Hi Rupert:
In all the Rule books before the current GCOR, there is a Rule #105. It
requires, among other things, that, on other than the main line, you move at
a speed that is variously called "yard speed" or "reduced speed". The Rule
means that you can go as fast as you want, within the overall limits of the
track/territory speed, as long as you are prepared to stop "short of train,
engine or other obstruction, looking out for switches not properly lined".
The new GCOR has added some other restrictions to their version (its got
some big long, legaleese style number....I still call it "Rule 105"),
including "prepared to stop within 1/2 the range of vision".
There might be local customs or rules regarding how many cars you can, or
will, push somewhere, but we back up whole coal trains in our Rule 105
tracks, which are essentially the mine leads.
The distance is pretty well determined by how far the end of the track is
from the main line, or how far the Conductor/Brakeman wants to hang on the
side of the last car (if there's a slave motor on the rear end, or the mine
will come get him in a pick-up, it's easier) :>) Last Fall, I backed part
of a coal train 17 miles on the mainline at night, from Pedro to MP 544,
after setting out a drawbar car. It took about 2 hours, and I stopped about
every half-hour for the Con. to rest his arms. We had to take it all the
way to Pedro because they were still cleaning up J.D. Wood's wreck at Clay
Spur so there weren't any East switches anymore on the back tracks there,
and the back tracks at Osage were full of track machines.
To avoid rude comments (BG) from Gary or others, I'll tell you how the train
came to be in two. I was stretching it down the sag East of Upton at 47
mph, in 8 throttle with 10 pounds set. Just as I was getting ready to kick
'em off and throttle down a couple notches, the train goes in Emergency. Oh
Shucks (or words to that effect..this is a family show), says I, how am I
gonna explain THIS on a break-in-two (report form)? Well, after we got back
from settin' out the car, I asked the Con. what was the percentage of old
break? I'm hopin' for at least 75%. He says, it ain't broke, it just fell
out and it's still coupled to the other car, (don't drop it on your foot
when you pull the pin, hee hee)........I'm Saved! What happened was, the
rotary drawbars have a pin through the spherical end, which is held up in
place by a clip on the bottom, somewhere the clip fell off. When the slack
ran in a touch at the bottom of the sag, the rotary pin fell out. When the
head end pulled away a little, the drawbar fell out. End of story.
Hope this helps.
Mike Decker
----- Original Message -----
From: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 19:48:19 +1300
From: "Rupert and Maureen" <gamlenz@i...>
Subject: Spur rules
Listers
Last month, there was a discussion regarding the usual practice of having
run-around tracks at the end of spurs servicing industries.
Where a run-around was not provided at the end of the spur, were there any
general rules as to the distance, speed or number of cars (i.e. total
length) which could be backed along a spur from a run-around location or the
main?
Rupert
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