choochooloco
The Dreaded Drawbar
Ask any dispatcher about hearing when a train on their territory has gone into the hole. The first question asked to the crew is "How is the air looking? Is it coming back up?"
When that answer is no, the conductor is off for a walk. In the meantime, the DS is making contingency plans for moving traffic. If the territory is single track, then nothing moves until the train in question is ready to roll.
Today, the freight train we were following has went into emergency. Luckily for us, we were just far enough behind him when I heard the emergency radio transmission.
Guessing that he may have a problem, I immediately began braking the train in order to stop prior to passing the next control point. This allows the dispatcher to cross us over and get around the stopped train. Needless to say, the DS was grateful for our proactive action as our train is loaded with UPS and Fedex.
It wasn't long after stopping that a signal popped up allowing us to cross over and use Main One to Archbold. We also received the customary instructions to pass the train in trouble at restricted speed.
As we were passing this monster freight train, I could see a gap approaching meaning the train was in two pieces. This is NEVER a good thing and can indicate one of three possibilities, 2 of which are not good.
The least of all problems is a pull apart, where for some unknown reason a knuckle on one car opens. This is easily rectified by just making the coupling again. In 26 years behind the throttle, this has happened to me just once.
Another cause for a train to be in two pieces is a knuckle failure. This generally occurs when the position of slack in a train is abruptly changed. Sometimes this could be the result of bad decisions by the engineer at the control stand. At other times, it could be a mechanical defect in the knuckle itself. Replacing a knuckle can be a chore and take time.
The absolute worst scenario for a train to be in two pieces is the dreaded drawbar. When a drawbar fails, the one and only option is to set the car out and allow it to be repaired in place at a future time. But when the drawbar fails on the end of the car in the direction of the train's movement, it's a whole new problem.
When this happens, the block truck has to be called. This crew does all sorts of heavy repairs. The truck is outfitted with everything necessary to complete the repair including a crane. If it is after normal work hours or the weekend, the block truck crew has to be called in. This can take time as you can imagine.
This morning is not turning out to be a good one for this crew or the dispatcher. The train is two pieces due to a drawbar. The drawbar occurred on the worst end possible. And yes, it is Saturday. Track two is shut down and the DS now has a single track portion of railroad toralling 25 miles which could last for hours.
I planned on stopping at the gap to drop off a knuckle to the other train's conductor. This would have been a great help to him. When we saw the drawbar missing, our hearts sank. Lucky for all of us, the portion of the train in emergency was able safely pass over the drawbar without derailing. The conductor in the picture is walking up after locating the drawbar underneath his train.
With nothing more to offer the freight train's conductor, we wished him luck and headed east. As an aside, I logged into the computer later that night to check on the train's progress and how things played out. It wasn't good.
The train was still in the same spot where passed it 9 hours earlier. The original crew was on duty for 14 hours and the recrew was maybe looking at a recrew.
Oh, the Dreaded Drawbar!
The Dreaded Drawbar
Ask any dispatcher about hearing when a train on their territory has gone into the hole. The first question asked to the crew is "How is the air looking? Is it coming back up?"
When that answer is no, the conductor is off for a walk. In the meantime, the DS is making contingency plans for moving traffic. If the territory is single track, then nothing moves until the train in question is ready to roll.
Today, the freight train we were following has went into emergency. Luckily for us, we were just far enough behind him when I heard the emergency radio transmission.
Guessing that he may have a problem, I immediately began braking the train in order to stop prior to passing the next control point. This allows the dispatcher to cross us over and get around the stopped train. Needless to say, the DS was grateful for our proactive action as our train is loaded with UPS and Fedex.
It wasn't long after stopping that a signal popped up allowing us to cross over and use Main One to Archbold. We also received the customary instructions to pass the train in trouble at restricted speed.
As we were passing this monster freight train, I could see a gap approaching meaning the train was in two pieces. This is NEVER a good thing and can indicate one of three possibilities, 2 of which are not good.
The least of all problems is a pull apart, where for some unknown reason a knuckle on one car opens. This is easily rectified by just making the coupling again. In 26 years behind the throttle, this has happened to me just once.
Another cause for a train to be in two pieces is a knuckle failure. This generally occurs when the position of slack in a train is abruptly changed. Sometimes this could be the result of bad decisions by the engineer at the control stand. At other times, it could be a mechanical defect in the knuckle itself. Replacing a knuckle can be a chore and take time.
The absolute worst scenario for a train to be in two pieces is the dreaded drawbar. When a drawbar fails, the one and only option is to set the car out and allow it to be repaired in place at a future time. But when the drawbar fails on the end of the car in the direction of the train's movement, it's a whole new problem.
When this happens, the block truck has to be called. This crew does all sorts of heavy repairs. The truck is outfitted with everything necessary to complete the repair including a crane. If it is after normal work hours or the weekend, the block truck crew has to be called in. This can take time as you can imagine.
This morning is not turning out to be a good one for this crew or the dispatcher. The train is two pieces due to a drawbar. The drawbar occurred on the worst end possible. And yes, it is Saturday. Track two is shut down and the DS now has a single track portion of railroad toralling 25 miles which could last for hours.
I planned on stopping at the gap to drop off a knuckle to the other train's conductor. This would have been a great help to him. When we saw the drawbar missing, our hearts sank. Lucky for all of us, the portion of the train in emergency was able safely pass over the drawbar without derailing. The conductor in the picture is walking up after locating the drawbar underneath his train.
With nothing more to offer the freight train's conductor, we wished him luck and headed east. As an aside, I logged into the computer later that night to check on the train's progress and how things played out. It wasn't good.
The train was still in the same spot where passed it 9 hours earlier. The original crew was on duty for 14 hours and the recrew was maybe looking at a recrew.
Oh, the Dreaded Drawbar!