Dang Wes, how do you do anything else in your life?

Sunday must be a honeymoon with the wife followed by a quick run around the block in the cobra...just to keep a few things in perspective.

:D :D :D

Perfect example of what happens when a union controls the workplace...

Don't get me wrong, Wes...as much the fault of the RR industry as the unions' since they have always tried screwing around with the RR Act and agreed to the protocols.

I have similar situations in the milk processing industry due to the 24/7 nature of that business (except for the lack of lodging, etc.)...premiums atop of differentials, etc. Grievances over pay go on forever.

When i was growing up, we lived in central Florida, where the Florida East Coast ran. Their was a union strike in the early 60's and for years they had high railers run before each train, it was just a road vehicle with the train wheels attached, they used them because their were threats of sabotage by the union, they picketed for several years and it was never settled, to this day I believe they are still non union. I know in the 70's and later when most RR's were having it tough financially the FEC was making a profit.
My father in law worked their and was the person that developed the little box on the back of the train that replaced the caboose, he did that in the 70's.

Wes This sounds very complicated but I see how you accumulate the hours. I forgot that there would be no lunch hours or coffee breaks as all of your time on the train is counted as working hours.

Wayne

[quote=RAZOR;My father in law worked their and was the person that developed the little box on the back of the train that replaced the caboose, he did that in the 70's.[/QUOTE]


Hmm, i heard it came from Canada.And Cabooses weren't replaced with F.R.E.D.'s untill 1985.Anyways,here's a Locomotive with a turbo problem.

CobraBill, If their is anyway to check you will find that the FEC used them in the 70's

Yep-they did.They were the ones that reduced a 5 man crew to two.BUt Cabooses remained untill 1985.

Funny you should mention FEC, I used to make trips to the yard here in Jax to fix the mobile phone on the President's car. Typically the mechanics would fool around with the wiring in the battery box and tie the phone onto the 60v buss. Since it ran on 12v it didn't care for this much.%/

Any of you guys heard of Control Chief? I used to work on one of these at the Oxy chemical plant here. It was a remote control for a locomotive, Oxy used it in a 1949 GE loco that moved the cars under the feed hoppers at the plant. This thing was a major PIA to work on, especially if I had to work on the antennas which were mounted over the engine. Nothing like crawling over a huge desiel engine with 40 years of oil and soot built up.

I did get to drive the train a couple times which was fun.

They have remotes now.They use them for yard switching.Basically they are a joke.Remotes cut the "car count"by almost 50 %.But the railroads don't care.They use them to get rid of people.They treat employees like diseased cattle.

Ronbo, my father in law was head of the communications dept. on the FEC his office was in New Smyrna Beach. He retired in the mid 80's. I wonder if you ever met him since you did work for them. Most of big wigs, I believed worked out of St. Augustine.

Bill,

If they only use them to get rid of people your job should be safe for as long as you want it.

Ron :LOL: :LOL:

Ron,"step closer so i can smack you one".

Actually,the rail safety bill that Bush signed last year makes the conductors postion safe for the long term.THe RR's would like one craft in the cab(engineers)but part of the safety bill is requiring conductors to be certified every three years like the Hoggers are.They (the RR's) won't be able to get rid of a postion that was deemd so important that there needs to be certification.

Bill,

That is good news. At least you won't have to worry for sometime if everything goes well.

Ron :p

Only really worked with the mechanics that maintained the cars. The president's car was quite nice even though it was built in the 40's I think. The phone was a Motorola IMTS (pre-cellular days) and was leased through Southern Bell. They would dispatch us to repair the handfull of lease units in the area and we would bill Bell directly for the work.

.

Yep, FEC has a big fancy building on A1A in St. Augustine, I think it was also built in the 40's. There's another fancy building in downtown Jax that I think was built for Norfalk-Southern. (lots of brass, oak and marble)

Bill,

I just layed off for recertification Monday morning. Probably would have made it back in time to be rested by 0745, but my Road Foreman said not to take a chance.

We do have RCO (Remote Control Operation) in our yard but during busy times, the company reverts back to quicker full crew operation, with an on-board engineer, to get the necessary work done without gridlocking other yard movements.

When I review all the experimental things the company has proven, and temporarily(?) shelved, the GPS, the auto signal recognition, the electric brakes, removing crossings, the "Quiet Zone" no-liability campaign, Distributed Power with built-in remote inherent in each locomotive, and several other items, I think that maybe conductors may stay with the train, but on-board engineers may be history. If a train can be run from over a mile away, it can be run from New Dehli or wherever. Also note, the effort was made to include remote road-engine rights in our last BLET contract. I do also have conductor rights, but don't expect this to take place while I'm yet there anyway. Of course the RCO yard operation a few years ago was a rude and sudden surprise. Nobody had a clue here and you know rumors fly in these ranks.

Semi-automating general movement by remote source, with multiple safety back-ups, may allow operation with only a RCO qualified conductor aboard to make occasional repairs. I imagine train movement for a knuckle replacement or bad-order setout could be done by temporarily converting to beltpack control. In the public safety eye, it would be easier to drop only engineers first, then eventually all crew in the future. Voila, giant unmanned conveyer belt.

I did hear a rumor that the Sept 12-08 one man head-on near LA gave cause for the FRA to stiffen their stance regarding avoiding one man crews. It was popularly blamed on phone-texting by corporate but there was some doubt cast since the engineer never bothered to apply brakes and had several personal problems.

Wes

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Wes & Bill,

I have a question. The railroad runs about 3/4ths of a mile from my house and every once in a while I will hear a train go by with a wheel bearing screaming so loud that you can hear it all the way up into the canyons. Now I know from my uncle that used to work on the railroad that they can seize and cause problems. But the nearest rail yards that I am aware of are in Roseville, several miles South of here and I am not sure if there is one this side of Portland or not. So what happens if one of those bearings does seize while out in the canyons?

Ron :confused:

What you are probably hearing is a flange dragging. The trucks on the railcars are connected pivot-wise to the spine frame by a bolster pin. It is similar to a fifth wheel on a truck/trailer and the term may even be derived from such, 4 wheel bearings and a fifth bearing bolster. A lot of our language came from early rail terms.

Often the pin is not well lubed causing the truck wheels to resist steering. This causes the wheel flange to drag on the side of the rail during any small curvature. Normally the wheel faces are slightly tapered to cause them to seek center on the pair of rails. The flange is only to prevent derailment when the self-centering fails. In extreme cases, the flange climbs the rail and a derailment does result.

Old cars are harder to pull because of worn, dry pins and worn wheel taper. An engineer familiar with his territory knows this because a greater throttle notch (for the weight) than normal is required. It is always a concern whether some sticking brakes are dragging or flanges drag around curves. Curves are the key, since the drag is worse. Sticking brakes also pull hard in a straight line.

If a wheel bearing is actually squealing, check your trusty American Flag to observe wind direction. All the worst stuff in the world goes by rail. If you see a cloud, you will know which way to go. That's do what we do. Run. Sure, we are supposed to be ready to furnish the Hazmat Response Team info on what-is-where on the train, but we may be faced with carrying our light coffee thermos as opposed to the heavy paperwork.

Experienced teams know we will be on an upwind hill about 2 or more miles away. That is if they can find us. Our new portable radios no longer reach 2 miles, not even a train-length. Maybe on a hill away from metal. Then we could tell them where the paperwork is. Or was ...in case of locomotive fire. All this is pre-planned by government agencies as well as they do for hurricanes.

Your house is three quarter mile away? Have you considered investing in some handy bed-side gas masks and rubber suits? Me either. I live less than a half mile away.

Wes

...

I was just curious as to how far they could go with that kind of noise.The track that goes past here is straight for about 1 mile and then it goes into the canyons and starts all of the curves. Dunsmuir, several miles North of here is famous for the derailments there and a few years ago a tank car dumped its load into the river and killed everything for miles from there to the lake. Even the trees along the river died for about 20' back and are just now starting to show signs of growing back some brush and grass.

Ron

Oh. Quite a ways, depending.

Bearings squeal or more likely buzz, but not for long; 100 miles max maybe before getting caught. The railcar may be set out earlier if someone notes the problem on a roll-by inspection or a track-side hotbox detector alarm goes off. Forum members note that checking bearings on a car trailer, or camper, for uneven warmth is also a good idea, along with tire heat. When friction goes up, so does heat. Bearings or tires seldom quit suddenly.

Locomotive wheels squeal on a hard pull as well as sticky car brakes squealing/squawking. Flanges squeal more on very slight curvature, than sharp, where they usually pop into alignment. Flanges eventually get thin and short, a concern. Rails wear more in a curve because one wheel turns faster than the other and some flanges always rub. Curves sometimes have flange lube added that cause locomotive slippage when overdone, but extend track ball life when done right.

I was going to make this a short post with just the first paragraph.
I can't help myself. Help! I've sat down and can't get up. :LOL:

Wes

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:3DSMILE:

Wes,

What you meant to say is that trains are noisy by nature. That I understand, but the continual derailments at Dunsmuir are a real threat to the environment and no one really seems to worry abut it until another one happens. And we are well over due now.

Ron :eek: