Typical day...
About 30 minutes before I get there, I call the Trainmaster I'm relieving to see if there are any pressing issues, get a basic rundown on what's going on, and find out if I need to go to a specific yard.
Once at the office, I get the detailed turnover, safety briefing sheet, and any notes from the Terminal Super from my E-mail. Then, I pull the yard inventories, 30/60/100 hour reports, and the power line-up. While all this is printing, I fill out my train sheet, which lists: trains enroute, their power, train length, any work to be preformed and call times; trains originating in the terminal, their assigned power, and call times; and any trains holding, where and the reason. I also check the number of crews in the hotel, against the number of trains to be called.
Next, I call my three yardmasters, to find out what's happening in their worlds, and give them my general ideas for the day. After that, I talk to the chief dispatcher about the trains to run, discuss crew availability, power and train size.
Through out the day, I talk to every crew coming on duty. We discuss the rule of the day, the last injury, last derailment, safety issues, and any concerns they have.
Occasionally, there will be a customer issue or lost car requiring my attention. I'll also have to talk to the power desk, if something goes wrong with the power plan.
While all this is going on, I'm suppose to find time to get out in the field and watch the crews. Compliment them on what they're doing right, and instruct them on what they can improve on, and correct any blatantly wrong procedures.
Of course, I also have to deal with the rare derailment, engine failure, broken knuckle, etc.
At the end of the day, I prepare my turnover and give my relief a quick run down on the happenings of the day. I also fill out an orginations report, listing the trains that departed on time, those that didn't and why.
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
I knew a yardmaster once on CR who thought about trying to get a Trainmaster job. At one point during his second shift a trainmaster "fell" off a caboose and was off for a few weeks. It turned out an angry conductor had helped him off "his" caboose. The conductor was fired but after 10 years or so recieved a small "buyout" and never went back. My yardmaster friend stayed a yardmaster and retired without incident. Being a trainmaster can be tough i guess!
sanvtoman wrote: I knew a yardmaster once on CR who thought about trying to get a Trainmaster job. At one point during his second shift a trainmaster "fell" off a caboose and was off for a few weeks. It turned out an angry conductor had helped him off "his" caboose. The conductor was fired but after 10 years or so recieved a small "buyout" and never went back. My yardmaster friend stayed a yardmaster and retired without incident. Being a trainmaster can be tough i guess!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Dropping in for another update.
Over the weekend, I participated my first investigation of a derailment, where the cause wasn't painfully obvious (umm...we backed over the derail and derailed). It was a very interesting experience: conducting a crew interview; looking at the physical evidence; and listening to the various departments' theories of what happened.
Of course, it's always neat to watch the contractor doing the re-rail too.
nbrodar wrote: Dropping in for another update.Over the weekend, I participated my first investigation of a derailment, where the cause wasn't painfully obvious (umm...we backed over the derail and derailed). It was a very interesting experience: conducting a crew interview; looking at the physical evidence; and listening to the various departments' theories of what happened. Of course, it's always neat to watch the contractor doing the re-rail too.Nick
Hmmm, lets see, probably something like this:
TRAIN CREW AND TM(Transportation): We derailed because of a sharp flange that split the switch points, so it must be the fault of the Mechanical Dept (wheel) or the Track Department (switch).
TRACK SUPERVISOR (Track): The switch is in great shape and the derailment is the fault of poor train handling (Transportation) and perhaps a sharp wheel flange (Mechanical).
CAR DEPARTMENT (Mechanical): The switch is loose (Track) and either that or poor train handling (Transportation) is to blame or perhaps both. The wheels measure up just fine.
Nick, am I close?
LC
LC,
You've got the basic process down.
Looking at the position the cars were in, and way the track was disturbed it was obvious the first derailed car had picked the switch. The trick was figuring out why.
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