PanAm Train sat unlocked, idling for 15 hours in Manchester

"Idling Trains an issue in Exeter, too"

Oh give me a break! How many dozens of New England towns could be inserted in the place of "Exeter" in that headline? I don't doubt that Pan Am is a bad neighbor at times, but at this point the Union Leader is stretching. Some Pan Am official said that idling trains in residential neighborhoods are not the norm...so now every train that's an exception to the rule is a news story?

Having worked for Exeter Police/Fire for 6yrs until a few weeks ago.....I can tell you that idling trains were NEVER a concern for the Police or the Fire department...


We never went to idling train calls, let alone take any complaints of them. The resident from Exeter who complained to the paper is right at the end of the Newfields/Exeter passing siding, and he has never called the dispatch center to complain. Also the Asst. Fire Chief lives right next door to him with the tracks behind his house also and it has never been a complaint with him.

Interesting exercise in silliness.

A few thoughts: First, just because a homeowner buys land near the tracks, doesn't necessarily mean he's to expect a train IDLING nearby for HOURS.

The two are entirely different issues. And having whiffed the stack effluence from GE locos, I can understand their objection.

That said...there wasn't any reason why the trailing units couldn't be shut down. It would have taken less than a minute, even if the crew were up against HOS.

And the newspaper itself needs a drubbing. How can a writer or staff do a series on this without concerning itself with basics of the industry? Locomotives aren't locked. There's no ignition key; it tends to jam up the steering column .

Idiocy upon idiocy.

Just like you can expect a train on any track, at any time, in any direction, you can expect one to stop, at any point, on any track, for any length of time.

Railroads are private property, private industry, and it seems to me that the general public has no clue that this is the way it is. If they leave a train idling for 15 hours awaiting a crew and it happens to outlaw behind your house - too bad. Move someplace else if this is a problem, it's not hard to find a house with no tracks anywhere close by.

While some engines appear to have keyholes to lock doors, I've never seen where one was locked. But a properly tied down train is no danger to anyone as only perhaps the most determined and knowledgable individual could get it moving. Most people's experience with trains is a Lionel set with no brakes, or watching the movie Silver Streak, where they can't get to the headend despite doors in the lead car and locomotive nose, a tool box is able to defeat the dead man's pedal, and when they uncouple the cars mid-train, the headend charges into the station to crash through the gift shop. And that's where you get this idiocy from.

Its the same as moving next to a highway. You can't do that and expect there to be no cars constantly driving by, even at night.

lvrr325 wrote:Just like you can expect a train on any track, at any time, in any direction, you can expect one to stop, at any point, on any track, for any length of time.

Railroads are private property, private industry, and it seems to me that the general public has no clue that this is the way it is. If they leave a train idling for 15 hours awaiting a crew and it happens to outlaw behind your house - too bad. Move someplace else if this is a problem, it's not hard to find a house with no tracks anywhere close by.

While some engines appear to have keyholes to lock doors, I've never seen where one was locked. But a properly tied down train is no danger to anyone as only perhaps the most determined and knowledgable individual could get it moving. Most people's experience with trains is a Lionel set with no brakes, or watching the movie Silver Streak, where they can't get to the headend despite doors in the lead car and locomotive nose, a tool box is able to defeat the dead man's pedal, and when they uncouple the cars mid-train, the headend charges into the station to crash through the gift shop. And that's where you get this idiocy from.

True, yet as Conrail-Engineer stated "there wasn't any reason why the trailing units couldn't be shut down."

NRGeep wrote: True, yet as Conrail-Engineer stated "there wasn't any reason why the trailing units couldn't be shut down."

Provided they were not tagged to not be shut down due to battery or starter issues, yes.

CN9634 wrote:Its the same as moving next to a highway. You can't do that and expect there to be no cars constantly driving by, even at night.

As I said before...there is a difference between trains passing through, and a train idling outside your front-room window. A medium traffic-density rail line might have 15 or so trains a day go by...one every couple of hours.

Not exactly the same as having it idling, popping, smoking, outside your door.

You live by a highway, you expect traffic. You do NOT necessarily expect gridlock, hundreds of idling trucks and cars, there in your neighborhood.

And the same here; and I don't think it's reasonable to expect idling trains on a main line. One might suggest, that's what rail yards are for.

Its not the difference between cars and trains, its the thought of people moving next to a noisy place then complaining about it.

Well, yes and no. Trains sitting and idling on the mainline for hours and even days in ridiculous. While it may be legal, it's a joke. Yards are there for a reason... Just because they can't crew trains properly, shouldn't mean people who live nearby have to suffer. Passing trains come with the territory. Parked trains don't.

On the other hand, if they can help it, the RR is usually very considerate if people complain. When stopping or parking at the RT112 Bridge in Buckland, MA we were always reminded to either lay back or pull ahead because of "the lady". If you bitch loud enough, people listen.

People in this case have the right to complain; 15 hours is too long. I'm sure most people living by that particular area are okay with trains coming and going but for a train to sit in one spot for 15 hours; to me it shows how "slow and terrible" (for the lack of a better term) Pan Am is, at running their business. With 15 hours to play with I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same crew that resumed after getting their sleep.

I really liked the first article that mentioned they had checked for excess carbon monoxide, and the tests were negative. For these Eiinsteins info, a diesel engine does not produce carbon monoxide, so...** HELLO**...there was none present when tested...yah, diesel fumes will make u sick and are considered a carcinogen, but you cannot get Carbon monoxide poisoning from them.....

work safe
derail

b&m617 wrote:I really liked the first article that mentioned they had checked for excess carbon monoxide, and the tests were negative. For these Eiinsteins info, a diesel engine does not produce carbon monoxide, so...** HELLO**...there was none present when tested...yah, diesel fumes will make u sick and are considered a carcinogen, but you cannot get Carbon monoxide poisoning from them.....

work safe
derail

Not quite true. A properly operating engine running at optimal loads does not produce CO, it produces CO2. If the fuel is not completely combusted in the cylinder, the result is CO. Black smoke is a sign of incomplete combustion, so CO producing engines are pretty common on Guilford. Granted these engines were off NS, so they probably were operating properly.

Somewhere I read the crew of one Southern Pacific local operating in Los Angeles chained their locomotive to the rail before taking a lunch break.
Maybe this chaining business should have been done in this case.

uhaul wrote:Somewhere I read the crew of one Southern Pacific local operating in Los Angeles chained their locomotive to the rail before taking a lunch break.
Maybe this chaining business should have been done in this case.

That may have been a state law. In NH you only have to chain unattended MOW equipment.