About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

August 23, 2002
Even though I once worked as an on the air personality in commercial broadcast radio, this will not be a piece about Top 40 Radio in the 60's or early 70's; it is all about railroading.

Back in the 1970s, the late Gilda Radner created an outlandish character named "Rosanne Rosannadanna" who frequently appeared on "Saturday Night Live." Rosanne used to end all of her commentaries on Weekend Update with, "It just goes to show you, it's always something. If it isn't one thing it's another. If it isn't another thing it's something else." Last weekend (August 17th and 18th), Conductor Rich Stevens and I lived this statement to the fullest.

They changed my assignment and train symbols all around last week. Instead of being trains 322 and 325 (Glenn Yard-Memphis) and laying overnight in Champaign, they are now trains 342 and 343 (Winnipeg-Centralia), doing the run from Glenn Yard to Champaign as 342 and turning right back to Glenn on train 343; a total run of 278 miles in twelve hours. It looks good on paper. In the real world of railroading, well... It has been proven twice in the past not to work but we all know this industry loves to spend millions to prove that very point.

Saturday, August 17th we went to work at 1150 hours, not noon, not 1130, but 1150. The inbound 342 train had not even arrived from Fond du Lac off the Wisconsin Central Division and we were running away from it, as it would not get here anytime soon.

After departing Glenn Yard, our first hit was at Lemoyne, the Belt Railway of Chicago crossing about a mile and a half north of Glenn. We waited over half an hour for two trains to cross. We could have easily made it across in between them as we only had 87 cars this day. We took a fair delay at 21st Street, the Norfolk Southern/Amtrak crossing for two trains as well.

The next delay was just east of 21st Street. I approached block signal W2.6 which is just east of the 21st Street plant, observing that it displayed a restricted proceed indication (red with a number plate). This signal aspect meant I could proceed without stopping, prepared to stop short of train, engine, railroad obstruction, switch not properly lined, roadway workers or equipment, or broken rail. The speed through here is 10 MPH, so I didn't have to worry about the last portion of this rule, which states "Not to exceed 20 MPH." This signal also governs the approach to 16th Street, the Metra Rock Island District crossing.

Once upon a time, about last year, when you had the signal to proceed at 16th Street, the signal at W2.6 used to convey a clear (green). For some reason it no longer gives a clear signal, the best it will display is an approach (yellow) signal telling me I may proceed prepared to stop before passing the next signal. We have made numerous complaints about this signal no longer displaying the clear aspect, but it has fallen upon deaf ears. Now, I operate accordingly. I presume the signal at 16th will be a stop signal (also known as fire your ass red, should you have the misfortune to pass it without permission) and approach it as such.

Being that we had the restricted proceed on the signal at W2.6, I have to presume there could be either one of the things mentioned above or some other problem ahead of me. It could also be a test and the Trainmaster could be sitting just around the curve with a red flag or burning red fusee displayed and I would have to stop before passing it. This is one of the numerous tricky areas in which to operate a train on the CNIC. There are curves, grades to maneuver, and bridges and curves to obstruct and hide the signals from your view. This portion of railroad is a good spot to perform a restricted speed test if you are of that mindset. Being that I was only proceeding at about 8 MPH and didn't have the distance to use the dynamic brake, I decided to set the air and apply the train brakes instead. As the air started to blow, POW, into emergency we went.

After going through the required period to recover the system, I began to pump air back into the brake pipe of the train. At first, FRED indicated he was getting it up back there as brake pipe pressure began to increase from "00". This did not last long. The air began to drop. This meant we likely had an emergency vent valve stuck open on one of the cars. As long as it is stuck open, the brake pipe will not recharge as the air is continuing to exhaust into the atmosphere through the open valve instead of pumping through the system, recharging it to allow the brakes to release.

I attempted a cure from the engines but it failed to do the trick when I again restored air to the brake pipe. This meant Rich would have to begin walking the train looking and listening for the culprit car. Off he goes in search of (sounds like the old Leonard Nimoy show on TV) some sort of problem.

He had walked maybe ten or twelve cars back when the air suddenly began to rise on FRED. When I asked if he had found something he said "no." I told him to hold up walking any further as it looked like the valve had reseated. When FRED said there was now 45 psi I told Rich to return to the engines. Once the air reaches 45-psi on the tail end, you are generally "over the hump" as I call it, meaning everything has reseated and closed and the brake pipe is now recharging just as George Westinghouse designed.

With Rich back on board and the brake pipe pressure restored to my satisfaction, we began to move again. We worked our way through the entire 10-MPH track segment from here to the south end of the McCormick Place tunnel and then proceeded south.

Things went rather smoothly for a while, but then it was time for another hit. We had an approach indication at signal 46.1 in Manteno. This signal governs the approach to the control point at Indian Oaks. They call this North Kankakee now, but there is no such name listed in the timetable station page and the sign at the station itself still reads Indian Oaks, so that is what I continue to call it. Before I can even key up Chicago South, she calls first telling me of switch problems at the Oaks and our need to stop and hand operate the dual control switch for our move before we can proceed.

We can do this.

I stop at the signal. Rich bails off and begins the ritual as required by the rules to get us through this. The switch was almost impossible for him to operate by hand, but he managed to get the task completed and we proceeded from the main track to the siding as instructed by Chicago South. We are going to meet a northbound here.

While heading through the siding, Chicago South again calls us and instructs us to stop and flag the crossing at South Tech Drive, which is just south of the Gar Creek control point. Apparently the gates are stuck down and the Signal Maintainer has been called out to make the repairs, but we will very likely get their first. Hmm, I guess that makes it "Two in a row!"

When we reached South Tech Drive, I brought the train to a stop short of the crossing and Rich dropped off to set lighted red fusees on either side of the crossing and stop all vehicular traffic. With this chore accomplished, he signals me to start them ahead. Once I have the crossing occupied with the engine, he re-boards and we proceed south yet again.

The rest of the trip to Champaign is uneventful.

Now knowing we have a long way to go and a short time to get there, we figure we will simply pull up at the yard office at Champaign and get off. That would be the logical thing to do but we all know that logic and railroad leadership makes for strange bedfellows. The Yardmaster informs us we will make the set out, but not until the switcher working in C Yard here is finished making his moves first. So we wait.

"Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick"

Some forty-five minutes later, we have completed the set out and now head for the office. As we walk in the door, this same Yardmaster is now in a hurry to get us back out the door and up to the head end of our outbound train. We still have to get the paperwork for it as well as new bulletins addressed to this train. With that task completed, we head up to Leverett Junction and the outbound train.

Once I inspected the power and cleaned the filthy windows, I notified Chicago South that we were ready to depart. We were told Amtrak 392 is coming (although a little tardy) and we were to wait for him to pass and then follow him. No problem. I guess this would be a minor hit, but a hit just the same.

We finally depart and make the run for Glenn Yard. All is uneventful up to this point when we start by the Clifton defect detector. As we are clearing it, "BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!!" comes from my head end telemetry and the pressure on FRED rapidly drops to zero. I quickly drop the throttle to run 1 and wait for the air to dump on my automatic brake valve. During the wait, I can feel the slack in my train begin to change a bit and finally, POW! Now the entire train is in emergency and we are rapidly coming to a stop. During these proceedings, we get the "no defects" message from the detector on the radio with it telling us our speed was "four-eight MPH." Well, not anymore.

I recovered the air sending it back into the train and waited. Nothing out of FRED for several minutes means there is a problem. Rich gets organized and I inform him that whatever the problem is it is way back as the tail end of the train was in emergency several seconds before the head end was. He is thrilled to hear this. He goes and grabs an air hose and a wrench from the air room just in case the problem might be a failed hose, climbs off, and begins the walk back to inspect the train and look for the culprit of this dilemma. I contacted Chicago South to let her know of our situation. This was real good news for her. She had planned a meet with us and Amtrak 59 at Kankakee and now not only would that not happen, depending upon the problem, we would likely cause delay to him and also the trains following us, Norfolk Southern 68V and CNIC 333.

"Four in a row from your all hit station!"

After an extended walk, Rich discovered our trouble; we had come apart. The train had managed to uncouple itself. While not unheard of, this is not a very common occurrence. But being that it can happen, it has happened before in my career, the last time being two years ago. The reason I think this might have happened today was the excessive lateral motion of one of the cars involved at the location in the train where the uncoupling occurred.

Lateral motion is an excessive side-to-side motion of a car, a situation I refer to as a car "doing the twist." The car wiggles from side to side and causes the pin lifter, or uncoupling lever, on the car to also wiggle and shake. Under the right circumstances with just enough slack between the couplers of the two cars involved, the pin lifter may jump just enough to allow an uncoupling to occur. Of course when that happens, the train separates and goes into emergency bringing everything to a stop. As it would happen this night, it was between the second and third rear cars of the train. We had some 7200 plus feet of train, so it was a fair walk for Rich to find the problem.

The two cars that uncoupled had stopped about thirty cars behind the rest of the train, just south of the road crossing that is about a quarter mile north of the Clifton detector. As close as I could figure, the uncoupling must have occurred just as the last two cars were coming over the detector.

While Rich was walking the train and trying to ascertain the problem, the lovely Jennifer, our Chicago South Dispatcher this evening, had called for assistance. The Gilman Signal Maintainer, Dennis Cook, was summoned to assist us. For all of the times he has come to the aid of trains in distress, I kid Dennis that he ought to put in for Utility Trainman's pay too. Also, a couple of railfans that were giving chase to our train also lent a helping hand. They heard our plight on the scanner and met up with the Conductor to lend assistance. Our hat is off and our thanks extended to them as well.

With train coupled back up (and a piece of scrap wood jammed into the pin lifter of the offending car to prevent this from occurring again), Dennis drove Rich back up to the head end. We departed after a one-hour plus delay towards Otto to meet Amtrak who was patiently waiting for us in Gar Creek siding. He got a bit of a delay from us, but unfortunately, that is the way of the single-track railroad world. We pass 59 and head on north to Peotone where we pause for a meet with 281 and then head on north towards Markham.

On the main tracks at the south end of Markham Yard in Homewood are the high car detectors. We managed to trip the detector meaning there was the distinct possibility of a car in excess of seventeen feet in height in our train. This would be too high for anything north of the control point at 15.5 except on track four under the MoPac overhead, and we weren't going to use that track. We had to receive a visual roll-by inspection to assure there were no high cars.

"Bringing you all the hits, all the time."

The sands of time in the hours of service glass were starting to become depleted. There was no chance of making it to Glenn Yard alive now. At this point in time, it had become a suicide mission. I guess that made us the kamikazes of railroading now; run it until you are dead.

We pulled to a stop at 16th Street tower in Chicago with about twenty minutes of sand left in the glass. Had we been given the signal right away, we could have made it the two miles to Bridgeport and expired there, but for whatever reasons, we did not and quietly passed in the night at 16th Street.

But wait, there is more. Being that we were doing the all hit weekend, we had several the following night, with one that stands out as one of the greatest hits of all time.

We were coming north into Markham once again operating on short time. For whatever reason, the Chicago North Dispatcher had lined us up to operate north on track one. The problem with this was the high car detector. The detector on track one is only good for 125 cars, including the engines. We had 124 cars and two engines putting us just over its limit. This meant we would need the visual roll-by from somebody. Now in order to receive a good look over, you cannot blast by the employee conducting the inspection at 50 MPH, you need to reduce your speed so they can get a good look. This really eats into the time.

We got the required inspection and were informed we were "not high." But now, we had about twenty minutes of life to live, sort of running on the fumes as it were. Once again, we were on "death watch."

"We're gonna die. I just know it, we're gonna die!"

Here is where the greatest hit of all time took place. Chicago North calls and asks us where we thought we could make it to before the run into the grips of Hours of Service. I tell her "Kensington."

"Okay, I'm going to cross you over from track 1 to 2 at Wildwood (15.5) and take it up to Kensington on two."

I repeat these instructions and immediately question Rich as to why in the world they would do something like this tonight. We constantly hear statements when we question the logic or illogic of a particular move that "We do not see the big picture" of. In this case, we clearly saw the big picture and obviously the Dispatcher did not. But who am I to question this move, right? After all, what do I know? I am just the help. So I do not say anything. I simply does what I is told.

We reach 15.5 receiving the diverging approach (red over yellow) indication telling me that I am crossing over here as described and to be prepared to stop before passing the next signal, which in this case would be the signal at Kensington. So over we go to track two and up to Kensington. I stop and we once again quietly pass away into the night. Doesn't sound like too big of a deal right? Wrong! Well, while not alive, we were not really dead. I guess we were on life support waiting for somebody to unplug us. Read on.

When we stopped, the tail end of the train was still in the plant at 15.5 blocking the works. We did not clear up as our 7300 plus feet of train was too long to fit between there and Kensington. Uh oh! And now, we are dead on the hours.

"You've gone and done it now haven't you!"

Rich gets on the phone and calls the Trainmaster at Glenn Yard to see if our ride is coming equipped with a recrew to promptly move the train. They are not. In fact, there was no crew to be had from Glenn anytime soon. This is not good. There is that NS 68V train coming behind us on track two and he has to use these very crossovers at 15.5 to go from track two over to four. With us stretched out in the plant, this cannot and will not happen.

Rich informs this guy of our situation and his response is "You're just kidding me, right?" Rich told him that he was dead serious and that indeed, we had the world blocked and were dead on the hours. I guess then, this was now a Maalox moment.

Within a few moments, Chicago North calls us and asks us if we have any more room to pull up. While I had maybe three or four car lengths, it would not be enough. And besides, we were dead anyway and I'm not moving the train unless specifically instructed to violate the Hours. Panic, mayhem, fear, and just really karma now. Within moments, the Assistant Super calls and asks if we are indeed blocking 15.5 and I give him the bad news. He is not at all happy. With this move, Chicago North has effectively brought things to a screeching halt. DOH!

While I did not hear any such sounds, I can guarantee there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth going on over the sudden developments. I am also willing to bet that a certain Dispatcher has a little less hind side to rest upon as well.

Some quick juggling and a crew at Hawthorne Yard that was supposed to work the power plant at Plaines was brought down to get our train. The Glenn Yard Trainmaster would transport them to Kensington. They would meet us, and the Assistant Super who picked us up from the train, and bring us over to a restaurant parking lot to meet the Glenn Yard Trainmaster, who is not familiar with the area around Kensington. While we waited and discussed the entire situation with the Assistant Super, the NS crew that we now had blocked volunteered to walk over to our train and shove it back south of 15.5 to clear things up for us. They were thanked and told that another crew would be here shortly to move our train.

The post script to this hit sounds like this; for whatever reason, 99% of the time, whenever the North Dispatcher crosses us from track one over to track two around Kensington, they choose to perform the move at Kensington instead of at 15.5. I have questioned this move on many occasions, as it makes no sense. The crossovers at 15.5 are good for 25 MPH while those at Kensington are only good for 10 MPH. And it seems that the less time we have to work, the more likely they are to cross us over at Kensington.

I questioned a Dispatcher about this one evening when we were on short time and tried to explain to him that we could make it further using the 15.5 crossovers instead of Kensington, but got accused of telling him how to do his job. I was also told that if we should happen to go on the ground at 15.5 we would block the NS trains from moving. Hmm, we will block the NS, those trains they tend to screw nine ways from Sunday more often than not. So instead, we'll take the chance of going on the ground at Kensington, ripping out the South Shore crossing, possibly pulling down a catenary or two, and totally disrupting Metra's neighboring Electric District as well as the Shore. But again, I guess I don't see the big picture. So now I say nothing.

Yes listeners, if it is a big hit, you know you'll hear it here first and hear it more often. Keep it tuned to us for more of the greatest hits of all time.

If you are interested in the MoPac, take a visit to Screaming Eagles over the Prairie.

And so it goes.