Storytime with Charlie

Keeping the thread current.
Questions always appreciated and will be
answered as quickly and courteously as possible!
Of course an envelope filled with U.S.currency
will always improve service! ROFL!!

 

Have you ever ben in any sort of situation where there wasn't a dispatcher available oron duty at time when you were out on the rails? Do you know of any kind of federal regulations regarding movement of trains without dispatchers?

(Have a little story or two I'll try to remember to share later on that relates to this, just wanted your thoughts about that.)

 

I have experienced a "lack of acknowledgement" a number of times. Whether the DS was away from their position I couldn't say. When they need to take a break for whatever, they have procedures in place to cover their absence. If there are any FRA requirements, I couldn't say. Dispatchers normally have a handle on what is going on in their territory and
know pretty much when they can take a breather. If there is a serious problem there are supervisors and other employees in place to cover the action. Their job nowadays is pretty
much a keystroke or a quickdial button push away from correcting or ordering emergency
services. When we had the suicide on my train a number of years back, the DS had the police on the way before I even climbed out of the cab to try and locate the body. I could see their flashing lights and hear their radios while I was still searching. The first LEO who
reached my position said it was somewhat confusing to their dispatcher because they said the call came from Ft.Worth TX. I told him that that is where the trains are dispatched from and that in spite of the distance, he knew the pinpoint location of my train.
There are governing rules to cover situations when one is unable to reach a "control operator". In simple terms, it is usually "stop & stay" and do not exit the area of your track authority,nor enter into trackage beyond your authority.
And that is the heart of the matter, a train MUST NOT enter a main track unless it has authority to do that. No Authority, No Go!
I have had bigger problems with yardmasters not allowing movements than I have had with
dispatchers.With both of them, it's a case of insubordination if you wanna chance it.
However with a DS, one would have to go to Ft.Worth to plead your case. With a YM you just go into the yard office and ask them to step outside where you can reason with them a bit better! LOL

 

I heard of a time where the DS had had all he could take...set all the signals on his territory to Stop...got up from the desk and walked out. Trains sat and looked at each other across interlockings and the radio went unanswered for quite a while before the mess got sorted out. Last day at work for the DS in question but the signals and rules protected the trains so even though it was ugly, nobody was in any danger.

 

A few months ago I was on an Inspection run ahead of a southbound grain train. My warrant was to run the whole line from Point A to Point J (Seven "stations" between A and J). The southbound behind me was only following to Point G. The Dispatcher was repeating and recording the station calls. Example as follows:

Train: "ABCD 1234 Southbound by Point C, ABCD 1234 out."
Dispatcher: "Roger, ABCD 1234 South by Point C, Point G (the location of the railroad office) out."

About the time I enter Point G Yard Limits, the dispatcher asks me to hold at a particular milepost while another train enters the main and runs south ahead of me. About 15 minutes later I hear "EFGH 5678 Southbound departing Point G Yard"... It is the only dispatcher on duty, and at the throttle of a train! I proceed behind him maintaining a one-block (distance between two points/stations) interval between us. He also repeated and recorded my station calls as well as the southbound that was following me.

The southbound 5678 arrives at Point J, the end of the line then asks that I clear the main when I arrive at Point H, so that he can return north back to Point G with the cars he picked up at Point J. So I get the truck off at a crossing nearby notify the Dispatcher/5678 Northbound that I was clear.

As the 5678 Northbound rolls by I notice three things: 1) the Dispatcher IS as the controls, 2) the railroad Superintendant is riding along as his brakeman and 3) is very obviously exceeding the 10 mph restriction for Class 1 track.

This doesn't happen often, less than once a month. But on several occasions when a train is out on the main line somewhere or a track crew is still out working the dispatcher and office personnel will just up and leave at 4:30 if not before.

I, as well as others, have brought these instances up during rules classes and safety meetings but management tends to brush these points off or try to get away with "Well, there isn't a federal guideline against that."

This is for all the railroaders out there... Is this normal for a shortline?

I just drop to my knees and thank the big guy upstairs that we don't operate more trains than we do, and that track crews, train crews, dispatcher, and management all meet in the same office every morning.

 

I cant understand why they didn't let you run all the way to "J" since you already had authority for it. You could have run to your limits,left the main track with your truck and the main would have been cleared for 5678 to run to his limits, he could have done that on a "work between" stations G and H. there would have been nobody on the main line
since the SB grain train's authority ended at "G" (yarded or siding?), your truck would be off the track already and the "work between" would give 5678 authority to make the moves he needed to make since the "work between" gives him exclusive ownership of that stretch of railroad.
1/Does the DS have an engineers certification? That is a Federal requirement. Short Line.Class 1 = no difference!
2/is the Sup't. current and examined on rules?
3/how long have these people been railroading?
Dunno what you can do about it cuz if you start "sharpshooting" company officials, you're liable to find yourself in the unemployment line.
I just find it rather unusual,casual and a bit awkward way to railroad as you just described it!

CT

 

1) Yes, 20+ years I'm sure.
2) The Super. pretty much wrote the rule book, which is complete and thorough and rules governing all the issues i've complained about except the "mobile dispatcher"
3) Most of them around 20 years.

It is indeed unusual, and not the way to operate that I'm comfortable with. Once again it is pretty rare when this kind of activity occurs, and I'm by no means thrilled with it.

Typically it is one train heading one direction stopping along the way switching and spotting cars and making the retun trip the next day, with an Inspection crew running well ahead of it once or twice a week. Maybe a MoW gang out tamping or replacing crossties under a work authority.

It is just the whole dispatcher writing his own work between and dispatching from the locomotive thing that just never sat right with me.

 

I share your uncomfortable feeling. I normally wish fellow rails a "Work safely"! I extend those same wishes to you and I am aware that you are extra cautious. I sometimes feel a busy railroad is a safer one. People are much more cautious with the volume of traffic.
There is a lot of radio chatter and that means a lot of crews listening in to what is going on so that they know what is happening on the railroad ahead,alongside and behind them. I have had crews relay radio instructions a number of times on switching moves when it appeared that my crew was not hearing me. Road crews will contact each other enroute to let them know of any problems or request an "eyeball" of their train or just to report their positions or weather or track conditions. We have spotted a couple of sun kinks that way. I also discovered a train I was running was longer than what the wheel report showed. I posted that one earlier on this thread.
Once again "have a good trip and work safely"!

CT

 

One evening as I pullwd up to wait fore a passing train, I heard a "ratteling" sound getting closer. Looking around for the source, I spotted a large open hopper car with its rear truck baddly "hunting" the ral as it came closer. ( For those that may not know, that means the front pair of wheels were bouncing right and left banging thier flanges against the inside of the rails.) I was about to be hemmed in by some other cars coming behind me, so while I had the chance, I made a "U" turn and went back several nlocks and turned to go over and get in front of the engine, so I could tell them about a possible derail.

I parked, walked to the edge of the ROW and waved my arms and hollered as loud as I could as the engine went by. The whole train wasn't traveling fast, maybe about as fast as I would easily run. The fireman waved and shook gis head "YES" as if it meant noithing, so I hopped in my car and went farther on ahead of them. This time I told him it was 44 cars back and making sparks. He grinned and told the engineer. They both had a good laugh, so I went on to work.

That night one of my buddies that lives out at Saganaw, Tx. phoned to tell me they had fought a bad grass fire north of town, and found an empty coal car sitting on a siding with one of its trucks turned sideways. That engineer past up at least 5 places he could have set that car out while it was still on the track.

I don't go to that much trouble anymore, its their train, and I'm too old!

 

I didn't find any objections, so here is a story that might help save a life:
Scroll below the photo.

watashMarch 22nd, 2002 09:34 AM
Someone knocks on your door. When you open it, his Highway Patrolman's uniform sets your sences on high alert!
Before you recover enough to ask, he states your wife's full name, asking if this 'person' lives at your address?
You manage to stammer out a, "Yes sir, that's my daughter. Is she alright?"
Then he tells you kindly, "Your daughter will not be comming home! Then he asks, "Is someone else in the house who can stay with you, or is there someone I can call to come stay wiith you?" ........! Your mind is realing, trying to get hold of this situation!

(Each of you readers will have to insert your, "mother", "sister", "girlfriend", or let's say it IS your "daughter", we will call "she" from here on!)

She is pretty, about 17 or 18, just budding into a young woman, happy with plans to get her hair fixed up for a heavy date tonight !

She approaches a public railroad crossing ahead, slows and comes to "almost" a complete stop, glances to her right, then to her left then......

Let me pause here, because you need to understand, to "really feel" these few seconds, so let us think about this a bit, before you read any farther.
This wont take but a few seconds to do, so please bear with me and stand up right now, or where you have room to stretch both your arms straight out horizontally away from your body until you look like the capital letter "T".

Now, place your arms down with your palms flat against your legs, then quickly raise your arms out to the "T" position and imediately swing them both back down against your legs and stop.
Do it again, arms up, down, back up, back down and stop!

OK, now say, "One Chimpanze" rather quickly! Repeat it, can you keep up with a clock second hand? Say the word at each second? Practice a few times. It takes an average of one second to say "one Chimpanzie".

Now set a watch or clock at eye level and wait for the second hand to reach 12:00. (Try counting off- one Chimpanzie-two Chimpanzie-3 Chimpz--- etc- while doing your arms at the same time.
As soon as the hand touches the 12:00 mark, get those arms up, and back down, and up, down; while watching that second hand and saying the ccount!
Couldn't do it in one second? How about just start with your arms down, raise them up out straight and back down and stop!
SEE IF YOU CAN KEEP UP WITH THE SECOND HAND. Best you can do is two seconds? Three?
Now you have a "feel" for how long one second of your life is!
Rest a minute, get a cup a coffee or a soda pop, or some soothing sudds, we got the last and most important test next.

Ready? Only one more: Stand or sit at that "T" position again, head looking straight ahead to start.
Spell O-N-E and as you start to pronounce the "O", turn your head quickly to your right 90 degrees and glance at your thumb, then quickly turn your head back looking straight ahead as you say "N" and continue turning the head on around to glance at your left hand as you say "E" at 90 degrees and imediately stop. Do this as quickly as you can.
You 'can' do it in only one second. Practice a bit. See if you can learn to perform this simple life saving exercise completely in only one second.

Why all that?

I am trying to give you some firm realization of how long ONE SECOND of time is. All THREE methods I describe above, require from one second to three seconds to perform. You have done the arm waving, looking right and left, and pronouncing the Chimpanzie, all as near to ONE second as you were able.

Meanwhile, I am traveling almost 60 feet EVERY SECOND!
I am pulling 9,000 tons of freight, with no choice but to follow the rails, and even if I dropped all air locking up the whole train, I would slide nearly half a mile beyond where your daughter is sitting impatiently waiting for the wig-wags to stop so she can get her hair fixed!

Think about this: When you turned your head to your right awhile ago, tell me what details you remember seeing when your head was at the 90 degree position! Na-a don't look back! Don't cheat! Lets just put you in her car as a passenger so you can really get into this action. Both you and the driver were probably talking too!

You had to make a life or death decision based upon what you saw in that 1/3 of a second (as you glanced at your hand) you were looking to see if anything was coming that might endanger your life! It is your OWN life you are making this decision about, as well as that of your passenger, or driver, your daughter!!

Do you realize that what you saw, or did NOT see, is the total information that you have just BET YOUR LIFE ON ?

Do YOU agree with this statememt? It is so true!

May I remind you that you should have looked for your thumb, not your hand. Shook you huh?

But now you have experienced the casualness we usually rush through our lives with, oblivious to real serious dangers that surround us.

Back to our story, and we will allow you to ride with her in the passenger seat, OK? This will help give you a first hand look as we go along, whether you like it or not, Your daughter looked, but nothing moving regestered with her, and you didn;t warn her since you didn;t know what to look for.

Remember, you have just apporached a railroad crossing, so you expected to see tracks dwindling off into a curve, some trees, grass, maybe a few buildings, possibly a dog running out there, maybe a train off in the distance.

Was there a train? Yes, I'm there, bearing down on you at a mile a minute with over 9,000 tons behind me!

It takes the human brain 2/10ths of a second to attain recognition, 1/10th of a second for your eyes to focus, 3/10 of a second for the brain to make an emergency decision, and 4/10ths of a second for the brain to start muscles to react.
You have just spent one full second of your life making a life or death decision based upon the 'data' you fed your brain in that first 1/3rd of a second!

What are you going to do?
We will start the next second of your life.... While you think it out!

How far away was the train your memory tells you it "saw"? Did you even recognize it as a train? Maybe it was a bus, a building, a shadow, a newspaper blowing, or just a blob?

Was anything waiting, sitting still?

Was anything moving, besides your mouth?

Which direction, away from you, or toward you, or sitting still, or was nothing there?

The human brain does not percieve motion in objects approaching directly at your eyes in the 1/3 of a second you allowed yourself to glance toward the train to gather data suffecient to make a determination!
Now what?
You are already looking to your left and back, so another second has passed. Three of your last seconds of life have just passed.

I am getting closer! I travelled 58.6 feet closer to you during your first second, now three seconds later I am 175.8 feet closer than when you "saw" me, your time is running out at 60 miles an hour!

Your Daughter is at a position facing up hill on the grade crossing from ground level up to the track level, and you are sitting with her! It isn't much different on flat ground, let's see if you make it.
I can't tell if you looked around to help her, or not. Did you?

Her car is fifteen feet long from front bumper to rear bumper.

The train is 11 feet wide over the fuel caps. That means the side of this train is hanging out toward her little car 7.5 feet from the center between the rails! She has stopped at the crossbucks with her front bumper now fifteen feet from the center of the rails. This means that if she decides to out run me, she has to carry you 37.5 feet to get across.

Meanwhile, back at the engine, an engineer is looking ahead down the track. Because of his line of sight along the short hood he can only see the right hand rail some 90 feet in front of the hood. He can not see the left rail until it gets out some nearly 175 feet! That is on a short hood diesel! Long hood forward is even worse!

The engineer must rely on his fireman or conductor to tell him if anything is happening on the left, and the engine IS a diesel!
(If it were a steam engine you could easily double those distances!)

The engineer is pulling nearly 10,000 tons of train.
Her little car weighs slightly over one ton. Those are not very good odds, and getting worse.

Now lets compare what's happening, so you can tell your girlfriend, mother, sister, or daughter, how you died, before she does.

The train is coming on at 211,200 feet every 60 minutes. That is 3,520 feet each minute, which is 58.6 feet every second! You just used up a minimum of 175 feet of space you needed to save your life,

.....and she just set down on the gas !......

She didn't ask how you wanted to die, she simply trusted the little car to try to carry you and herself up hill from a standing start, and travel the 37.5 feet that is required to allow her rear bumper to miss the far side of my on coming train by the thickness of the paint on the fuel cap!
You are in seriously deep trouble my friend!

She came into the conductor's view just as the hood blocked the engineer's view, and the conductor saw that she was slowing to a stop as the horn was blowing for the crossing.
I never saw her at all!

The next time you are in a car, think of the "One Chimpanze" and start out from a dead stop to cross the average residential intersection with no stop lights. That is usually 40 feet, so very close to the distance she must start, accelerate and travel to clear her REAR bumper, in order for you both to live for another day!

When it is clear, set down on the gas as you start "One Chimpanze, Two chimpanze, Three Chimpanze, Four Chimpanze, Fiv....

well it doesn't matter any more if you are not across.

You didn't clear your rear bumper at the other curb. You really don't have two seconds to make it anyway.

From the time the engineer lost any possible sight of her (and you with her), he was just two seconds from going over that crossing at 60 miles an hour, and she needed 6 "Chimpanzies" to get across any way on dry pavement with no gravel on it. That's pushing her little '4 banger' too!

Here is what really happened: Yes it is a true story!

Her car got to the center of the track before an engineer could even see her coming, and the conductor was stunned to see her look directly at him, look away, then step on the gas to go on across! He only had time to yell, "WAIT" and duck behind the control consol! At his shout, I could do no more than freeze, hang on the horn line, and duck!

The coupler goes right into the passenger side door window shattering the glass into shards like bullets inside the car right into your ear!

As the snow plow pressed against the door her car instantly changed direction to moving 60 miles an hour sideways carrying her hips with it.
Oh, and you are out of it now, your head is like paint on the knuckle and splattered all over the inside of her little car.

The seat belt carried her hips along with the car as the coupler came inside crushing the car body until the coupler touched the steering wheel.

Her head was not restrained by anything, so it remained in motion going forward while her shoulders began to slip out of the seat belt causing her neck to stretch trying to keep her twenty pound head connected to her shoulders. As her car moved four feet sideways, her head and face smashed into your head on the coupler along with all the broken glass, which imediately started her head moving at 60 miles an hour sideways also!

Inside her little head, her brain smushed up against the broken skull bruising and tearing at the tissue, and she passed out or died.

It took the 9,000 tons almost a mile to stop after the impact. To have dumped all air would have caused the heavy cars to run up on the empty cars derailing them and scattering railroad cars and cargo all over that side of the little town.

You can stop counting now, its all over, we are rolling to a stop. We are still shaking, everyting is quiet, the train has stopped.

The Doctor said he does not think she felt it. She has massive damage to her head and face. They had to cut her pieces out of the wadded up scrap that had been a car.
(You were scooped into a couple of buckets, and the bones that could be found all went into the usual black body bag.)

I can not help but feel like "I" have killed this beautiful young girl. So does the conductor.

Every one who nails a person, does, its natural I guess. That is what the counsellors say anyway.

What could I have done differently that would make it all go away? Neither my conductor nor I saw her move in time to even blow the whistle again.

You get into the habit of the four blasts at a crossing signal, until it becomes such a habit that you can't get another "honk" in the routine. You almost unconsciously blow the three short toots and hold the fourth as you cross the road, but this time it was hard to let go.

The whistle was probably still blowing when we were almost stopped!

If you see her coming from the right, you feel like you want to climb down and push her out of the way, but you can't out run your engine at 60 miles per.

The engineer can't see her coming from his left at all.

You look at your conductor, he looks at you, we don't have to really say any words, we know!

I am just trying to put it into words in such a way that you out there who have a sister, or your girlfriend, daughter, or even a mother who might not realize that when she just takes a quick glance in my direction, she has just made her last move if she steps on the gas to out run me!

Most of the time I travel one full mile in one minute with the wallop of a 10,000 TON flyswatter! That is 60 miles an hour!

Her parents want to know why didn't I stop! I would have if I could, but that many tons will slide on ahead for a quarter of a mile laying on its side in the dirt!

I tried to put you in the car along with her so you could get a taste of what her last few seconds of life were like.

How do you feel now? You think maybe you better have a more serious talk with her, maybe some instruction, maybe park with her at a crossing and explain some of this?

I sincerely hope for her sweet sake, she will listen, or read this and understand, engineers are not monsters. We hurt too. It is a gnawing ache in our guts we can't simply shake off. Yeah we are alive, but we don't sleep well for a long while, and even though we have to go out on runs again afterwards, we pray people watch out for us.

I don't even care if they become afraid of us, just wait for us, and live a long happy life.

I'm sorry, but this is serious!

I am truly sorry if she was your girlfriend, we all are.

 

yes indeed it is! And I will affirm what Watash is relating! On the "Aurora Racetrak" the passenger train speed is 70mph. A human body struck by a train traveling at that speed will literally explode! People, first responders, railroad personnel, NTSB etc, will patrol the track on which the incident occured and they must tag, cover or pick up the pieces of what is left of the body. I have seen the aftermath a couple of times. Believe me you wont enjoy the sight! One of our biggest problems on the "racetrack" is with "soccer moms". They defy logic and reason in racing the commuter trains to the crossings so little Alec or Tiffany wont be late to (insert activity here)practice. If your kids are in some activity where the coaches or teachers are that stringent, please let me know, I will go meet with the coach/teacher/manager and tell them in simple four letter words what they can do with their stringent time requirements. If you are one of those teachers/coaches/managers
please contact me b/c and I will explain it to you in easily understood four letter words!
I have given up feeling sorry for the families and friends of those who deliberately made the wrong choice at the grade crossing. Having empathy for stupidity is as futile as putting perfume on a pig!
Thanks Watash for an easily understood primer on rail safety!

CT

 

Youre welcome, Charlie, if you think it would be helpful, I can post a couple of non-survivor photos that show what is left of a body, and another showing a body mashed into two pieces by trains. There is nothing sexy about any of these, but I do have what is left of a body that got mangled rolling down the gauge a ways.. Some of the upper torso is visable, so we know from that, it is a female. Because of the COPA kiddie law, I won't post it. Email me if you personally want to see one.

Different subject:
Do you want humorous and/or easy reading train stories posted here later?

 

====================================================================

Actually I have seen what you're describing, the suicide we had was a 24 y/o female. She was rolled and dragged about 1/2 mile underneath the train. Other than that, I have no problem with it. In this day and age I believe that something like that has little shock value anymore. People today are so used to violence on the movie/TV/computer screen that it is taken for granted as a fantasy, a creation of Hollywood or PhotoShop. Until they have actually seen the result first hand, it is difficult to relate to the mayhem.The same goes for battlefield scenes in movies. It has to be witnessed first hand in order for it to "sink in".

As for what to post, I would absolutely LOVE to read ANY sort of story you can post!!!!!

Charlie

 

Instances like that must be hell on train crews(must nearly send them insane).
Cant wait to read Watashs stories,reading his posts i can hear a texan draw.(I think thats what ya call it).cheers.:tb-cool:

 

Well... it sure doesn't make for a good day!! At any rate most operating dept. railroaders are just one step over the line from insanity anyway!!! ROFL


Charlie

 

Wow what a story.
More people should be rail fans like us. We stop at crossing looking and hoping for a train to cross in front of us while yelling "Photo time"

 

Cgarlie, Thanks for the compliments. Thanks guys too.
I am aware of the Hollywood aspects, but as you may have noticed by now, my approach is contrived to snrak up on your blind sice and eat your grits while you are busy at something else.
I had intended to post one photo as part of a story, You are handed this photo and asxked if it is anyone you hve seen hanging around your neighborhood, and you are suddenly looking at the remains of YOUR BROTHER!!! Thr stiry builds around that photo, until it imprints in thier memory, see? Like you say, its no big deal today.

Old Watash will stop by and sit a spell, maybe Tell you about a very dear friend who used to say, "Ihe Iron Rail is a Demanding Mistress!" by" Johnny Trains, R.I.P.

(Requeiskat Im Paquet,) That is supposed to be Latin for (R.I.P.) Started in Europe during The Black Plague in a flood, when bodies were floating up out of the graves.."Ring Around The Rose Tree, Pick Yourself a Posey..." A garloc "Posey" supposed to keep children safe!
but I think the actual translation is "Place of Imobile Repose" France, "Repose in place" England and America. Most people do not know why RIP stands over the grave of a loved one. I think a Priest would pray that this body's soul would wait for the Resurection here, because they had to burn the bodies to stop the spread of the Plague.

 

Actually the translation is quite literal... Requiescat = Rest[as in telling someone to do it])
root word is the verb requiesco

In = in --- the preposition is the same in English

Pace = peace--- root word is the noun pax

Language lesson for the day is over.

I have thought of bringing some gruesome aftermath photos to our Scout units as sort of an "Operation Stop" project. I wasn't too sure how the parents would react though.
Rail accidents are pretty grim scenes though. I thought my particular incident was fairly gory, but my conductors union chairman had an even gorier experience.

Charlie

 

Thanks for the lesson, It has been too many years to remember all those detaila.

I asked the parents tp bring thier children to a Scout meeting, and showed photos while the parents could assist in explaining why safety is so important. Expect the wives to leavem but the Dads did a good job.

Charlie, What is a "TAG" and why would I want one or need one??