Reply sent to Mr. Santucci after getting this e-mail story from him.
He sends out regular stories to a list of people that I'm fortunate to be a part of.
Generally they are trip reports of his adventures on the rails.
Tuch,
This has got to be one of the best I've read. At the time these incidents were not funny but I couldn't help but chuckle reading it.
I belong to a Michigan based railfan site and I would love to take at least one of the incidents and post it for their ammusement. The site is railroadfan.com
Please let me know if this would be OK, if not no problem. There is a BNSF conductor and a CSX engineer that are members and this would probably trigger stories from them.
Regards
Aleks (aka. chessie_system.com) up here in Ontario
You may post this. Just be sure to include the copyright notice at the bottom and include the "Used with permission" statement. Also, you may not edit it all; it must appear as written.
Tuch
The following is posted with the permission of Mr Santucci.
Hot Times on the High Iron for 16 January 06
This time we do another study in cranial rectal inversion.
Welcome to 2006 and yet another year of fun and games on the high iron. I hope your entry into this New Year was festive and without problems or troubles. And here is also hoping that 2006 will indeed be a safe and healthy one for all of you.
And now, on with the show.
As long as there are railroads, as long as they employ the use of large equipment on steel wheels rolling on steel rail and as long as there is a human factor involved, things will go wrong. There are times when episodes occur they are beyond the control of man. But in some cases it is human error that creates such problems. That momentary lack of good judgment, known in the medical field as cranial rectal inversion, can really wreak havoc on the operation. Today’s lesson will focus on the human aspect and that brief bought of CRI. And in continuing with our long established policy, no names, locations or railroads will be revealed to protect the guilty.
The guilty you say? Yes, the guilty. Those involved suffered from that momentary lapse of good judgment and failed to adhere closely to rules and proper procedures. As a result, things of their letdown, things went horribly wrong.
The first episode involves a brand new track that was placed into service at an industry. This particular industry had expanded considerably and needed the additional track to support the increase in the amount of cars they would be loading. There was a bulletin posted that placed this new track into service and the bulletin included the amount of cars this track would hold. The bulletin clearly stated twenty-five cars. Everything aspect that needed to be covered was included in this bulletin and appeared to be right according to the plan.
So here comes the first crew to spot cars on this new track shortly after it was placed into service. The Conductor opted not to ride the cars in as he figured they would all it fit no problem. He made two serious errors in judgment here though; he assumed (and we all know what happens when you assume) that the track would actually hold more cars than what the bulletin stated. He also assumed that the powers that be intentionally indicated the track was shorter on purpose so that there would be some “bumping room” at the end of the track if one shoved them in a bit too far.
Bad, very bad.
So this Conductor, thinking he knows better, decides to shove twenty-seven cars into this new track, positive they would fit and positive that he need not ride them in to protect this shove. The Engineer is shoving away and when told he needed two cars to the stop, he felt the slack run in hard and then had the cut go into emergency. This is never, ever a good thing.
He could not get the air to come back up when he recovered the emergency application so the Conductor had to take a walk. When he got close to the end of the cut, he discovered what the problem was; two cars too many in the track. Twenty-five cars as stated in the bulletin was correct, the Conductor’s assumption was incorrect. The extra cars had rolled off the end of the track and then turned over onto their sides. Yes kids, this was indeed, horribly wrong. There was no bumper post or skates placed at the end of the track to stop, or at least attempt to stop the cars from running off the end, so there was no resistance here and the cars came off quite easily. Hulcher had to be summoned to pick up the cars and place them back onto the rails. And of course, there was damage to the cars that had to be repaired. All of this cost lots of money.
“Splain this one to me Lucy!”
Another case of attempting to stuff ten pounds into a five pound container was also quite interesting. This Conductor also took the easy way out and assumed (again with the assume thing) that the track he was shoving cars into would hold them all. He chose not to head back there and protect the shove as there were already quite a few cars in this particular track and he didn’t want to walk that far. So away they go.
Again, the cut goes into emergency and the movement comes quickly to a stop. Oh no! Upon further review, it is discovered that yet again, there were more cars than railroad to put ‘em. He shoved a couple of cars off the end of the track but didn’t turn them over. He did tear up the cars just the same though as both sets of trucks under the one car were ripped out and one set of trucks from the other car was also ripped out. So they would need the boys with the big yellow toys from Hulcher to pick up the trucks and wheels, set them back on the rails and then set the cars back on top of them. Again, this costs lots of money.
The best part of this episode was the excuse. There was no bumper post or skates at the end of this track. About a hundred feet or so before the end of the rails, there was a red flag. The rules clearly state that you cannot pass a red flag placed in between the rails when it is yard track; you must stop short. This guy’s excuse for the mishap was that the red flag was not in place. I guess he figured that if this red flag was in place, it would have somehow, magically brought the cut to a stop before the cars rolled off the rail. And if it was not in place and the cars rolled off the end of the track, it would not be his fault.
Wrong!
This very same Conductor, just a few months later, attempted to bring a multilevel auto rack under a bridge that was too low to accommodate the extended height car. He walked right past this very car two times when performing the air test on it and failed to notice it. These cars are almost impossible to miss, but he somehow managed to overlook it. Or perhaps in his case, under look it. When they ran this high car under the low bridge, the roof of the car was removed and the motor vehicles within were instantly transformed into convertibles. Needless to say, these two incidents provided him with an extended unpaid vacation.
Still another situation of the cup runneth over occurred within the confines of an industry. The Conductor was shoving a large amount of cars into a clear track without riding the leading car of the cut in to protect the move. The Brakeman questioned the Conductors’ judgment owing to the large amount of cars involved. The Conductor insisted there was more than enough room and that he didn’t need to protect the point. So they went on with the shove.
The Engineer reported that the cut suddenly got incredibly hard to shove and he brought the move to a stop. The Conductor walked down to the end of the cut to investigate. He quickly discovered the really, really bad news. Not only had they shoved off the end of the track, they shoved completely through not one, nor two but three, yes count ‘em friends and neighbors, three trailers destroying them all. At the end of the track was an asphalt pad so the cars continued to roll without digging into the earth or turning over on their sides. There was no air on the cut (no air brakes cut in) as they were switching these cars out to line them up to spot within this industry. As a result, there was no emergency brake application, just the resistance of the flanges of the wheels starting to dig into the pavement and cut through the trailers.
While there was no kind of hazardous material situation involved here, you know this was going to cost some money just the same though. Trailers are not cheap and of course, there was plenty of damage to the cars involved.
The Conductor was fired for this one. The Brakeman was given fifteen days off for the episode. When he protested the discipline claiming that he was at the switch and that he even questioned the Conductor’s decision, or perhaps sanity, the response was, “You’re getting fifteen days for being foolish enough to allow this Conductor to do something so stupid.”
I guess this would be that guilt by association thing.
In another episode at yet another location, the Brakeman on the job was supposed to couple onto one car. He was doubling a cut of about twenty-five cars or so to this single car and was supposed to cut the air into it. When this chore was completed, they were supposed to shove back far enough for this guy to catch the rear engine and then ride up to double all of this to yet another track at the far end of the yard. It was quite cold, bitter cold to be exact and this back up move was being done to give him a chance to warm up before completing the rest of the work.
Instead of placing himself right at the coupling, he did the AT&T thing and tried to make a long distance connection. He decided that he would make this long distance tie, drag the car up to the other end of the yard, make the last double and then cut the air into it. Once again, a really bad choice; CRI was setting in.
Unbeknownst to him, the coupling did not make. He failed to have the Engineer stretch the cut ahead to assure he had indeed successfully make the coupling. Instead he just assumed the coupling had made and had the Engineer bring the cut back, he caught the rear engine and then had him pull down to the other end. Once again, that assume thing. The only problem was that very last car was not coming with them when they pulled the other direction and nobody was there to notice. But wait, there’s more and it only gets worse. Not only was this car not coming with them, it continued to roll in the opposite direction; the direction they were shoving when our hero had the Engineer back up. This lonesome car decided to take a little journey all on its own. The track they were shoving was a descending grade that leads directly into an industry.
The lonesome and now free rolling car rolled down the hill and plowed directly into a trailer that was parked on the tracks. This track ran along side of a loading dock where trailers were routinely spotted. Normally when working the industry, all the trailers would be pulled from their spots first to allow rail movements to get through. Being that this job was not working the industry at this time; the trailers were in place and on spot. This single car plowed right into the trailer demolishing it. Fortunately, there was nobody inside loading or unloading the trailer so if nothing else, they were fortunate from this aspect.
Needless to say, this and several other episodes resulted in this Brakeman making an early exit from the rail industry. He will never return. Well, at least to this particular railroad anyway as the law board upheld his dismissal.
Good bye and good riddance.
Once again, I save the best for last. Two points that make this one so interesting; I was involved but wasn’t the cause or at fault of this episode and I did not get disciplined over the event.
I was working an industry switcher and going about the business of servicing some customers. We were switching this one particular industry when our mishap occurred. I was given the signal to pull a cut of cars out of the building. We had a hold of seven boxcars, the first six were empties and the rear one was a load. These cars would all come out and be replaced with six loaded cars to be spotted inside of the building.
Now the rules very clearly state that before moving any cars from an industry you must positively ascertain that all connections, hoses, piping, ramps and any blocking devices used to hold the cars in place are removed BEFORE you move the car or cars. More than once over the years somebody has neglected to follow this rule and all sorts of awful things then transpired. This episode will clearly demonstrate the purpose for the rules.
I start pulling the cut out of the building. The track used to access this industry is not the best in the world, so I am not going very fast, maybe 5 MPH. I had two locomotives and the seven cars I previously mentioned. I am working the cut out of the building when all of a sudden I hear the voice of my Conductor yell out a very bad word on the radio. In our little family forum I will not repeat this word but will mention that it begins with the letter “F.” But that was all he said. I was thinking that perhaps he was yelling about something else and had inadvertently keyed the button on his radio. He was known to do this. And I have heard just such inadvertent comments made over more times than I can remember in my career. Therefore, I gave it little thought.
So I keep pulling. Then he yells it again, pauses and screams out “STOP!” And so I did. Then there was nothing.
There is a road crossing in front of this industry and my first thought was that perhaps somebody drove into the side of my cut. This road crossing, although within an industrial park type setting sees a fair amount of traffic and the motorists using it tend to not take the rules of the road or the presence of trains here too seriously.
I asked this Conductor if everything was alright and he responded that I had better come back there. Whenever the Conductor or Brakeman asks you to come back, you just know it is not going to be anything fun or good. So off I head to see what the problem might be. As I walked around the cut of cars and around the curve in the rail, the problem presents itself to me as big as the opening night of a blockbuster movie.
Part of the front wall of the industry we were engaged in switching is no longer standing upright. It has tumbled down into a large pile of crumbled brick and mortar.
“And the walls come a tumbling down.”
A much larger opening than just the door used for us to access the place is now present. It was actually more like a gapping hole. Employees from within this industry are coming to see what has just taken place. I turned around and looked at the cut of cars we have just pulled out. A quick glance at the side opposite from where I walked back, I spot a ramp hanging from the open door of the very last car of the cut. This ramp is what the forklift trucks used as a bridge between the end of the dock itself and the edge of the car. Apparently the Conductor neglected to positively ascertain that it had been removed. He assumed that it was removed; obviously, it had not. And still again, we all know what happens when you assume.
We then learned that not only had we dragged the ramp along the dock and through the wall of the building, we had also damaged a considerable amount of the customer’s inventory that was sitting on the dock along side of the track inside the building. Needless to say, nobody is happy; the managers at this industry, the railroad managers, nobody.
“Nobody does it better.”
The Conductor attempted to use two different excuses for what went wrong, none of them worth the time spent to even speak them out loud. Whenever industries have cars connected like this, they are supposed to display a flag warning of such a condition. Usually this flag is made of metal and attaches to the rail or possibly to the first car in the track and is often blue in color but may be red or white with some wording to the effect of the cars being connected. Well, there was no flag displayed for whatever reason this day. Even though there was no flag displayed, the absence of the flag is still not a valid reason not to check to be certain.
The second excuse was that with all of the materials unloaded from the cars and stored on the dock next to the rail head, there was not sufficient room for the crew to walk and inspect to positively ascertain that all ramps were removed. Again, this was not a valid excuse as there was still a way to check; only it would require some extra walking on the part of the Conductor. He failed to take that extra step both literally and figuratively.
When all the damages were assessed and totaled, I was told it was in excess of $35,000. Not only is the railroad going to pay, so is the Conductor, He wound up getting major discipline over this event being off without pay for well over six months. The Brakeman received no discipline as he did not enter the building; he had remained at the crossing outside. I also received no discipline as it is not my responsibility to check for connections.
In pulling out the cars, I never even felt anything when the ramp hit the wall by the door; not a tug, jerk, change in slack or anything. I had no clue of anything happening until I visually observed the damage when the Conductor summoned me to come back.
For as bad as this was, I‘m certain it could have been far worse. Fortunately nobody from this factory was close enough when the walls came tumbling down to be injured or perhaps killed. With all that brick and mortar that was torn out, there was a considerable amount of weight that fell from as high as twenty feet above the ground. While this situation was horrible, at least it wasn’t hideous.
I don’t know if it is the lack of oxygen, the thick methane gas deposits or perhaps the odor, but just one moment of CRI sure can bring down the house as it were.
And so it goes.
Tuch
Hot Times on the High Iron and the HTOTHI initials are ©2006 by JD Santucci.
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