Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
QUOTE: Originally posted by rvos1979 Usually you can keep the train moving, I have taken a 40 mph walk back to restart units, it's not fun, but it's legal. Randy
QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates QUOTE: Originally posted by rvos1979 Usually you can keep the train moving, I have taken a 40 mph walk back to restart units, it's not fun, but it's legal. Randy That was part of my curiousity...thanks. With the ever increasing focus on safety by the RR's, I was wondering if they required the train to be stopped. I suppose that if a conductor was blown off such a train, the RR would find a way to cite the employee for improper proceedure?
Originally posted by TheAntiGates I suppose that if a conductor was blown off such a train, the RR would find a way to cite the employee for improper proceedure? Of Course............. Virlon Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 21, 2005 8:31 PM Step one of the proper procedure is don't get blown off the train.[swg] Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 21, 2005 10:42 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 thats why they put handrails on the cat walks... csx engineer Which makes perfect sense. OSHA, however, doesn't always make sense. When moving from one locomotive to the next, what is the proper prescribed 'safe' proceedure? I'm not sure if it was osha in general, or cal-osha since california protective laws are more stringent, but just in example, the PROPER means to move from one STATIONARY platform to another (as was impressed upon me during my last job out there) would require a safety lanyand be clamped onto one platform while you step to the other (since there is no protective rail spaning between the two. Clearly, this would be absurd, so I was half wondering if the RR's required a full stop. I guess they are not as safety/liabiliy paranoid as I had come to suspect? Reply Edit csxengineer98 Member sinceOctober 2002 From: US 2,358 posts Posted by csxengineer98 on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 6:15 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 thats why they put handrails on the cat walks... csx engineer Which makes perfect sense. OSHA, however, doesn't always make sense. When moving from one locomotive to the next, what is the proper prescribed 'safe' proceedure? I'm not sure if it was osha in general, or cal-osha since california protective laws are more stringent, but just in example, the PROPER means to move from one STATIONARY platform to another (as was impressed upon me during my last job out there) would require a safety lanyand be clamped onto one platform while you step to the other (since there is no protective rail spaning between the two. Clearly, this would be absurd, so I was half wondering if the RR's required a full stop. I guess they are not as safety/liabiliy paranoid as I had come to suspect? well im sure if i dig deep enought into my rule book..i probly would come across some rule that says that walking on the catwalk while the engin is moving at a high rate of speed is not alowed.....but on the other side of it... its one of them things that if it is aginst a rule... you do what you got to do to get the job done... csx engineer "I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:15 AM You guys make it sound like this happens often. Not here on the Confederate Southern Xpress. We have the top motive power in the world. We got all the great Chessie units while they took all the junk CONRAIL power south. And if you believe that I have some swamp land in New Mexico up for sale too. Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:20 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 thats why they put handrails on the cat walks... csx engineer When moving from one locomotive to the next, what is the proper prescribed 'safe' proceedure? I'm not sure if it was osha in general, or cal-osha since california protective laws are more stringent, but just in example, the PROPER means to move from one STATIONARY platform to another (as was impressed upon me during my last job out there) would require a safety lanyand be clamped onto one platform while you step to the other (since there is no protective rail spaning between the two. There is not a fixed railing however, there is a chain. It is not tight (can't be, must allow for slack going around curves) but it is better than nothing. Another issue no one has brough up in relation to this one is the fact that there can be a height difference between one locomotive and another. These days railroads are running everything they can get their hands on so you may have a new 70Mac running with an SD40-2, or a Dash 8 and an SD40-2. The drop off from one locomotive to another may be about a feet, so be careful. (Eyes on Path.) Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:45 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes There is not a fixed railing however, there is a chain. It is not tight (can't be, must allow for slack going around curves) but it is better than nothing. You are talking about the chain in the center of the handrails , as shown here, correct?? Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 4:51 PM Yes. When locos are lashed together the chains go from one loco to another so the crew can have something to hold onto and prevent falling. Reply Edit mudchicken Member sinceDecember 2001 From: Denver / La Junta 10,820 posts Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 6:32 PM AntiGates: OSHA has no say in the matter, FRA does. Virlon: Anyone who has spent time on Cajon Pass knows the story about the engineer who fell off at Blue Cut while re-starting an engine and then called SanBerdoo to hold the train until he got back on. Yardmaster (S.O.) at Berdoo was asking the conductor if he knew where his hogger was.[(-D][(-D][(-D] Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west Reply waltersrails Member sinceJuly 2005 From: CSXT/B&O Flora IL 1,937 posts Posted by waltersrails on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:56 PM i would get more engines. I like NS but CSX has the B&O. Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 12:30 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails i would get more engines. Well now, the rent a wreck business is booming. [;)] Take a close look and see how much power is on a train that is not the railroad's own power. Look more closely at locals and other less important trains. Reply Edit ValleyX Member sinceApril 2001 From: US 1,103 posts Posted by ValleyX on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 7:10 AM Well, Gates, it's kind of like the whistle posts, those walkways have been essentially the same since the switcher-type locomotives were first built, nigh onto fifty years now. Sometimes, you do what you have to do to get across the road. I have personally known two individuals that did fall off, one landed in a snowbank and I'm not sure what the other landed in but both lived to tell the tale and both railroaded again. Waltersrails, getting other engines isn't always an option and you don't get to make that decision, anyway. Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:29 AM QUOTE: Originally posted by ValleyX Well, Gates, it's kind of like the whistle posts, those walkways have been essentially the same since the switcher-type locomotives were first built, nigh onto fifty years now. Sometimes, you do what you have to do to get across the road. I have personally known two individuals that did fall off, one landed in a snowbank and I'm not sure what the other landed in but both lived to tell the tale and both railroaded again. Waltersrails, getting other engines isn't always an option and you don't get to make that decision, anyway. I hope you don't misinterpret my intent here. Although I am an advocate of working safely, My personal feelings are that often the "safety lobby" goes way overboard in prescribing safe work practices. I see nothing wrong with moving from loco to loco, as far as my personal feelings go. but at the same time, it would not have shocked me to hear that the Liability conscious RR's would have an official rule against anything that exposed them to too much liability. Especially with the attitude I've perceived NS to have. That hiring session I went to last spring coincided just a day or two after some wreck they had down south. And the guy leading the session offered the observation that HE KNEW that once the investigation was complete, it would be determined that the cause was because ~somebody~ didn't follow the rules. Which, seemed rather arrogant, considering the guy knew no more than he read in the paper (his own admission) and no fact finding had yet been done....yet he's gonna stand there and say that it COULDN"T be the RR's fault. No no, the RR must have forseen this possibility and had a rule ready to prevent it,...and clearly it must be the employee's fault for having failed to follow those rules etc etc. So. the moving between locos scenario wouldn't surprise me to learn that the RR has in place a cocoon of rules written such that if anything goes wrong, it clearly isn't their fault. Such as a requirement that the train be stopped, even though practical time constraints might be such that no one would dare delay the train by doing so. Becoming one of those rules you are expected to break, until something goes wrong. Then it is your goose that will be cooked. Reply Edit Rodney Beck Member sinceMarch 2004 From: west central Illinois 417 posts Posted by Rodney Beck on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 12:00 PM It depends on who my conductor is, if they are green I will stop the train and go back check it out and restart, if the conductor is seasoned I will slow the train down and let them check the unit out and restart it. Rodney Reply BaltACD Member sinceMay 2003 From: US 25,279 posts Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 2:34 PM One physical realitiy that is being overlooked....if the engine that fails is actually needed to move the tonnage that the train has....the train will slow down as a decreased level of power is now being asked to shoulder the whole load. The sight of someone walking back amongst the engines as the train moves at 50-60 MPH is not something that occurs. When an engine fails and it's power is truly needed for the tonnage the train will shortly slow to the 20-30 MPH range or less....if the train is on the ruling grade for the territory it will very shortly come to a stop. If the failed engine is not needed to handle the tonnage of the train, the occurence of it's death will be reported to the Dispatcher and the train will continue, if the weather will not harm the shut down engine. If the weather is cold enough to harm an inoperative engine, the train will stop and appropriate actions will be taken to drain the engine cooling system to prevent a freeze up. The train will then continue with the remaining working power. Never too old to have a happy childhood! Reply Join our Community! Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account. 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QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 thats why they put handrails on the cat walks... csx engineer
QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 thats why they put handrails on the cat walks... csx engineer Which makes perfect sense. OSHA, however, doesn't always make sense. When moving from one locomotive to the next, what is the proper prescribed 'safe' proceedure? I'm not sure if it was osha in general, or cal-osha since california protective laws are more stringent, but just in example, the PROPER means to move from one STATIONARY platform to another (as was impressed upon me during my last job out there) would require a safety lanyand be clamped onto one platform while you step to the other (since there is no protective rail spaning between the two. Clearly, this would be absurd, so I was half wondering if the RR's required a full stop. I guess they are not as safety/liabiliy paranoid as I had come to suspect?
QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 thats why they put handrails on the cat walks... csx engineer When moving from one locomotive to the next, what is the proper prescribed 'safe' proceedure? I'm not sure if it was osha in general, or cal-osha since california protective laws are more stringent, but just in example, the PROPER means to move from one STATIONARY platform to another (as was impressed upon me during my last job out there) would require a safety lanyand be clamped onto one platform while you step to the other (since there is no protective rail spaning between the two.
QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes There is not a fixed railing however, there is a chain. It is not tight (can't be, must allow for slack going around curves) but it is better than nothing.
QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails i would get more engines.
QUOTE: Originally posted by ValleyX Well, Gates, it's kind of like the whistle posts, those walkways have been essentially the same since the switcher-type locomotives were first built, nigh onto fifty years now. Sometimes, you do what you have to do to get across the road. I have personally known two individuals that did fall off, one landed in a snowbank and I'm not sure what the other landed in but both lived to tell the tale and both railroaded again. Waltersrails, getting other engines isn't always an option and you don't get to make that decision, anyway.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
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