A "drop" was normal practice back in the day. However you probably witnesed a rule violation which the crew could have easy been fired for. LOL
It is very accurate to say that such complicated switching manuvers are a ballet. Only the best crews with a great deal of experiance, both with equipment and each other, can pull it off. In addition to handling the equipment, crewmembers have to juggle along with every other member of the group. They have to know where everybody is to avoid running over somebody. This is especially true for the engineer, half the time he can't see people on the ground because they're on the other side of the tracks, and he has to sense when the crew are clear of the cars, or when the cars are uncoupled, or when he's clear of the points. Alot of times the movements are so fast that it is impossible to get every command across the radio. By the time you finish saying it, the task already has (or needed to be) done 5 seconds ago.
I have to say though, that if there was an engine I choose to do this kind of switching, it'd be a Baldwin AS-616. Not only does it have an immense amount of torque and very fast acceleration, it's cab is almost ideally arranged for this kind of work. The brake stand is on the side by the wall, and the throttle is right beside it. The chair's pivot is aligned right with the center of the window, and you can comfortably sit with back to the wall, leaning your shoulders out the window, with your hands resting on both the throttle and brake. Because you're running just short bursts of power, you don't have to watch the ammeter, and because you're just using the engine brake, you hardly have to bother with the air gauges, although if you wanted to keep an eye on them they're right in front of you. SP liked them so much they were the standard switcher in larger yards and smaller branches up until 1968.
Back to the topic at hand. If you wanted to see a really efficient set of switching moves, you'd have a setup with three or more tracks facing west, and three or more tracks facing east, with the engine at the bottleneck in the middle. You'd have one or two tracks on each side with cars in it, and the other tracks empty. the engine would be doing usefull work every time it moved either forward or reverse, because you could work each end of the engine at the same time. For example, lets say we have the yard described above, with tracks 1, 2, & 3 in the west, and tracks 4, 5, & 6 on the east side of the juncture. Tracks 1, 2, & 6 have cars to be sorted into the other tracks. Now, lets say you start coupled to a car on track 2 to move to track 4 (you're facing west, coupled on the front). You run in reverse and make a flying drop to put the car on track 4, while your engine was diverted to track 6 to couple to a car for track 5. Moving forward (with that car) you pull into track 1 to couple to a cut bound for track 3. Now moving in reverse, pushing the car for track 5 on the east side of the loco, and pulling the cut for track 3 on the west (front) end. The car being pushed is allowed to roll into it's track while the engine is diverted to another track with another car to move. The same thing happons as the engine moves forward to push the cut for track 5 into it's place, as the engine is diverted to it's next pickup. And so it goes, back and forth, pushing and pulling the cars into their respective sidings like a weaver's needle through a cloth. In this arrangement, the engine is working two yards at once, virtually doubling it's productive output by working from both ends at once. Too bad there aren't many opertunities where such an operation could be put into practice.
Matthew Imbrogno
traisessive1 wrote: The CROR here in Canada calls those running switches. I have seen CN crews on more than one occasion make those moves. They are still very common. I don't know if this has been said .. but a drop is not a running (or flying) switch. A drop is just where you uncouple the engine and pull it into a siding or spur and let gravity roll the cars past the switch so the engine can be on the other side. The running switch needs 3 crew members and the drop only needs 2 as the cars are rolling downhill on their own from a stop.
The CROR here in Canada calls those running switches. I have seen CN crews on more than one occasion make those moves. They are still very common.
I don't know if this has been said .. but a drop is not a running (or flying) switch. A drop is just where you uncouple the engine and pull it into a siding or spur and let gravity roll the cars past the switch so the engine can be on the other side.
The running switch needs 3 crew members and the drop only needs 2 as the cars are rolling downhill on their own from a stop.
Down here, the flying switch (or running switch) is more commonly known has a "drop." There is also a "Dutch Drop." I've heard various descriptions for that. I guess it depends on the area you live in.
When I was a student trainman, I participated in a drop with a yard crew; Foreman, Switchman, and me. It was still legal at that location back then, it has since been banned.
Although I have never done it, nor would I try, I have heard of Conductor-only, no brakemen/switchmen on the job, drop cars. With only one trainmen on the job, it would be so much easier for something to go wrong. Not to mention that one person would have to get off and on moving equipment, which is also becoming a no-no in most places. That is probably why it is becoming outlawed.
Jeff
10000 feet and no dynamics? Today is going to be a good day ...
When I was working at a shake mill in Idaho, I saw a flying switch maneuver (drop) because they forgot to set out the empty on the way out, then a few days later the same crew on the local had to pole a loaded car because they forgot to pick it up on the way out. That was in 1979. Those guys scared me. Seemed like they were always in a hurry.
QUOTE: Originally posted by sammythebull Even though managemnt frowns on dropping cars, it still takes place quite often at several locations.
QUOTE: Originally posted by tjsmrinfo i have 1 time in idaho and didnt even know it till it was over and done with, if i had known it i woulda had my camera out. tom
QUOTE: Originally posted by Fayette These moves used to be common. The New York Central's Putnam Division, a rural 53 mile line that started near Yankee Stadium and went 53 miles northward had many flying switches, also called "switching on the fly". They occured on most secondary lines and local yards if rules and topography allowed. It was an extremely useful practice that saved a lot of time. The excitement came not only from how well the flying car or cut or cars was separated, but how the brakeman threw the switches between rolling train segments going in the same direction but not far apart from each other. Among the needed skills was the ability of the engine to accelerate rapidly after the cut in order to give the brakeman enough time to throw the iron to redirect the "flying" part of the train. The engine crew had to simultaneously calculate their own stopping distance after they accelerated - they didn't want to hit any standing cars ahead of them, and also how far the flying cut would go into the siding or diverging route. Who "pulled the pin" (uncoupling lever) and where was something that was carefully considered. Often it was the rider who would brake the cut to a stop. Sometimes a cut had a rider on it to brake one car mechanically, using a "hick" or wooden stick on its brake wheel. Other times the cars just drifted to a stop at a fairly predicitable spot, and still other times they made iron by hitting a standing cut of cars at the proper coupling speed. All of this was subject to the temperature, for cars with warm bearing have journals that roll more easily than cars that have very cold bearings, where the journal waste might make the axle relatively stiff. A good cutting crew was a ballet show in motion, with the locomotive going this way and that, brakemen crossing and recrossing tracks, switches being thrown quickly and then aligned for the next move carefully. The cars being moved were without air because the pulling away of the cut would part the air hoses and set the cars into emergency if the air cocks were not closed to the train line. This put a lot more demand on the engine's independent brake to stop the cars still attached to it. Some switching engines had long brake handles so the engineer could lean out of the cab to get good vision and still use the handle. Hand signals were precise,. Most railroad yards were filthy with hazardous footing, yet accidents were not common. Many moves were made just to take the brakeman to a new location. Safety was paramount, and railroaders really watched out for one another. You didn't move if you did not see your crew members. When all the action was over, the switches and derails were lined and locked in their "normal" position, not "reverse", the brakeman was where he belonged on the train, dropped cars were "tied down" with their handbrakes and/or skates, cars still with the engine were charged with air, and train orders were re-read for the move to the next location. Waybills for the dropped cars were left with the operator or in a lock box and waybills for picked up cars were placed in the caboose. This was before computers came about. Scale model railroaders try to do realistic flat yard switching, toy train modelers rarely if ever do. It was exciting and interesting. Ask me about "poling" some time...
QUOTE: Originally posted by kkasten I've seen a couple and they are cool to watch
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