“Unstoppable” was on TV this weekend. There is a scene in which Washington & Pine are moving their short train onto a siding as the runaway train approaches; their train is too long or too slow, and their last car is struck by the runaway locomotive at a very shallow angle. That car is violently shattered in the collision, but the runaway locomotive is utterly unaffected.
What’s the real deal? Is a locomotive in fact made of a kryptonite skin over an ultra-massive depleted uranium core? Or should we have expected the locomotive to sustain major frontal damage AND derail right then and there?
Hey, just thought of a question I’ve had. From time to time I see these rather odd railroad cars. They’re basically just… a sort of scaffolding in the middle of a car, with nothing else there. What in the world are these things?
I always thought that one of the big reasons that Steam was hard to come by on tourist lines is that (apart from it being difficult, and there being fewer working steam engines) is that insurance would be prohibitive. Did I make that up in my head, or is there any truth to that?
I have been derailed several times, all at slow speeds. It’s just, “thunk” and stop–not really scary. Most of the time it was on bad track in a yard, and once you jack the locomotive up, the rails would pop back under the wheels.
I thought they cleared the spur? I know there’s a scene in “Runaway Train” where the runaway blows through the rear car of a train going onto a siding. There’d be some damage to the locomotive, yes, but I doubt at that velocity you’d see a derailment. There were some old freight cars made out of wood (and some cabooses, too–which I think is what is hit in “Runaway Train,” so they’d come apart pretty easily.
Yeah, centerbeam flatcar for hauling wood.
Insurance is certainly expensive, but not impossible to get. It may just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back when it comes to finances, though.
How often did you have to deal with train-hoppers or stow-aways or whatever they are called? It seems that there is a small community of these people travelling the country for free. I saw a photo essay on a few and there was nothing romantic about them. How aggressively do security patrol the yards for these modern day hobos? At first glance it seems it wouldn’t be that hard to hop on a slow moving or stopped car but then I’ve never stood right next to a box car so maybe its tougher than it looks.
The train with all the kids did make it onto the siding before the runaway arrived, but Washington’s/Pine’s train was either too long, too slow, or both, and their last car was dangling onto the main track and got shattered by the runaway.
I very rarely had to deal with it. The railroad police in the yards watch the trains as they come in, and pull people off. There are still lots of train hoppers, though I think a lot of them are actually affluent people out for a thrill. There’s one company that takes white collar workers on ‘vacation’ hopping freights.
Normally they don’t ride in boxcars anymore; rather, they’ll climb in the cubbyhole at the end of a covered hopper, or ride in the wells of container cars–which have no floors, so it’s pretty dangerous. Occasionally we’d find one riding in a trailing locomotive cab, or in the cab of the DPU at the rear of the train. Depending, it’s possible to look the other way.
My boyfriend has flown jets, small airplanes, vintage cars, cruise ship, speed boats, motorcycles, wave runners, jet skis…and wishes to drive a train for a few minutes…the last thing on his bucket list…where could we go to have the opportunity to do this?..Mary
I just took the train to Quebec City from the Toronto area, and this got me wondering… When you take charge of a freight train, you get a list of what cargo is on it, right? Is this in general terms (car 37 contains chlorine, and car 39 has container # 2341Hx57 from OOCL), or is there a detailed list of the contents of each car, or does this even make a difference in many cases? (I mean, one car of gravel looks like another, and there are no serial numbers on gravel.?) do you get a list of the car ID numbers as well?
If you’re dropping off and picking up cars, presumably you get a list of things to do there as well; is there a rail equivalent of a flight plan that you or someone else has to file so that there is time and space on the main line for you to back in and out of it?
What happens when something goes wrong? Say, the train is held 30 min because of a malfunction. Do you lose your moving space on the line and then Rail Traffic Control has to scramble to get you through?
There are a few places spread through the country that offer “Engineer for a Day” programs. The Nevada Northern Railroad in Ely does it. Google that phrase and you should get a few hits.
The conductor has a manifest of the cars, with car numbers and whether they’re loaded or empty, as well as destination. There’s not a detailed list of contents except in the case of hazmat.
It depends on how the line is controlled. If it’s Centralized Traffic Control, then the dispatcher has the ability to put you on a siding or spur and let you do your work while other traffic runs around you. Or, if there isn’t traffic, he can grant you “ownership” of a certain stretch of track for a certain period of time.
Track warrants work basically the same way, in that the DS issues a track warrant to a certain train for a certain place and until a certain time–the DS is just not in direct control of your switches in those cases.
There’s no schedule, and the dispatcher is always watching where trains are, how fast they’re moving, which will overtake the other, etc. High priority trains can set a local aside for hours. It’s common for a low-priority train crew to spend all day sitting at a red signal only to be relieved when their 12 hours expire. It happens. Lots of the job is waiting, waiting, waiting.
If the main is fouled by a derailment or some such, the dispatchers will route other trains around it, using other railroads if needed (for a fee, of course.)
Great thread. I knew a guy who retired after 30 years as an engineer down around the Atlanta area – he said the only time he had some scared-pantsless experience was tripping over a few hobos in the cab in the dark.
From what he said, it can be at least 10 years waiting on the X board (well, that’s what he called it) – on call, every day, every hour until you get some seniority.
So, my only question for him and now you, is, when do you even get to go out and have a Miller Time? From what my friend said, at the time the regulation was 8 hours after drinking any adult beverage.
He also said he tried to counsel (maybe “mentor” is the high-class word) younger people to max out their 401K things, because he was thinking heavy rail couldn’t be relied on, necessarily, to pay out the retirement my friend got (he’s doing pretty damned good – has a beautiful home, is in his mid 60s and plays tennis everyday [eh, he uses hearing aids, but they seem like good ones!] – not bad for a guy who started out as a kid from a hog farm in the sticks).
So, he did say pretty much all heavy rail was a two-man show (conductor and engineer) – but you mentioned brakeman somewhere above. Maybe I’m confused but I’m pretty sure the fireman job is gone, but there are still brakemen (or women! I guess). Sort of like an assistant job, right?
Yes, that’s pretty much true. The “Extra Board” is for low-seniority people. Basically, when someone on the “Regular Board” wants to take vacation, is sick, unavailable, etc., they will call the first rested crew on the Extra Board to take his slot. And yes, a decade on the Extra Board is about right–you’ll work all holidays for sure, and just generally get the worst jobs (the ones the guys with seniority don’t bid on.)
Once you’ve had your 12 hours off, you’re on call from that minute on. Which means if you, say, get some sleep but no call comes, then you sit around all day watching football, if they call you 5 minutes after you go to bed, then you have to go. Sometimes the work is pretty predictable; other times not.
A social life? Of any kind? On the railroad? I laugh! Pretty much every engineer has been divorced because of his job. Missing births and whatnot is rough on the family. Anyway, the rulebook says you can’t be under the influence when you come in. I’m not really a drinker so that never was a problem for me–never thought much about it. I know some of the other guys would hit the bar as soon as they got off, but I’d rather have the sleep when it’s available.
Railroad Retirement (separate from Social Security) is pretty damn nice. But yes, anybody young would be well advised to put away money instead of relying on a pension later.
“Brakeman” nowadays is more of a job than it is a title. Generally the guy working as the brakeman would be a junior conductor. But yeah, 2-man show in the vast majority of cases.
