by Liquidcamphor
The mishap was due to an Engineer Trainee missing a handsign to stop. The actual Engineer wasn't operating the train. In fairness to him, he was a great guy to be a trainee with because he would always let you run and be involved. Some guys won't let you do anything. The Condr/Brakemen are seasoned guys and actually pretty nice guys so I hope the outcome for them is very light. The Engineer is responsible for the trainee and unfortunately will and I guess should "hold the bag" on this.
Now comes the typical nonsense that always follows these incidents. The "he said/she said" syndrome where one guy swears he gave a sign to stop the other swears he didn't..at the end of the day you hope everyone kisses and makes up.
On complicated moves like that, in the past some Conductors would ask the Engineer himself do the move. I always acquiesce to a request like that as long as I was asked in a respectful way. Let's face it, you guys are a team and you have to work together. The downside to not letting a trainee run is that in a very short time, that trainee will be the Engineer and have no experience making a move like that and now it's a problem. To accomidate a trainee, some Condrs would take it slower or cut away most of the cars to make the moves easier so that the guy could get some running experience, which was very nice of them.
As far as the LIRR desiring NYAR to offload the new cars, I disagree with that because the freight transfer agreement prohibits NYAR from handling LIRR shipments. When NYAR first came about, they were bringing LIRR ballast trains to Holban and Sayville. This was stopped by the unions because the LIRR was violating agreements doing what they were doing. Misshaps in train yards have been happening for over a century and occur all over the Country so what would make the LIRR any different that they would hire another railroad to do what they can do themselves.
Now comes the typical nonsense that always follows these incidents. The "he said/she said" syndrome where one guy swears he gave a sign to stop the other swears he didn't..at the end of the day you hope everyone kisses and makes up.
On complicated moves like that, in the past some Conductors would ask the Engineer himself do the move. I always acquiesce to a request like that as long as I was asked in a respectful way. Let's face it, you guys are a team and you have to work together. The downside to not letting a trainee run is that in a very short time, that trainee will be the Engineer and have no experience making a move like that and now it's a problem. To accomidate a trainee, some Condrs would take it slower or cut away most of the cars to make the moves easier so that the guy could get some running experience, which was very nice of them.
As far as the LIRR desiring NYAR to offload the new cars, I disagree with that because the freight transfer agreement prohibits NYAR from handling LIRR shipments. When NYAR first came about, they were bringing LIRR ballast trains to Holban and Sayville. This was stopped by the unions because the LIRR was violating agreements doing what they were doing. Misshaps in train yards have been happening for over a century and occur all over the Country so what would make the LIRR any different that they would hire another railroad to do what they can do themselves.
I love how the news overlooks the most important thing here, WE'RE IN WYANDANCH!! Any questions??