I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING!!!

ExEMDLOCOTester wrote:Question:

If a rail car is set out to pasture because the hand brake is not working and no other car is available to use its handbrake, should the wheels be chocked (real chocks or wood) and Blue flags displayed?

Ya you should chock the wheels, if in doubt throw something under every wheel, transportation employees dont handle blue flags, BIG NO-NO.


Maybe CSX (or there schools) spends too much time drilling the rules and not enough time giving examples of why that rule is in place. UP does a pretty job of explaining situations.

Not sure about the property in question, but most places have a rule, for setting out equipment, with defective, or no handbrake. (like a scale test car) They must not be set out, unless coupled to other equipment, with operative handbrakes. Chocks are fine, and although even they are now banned, for use, on some properties, this would not relieve the rule, for setting out a car, with a defective handbrake. As another note, the hogger could also be partly blamed, as the rules now also state, before relying on that handbrake to hold standing equipment, it must be TESTED, and known to work, before leaving the equipment un-attended. As you can see, several people, although not physically acting to make that move, all were "participants", to some extent, for the accident. As railroaders, we have the duty, and responsibility, to work safely, and also make sure those around us, do likewise. The newbies actions, could have killed the oldest/safest guy on the property. EVERYONE is responsible, to see the workplace is safe.....................

Amen Brother!!!!

We had a switchman at EMD that usually disregarded Blue Flags. I had a unit over the pit, flagged, and in the process of pulling off a TM cover when this clown pulled the flag and coupled the unit. The only reason that I am not in prison for Murder 1, is because my Supervisor tackeled me before I could get to the switchman.

ExEMD> OMG! Thats not good, thank god your superviser was around.

COEN77> Well, I really think thats funny, about that first timer. From what I hear if you are on break and wanna read some RMC or MR stuff, you better have a better magazine around it..... but anyway....

>EMD - situations like those are the ones that make you realized exactly how fleeting life really is, and how quickly a life can be taken even after hours of precautionary work and years of training. I was in the EOT crane biz for quite some time, and once or twice I made a mistake that could have resulted in a 30-50' fall or 440v electrocution. I don't ever take anything for granted, especially my own life.



In regards to the discussion of costs and class time of training, I view it like this: If you watched every episode of sports center, read every book written by Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, every bulls game, would you be able to consistently hit free throws your first time out? Nope. Knowledge is good, but you have to practice on an empty court, preferably with a experiance player, before you can play in the big leagues.

In the crane biz, I operated lots of massive cranes as part of the walk-thru prior to designing a rebuild or replacement, or after installation as a trouble-shoot. But every crane operated differently - my technical knowledge in my head and prior operating knowledge still wasn't enough to know exactly how a crane would accelerate and brake if I had never driven it before. The same goes for trains - a new locomotive, a new hill, a new yard... A closed mind or a bad attitude is a ticket to injury, joblessness, and death.

I was useless the remainder of the shift. My hands shook all night because the adrenalin was pumping. Not sure if it was from the near miss or wanting to choke the &hit out of the switchman.

Well, what happened to him? I would be scared to work with him.

He continued to work at EMD and live up to his name of "Whip" (short for Whiplash). He was laid off in 1982 and never rehired.

A little history here, the switch crew switched the Locomotive Test Building between shifts. Often times at the end of the day shift the Locomotive Testers hurriedly departed and neglected to remove the Blue Flags, and the switch crew usually did what they had to. If a flag was to remain on a unit between shifts, the off going test supervisor was to notify production of the situation, and chock the flagged unit. During routine switching, the switchman (Loco Tester or production switchman) was to walk the unit (We all were under the same rules) and LOOK under before moving the unit, blue flag or no blue flag. My partner and I were called in early for a unit that had to ship that night (an AEM7). Because we spotted the unit ourselves, it did not get on the list to production and we didn't chock it because we set the handbrake. Being in the pit during switching operations was not unusual during a normal shift because the switch crew rarely (and I mean rarely) did any switching in the test building. If we had to switch the house, we did it ourselves but we always looked out for each other and honored Blue Flags. We had two unusual situations happening at once. I wanted to kill the switchman because he didn't look under the unit which is a common courtesy for your co-workers safety. Flags sometimes don't get applied because the work to be done is only a two minute job. One night we had a Air Brake tester decide to rescue his channel locks during a switch after the loco tester did his walk around. He was crawling in between the Fuel tank and the rear truck as we coupled. He smoked a pack of cigarettes in about a half hour soon after the incident.

WOW... sound really scary. Would have not wanted to be in your shoes.

I LOVED that job. I was never late and looked forward to going to work each day. My partner and I exchanged Operating and switching tasks each day along with one day being the electronics guy and the other being the Engine & Carbody guy. I was the first person to operate a Choo Choo every other day, by that I mean the first person to apply power to the traction motors and make the unit move. I was the first person to operate 25% of the first two AEM 7 orders (900 - 930). I really, really miss it....

The AEM7 would have been pretty nice.

The AEM7's were alot more sophiscated and challanging than the 40 series Diesels although both were analog control. On the first 2 units we worked closely with the ASEA Design Engineers and Field Service Engineers. The Service Engineer remained for 10 units and from there we solo'd. All this changed when the 50 series were pushed out of the big bay, and then shortly followed by the 60's. The toughest part of the transition was the terminology change, and trying to remember all the symbology. All this while standing out in the rain....

UPDATE: The conductor who knew-it-all has agreed to attend the next Trainmaster Training Class at the REDI Center beginning January 8,2007 instead of serving 30 days out of service, LOL.

CSX Conductor wrote:UPDATE: The conductor who knew-it-all has agreed to attend the next Trainmaster Training Class at the REDI Center beginning January 8,2007 instead of serving 30 days out of service, LOL.

With the longer hours and smaller pay of the trainmaster job, I would appeal that decision for being too harsh. 30 days might have been better