The last few days, Iowa among other places have been under a blizzard warning. A couple of storms, a day or so apart, went through. The first dropped about 8 inches in the Boone and Ames area. It didn't have much wind to it and only rated a winter storm warning. I drove home from Boone during it and it wasn't too bad. One just needs to drive for the conditions.
The second had almost as much snow, at least for us, but a lot of wind to blow the snow around. Also the temps were going to start dropping. this second round triggered the blizzard warning.
Uncle Pete put into effect some temporary rules regarding train lengths and number of locomotives on-line working. Friday afternoon found me first out with a mark for around midnight on the (what I call) the "all night sucker." It's the Chicago - Council Bluffs manifest. Almost always it's at least a 12 hour day. It works Boone yard and getting into the yard is sometimes an exercise in waiting as other trains work ahead of it. Then getting into Council Bluffs is another exercise. It almost never is ready for it, resulting in sitting at Missouri Valley for 2 to 6 hours. Then after sitting, being told to tie it down isn't unusual.
I hadn't been watching the boards when I got called to recrew a long pool empty coal hopper, on duty at 1747hrs. I wasn't too surprised, I figured with the weather conditions a lot of long pool recrews would be in the cards. (A note. Until a few years ago, most east-west trains changed crews at Boone. The Clinton-Missouri Valley was usually higher priority intermodals. A few years ago this started to change. Now the long pool has most of the through trains. Only 3 or 4 westbound manifests, ones that work, appear daily on the line up. We also get some irregular loaded westbound grain trains, most go east or south, and long pool scraps. Especially recrews when something impedes traffic, which winter weather usually does at some point.)
I was somewhat prepared, I only had to pack my cooler and put on some extra clothing. Just in case the locomotive heater wasn't up to par. (Or I got stranded on the way.) For a while, we lived in Boone about 10 blocks from the yard office. We moved a few years ago, so now I have about a 12 mile commute. I usually use a county road, but I had doubts to the road conditions. I though US 30 would be the better option. The state does a better job on roads, especially on highly travelled ones. I used a county road for a couple miles to get to 30. The roads were mostly clear, but in spots snow was starting to drift over the roads. The bigger deal was visibility. In places it wasn't bad, but a gust or when driving directly into the winds on some curves brought visibility down to nothing. I was glad there was still daylight for my drive.
Once at the yard office, I noticed looking at our train list on the computer that we only had one engine with 141 empty coal hoppers. It also had a warning that it needed another engine to comply with the weather alerts in effect. I checked with the dispatcher, and we were going to pick up a unit out of the yard to place on the head end.
Just as we came on duty the train pulled up to the yard and stopped. After going through our warrants and bulletins, we were given a ride out to the yard to find the engine we were going to take. We found it on the North Engine Lead, first out. It was coupled to another that we were leaving. Pretty good as I was expecting to find it buried behind other engines in the servicing area. We loaded up our luggage and then I went to split the units. I had everything ready to cut away when I went into cab of the engine being left to set it up to lead. Auto stop had shut it down, but evidently the auto start had failed to restart it. There was not enough juice in the batteries to get the computer screens to fire up, or restart the engine. Just then my conductor came in, saying we were supposed to move this engine and leave it on another track in the "house." (There is no actual servicing building anymore, but names for tracks and areas live on.) I talked to the manager, telling him about the engine's condition. He said we might as well take it with us and let North Platte deal with it. So I finished shutting off circuit breakers, pulling the battery knife switch and opening the water drain valve. No water came out, not a surprise, so I checked the water sight glass. The auto water dump had done it's job. It had already dumped it's water. Once all connections restored and a consist test done we were redy to leave the house. Other trains working caused us to put our feet up to wait. After about 2 hours it was our turn.
We pull down to the first switch and the conductor gets down to sweep it out. It doesn't take long to realize it's more than his switch broom can handle. There is MOW forces working on switches and they respond to our call for help. They show up with a large leaf blower and make short work out of cleaning out the switch. They then proceed to the next switches we need to use. Another 30 minutes for all this to happen and were headed out over controlled switches, with working switch heaters. We are ready to couple onto the engine on the train. When another, but not unsuspected, problem rears it's head. Both knuckles are packed with snow that it doesn't allow the pin to lock the knuckles. The conductor starts using fusees to try to melt out the packed snow. An exercise in futility, so a call is put into the MIC (Mechanic In Charge, a mechanical jack of all trades.) who just finished with a double coal train that lost it's second engine on the lead consist to crankcase overpressure and a dynamic brake failure on the lead engine. Neither could be remedied and thet were ordered to take "as is."
The MIC brought out a weed burner and was able to clear snow out of the knuckles and also the snow packed in behind the original lead engine's snow plow were the MU hoses were encased. With everything finally ready to go, we notified the dispatcher we were ready.
It seems like when you aren't ready, everyone can't wait for you to get going. Once you're ready, then everyone else has more pressing moves to make and you wait. After about 15 minutes, the eastbound we are waiting for passes and we get a signal. We're off at 0030hrs. Once clear of the yard I have the two engines in notch 8 and we're doing about 40 mph, down hill. Not a good sign as we're in a place where we're protected from the wind. A train tying down at the high bridge advises us of some big drifts the other side of the bridge and tells us to "give it our all." I respond that we already are. The one drift turns out to be about 3 feet deep and 100 feet long, with other lesser drifts hear and there. The first couple we hit and the snow is thrown clear. We lose some speed when we hit the big one. The size of the drift and the loss of speed fills up the nose of our engine. I have about a 5 inch hole that I can see out of the windshield, the conductor's side is about the same. Hitting a few more drifts we're losing speed, it's obvious the engines have problems. We stall. The conductor goes back to the third engine and it's not loading at all. I go back to the second unit and check the MU cable. I had unplugged and then replugged it in when we were told to take it. It was seated properly. The conductor checked the other end and found the problem, the MU wasn't properly seated on the engine we brought out. Once rectified, it started to load, some what. The conductor said it had a message that it was, "cold engine-load limited." Meaning it wouldn't produce full power. The lead engine had developed it's own problem after going through the drifts. It showed. "Reduced load-dirty engine air filters." The dirty filters being full of snow.
I told the dispatcher our woes and he put in a ticket for locomotive maintenance to call. I eventually talked to them, reporting what I could. Nothing they could do for me, or for almost every other train out there. Snow was taking it's toll everywhere. (Interestingly, there were a lot less of problems with controlled switches not working. There were some, but in heavy winter ready there usually are lot more switch problems in our area.)
Once we were able, we pulled another mile into Ogden to clean off the windshield. It took 20 minutes because in addition to the nose, the front platform had to be cleared first. A switch broom is no substitute for a shovel in those extremes, but it's all we had. Once clear and we're again moving. The first big drift a few miles later and the nose again has filled up. My side is completely covered, but the conductor has about half of his windshield clear. Our speed for all of this has only been about 15 mph at it's most. Even that was hard to maintain as we encountered the small hills and dales that is much of Iowa. I opted to open my window, and bundling up my scarf, looking out ahead using the side mirror as a deflector. With us losing speed, the conditions of the engines and the weather, I was afraid if we stopped we might not get started again. I was able to see between the inch gap between the mirror and the cab. The conductor was able to see better and would advise me of signals and upcoming drifts. That, the PTC map, and being able to see out the side windows kept me from having to continually poke my head out the side window.
We went through Grand Jct about 10 or 12 mph. A couple miles west is the first bigger sag. Normally not a problem, we picked up another 1 or 2 mph. Coming out of it, we started to lose what we gained and a little more. The west (uphill for us) side was a longer grade than the east side. Our speed started to drop.
Over the years I had collected the maintenance passwords for the locomotive computers. I am able to get in and try to figure out what's going on and reset faults without having to wait for locomotive maintenance to call on the radio. Some engineers do the same, others wait for LM to instruct them. I was able to get into the engine's maintenance screens and reset the dirty filter fault. It wouldn't hold much over 30 seconds, but for the time it was reset, I got about 20K lbs more tractive effort out of it. It kept us moving. Coming out of that first sag, we got down to 1.2 mph but we kept moving. Once a good portion of the train was over the top, going down into another sag, our speed picked up. We got up to about 10 mph. The second sag was a little better, only getting down to 4 mph before again pulling through Jefferson. The next sag was for the Racoon River, a couple miles west of Jefferson. Once through, the up grade would last to about a mile and a half west of Scranton. I told the conductor I figured we wouldn't make it to Scranton.
There's a control point, universal crossovers, about a mile west of the bottom of the sag. We had just started to go through the CP when the dispatcher called. He could tell we were having trouble, but that we were still moving. Others weren't as lucky, with trains stalled because of engine troubles all over. I told him about my doubts about Scranton. He said just do what we could do. After the conversation, more out of desperation, I just dropped the throttle a few notches. I had lost the ability to reset the filter fault, I think I ran afoul of a reset limit. I hoped maybe dropping back on the throttle might reset something. To my surprise, it did. It didn't help the lead engine but the trailing unit started to load. It may not have been working 100% but our speed was rising. We made it up to about 22 mph by the time we topped the hill. The next 20 miles had some good up and down grades, but with momentum and the trailing unit now working somewhat, we were in a lot better shape. The ruling grade for the subdivision, both ways, is Arcadia hill. Going west, it begins around Carroll and is roughly 10 miles, with the last 5 being the worst of it. We topped Arcadia about 20 mph. It was all downhill (literally) to Missouri Valley where we would turn it over to a Nebraska long pool crew.
In all of this I haven't lost track of time. I had told the dispatcher of our change in locomotive luck. About when going through Carroll, the dispatcher called again. He gave us an instruction that we had heard given to other trains. "You are authorized to violate your hours of service. (initials) at 0358hrs," It was expected since getting a relief crew to us would be almost impossible. We stopped at Missouri Valley and were relieved at 0720hrs. We had to wait for transportation to Council Bluffs, a UP driver has the contract vans were just beginning to operate. We finally tied up a little after 10am.
A long trip through a winter wonderland.
Jeff
Sounds about normal for the conditions on any Class 1. Winter is a B....!
Was working CSX's Atlanta Div. Had a snow storm hit Northern Georgia. Had a train dead a Tunnel Hill - was able to talk the MofW Roadmaster into getting the crew and driving them to a nearyby motel (I-75 parallels most of the W&A Subdivision between Atlanta and Chattanooga). One of the crew did want the ride since it wasn't a 'crew van'.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
jeffhergertA long trip through a winter wonderland. Jeff
Jeff, thanks for a great account of your trip. Very interesting.
York1 John
Ah, winter railroading. A very interesting account of some of the impediments involved as well as your resourcefulness in getting over the road. I recall the Eastern Region General Manager saying it was a wonder any train came out of Wyoming, so bad were conditions one winter, circa 1979. It was wall-wall trains over Sherman Hill and most everything had to violate due to broken rails, impassable roads, et al. Not the first or last time. Appreciate your sharing this true tale as I read from the comfort of my retirement in balmy Omaha.
York1 jeffhergert A long trip through a winter wonderland. Jeff
jeffhergert A long trip through a winter wonderland. Jeff
Terrific Story, Jeff... I saw it, and my first thught was, it was gonna be one of those,"... why the dog died, tales...": IT WAS NOT !
There is something about HAVING to Work in winter conditions...Either Railroading, or Trucking.... Loved this one.
Had a friend whi was a freight hogger for the I C [RR] out of Memphis, his nemisis was another engineer; who was nick-named by his co-workers as 'Creeping Jesus'; but that is another of those 'tales'... :-)
Great story! It should be required reading for the armchair quarterbacks that "know" how to make the railroad run better.
Great account..enjoyed reading it. What kind of power did you have, and did you ever get the third unit to come on line? Seems as if you were woefully underpowered right out of the gate..i.e. two working units, 141 cars.. one dead unit in tow.. run eight and the snow drifts..
Backshop Great story! It should be required reading for the armchair quarterbacks that "know" how to make the railroad run better.
I understand what your saying but.....
There is a difference between "AS IS" and "TO BE" environments. Beyond that this is a TRAINS reader forum so your going to get imagination and sweeping conclusions based entirely on visual observation from the outside vs operations from the inside. This is always going to happen in this forum.
The biggest issue with any miliary style culture is "this is how we do it" or "this is how we have done it in the past". Both of which tend to push back on innovation. True not all innovation is good or common sense. However, if anything the railroad industry needs to be a lot more open minded when it comes to innovation or change.
Look how many times Amtrak has changed it's operations for the better based on input outside the railroad industry.
jeffhergertA long trip through a winter wonderland
Thanks for posting.
Brought back memories of having to drive military vehicles with the windscreen down in all sorts of weather. Not a fun experience.
You might consider an E-Book or look into it. Just a thought. You can use AI to help edit or hire an editor and/or narrator.
Thanks Jeff, and all honor to you.
CMStPnPBrought back memories of having to drive military vehicles with the windscreen down in all sorts of weather. Not a fun experience.
OT, but... Back in the day, our open cab (no windshield or other cover) 1932 fire department pumper had a heavy coat and mittens on the seat in the winter for the driver to don.
Based on the fact that the coolant (likely just water) froze in the water jacket enroute to a call once, I'd say the coat and mittens were justified.
There was just a post on the Deshler cam chat that a crew had no heat in a lead unit and was looking for a heater...
One of our locomotives has a fantastic heater - almost too good. It's either coat and gloves or baking bread on the control stand...
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...
Once we were on a four-person MOW motor car between Lamar and La Junta with temp below zero. We had open stations at Prowers and Las Animas where we stopped to get warm.
tree68... One of our locomotives has a fantastic heater - almost too good. It's either coat and gloves or baking bread on the control stand...
There is nothing WORSE than an engine with a good heater, on 20 - 30 MPH track rocking back and forth with a bright sun glaring off newly fallen snow - to challenge everyone on the engine to stay awake.
There is a reason you bundle up babies warm and rock them to sleep - it works.
Great writing Jeff.
There was a story in today's NewsWire about a CPKC train in icy Iowa that stalled on a hill and started sliding back downhill in emergency, headed to the BNSF mainline diamond in Ottumwa, with a BNSF train stopped across the diamond. The CP train finally stopped 20 feet short of the crossing, and the BN train had been warned and moved.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/tense-moments-but-no-disaster-after-train-stalls-on-cpkcs-rutledge-hill-in-iowa/
Jeff:
Enjoyed that account of your recent trip.
I suggest you submit it to Trains for publication, including a map of the district and graph diagram of the grades.
That should be published.
Ed
MidlandMike There was a story in today's NewsWire about a CPKC train in icy Iowa that stalled on a hill and started sliding back downhill in emergency, headed to the BNSF mainline diamond in Ottumwa, with a BNSF train stopped across the diamond. The CP train finally stopped 20 feet short of the crossing, and the BN train had been warned and moved. https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/tense-moments-but-no-disaster-after-train-stalls-on-cpkcs-rutledge-hill-in-iowa/
tree68OT, but... Back in the day, our open cab (no windshield or other cover) 1932 fire department pumper had a heavy coat and mittens on the seat in the winter for the driver to don. Based on the fact that the coolant (likely just water) froze in the water jacket enroute to a call once, I'd say the coat and mittens were justified. There was just a post on the Deshler cam chat that a crew had no heat in a lead unit and was looking for a heater... One of our locomotives has a fantastic heater - almost too good. It's either coat and gloves or baking bread on the control stand...
I remember back in the day with the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) nice 60-70 degree day in the Fall. "Don't pack your coats your not going to need them the weather will be fine". Red flag in the Infantry when you hear that and I packed a coat, long johns, sweater, gloves, etc. Some pointed at me and laughed at how stuffed my ruck sack was. So we get out there and the temp drops to 17 degrees and was snowing at one point. A lot of people did not have coats because they believed weather can always be predicted with 100% accuracy (they learned). We had to cut our military exercise short because of the growing number of cold weather injuries.
I am sure similar stuff happens in the railroad industry all the time and this is why they prefer former military people for exactly that type of experience and knowing when to think things through.
Jeff and others:How difficult is it to authorize suspending the 12 hour rule? must permission be received from FRA or other organization, or is it an event which can be authorized by upper management subject to further review by the higher authorities (government) subject to fines or penalty?Ed
MP173Jeff and others: How difficult is it to authorize suspending the 12 hour rule? must permission be received from FRA or other organization, or is it an event which can be authorized by upper management subject to further review by the higher authorities (government) subject to fines or penalty?Ed
How difficult is it to authorize suspending the 12 hour rule? must permission be received from FRA or other organization, or is it an event which can be authorized by upper management subject to further review by the higher authorities (government) subject to fines or penalty?Ed
It is a decision made at the Superintendent level or higher. It is a open checkbook decision. The carrier will ultimately be FINED for every violation. I don't know what the currently penalty is.
Great reading Jeff thank you.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
MP173 Jeff and others:How difficult is it to authorize suspending the 12 hour rule? must permission be received from FRA or other organization, or is it an event which can be authorized by upper management subject to further review by the higher authorities (government) subject to fines or penalty?Ed
It isn't so much suspending the 12 hour rule as it is authorizing exceptions as circumstances warrant. The motivating reason is so-called force majeure where extreme events present a hazard - and certainly to the crews who would otherwise be unable to reach their destination because of impassable roads or rails - a lack of transportation - and a further snowballing of events as this situation would become more critical if traffic does not move. It is not a casual decision. Crew busses have been utilized with a caboose or passenger coach between a double-ended set of power with which to haul dogcatch crews and distribute them, and provided they can reach stranded train(s). As I recall, documentation must be provided for each crew that violated specifying the circumstances, times and locations.
Jeff - Awesome writing and story. I cannot fathom having to do what you guys have to do out there in those kinds of conditions. Makes me glad I work on the Revenue Accounting side of things.
PennsyBoomer MP173 Jeff and others:How difficult is it to authorize suspending the 12 hour rule? must permission be received from FRA or other organization, or is it an event which can be authorized by upper management subject to further review by the higher authorities (government) subject to fines or penalty?Ed It isn't so much suspending the 12 hour rule as it is authorizing exceptions as circumstances warrant. The motivating reason is so-called force majeure where extreme events present a hazard - and certainly to the crews who would otherwise be unable to reach their destination because of impassable roads or rails - a lack of transportation - and a further snowballing of events as this situation would become more critical if traffic does not move. It is not a casual decision. Crew busses have been utilized with a caboose or passenger coach between a double-ended set of power with which to haul dogcatch crews and distribute them, and provided they can reach stranded train(s). As I recall, documentation must be provided for each crew that violated specifying the circumstances, times and locations.
During the final years I was working - the Contract Crew Hauling company(s) when a Winter storm approached would notify the carrier they WOULD NOT HAUL crew at or between specific terminals.
You have shades of Ed Blysard in your writing. Look forward to more from you....
Charlie
Chilliwack BC
lenzfamily Jeff You have shades of Ed Blysard in your writing. Look forward to more from you.... Charlie Chilliwack BC
Thanks for all the good thoughts. Especially being compared to Ed. I can't hold a candle to his writings. I miss him, and all the others we've lost.
I believe the HOS authorization is from the Corridor Manager, even if the ultimate decision is made higher up. All we get are initials of the authorizing officer and time. I believe the fine is $25000.00 for both the railroad and employee. Being authorized absolves the employee and the railroad pays both. However, the FRA can reduce or waive the fines if the reason truly is an emergency situation.
I believe this extreme weather falls into the true emergency definition.
From the Steel Highways railcam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L3CxHtsO5k
I wonder how autonomous railcars would do in this situation, since this is the area that some proposed to use them in?
Backshop I wonder how autonomous railcars would do in this situation, since this is the area that some proposed to use them in?
Same laws of physics would apply.. likely they too would slide, although the emotive radio chatter would be absent..
Would a third locomotive on the back have helped? Sounds to me (and I'm no expert) like a failure to plan for conditions. not the crew's fault, but someone somewhere along the line could have predicted this and added a unit.. or wait for conditions to improve.
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