Railroad Forums 

  • Conductors Paper Work

  • 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

 #360289  by tbean18
 
What does freight paper work consits of. Do they have to enter it in a computer at the end of day, just wondering

 #360300  by Controlled Speed
 
It shows how long the train is and what it weighs amongst other things....why do you care?

 #360356  by tbean18
 
i was just curious.is that ok
 #360554  by git a holt to it
 
tbean18 wrote:what does a freight paper work consits of.do they have to enter it in a computor at the end of day.just wondering
The same stuff that any other shippers paper work would contain. What you got ,what it weighs and where it goes.

 #360557  by CSX Conductor
 
CSXT has on-board (like a mini computer with cellular modem) for "real time" work reporting on locals.

Also, paper-work would include a CT-168 hazardous placement in train document.

Don't forget your speed bulletins etc.

 #360590  by booma_135
 
Controlled Speed wrote:nothing wrong with being curious but I don't think that it is appropriate to discuss what type of paperwork there is or what it contains in this day and age, whether it be for national security reasons or the simple fact that if you really want to know, you can apply for a job and they will teach you all about what we have to know.

Hope you understand.
You have got to be kidding me! How can you say its not appropriate to ask that? What does the paperwork have to do with terrorism? I spent the last six years flying for the airforce and dealing with paperwork thats classified. I doubt how much a train weighs and how long it is is classified. Give the kid a break man.

 #360763  by modorney
 
Back when I was a kid, I lived near the Boston and Maine. My town (Wakefield) had a freight local that was sent out of Malden yard, and we had a few rail customers, plus a team track. One customer - Wakefield Lumber - would buy a boxcar of southern pine 2x4's since they were cheaper than the regular (fir) ones. And we had a fruit store that did a little wholesale business, and would order a carload of fruit, and have it spotted on the team track.

Every three years, or so, the boxcar of lumber and the boxcar of watermelons would come on the same train, and both would be L&N boxcars. Someone in Malden would shuffle, and change the waybills, so that the watermelons went to the lumber yard, and the lumber went to the team track.

Since the B+M is a commuter road, freight came out after midnight. When the lumber hit the team track, local dudes (who were in on the scam) pillaged the boxcar and stole half the lumber. Most of these theives were small-time contractors, and had a ready use for hundreds of studs. And, Wakefield Lumber did not realize they had a carload of watermelons until 7 or 8 AM, when they opened for business.

All it took was an insider changing a couple of digits on a waybill.

 #360777  by slchub
 
If you want to see some of the paperwork go to the Union Pacific section of the forum and click on the stuff that UPRR Engineer has posted like the DPU double stack and odd air slips. You'll see some of the paperwork we get on the UP. Could it help a terrorist? I doubt it. Most people would not know how to interpret the stuff let alone understand the way the paperwork and info flows such as the train list shows the first car on the train as number one which in reality it is the last car on the train. Basically the RR's kill about a forest a day with the amount of paperwork printed for each train. We get info for work (maintenance of way) being performed along the route/subdivision(s) traveled and any speed restrictions associated with the route as well as tonnage, train length, horsepower and dynamic braking info, hazmat info, types of cars and freight etc. Pretty boring stuff.

 #360946  by UPRR engineer
 
Cleaned it up some.

Theres nothing wrong with wondering about what we get to look at dude, you came to the right spot.

Like my buddy Slchub said, check out the UP Forum and go check out the Paper Pit in the Western Forum.

And to answer your question about the train list, on the UP, sometimes if your on a local you do have to manually "pick up" the cars on the computers in the depot and put them on your train and then show them as "set out" into the yard track that you "yarded in".

On a regular everyday mainline train the conductor keeps track of the cars on his train. Nothing happens unless he has to set cars out or pick some up. It's not as complicated as it might seem.

 #361675  by DrawbarFlats
 
booma_135 wrote:
Controlled Speed wrote:nothing wrong with being curious but I don't think that it is appropriate to discuss what type of paperwork there is or what it contains in this day and age, whether it be for national security reasons or the simple fact that if you really want to know, you can apply for a job and they will teach you all about what we have to know.

Hope you understand.
You have got to be kidding me! How can you say its not appropriate to ask that? What does the paperwork have to do with terrorism? I spent the last six years flying for the airforce and dealing with paperwork thats classified. I doubt how much a train weighs and how long it is is classified. Give the kid a break man.
I wont get into the politics of it but in the post 9-11 age a lot of practices and policies have changed with the railroads. I don't know about other railroads but the one I work for, some employee's have been terminated or reprimanded for devulging certain info. Especially on line and when it comes to our manifest and Hazmat.

Me personally, I try to answer questions without crossing any company lines. No one wants to lose their job answering what seems like a harmless question. Granted we are not flying the space shuttle but rules are rules and most rails do not want to jepordize their job doing so.

What seems like a harmless question to some, it also raises a red flag to others. I'm sure your a decent person especially with your military service but we all have to follow any guidelines that the company issues just as you did while in the military.

A lot of folks just like to know all the details about our job which is fine. (I'm kind of a tech nerd myself who's idea of entertainment on Friday night is watching the Science or Military channel)

If ya got any questions just send me a PM and I'll try to answer any questions that ya might have so long as.....

:-D

Take care,
DrawbarFlats

 #362050  by CSX Conductor
 
booma_135 wrote:You have got to be kidding me! How can you say its not appropriate to ask that? What does the paperwork have to do with terrorism?............. I doubt how much a train weighs and how long it is is classified. Give the kid a break man.
The issue isn't how much tonnage is on the train.....it's the contents of each car, especially hazardous materials, which is the biggest rail industry threat nowadays.
modorney wrote:All it took was an insider changing a couple of digits on a waybill
Well, in case you didn't know, the railroads rely on computers and AEI tags on the side of cars. The AEI tags are on each side of the cars and they work the same as a UPC code being scanned at the cash register of your local supermarket.