research for a film... help needed!

[Aturner]

Hi to all,

I'm looking for answers to some very basic locomotive questions. I work as an assistant to a screenwriter.
So, here goes:

Are there locomotives running in the vicinity of San Francisco, CA? If so, which companies?

How many personnel typically work in a locomotive train?

Does the engineer make all decisions in case of a disaster such as an object or vehicle blocking the tracks?

Are there typically two engineers on the train at all times, or just one?

What is the protocol if a vehicle is stalled on the tracks?

Thank you so much for your help.

A.

[MEC407]

I live on the opposite side of the country, but from what I can tell, there are definitely locomotives operating in and around San Francisco. Caltrain operates passenger trains there. Union Pacific Railroad operates freight trains there. A quick Google search also found references to shortline railroads in or near San Francisco, called LB Railco and San Francisco Bay Railroad. All of the above utilize diesel-electric locomotives.

In the case of freight trains, there are typically two people in the cab of the lead locomotive. What I mean by "lead locomotive" is the locomotive at the front of the train; there may be multiple locomotives, but in the case of diesel-electric or electric locomotives, all of them can be controlled from the lead locomotive, rendering it unnecessary for there to be personnel in each locomotive. (Sometimes there are "pusher" locomotives at the other end of the train, and those may require another engineer and another conductor, but I don't think that's germane to your question.)

The person who controls the locomotive(s) is the engineer. He or she is the one who "drives" the train. (In some parts of the world, they are known as train drivers).

The second employee in the locomotive is usually referred to as the conductor, but may also be referred to as the brakeman, fireman, or trainman.

Note that in the case of passenger trains, there is often only one person in the locomotive (the engineer). The conductors and assistant conductors are in the passenger coaches. Some long-distance passenger trains may have a second engineer in the locomotive, to relieve the first engineer of duty after a certain period of time.

The engineer is the one who controls the physical movement of the train; therefore if there is a automobile or object blocking the tracks, it is up to the engineer to determine the best course of action, whether that means blowing the horn, slowing down, bringing the train to a stop, or all three.

If an automobile is stopped on the tracks and shows no sign of moving out of the way, the engineer will apply the brakes and bring the train to a stop as quickly as possible. In industry terminology, this is referred to as putting the train into emergency. Due to the laws of physics, this doesn't necessarily mean that the train will not hit the automobile. Trains are very heavy and cannot slow down as quickly as an automobile can.

I hope this answers some of your questions. If you have more questions or need more information, feel free to ask. We have a number of railroad employees who are members of this site and they are a wealth of information and knowledge. I'm not a railroad employee, but I've been following the railroad industry for many years. If I've gotten any of the above information incorrect, I'm sure the pros will correct me (and I appreciate it)!

[John_Perkowski]

MODERATOR'S NOTE OF THANKS AND REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE:

Thank you all for your patience. I've obtained the bona fides of the original poster, and they are valid!

The thread is re-opened, and as a gesture of thanks to all for the patience, it will be sticky for two weeks.

I would ask that we help the OP out by giving some focus: From off-list correspondence, the script is being set up for the present day (2011/2012), so SP under diesel and SP under steam are not needed for development. It also means the facilities in San Francisco do not include either the Bayshore roundhouse nor the small (now repurposed) roundhouse between Lombard, Sansome, and the Embarcadero.

Eventually, I will move this to a more appropriate forum, but let's get the ball rolling for the OP! Again, thanks to all for your patience.

[3rdrail]

Hi A !
Inform your boss that all that doesn't matter. The overwhelming movie-going audience does not care if detail is meticulous or not...in fact, they would rather have something like Britney Spears running the locomotive remotely in Lycra during a Vegas dance performance than "meticulous". I can honestly say that I have never seen a movie involving a train (or police work) in more than a few scenes that didn't contain at least one huge gaff of incredulity ! As a matter of fact, just last night, I happened to be watching "Viva Maria" with Bridgette Bardot and Jeanne Moreau (I watched it for the trains- thumbs up, a funny movie), in which a group of wayward clergy hijack a steam locomotive led consist by way of standing on the tracks approximately one-hundred feet from the fully throttled engine. The train stops just in the nick of time, and I recall thinking to myself that in real life, that these same clergy would have attained Heavenly status had this event actually taken place. Do you want five people in the theatre who are going to be arguing about the rivet pattern on the loco, or do you want a sold-out theatre with people that aren't even noticing the loco ? (You're going to do it anyway, trust me), but go the Britney route. Now...having said that, I applaud you for looking for accuracy. I'm not a railroader (I just play one in my train room), but here are the answers to the best of my knowledge:
1) I believe that Amtrak and Caltrain are the two major players now. (If your movie is pre-'93, you could use the San Francisco Belt Railroad.)
2) In the locomotive, one or two, depending on the company and their union rules. Always an Engineer. The second person would be a Fireman in the old days.
3) (A sensitive question.) Technically, the Conductor is in charge of the train, however a real-life scenario such as you have mentioned, there would be little time for even the Engineer to act on his own and certainly not enough time to consult with a Conductor or even his Fireman. Hopefully, they're not going to ram.
4) There's only one Engineer on a train. (This question confused me a little, only because it made me wonder if you are asking in Question #2 how many crew members are on a train [and not just the locomotive]). So...to cover all bases, potentially you might have one Engineer, one Fireman, and numerous Conductors or Brakeman on board. (Passenger or freight, company, time period, all make a difference).
(5) The protocol is to usually throw the train into "Emergency" (full service and auxilliary braking), run or jump like hell out of the cab if you have time, and hope for the best. When the smoke clears, the event has to be reported to the company (radio in modern times, telegraph before), crew and passengers must be evaluated for injuries, then any exterior parties, requests for police, fire, and ambulance, and a bunch of other stuff after this that may differ from company to company and by period and location.
Good luck ! If anybody else would like to chime in, by all means do so. Please correct me in any mistakes, if any.

[GSC]

People like us in here appreciate the desire for reasonable accuracy. As said above, you'll usually find a major gaff or two in most any movie or TV show, no matter what the subject.

As for emergency stops, all too often we see some engineer see a car, or person, or other hazard on the rails ahead. So what does he do? Puts his foot into it, full speed ahead, and blows the whistle / horn like crazy. (The trestle scene in "Stand By Me" comes to mind) In reality, he would shut off the throttle and hit the brakes as soon as he saw the hazard.

Just a pet peeve of mine.

[MEC407]

As for emergency stops, all too often we see some engineer see a car, or person, or other hazard on the rails ahead. So what does he do? Puts his foot into it, full speed ahead, and blows the whistle / horn like crazy. (The trestle scene in "Stand By Me" comes to mind) In reality, he would shut off the throttle and hit the brakes as soon as he saw the hazard.

It depends on how fast the train is going and how far ahead of the train the hazard is. For example, if a freight train is doing 25 MPH (a fairly typical speed limit on many regional and shortline railroads) and the engineer sees a vehicle on the tracks half a mile away, he may not immediately put the train into emergency, but instead make good use of the horn and wait a few seconds to see if the vehicle moves.

[3rdrail]

Yes, I think also that this "it takes ten miles to stop a moving train" thing has been way over-exagerated. I've seen loaded trains go into emergency and stop in a pretty short distance.

[GSC]

True, but an engineer would certainly prepare himself to do something, rather than continue yanking the throttle like he was running for a hill. Okay, there's a car on the crossing a mile up, so let's drift for a bit to see if he's going to move or not. "Prepare to stop short of obstruction".

There are more inaccuracies with steam. Slipping the drivers while starting out of the station (Showboats get yelled at for doing that in real life), pulling into a station with full throttle blasting, cylinder cocks open and roaring. With diesels, you don't see obvious bloopers like this.

I also cringe when a box van, doing all of 30 mph on a city street, suddenly flips and explodes into flames. And when side-by-side space shuttles fly up to an approaching asteroid. Nah, no turbulence problem there...

I know some of this sells tickets, but I don't need to see obvious inaccuracies. My Dad always said, "You aren't supposed to notice that."

On the other hand, when I do get some occasional movie work (mostly electrical, behind the cameras) the $50 an hour scale to stand around with my hands in my pockets with 24 other crew while waiting for something to happen doesn't hurt. Wish I could get more of this work.