refreshing change."
 
"Color me cautiously optimistic, but as s customer I give EHH an early B+"
 

 Fascinating to see the contrasting evaluations.  Thanks!

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by zugmann on Saturday, April 8, 2017 9:28 AM

BaltACD
If you think - it is that easy!

Don't forget - you are not only dealing with rules - but the interpretation of said rules by the manager of the day/divison feeling of the week.  We were allowed to use the ladder a certain way for our switching needs for decades - everyone from the local ass't TM to the FRA said it was fine (I've asked all).  Then one day, it's suddenly not allowed and a crew was pulled OOS.    It is what it is.... I wish it could be as simple as black and white, but in reality, it isn't out here.  The rules of the game are always changing.  And if you do think about the rules (trust me, I do more than most), it will drive you half insane.  Ignoracnce, at times, is bliss.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, April 8, 2017 10:26 AM

zugmann
BaltACD

Don't forget - you are not only dealing with rules - but the interpretation of said rules by the manager of the day/divison feeling of the week.  We were allowed to use the ladder a certain way for our switching needs for decades - everyone from the local ass't TM to the FRA said it was fine (I've asked all).  Then one day, it's suddenly not allowed and a crew was pulled OOS.    It is what it is.... I wish it could be as simple as black and white, but in reality, it isn't out here.  The rules of the game are always changing.  And if you do think about the rules (trust me, I do more than most), it will drive you half insane.  Ignoracnce, at times, is bliss.

Always remember the S word.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by zugmann on Saturday, April 8, 2017 12:27 PM

Screw-up insurance?

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by Kielbasa on Saturday, April 8, 2017 12:38 PM

zugmann

 

 
BaltACD
If you think - it is that easy!

 

Don't forget - you are not only dealing with rules - but the interpretation of said rules by the manager of the day/divison feeling of the week.  We were allowed to use the ladder a certain way for our switching needs for decades - everyone from the local ass't TM to the FRA said it was fine (I've asked all).  Then one day, it's suddenly not allowed and a crew was pulled OOS.    It is what it is.... I wish it could be as simple as black and white, but in reality, it isn't out here.  The rules of the game are always changing.  And if you do think about the rules (trust me, I do more than most), it will drive you half insane.  Ignoracnce, at times, is bliss.

 

We had something similar happen where it was decided one rainy day in late December that you couldn't kick a man down a clear hole anymore. Supposedly the rules say you have to have a minimum of 2 cars secured to kick against and we aren't allowed to ride. Track is a bowl, uphill to a signal at one end. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, April 8, 2017 2:59 PM

zugmann
Screw-up insurance?

Safety!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by zugmann on Sunday, April 9, 2017 8:13 AM

Too many people think that it is simply a word. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, April 9, 2017 1:01 PM

zugmann

Too many people think that it is simply a word.

Zug,

I think it depends on one's definition of the word.

Norm


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Posted by CatFoodFlambe on Sunday, April 9, 2017 3:29 PM

CandOforprogress2

 

 
rockymidlandrr

... Superintendent was notified of his firing by the police escorts who escorted him off the property.  

 

 

 

Why is my BS detector going off? Police escorting off a fired superintedent aka Train Master?

 

 

 

C&O - this is standard procedure at the insurance company where I work whenever an on-site employee is let go.  We developed this policy about ten years ago after a series of confrontations when we hired a batch of less-than-sterling candidates at a "load-stressed" claim and call center - we wound up letting over 90% of them go before their six-month probationary period was over.  How 50 out of 175 persons could fail a drug test announced two months in advance is beyond me. Huh?

We don't have "insurance police", but corporate security does have employees with law enforcement creditation - and we contract with security companies to provide same in smaller locations.    

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Posted by jeffhergert on Sunday, April 9, 2017 4:32 PM

n012944

While I hate to rain on this parade of people looking at this from the outside in, however I have a different opinion on the last month.  Locals have been put back on, extra boards have been beefed up.  Ridiculous rules have been trashed and managers of walking the halls have been shown the door.  U men have brought back, remotes have been banished, and car department are now back in yards doing brake tests before the train crews are on duty.  

 

Morale is up in my office, better than it has been in a long time.  It feels like I am working for a railroad again.  

As for those "angry customers" here are a couple of quotes from another board.

 

 

"I don't know if it is a direct result of EHH or if it is changes made prior to EHH just now kicking in, but I will say, as a customer, CSXT has gotten a heck of a lot easier to deal with in the past week or two.  I don't know if it is those fearing job elimination just going rouge and making decisions on their own, figuring whats the worst the can do, fire me?  Or if "the fog" is truely lifting at Water Street and those positions being eliminated are truely dead weight bureaucracy freeing up the managers to do their job and make their own decisions. 

We've been working a lot with car management. We've bought a bunch of bad order Gons and woodchip cars from CSXT, refurbished them, and put them back in service with them.  Decisions that where taking 3 to 5 days to make because they had to get a whole series of people to sign off on it are now being made on the spot by the manager or in just a couple hours after consultation with just 1 or 2 other people. Quite the refreshing change."
 
"Color me cautiously optimistic, but as s customer I give EHH an early B+"
 

For some reason, I always thought worked for NS.

Jeff

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Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, April 9, 2017 5:39 PM

Jeff,

They have to be somewhat cryptic to protect their a**es. Can't say that I blame them for that.  Balt ACD can now let loose without fear of retribution. Retired and free. After 51 years plus he deserves his freedom.

OTOH, I occasionly fly into Ames, and have friends in Story City. Your base of operations is not far away from Ames.  Given the chance I would like to meet you for lunch.  Old Chicago in Ames makes one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten. Mouth watering to say the least. It's only second to a hole-in-the-wall shop a young couple opened about forty miles away from me. Wanna share one when I'm lucky enough to land there? It may come to pass in late June.

A former Story County sheriff's deputy is a close friend of mine there. I insist we eat at Old Chicago when I am in town even if I get stuck with the tab. I thought about contacting you  in 2015 but it was in in late in the the evening and out early in the morning. The guy I fly with is definitely an early bird.

Norm


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Posted by jeffhergert on Sunday, April 16, 2017 10:04 PM

Norm48327

Jeff,

They have to be somewhat cryptic to protect their a**es. Can't say that I blame them for that.  Balt ACD can now let loose without fear of retribution. Retired and free. After 51 years plus he deserves his freedom.

OTOH, I occasionly fly into Ames, and have friends in Story City. Your base of operations is not far away from Ames.  Given the chance I would like to meet you for lunch.  Old Chicago in Ames makes one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten. Mouth watering to say the least. It's only second to a hole-in-the-wall shop a young couple opened about forty miles away from me. Wanna share one when I'm lucky enough to land there? It may come to pass in late June.

A former Story County sheriff's deputy is a close friend of mine there. I insist we eat at Old Chicago when I am in town even if I get stuck with the tab. I thought about contacting you  in 2015 but it was in in late in the the evening and out early in the morning. The guy I fly with is definitely an early bird.

 

I just came across this.  Let me know when you're in the area.  Old Chicago is one of our favorites, so I know what you are talking about.

Jeff

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Sunday, April 16, 2017 10:51 PM

CatFoodFlambe
How 50 out of 175 persons could fail a drug test announced two months in advance is beyond me.

Well, that was plenty of time to study, wasn't it?Whistling

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, April 17, 2017 7:18 AM

CatFoodFlambe
We don't have "insurance police", but corporate security does have employees with law enforcement creditation - and we contract with security companies to provide same in smaller locations.    

I've been involved in calling the local police to assist...

 

LarryWhistling
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...

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