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

March 8, 2008
Today we deal with a rather sticky subject.

I know this is supposed to be the February edition and technically it is. Only problem is it is being released for your reading pleasure or dismay in early March. The past month and a half or so has been quite hectic as work has really had us running. Twelve hours plus tow in time almost every single trip; longer than usual away from home layovers and shorter than usual at home layovers have really had me going during this period. So this little diatribe of mine got pushed to the back burner for a bit.

Another bit of cleaning up to do here; thanks to those fine folks at Microsoft and their marketing to us what are essentially beta systems, my email went completely haywire several weeks ago for no explainable reason other than it is a Microsoft product. It crashed and wiped out my entire in box and I lost all of the incoming mail for weeks. To top it off, I could then, not send any mail out as well. Some of the mail in my in box was from readers across the HTOTHI network asking questions, making threats and the like. So if you never received an answer from a question sent in the past three months or so that is why. It was simply banished into the vast expanse of cyberspace forever. A phone call and some money paid to the folks at Microsoft, as well as an argument with them when I found out this miserable software has no warrantee as it was sold through a reseller and not purchased directly from Microsoft really made my day that day too. Needless to say, without a doubt, my next computer will come from the folks at Apple. I’ll never purchase another Windows system again. Being that this system is not all that old, it will be at least another year or two before that happens. But I can sure bitch and moan about this one until then. 

With all that out of the way, on with the show.

God really does love us; he blessed mankind with duct tape. Duct tape is, by far, the single greatest invention to come along since round wheels, indoor plumbing and wireless radio. On the job I have found more uses for it than were probably ever imagined when the stuff was created. And I am relatively certain that some of my uses for it were never dreamed of when they came up with the concept of duct tape. Invented in 1942, duct tape has become an industrial staple that cannot be lived without. You can read quite a bit about this amazing silver colored substance by clicking onto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape.

Duct tape has been mentioned frequently over the years in these little diatribes over the years. I have often stated that duct tape is the official repair kit of the rail industry. Railroads would probably have to cease operation if it wasn’t for duct tape.

To me, duct tape has become something akin to a catch phrase used in American Express commercials during an ad campaign from many years ago; “Don’t leave home without it.” I know I certainly don’t. With all the uses that have been conjured up by other railroaders as well as myself, there is no way I will be caught without it at work. I always have a roll of it attached to the shoulder strap of my bag of tricks. There is also always a roll of it in the trunk of my trusty Cougar as well. It has come in handy over the years when out driving. I pick up several rolls at a time when it is on sale keeping it in storage until needed when I exhaust a roll. There is always a roll of it attached the over the shoulder strap on my big bag of tricks.

So let us take a closer look at some of the typical and practical uses that I along with thousands of railroaders have found for duct tape on the job. It can be stated without fear of correction that many have used it wisely and in many unusual applications over the years.

First and foremost, duct tape is probably one of the best forms of weather stripping there is for a locomotive aside from the actual weather stripping material itself. The industry tends to do a very poor job of properly winterizing locomotive cabs, usually waiting until winter hits and all the complaints start rolling in en masse from those of us getting blasted out of the cabs by strong drafts. Cab doors get bent out of shape over time and the door frames themselves also tend to warp or wear creating gaps. Weather stripping on the doors wears out or tears and often falls off. This too creates gaps. Imagine leaving a window in your house open say an inch during the winter as the wind is blowing and gusting at a high rate and then force yourself to sit in front of it for hours without doing much moving around. You’ll get quite cold even with the furnace going full blast in your house.

Many railroaders have used duct tape to seal up the gaps and cracks around the doors. Oftentimes though, they simply put the tape right over the crack or gap between the door and the frame. When you open the door to exit the cab, it simply pulls the tape away and you have to retape it time and time again wasting both tape and time. I have found a method for sealing the gaps using the door itself, any remaining weather stripping on the door and, if needed, the doorframe as well. I wrap tape over the edge of the door and over the weather stripping. I use a second piece to cover that and wrap it over to the outside of the door. There is enough tape to make sufficient contact with both the inside and outside of the door itself as well as cover the weather stripping. When the door is closed, the duct tape will fill most, if not all of the gaps sealing the cold out and the heat in. This method also allows for the tape to stay in place for extended periods of time unless removed by somebody. I have encountered locomotives that I taped up in this method several months later with all or most of the duct tape still in place and still performing admirably.

Cab doors also tend to rust or rot out, particularly at the bottoms. I have filled in the rotted out areas with duct tape many times to hold the drafts that come through these spots.

Windows are another spot for drafts. The weather stripping on the sliding side windows also wears out or the cab wall is warped from years of bouncing, slack action, rough couplings or even collisions. I have fabricated new weather stripping using duct tape and applying it to the ends of the windows that, when closed, make contact with the car body itself and create a great and fairly long lasting seal.

On the Dash 2 series and newer versions of locomotives built by EMD, the doors of the high voltage cabinet at the rear of the cab overlap the areas where they close with a sort of contoured design. They have seals around them to assure a tight fit when closed. These seals wear out over time. When this occurs, cold air will blast through these gaps forcing cold air from the high voltage cabinet into the cab quickly cooling things down. I have been know to fabricate new seals using paper towels rolled up and taped into place inside the doors with duct tape. On the older EMD units the older pre-Dash 2 version of the high voltage cabinet (HVC) has doors that are significantly different in design. These units employ a different type of HVC that is not pressurized. The doors here are simply flat doors with a piece of weather stripping around the edges to create a seal when closed. In some cases the weather stripping wears out or the doors get bent out of shape. Again, a little, or a lot of duct tape will create new seals.

EMD units built before 1977 have a door that mounts to the front bulkhead of the cab to allow access to the toilet in the nose. These doors pretty much always get bent out of shape over years of use and abuse. Probably doesn’t help when the railroads use them as the mount for a fire extinguisher adding weight to them or applying a storage bin for crew packs or fusees and the like to them. In any case, these doors pretty much always warp or get bent out of shape and gaps are created around them as they no longer close and seal tightly. Once again, it is duct tape and, if warped or bent severely enough, paper towels rolled up to create new seals.

There are instances where the original gauges on locomotives are replaced. In some instances they are not the same size as the old ones or they don’t fit quite as well. This leaves gaps allowing for the lights that illuminate them to shine directly into the engineer’s eyes. A piece of duct tape placed over the gap stops this problem cold. Likewise, sometimes screws or bolts on the control stand go MIA and the empty holes will allow light from inside the control stand to leak out annoying the engineer. Again, a strategically placed piece of tape solves that problem.

There are several doors on the backs of control stands or in the case of the desk top control stands, on the sides. Over time they bend and warp. This will result in rattles as they no longer fit against the control stand properly. Almost nothing drives me nuts more than squeaks and rattles; almost. So duct tape applied to the doors will usually hold them tight. On the desk top units, the doors don’t rattle as much as they swing out and away from the control stand.

I’ve encountered locomotives with loose rear view mirrors. In the attempt to hold them in place, I have used duct tape on them. While it is not always a perfect hold, it does tend to work with some degree of success.

Along with others, I have used duct tape to create a sort of gutter to prevent water from entering the cab or, if it past that point, to keep the water from flowing freely across the cab floor.

Some locomotive cab doors have locks on them. For whatever reason, sometimes they have been removed. And nothing was put in to fill the hole left by the lock removal. You can literally stick you finger through this hole all the way to the outside. I will applied duct tape both inside to cover the hole as well as outside. I figure you might was well stop the air flow from all possible sources. It works well.

Back in the 80’s I operated a locomotive that had twin strobe lights applied to it well after being built. The folks who installed them must’ve forgotten some of the key parts that day as well as the practical and logical method to install them. The wiring for the lights was not run through the cab ceiling but instead, was attached to the outside of the ceiling where it was clearly visible in the cab. And instead of using some sort of anchors or clips to hold these wires in place, they simply used duct tape to hold them in place tight against the ceiling. They certainly spared all expense here.

Probably the only machine in the world that vibrates more than a General Electric locomotive is the space shuttle during launch as it ascends into the sky breaking free of earths gravitational pull. The result of all the vibration in GE locomotives is that pieces of trim (as well as other parts) in the cab tend to break loose and fall off or just dangle. I have seen duct tape used frequently to reattach the loose parts or, in some cases, completely replace them.

The headliners applied to the so-called “super cab” units are a type of fabric. This fabric tends to stretch out and come away from the bars that hold it into place. I have observed duct tape used to hold it into place so that it doesn’t hang down into the cab.

I once boarded a cab at a crew change point and noticed much of one of the windshield wiper blades was made up of duct tape. It seems that much of the rubber portion of the wiper blade had worn out to the point that it began to peel apart and came off. Needing the wiper to see on that rainy day, the resourceful engineer ingeniously used a bunch of duct tape to replace the worn out rubber. While it would never be mistaken for an ANCO wiper blade, it did a halfway decent job of wiping water off the window for a time.

Over the life of a locomotive there will be many changes, modifications and upgrades made to the cabs. Storage racks are installed and oftentimes removed years later. New speedometers are applied replacing older ones, information plates mounted onto and removed from cab walls or appliances like fans added and removed. When something is removed from a wall, the industry seems to be averse to filling in the screw or bolt holes left behind as well as holes drilled for electrical cables or antenna coax. All these little or, in some cases, big holes left behind also allow cold air to enter the cab creating still more drafts. And once again, it is duct tape to the rescue being applied over all these holes.

Duct tape is also used to redirect heated air, like a shroud over the grids on the forced air box heaters on standard cab locomotives. For whatever reason, the manufacturers of these heaters have an issue with putting a small hood above the grills where the hot air comes out of the heater. In many cases this hot air will blow directly up into your face drying out your nose and eyes. A shroud created from several of pieces of duct tape applied directly above the grill will redirect that air so you don’t get blasted in the face with it.

The whistle handles on standard cab locomotives will begin to leak at their base over time as the moving parts in them start to wear out with all of the usage they get. In some instances, that air leaking out will blast you directly in the face. There is nothing like being hit in the face with cold, oily smelling air. And of course, that leaking air is noisy too. Using paper towels and duct tape, many engineers including myself have created a tent of sorts to cover the base of the whistle handle to stop the air from blowing straight out and also reducing much of the noise that results from the leaking air.

I’ve used duct tape to reduce leaking air from air lines that lead to the wipers as well. Sometimes these lines, made of copper will crack or get damaged and air leaks out of them. Or a fitting on these lines is worn or cracked and it will leak the air. In some instances the leak is severe enough to prevent the wiper from working properly. Enough duct tape applied at the leak may help overcome such a problem.

The seal around cab windows where they meet up with the frame often deteriorates over time. I have used and observed others, including the mechanical department use duct tape to bolster up such deteriorating seals to reduce both air and water leaks.

Duct tape is often used to act as a shroud or diffuser of sorts around the cab lights in the locomotives as well. In some instances the overhead cab lights are placed in such a manner that when illuminated on the fireman’s (left) side of the cab at night, they will shine right onto the engineer making it harder for him or her to see out the windows. So if the conductor needs the light on to check paperwork, rules or the timetable or to copy mandatory directives such as track warrants, form D or DTC authorities, the light will partially blind the engineer. By creating a shroud using duct tape and perhaps a piece of paper, the engineer doesn’t get the light in their eyes.

Duct tape also comes in handy for other uses such as field repairs to a car. Many railroaders including myself have used duct tape to repair a ruptured air hose or small break in the train line of a car. Applied correctly and tightly, the duct tape will provide a strong enough seal to stop or greatly reduce a leak allowing that car and the train to proceed onward. It is just a quick fix though and usually just used to move a car to a point where it can easily be set out of the train at the next yard or at an auxiliary track where a repair truck and crew can access the car to make the required repairs.

I have also seen railroaders use it as a form of “Lock Tite” to hold a hose in place in the fitting where it is screwed into the brake pipe of the car. There have been instances where the fitting was somewhat worn and the conductor could not get the threaded fitting at the end of the hose to seal tight in the fitting on the car even when tightened as tight as it would go. So they took some duct tape, wrapped it around the threaded end of the hose and then screwed it in. While not perfect and as good the actual Lock Tite product, it worked well enough to reduce the leak and keep the hose in place. 

We’ve also used it to hold a dragging or low hanging brake pipe in place. This helps prevent the low hanger from getting caught at a road crossing, railroad crossing at grade or switch and getting torn off creating an entire new set of problems and headaches. While you would normally use bailing wire for such a task, if you don’t have any with you, duct tape is the next best answer.

In many instances I’ve observed it being applied around the glad hands (the metallic fittings at the end of each air hose that allows them to be coupled without any tools) to hold the hoses together. On cars with the longer, moving drawbars attached to the end of car cushioning devices, there is a great deal of play and movement with the air hoses. All this movement invites the potential for separation which causes an undesired emergency application (UDE) of the brakes of the train. To reduce and minimize the potential for UDE’s after the hoses are coupled a piece of duct tape is wrapped around the connected glad hands of the two hoses and this prevents them from coming apart. This can greatly reduce the potential for a UDE, particularly in colder weather. Now if the train should uncouple at that point be it intentional or accidentally, the hoses will still separate as they will tear the tape off, so there is not an issue of safety being compromised here.

In a few cases I’ve observed the receiver for the end of train telemetry device on the locomotive, often referred to the head of train device or HOT secured to the control stand with duct tape. This is sort of a last ditch effort as it were, if the mounting device is broken or the feet on the HOT itself have been broken off. This is not normal or standard behavior and I’m pretty certain the FRA would not approve of such a connection if they happened to board a locomotive and discovered as much.

I’m certain you have encountered situations while driving in your car when the sun is at one of those impossible angles and your sun visor is of little or no use to you in the attempt to keep it out of your eyes. This same holds true on locomotives. Only we have the option of creating our own sun visors using paper towels and duct tape. You simply take a paper towel and tape it to the window in the area where the sun is blinding you and viola, instant sun visor. Best part is you can move said visor when and wherever you need it as your train advances and as the sun moves across the sky.

Now aside from using it on car radiator hoses, plugging a hole in a muffler, removing warts and repairing torn swimming pool liners, there are even more uses for duct tape than you can ever imagine. And as clearly illustrated above, this is why no railroader should ever be without it.

I’m going to make today’s column interactive. Send me your most unusual application of duct tape and I’ll run a column with the best ones submitted. While you won’t get a prize, you’ll get your name and your use mentioned here. That and $3 will get you a trip across the eight mile long Chicago Skyway. And everybody will then know what a creative genius you really are.

And so it goes.

Tuch

Hot Times on the High Iron and the HTOTHI initials, ©2005 by JD Santucci.