Do train drivers ever get lost?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

Regarding the side-query in this article, “Do train drivers ever get lost?” the answer (at least for rapid transit / commuter systems) is definitely “yes”. Depending on the system, it is either the operator’s / engineer’s (job titles vary) job to select the route or a dispatcher / the system will set it for them. But in either case it is still the responsibility of the person in the cab to reject improper routes. Let me give you two examples I’m familiar with:

NYC Transit (subway) - some years ago, most of the still-attended “towers” that control switching trains between tracks were put on full automatic. Previously these might have been attended full-time, or during rush hours. There were button boxes reachable from the cab window when the train is stopped in the station, and by pressing the appropriate button, the train operator would signal the tower operator what routing was desired and the tower would set it. The operator would then confirm by looking at the signal(s), often accompanied by a helpful chart on the wall (well, helpful when it wasn’t obscured by grime). When these towers went to full automatic, the buttons directly controlled the switching system with no human intervention. After a few unfortunate mis-routings, big signs saying “What you punch is what you get” started showing up at many of the more common problem areas. (Picture - not mine, big).

On PATH (interstate commuter rail) route selection is done by the towers / dispatchers and the engineer has no control over it, but as I mentioned above, is still expected to stop, not proceed, and radio in if there’s a wrong line-up set. Missing a bad line-up will have varying penalties depending on the time of day, how long it was before the engineer radioed in / how much of the train got past, and the mood of management. Two cases I experienced in person - during the overnight shift, service changes from direct Journal Square / 33rd St to include a trip into Hoboken and back out in the middle. Nobody’s ever completely sure what happens during the change-over until the paper orders come out that afternoon, as it depends on construction, etc. One night I wound up being on the first train that would have the added piece to Hoboken. The line-up was set showing we were going direct to Journal Square, and I figured the engineer would catch it in time and call it in. He didn’t. He radioed in and said he’d taken a wrong line-up. Control asked him how far he got into it, and he replied “about 3 feet”. They told him “back it up and we’ll try it again”. For the uninitiated, 3 feet past the signal still has the front truck (wheels) of the train well back from the moving part of the switch. If the front truck had gone through the switch, it would have been a much bigger fuss. The engineer later told me he’d just received some friendly reinstruction and didn’t get any penalties.

The second case was a bit more extreme - it was a few months after the WTC station re-opened (so everybody should have been used to the signal now showing whether you were headed to Newport (and then to Hoboken or 33rd) or Exchange Place (and then to the WTC). I was on a train allegedly heading for 33rd and wasn’t paying a lot of attention (there was the usual crowd of people around the front window and end door). I happened to look up and saw a LED timer signal (yellow) go by, and I thought to myself “that’s odd - there’s only one LED signal in the midtown service, and it is past the next stop”. I thought that they might have been continuing to replace the old incandescent ones with LEDs, and so didn’t get overly concerned. Then I saw we were approaching the Exchange Place interlocking, which meant we were definitely in the wrong place. After double-checking the destination signs (which indeed said 33, not WTC) to make sure I wasn’t on the wrong train, I worked my way through the crowd and knocked on the engineer’s cab and yelled “wrong lineup!” The engineer brought the train to a stop and opened the cab door, presumably expecting a fellow employee and not a regular passenger. I said “You’re going to 33rd, right?” and she replied “Yes”. I asked “What’s the next stop?” and she correctly answered “Pavonia / Newport”. I then pointed out the cab window and said she was approaching Exchange Place. She was flabbergasted and didn’t know how that could have happened. She radioed in that she’d taken a wrong lineup, and Control did the usual “how far into it did you get?” She sheepishly replied that she was just approaching the next station. After a curt “Stand By” (presumably followed by some swearing by Control), they told her to run through Exchange Place / WTC / Exchange Place without stopping, and then they’d route her to Newport which was supposed to be our next stop.

When we finally got to 33rd, I told her I’d written a statement and she should hand it in with everything else. I was limited to reporting the facts - she didn’t have anyone else in the cab with her and didn’t appear distracted (either confused or by wearing headphones / having a newspaper) when she opened the cab door.

She thanked me, but I never saw her again. I’m told she left PATH rather than take a demotion back to her prior [job] title.

2

Interesting, thanks for the comments.

When that email came in (I handle the mail), I had been reading the Golden Book “Tootles” to our granddaughter, about a train engine that leaves the tracks to go play in the meadow, so had a very different interp of “getting lost.”

3

The original poster discusses the circumstances with regards to transit systems. I can attest that main-line freight and passenger railroads can be susceptible to the same situation.

Engineers have long been trained to “learn the road” of the route on which they are expected to operate; this is done by repeated rides over the line in a training capacity. Being properly familiar with a line is typically called “being qualified” for a route. The need for this is twofold: First, railroad lines do not have signs along the track telling the crews of curves, grades, etc. ahead (although they typically can and do have mileposts and signs advising of speed restrictions, and may have signals advising them as needed of trains ahead, switches set for sidings or diverging routes, etc.). Second, trains are notoriously difficult to control in typical circumstances. It normally takes several thousand feet, or a mile or two, and a minute at least, to make a proper change of speed; in an utter emergency a fully loaded freight train can take a couple thousand feet to come to a full stop, at a risk of derailment from jack-knifing. Certain stretches of track, such as a steep grade, may also have a multitude of specific and detailed handling instructions.

Given all this, even an experienced engineer can screw up. I personally witnessed in 1984 an Amtrak engineer on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor simply plumb forget that he was on the one train that stopped northbound daily at Newark, Delaware (then little more than a platform, seeing one Amtrak train each way a day stop), and he blew through the station, brakes smoking as he remembered too late that he was supposed to stop. His attempt to decelerate from 120 MPH to zero in a half-mile was woefully unsuccessful, I (taking railroad photos) was awash in brake smoke, and he stopped about a thousand feet up the track. I could hear on my railroad radio the conversation with the dispatcher as to whether to back up the train, as he was right up on the signal. They finally realized the only thing to do was to keep this train running on to Wilmington and stop the next train through, the Florida-NYC Silver Meteor, to pick up the couple passengers waiting for the ride north. I took it upon myself to update the passengers who had just been “blown off”.

A more catastrophic case: On January 23, 1956, Norfolk & Western Railway 4-8-4 611 derailed along the Tug Fork River near Cedar, West Virginia while pulling the Pocahontas. The accident was attributed to the engineer simply forgetting exactly where he was on the winding, well-curved line, basically losing count of the curves and entering a sharp curve at such excessive speed that the loco managed to flip completely over the adjacent track before sliding down the embankment and river bank. Photo: NWHS NW10173-Photo

4

So… maybe… they should invest in a few signs.

5

They have signs at various places. Speed limit signs approaching permanent speed restriction sections, identification signs at sidings/signals/waypoints, temporary signs approaching temporary speed restrictions (track repairs, etc.) and “R” signs telling them they can resume normal speed, etc. There are also mileposts along the right-of-way telling them exactly where they are, just like the ones you might see along many interstate highways.

But the examples I cited of engineers “getting lost” are very, very much the exception. Train crews are supposed to be extremely familiar with their routes, just like bus drivers should know their runs and police officers their “beats.” A school bus driver doesn’t decide in the middle of their run to take a trip over to the mall, grocery store, or car dealer. Similarly, not only won’t a train operator decide in the middle of a run to the coal mine to try out that new diner, they physically CAN’T. So, such signs exist only as a precautionary reminder, not as necessary guidance.