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Re: (erielack) Speaking of radios & Speed Signs on the..... SOUTHERN

Speaking of speed signs......Speed signs are a great help - especially 
nowadays when engineers are required to run much further than the 100 mile 
day. Years ago, it was possible to have the railroad in your head like a 
videotape. Scranton to Hoboken on the former DL&W was app 120 miles (via the 
cutoff), Scranton/Hornell about 150 or so. You had a clear picture of the 
road, curves, crossings & other little peculiarities in your head. 
Binghamton to Syracuse on the DL&Ws Syracuse Division was about 80 miles. No 
problemo - I can still take you there in my head.

Now lets look at Amtraks' Zone 5 - Washington-Florence, S.C.. In the 80s, 
this involved RULEBOOKS of the Washington Terminal Co., then when you 
crossed the bridge over the Potomac River you entered the territory of the 
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad (different rulebook), then when 
you left Richmond S/B, you entered the territory of the CSX (former ACL)RR. 
Not only was it over 300 miles of territory to (try &) remember, but 3 
DIFFERENT SETS OF RULES.  Kind of like the old kids game - SIMON SAYS.   
OOPS, THAT INTERPRETATION OF THE RESTRICTED SIGNAL APPLIED TO THE RF&P..YOU 
FORGOT YOU'RE ON THE CSX....HA HA- YOU"RE OUT OF SERVICE!
For those of us from a railroad like the former DL&W which had long had a 
grade crossing elimination program, it was even more fun running at 79 mph 
through the hot Southern nights past lines of freight cars in a siding 
blocking any view of a log truck approaching the 2 lane road with no 
flashers or gate......just crossbucks...what fun!!

All this pales compared to getting called for 19 & 20 (The CRESCENT). With 
the Norfolk Southern Road Foreman in the cab advice came forth  like "This's 
a 50 mile per hour curve, Walt, better take some air." "OK, yew can get back 
to track speed", "Got a 45 mph speed restriction here". I asked where the 
'diamond boards' were to show speed restrictions. "We don't have any on the 
Southern, you just got to know the road." This appalled me........at least 
the CSX whatever their other shortcomings, had diamond boards showing the 
speed at all speed restrictions. A few minutes later came this gem....."Oh 
yeah, this's where the Crescent wrecked back in 72 (or whatever)... the 
engineer forgot where he was & entered this 40 mile per hour curve at 70 & 
turned over." I felt this was not the time to mention the lack of speed 
boards on the good, ol' SOUTHERN, but resolved to avoid 19 & 20 if possible. 
Keep in mind that this is the very line where OLD 97 left the rails on a 
curving trestle giving birth to song & legend (but not necessarily good 
operating practice).

Now imagine working one of the jobs that has you down to South Carolina one 
day & back the next then the following day working 29 & 30 the Capitol 
Limited on the former B&O. This railroad was one of the first built in this 
country & it shows it with all the curves, grades, tunnels, etc from 
Washington, DC to Pittsburgh, Pa. With all the curves & grades, there were 
speed changes almost every mile in some sections in the mountains. The book 
you were given to learn all the speeds looked like an encyclopedia. I 
finally xeroxed the speeds in order & stapled them together (9 sheets)
& fastened them to the control stand with a magnet turning them over as we 
went up the road.
To add to the fun, a railroad like this needs lots of maintainance so you 
might gat 30 or 40 orders Eastbound, but these might only apply to track 2 
(the Eastbound maintrack) as you went along, the Dispatcher might switch you 
over to run on track 1 at Patterson Creek tower (Just East of Cumberland, 
Md.). Now you gotta look through all the trainorders to see which apply to 
track 1.
Can you see the infinite possibilities for screw-ups here???? HMMMM. Are we 
having fun yet???
I worked with a great group of engineers, many of them with years of 
experience on the ACL, B&O, & RF&P, but they all said "EVERYBODY gets in 
trouble on the B&O side, no matter how good you are." My final run over the 
B&O was in 1988 & on that trip, we got over 80 trainorders Eastbound. I 
carried them into Al Scalas' (Supt.) office & said "It's just too much , 
Al."
I like to think I'm as knowledgable as most, but it seemed that being in 
combat & the more you exposed yourself, the more you were likely to get in 
trouble. When I was in the Air Force, the fighter pilots used to talk this 
way..........now I understand how they felt. I guess the best thing is not 
to think about it.
Any comments, feel free to email me.
Regards to all,
Walter E. Smith


>From: Steven Kay <s.kay4_@_verizon.net>
>Reply-To: Steven Kay <s.kay4_@_verizon.net>
>To: Janet & Randy Brown <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>,        
>"RJFlei_@_aol.com" <erielack@lists.railfan.net>
>Subject: Re: (erielack) Speaking of radios & Speed Signs
>Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 16:52:20 -0400
>
>If the sign is a "last ditch reminder" then the engineer should not be
>running trains. Technology is fine but only as a backup to a well trained,
>well rested engineer. Too much technology CAN be a distraction. Reckless or
>stupid engineers should be fired.
>
>Steve
>--
>The railroad's best safety device
>Is a well trained, well rested engineer
>www.ble272.org
>
>
>
>On 4/25/05 3:01 PM, "Janet & Randy Brown" <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>
>wrote:
>
> > Last ditch?  :/
> >
> > Randy Brown
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Bob,
> >
> >  I see your point that the signs could easily be out of date, 
>particularly if
> > superelevation were changed.  Still, as with this morning's Japanese
> > catastrophe where 50+ people were killed--and the engineer was thought 
>to have
> > been doing 75 mph+ on a 45 mph curve (he was late and making up time) 
>--I'm
> > wondering if the signs aren't a good last-ditch reminder. . .
> > Chuck
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
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>
>
>
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