What if it Snows?

How on earth did they get that truck stopped?

 

Didn't get that sense from the article, they're just assuming W-M's intermodal operations.

 

Look up what brake temps occur during an emergency stop on your average sedan, it will surprise you.

 

Two, three weeks tops.

 

The engineers had to sit sideways when running short hood forward.

This made most engineers grumpy.

Shortly after I was released from training, my engineer came back into the office after checking out the power.

Big smile on his face, eyes wide with anticipation, he tells me, "The front one's a UP! It's not one of ours!"

I didn't know what that meant, so I just mirrored his enthusiasm. "Hey! That's awesome!"

We're twenty miles down the line when I finally ask him, "So, what's so special about this engine?"

He leans back, and looks over to me, still smiling.

"We're running short hood forward!"

"Yeah. So?"

"WHAT?!? Come over here, kid!"

So I do.

"Look at me, tell me what looks different."

"You're not sitting sideways with your back to the side window."

"Correct. What else?"

"You're not having to reach for controls, and looking like The Man Behind The Curtain in 'The Wizard of Oz'."

He laughs. "Exactly, kid." He gestures grandly at the controls. "THIS....is how a stand is SUPPOSED to be set up!"

I didn't stay long enough to be an engineer, but I tried hard to be a conductor who "wasn't a moron".

Also, Southern Railroad did the long hood forward for increased collision protection for the crew. Supposedly.

 

Getting escorted to a pad sucks when you are behind a Cummins that is doing a regen. At least I think that’s what it was doing. Stinky MF’er

 

First night? You always gonna have an escort?

 

Second night. Some pads have escorts and some don’t.

 

Well atleast you don’t have to worry about finding the pad.