Until recently there was NO rule against climbing aboard or stepping down
from moving equipment, whether locomotive, freight or caboose. THat crew in
Aurora was just practicing good RRing. Indeed when I was a Safety Mgr with
C&NW in the 70's/80's a significant part of the time spent training new-hire
brakemen was how to safely board & drop off moving equipment - done
properly, as with any skill, it's simple & effective. Further trainmasters
would get after crews that slowed down too much or stopped unnecessarily,
especially when 'running to a switch'. When you had a drag freight the last
thing an engineer wanted to do, diesel or steam, was to come to a complete
stop for obvious reasons. C&NW's biggest crew change point was Clinton and
both front & head end got on/off on the fly, especially with the Falcons -
the hot C&NW/UP pigs. (Getting on & off on the Ore Div [Escanaba, MI] was a
bit tricky though due to higher steps on the big Alco's and the tac pellets
that were like marbles!) Same would have been true with the Q & later BN.
I know UP changed the rule to forbid the practice recently but cannot
comment on other RR's except that at least our local ICE (ex-I-M Rail
Link/Milw) line still gets off/on moving equipment. UP's rationale was a
few injuries but given the change in industry in general re: bending over
backwards to prevent injury potential, that's no surprise.
The fun thing, as it was so much easier, was boarding cabooses due to the
unique design of the curved handrail - even an overweight conductor, with a
big grip in one hand and a lantern on his other wrist, would hop like a
ballerina by using that curved handrail to virtually pull him up to the
steps. I was as amazed the 1st time I tried it just as I was the 1st time I
threw a tight spiral with a football. As for injuries - we had as many from
men stepping off standing equipment because then they let their guard down &
get careless & don't look where they are stepping. Even had a fellow
Safety Mgr, Pete Birgelese, break his leg getting off a standing caboose!
(& 6 mos. later he was a Trainmaster!) Gerald
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