Mike
Yes aren't the rule neat.
One nite as a train dispatcher under full crew(4-5 men) and waycars working the
C&I(Aurora-St.Croix Tower) up on the double track along the Mississippi I had a
southbound train pull a lung and drop it between the rails. It was on a flat
car and when the car rolled over it it punched up thru the deck. The car came
to rest still on the rails and parked between the switches of a center siding.
Flags were placed and the engines ran around the train pulled it back and put
the train together. The only order I had to put out was that the mainline was
out of service and the center siding would be used as the Eastward Main. The
train crew did all the work just like they were getting paid to do.
The C&I job now with computers and track warrants takes 3 guys to do the same
job.
For every step we take forward in progress we take two steps backwards
Steve Holding
Started as a train dispatcher Feb.14, 1974
Mike Decker wrote:
> 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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