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classictrains — Hours of Service I
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Published: 2008-07-10 23:59:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 2022; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 37
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Description
Some things never change. 12 hours are up and this Chicago Great Western freight led by a well used F3 sits at the train order signal in Broadview waiting for a new crew to take it the last few miles into Chicago.Related content
Comments: 24
You know, despite what many people say, I'm really fond of EMD's E and F units, even if the E units were disasters on wheels. Their styling was something that wasn't replicated before, and hasn't been since.
On the other note, it used to be frequent that I'd see crews on the interstate coal drags hogging out around Hays, but anymore, it's getting rare to see that. Either the dispatchers are getting good at getting crews down the line better, or they're getting slower at at.
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Every train tells a story! Cool shot! The logo reminds me of Lucky Strikes.
-YD
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Don... see Wiki: [link] I didn't know it but the CGW was once called the "Lucky Strike Route!"
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I knew it looked familiar but couldn't put my finger on it. You're right Don.
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As soon as I saw that I thought Luckys!
-YD
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Wait, this train sat there, waiting for 12 hours, or did I misunderstand something here? Either way, its still nice to see some good old F units
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No. What happens is that crews are allowed to work only 12 hours then they stop their trains and get to go to bed (or whatever). Sometimes this means the train sits where ever it is until a replacement crew can get there. Some times this is really bad and screws up the rails for a hundred miles or more each way since traffic may or may not be able to get around the crewless train. Dispatch is very aware of this and always tries to get a train to a safe spot before the crew "dies." Sometimes weather or wrecks get in the way and it takes days or weeks to get everything sorted out.
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Ah, thanks for the info, now I understand. It still makes me wonder what would happen if due to some reasons or circumstances, the 12 hours would be over when the train is just passing through a rather deserted and uninhabited area. Would that mean that the crew would be stranded in the middle of nowhere, not allowed to move the train? Or are there some other rules for such a situation?
What I've also wondered about is what kind of deadman's devices are used on trains in the US. As far as I've seen, the driver never seems to be alone in his cab, is this true, or is he allowed to operate the engine by himself?
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If 12 hours are up they stop... dead... period. Generally the crew and dispatch is smart enough to avoid it but it does happen. Then they just put their feet up and wait. It could be another train, or a hi-railer [link] that comes to the rescue if there isn't a highway nearby. In some cases (like Australia and on Amtrak long distance there may actually be a extra crew on the train [link] for example.
Yes there are one man crews, frequently on Metra for example [link] but there are other crew back in the passenger cars.
There used to be a deadman's pedal but it could be defeated by any convenient heavy object. Today there are sensors in all the controls. If something isn't touched or changed every (10 seconds I think) an alarm goes off and if the alarm sounds for more that a set interval the brakes are set. Then it gets real embarrassing for the guilty party.
You should subscribe to Trains magazine. There was just an article in there that talked about all this stuff and prompted me submit these pictures.
I wish was still active. He could answer all this better. Of course can too.
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Thanks for the explanation! Unfortunately, I'd probably don't have time to read everything that I want, so I'm actually thinking about cancelling some of my magazine subscriptions.
I think 10 seconds might be a bit short for German standards, though I don't really know how much the engineer has to to in the US, as around here, you often just cruise along at your top speed. At first, we also had a time sensor, that required you to push a pedal every 30 seconds, until there was an incident when a driver fell asleep and kept pushing the pedal... Nowadays, the system decides upon the intervals according to your speed, and I haven't heard of any accident due to a dead or unconscious driver (yet).
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You done good.
hit the nail right on the head. Any railroad employee who is connected to the running of trains, and this includes signal maintainers are covered under the hours of service act. This is a Federal Law that simply states that no one can willingly work past 12 hours of continuous service. When that happens, the crew in question stops the train, kicks back and waits an undetermined amount of time for a transport van to show up and get them off. This van may or may not contain a relief crew but if it does they get on and pick up where the other crew left off. The "dead" crew then transports to the final terminal and ties up. Then and only then does their rest period start and it should be 10 hours. After that time they are available for call to do it all over again.
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The real question is who is responsible for putting the crew on the law... Whenever a crew was close to hogging out on the mainline at KCS, the chief dispatcher would radio the crew and demand a blow-by-blow of their delays to check for any possible discrepancy that could be used as grounds for an investigation. Most of the time though, it boiled down to a combination of excessive slow-orders on insufficiently-maintained track, underpowered trains that could only make 10 MPH up Rich Mountain, and trains getting clustered because the chief dispatchers called them too close together. Standard practice still mandated blaming the most junior employee involved whenever possible.
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I was hoping this pair of pix would get some war stories! Thanks Hoyt.
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Oh, that would be a kicker, wouldn't it?
CGW is a new one to me - this is the first time I've seen one of their engines - thanks for sharing.
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Make sure you check out my Journal. I have an index there by RR of everything I've posted so far.
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I saw that - very helpful, thank you.
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Oh I wish. I don't know. Dereck might know.
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