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  • General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.
General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.

Moderator: Robert Paniagua

 #117159  by UPRR engineer
 
I once ran a loaded DP train, un-qualified, 25 miles from town. (I had about 10 minutes in the simulator). We were dogcatching, no one else around was going to run it, so i stepped up the plate and brought it to town. Took me about 5 miles to get the rear motor to start shoving. When we were coming off the hill into town the conductor said "that was really something, for being your first one and all" I just smiled. Not many hogs would have done that. I got a "two thumbs up" from Omaha for that one.

 #117167  by UPRR engineer
 
When I was a yard hog, I "jumped" the switch engine over a three foot break in the rail. It broke in three places, the ball of the rail was gone on the entire break. We had just moved a track from one rail to another and was coming around to get our quit when we flew over the crumbled rail. I was going down the lead pretty fast. Goat was pointing backwards, when we started across it i didnt even have time to shut the gas off and we were all the way over it, when we slid to a stop and went out the front we were all amazed we didnt go in the dirt. "Tower.....your lead is out of service down here" as the switch forman laughed over the radio. "Jay L jumped the switch engine over a huge break in the rail".

 #117170  by LCJ
 
UPRR engineer wrote:I got a "two thumbs up" from Omaha for that one.
Yeah -- that's because it turned out well. Railroads are well known for a "What have you done for me lately?" outlook on employees who step up and take risks for the good of the company.

If you had any untoward results from your unqualified escapade, you would have been a "zero" instead of a "hero."

A good friend ran to catch a locomotive that was starting to run away at the brink of a major grade drop. He was scuffed up a little, but he got it stopped and probably saved a huge wreck. He got a promotion out of it. I'm sure, though, that if he had fallen and broken a leg or something, or let the unit get away, everything would have looked differently from management's point of view.

I guess I seem a little cynical, don't I? I've always heard, though, that in this business you're only as good as your last home run.

 #117176  by UPRR engineer
 
If you had any untoward results from your unqualified escapade, you would have been a "zero" instead of a "hero."
True a little bit, buddy. The worst that could have happened would have been me stalling on the hill if I couldnt have got the DP unit to work. I knew I could, just had to push the right buttons. If we went in the ditch for some reason they wouldn't have said anything more than they normally would.
Last edited by UPRR engineer on Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 #120635  by UPRR engineer
 
When I was a yard hog I was working the west end with my best friend and another guy we liked to work with. My best friend use to kick the cars out as fast as I could pull them up the lead. After about four hours on the lead the yardmaster told us that he turned us in to the employees' hotline for doing such a good job. Thirty minutes later when we were setting a rail, we found that we had put a tank into the end of a boxcar. We didn't stop so I could walk down to see it, I guess they had to cut up that box, so it was pretty bad. "On to the next list" he told us. Then towards the end of the shift, the fieldman had thrown a switch against us and we had been kicking cars through it for who knows how long.

Nothing was said at all. No drug test, no talk with a manager. Got our quit, a pat on the back, and tied up. That doesn't happen to too many crews nowadays. Sometimes good guys mess up, if you have to smash a box and run a switch to get a crap load of cars switched.... well you get my point.
Last edited by UPRR engineer on Thu May 29, 2008 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 #120896  by steam371
 
1 quit + a damaged boxcar + 1 totalled switch + 1 " ata-boy "
= one lucky S.O.B,

 #121128  by Chris_S68
 
Put three cars on the ground trimming the hump once without a pee-pee test or even a real reprimand. The officer who came out said something to the effect of, "I don't see a need to pursue this further."

Personally, I wouldn't shove a track in the hump without ensuring the curve was coupled-up, but hey, I was allegedly the "junior man" on the job and it wasn't my move.

 #121528  by UPRR engineer
 
I got a story about trying to stop. I dogcaught a local on a super cold night, after the last pick up we had 145....146 something like that, 100 loads on the headend and the rest was mixed bag of junk, tanks, empties, loads, 5 motors on the point, one was dead cuzz the blue card was past due. It took me a good 45 minutes just to get enough air to test the cars. Kicked them off and up the hill we went. The clime to the top is about 7 miles then you rocket down the other side for about 8 miles to reach town. Usually by time you get to the top your air is charged back up, well i had only gained 6 pounds after i released the brakes for the air test. Most hogs wouldnt have started up the hill till the air was good enough to set them for an air test again. I dont like using just the dynamic brake when i come off most hills. So i tip toed off the other side (which i never do when i have good lights) and made it all the way down just to the edge of town. I had to use full service to stop, which didnt work too well, i was gonna plug it if we would have slid another 1/8th of a mile twards the block. We had to yard this train, so when we got a light, switched to the yard channel, told the yardmaster i was coming in, no air, have those boys line me in, if i have to stop at a switch im gonna have to run it, or dump the train and slide for who knows how far. That trip did scare me. I could hear my engineer instructor voice when i was cresting the hill"being a good hog means making good choices". Well we made it, still dont know if it was a good choice or not to pull the hill so soon, i thought about getting her balanced on the top and pumping some more but there is an control point at the top, and the dispatcher would have been asking what the problem was.
Last edited by UPRR engineer on Wed Apr 27, 2005 3:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

 #121537  by slchub
 
UPRR,

Doesn't our training manual state that when you need to slow, control or stop your train, dynamic braking is the prefered method?!! LOL!

We all learn from our "choices" and this one will stick in my head as well. Thanks.

 #124924  by UPRR engineer
 
You guys ever sent a new hire down the hall to get his Thanksgiving turkey before? A manager usually comes in the shack after about the third one and tells us to knock it off. Thats good fun...

 #124927  by thebigc
 
UPRR engineer wrote:You guys ever sent a new hire down the hall to get his Thanksgiving turkey before? A manager usually comes in the shack after about the third one and tells us to knock it off. Thats good fun...
They still do that to new guys? It's nice to see some RR traditions are still alive!

We used to tell them either a ham or a turkey. Also works for Christmas, too.

 #124930  by thebigc
 
UPRR engineer wrote:You guys ever sent a new hire down the hall to get his Thanksgiving turkey before? A manager usually comes in the shack after about the third one and tells us to knock it off. Thats good fun...
That rates up there with telling a new guy that all good brakemen carry extra brake shoes in their grip. You'd be surprised how many fall for that one.

 #124939  by UPRR engineer
 
I never thought of, or heard about packing brake shoes. Thats a good one.

Ever put a knuckle pin in a guys grip to see how long he packs it around?

I try to do the ham trick around easter. lol

 #124954  by thebigc
 
UPRR engineer wrote: Ever put a knuckle pin in a guys grip to see how long he packs it around?
I like tie plates better. They fit nicely with the mark's paperwork and books and such!! Works really well on the guys with the Hammy bags the size of a signal bungalow. :-D

 #124963  by LCJ
 
thebigc wrote:Works really well on the guys with the Hammy bags the size of a signal bungalow. :-D
You realize that those from outside of your part of the world may not be familiar with the term "Hammy."

My recollection is that it refers to railroaders from the Central PA (Harrisburg) area. At least that's what I always thought it meant. Is that your understanding?

I recall these guys were the first ones I ever saw with those way oversized, pop-riveted aluminum cases that held a couple pounds of Lebanon Bologna and a loaf of bread or two.

Bologna

Not that there's anything wrong with that...