Lack o' markers

Saw [a train] with no rear marker lights on. I haven't seen that many SEPTA trains in the past few weeks, but this is the second one I've seen in that time where the rear markers were not lit. Is there some kind of pre-departure checklist for that? ("Air - check, pans up - check, rear markers - check") And is there any penalty for not turning them on aside from safety? I've also seen where the rear of the train has markers on AND the headlights and ditch lights on high beam...impromptu rear-facing inspection trip!

(mod note: comments altered to avoid specific train/time)

Were the headlights on at the rear because that is a valid rear marker.

I don't know about penalties but it is rather important because their purpose is to show that the entire train is still intact. In theory, if you see a train without valid rear markers, there could be a car stranded somewhere that broke free.

Nope, no rear headlight on this one - from behind it was invisible. Wish there were some way to call it in because as you say, technically the train isn't complete.

Someone most likely forgot to turn them on.

The lights could also have failed for any number of reasons.

Don't we have a policy on this board about not posting specifics that could get a crew penalized?

A lot of times you see markers displayed in the middle of a train, so maybe it all evens out. Actually, I've often wondered about RDGAndrew's question about a checklist: Do crews get so used to the routine of a job that they don't consciously check the little stuff when changing ends? The problem with that is that if you have a regular routine that you go through automatically, and on occasion something happens to interrupt you in the middle of it, you may not resume the process exactly where you left off. Maybe that's why that plane crashed recently because the elevators (is that the right word?) were still locked.

We change ends sometimes dozens of times per day. Sometimes we forget to display the markers (usually the engineer puts the markers on, however the conductor is supposed to check). Its not the end of the world. Markers in the middle of the consist usually means two trains were coupled together and the yard crew never turned off the markers. Its all a routine and sometimes you are on auto pilot and don't even realize if you may have forgotten something. Try doing it day in, and day out...

I also see a lot of equipment moves at rush hour where MU's are brought up from the downtown staging yard here in Chicago, maybe 1/2 mile south, to the main terminal. The red markers are on in prep for the revenue move southbound but the headlight is on and a man is in the cab for the 1/2 mile northbound deadhead. I know it's not SEPTA but it's probably a practice followed in many places when you're in such a controlled trackspace.

I would expect any train being met by a train without markers displayed to notify to train without markers of what they had seen in the inspection at the meeting point - even when the meeting is at speed on multiple track territory.

Sometimes on SEPTA you'll see a revenue train displaying markers on the head end in addition to the headlight because the engineer didn't switch them off when he changed ends. I've sometimes wondered whether the engineer of an opposing train, SEPTA, or Amtrak if on Amtrak, would radio the oncoming train, or would he be more likely to say nothing because you don't know who is going to hear the transmission? (You have to be careful what you say on a party line.)