Ask a freight train conductor anything

Ask a freight train conductor anything

Note: I'm posting here because I went full autist and fucked up the thread on /r9k/

Attached: downloadfile-4 (1).jpg (470x344, 50K)

Why aren't you good enough to be an engineer?

Do any of the trains have faces? If so, do they actually talk to each other?

How come trains blow their horns coming through town at 3 A.M?

When you link multiple engines together do they all sync to one main set of controls?

How many can be linked at a time and how much can they pull?

how it feels runover someones with a train?

They do occasionally speak to each other

How fast can it go?

Do you ever wreck it just for fun?

Do you know Thomas?

Have you ever lost a train due to a girlfriend explosion?

I actually did run over three suicidal people on separate occasions

You hear a thump basically and yes, it is the worst feeling on earth.

First, what the hell could happen to a freight train thread on r9k ?

Second, what exactly does a train conductor control ? How much of it is just letting the thing roll keeping everything in check ?

Always been interested in train driving, never actually bothered looking anything up

We're not doing it to be assholes it's literally federal law. We do it so drinks or retards know to get out of the way

>three suicidal people on separate occasions


Forget trucking and biking. Train driving is the real thug life.

Have you tried train simulator ? Is it a good sim or just some game ?

Is the pay any good? Do you work alone most of the time? Thought about being a train conductor for those reasons

howd u get the job

Like any other job

What's the deal with airline food?

This is a model train,fail op........

Because you're a fucking idiot for living near train tracks.

Or you have fucking idiots who once lived near you, who got hit by a train, has to blow their horn all the time.

I've never tested the top speed without derailing but the fastest I've gone was 80-100 mph

No, I've never wrecked it but I hit a suicidal guy who was sitting in his truck on the rails.

>/r9k/
post your best roastie OP

did u step out to take a look when that heappen?
got pics?

for them or for you? Id be perfectly ok with hitting someone who wanted to die.

Do you ever drive your train high on cocaine?

Attached: 81VVpKFDSDL._SL1500_.jpg (1500x1500, 158K)

The conductor doesn't do much, the train does most of the work. We mostly regulate speed, take the right turns and stop it when I reach my destination.

>train driver

>late at answering questions

Classic

>The conductor doesn't do much

Then you're a lazy conductor.....probably sleeping, when you should be calling signals, and copying track warrants

Are you CLO?

Pretty much what I expected, sounds pretty cool. But you do have other duties like communication and shit yeah ?

He's saying the conductor doesn't do much for actual train driving, read the question he was answering

The train does most of the work, the conductors mostly just regulate speed, take the right turns and control the turns, and stop when we need to unload.

OP, what rail line are you with? I was with OmniTrax as a conductor on the Great Western Railway of Colorado for a while.

Some aspects are skipped over but it's a pretty good representation.

Wrong.

Engineers regulate speed and handle movements and train handling.

The Conductor is responsible for providing instructions to the Engineer during switching operations, building a consist, and getting the engine and cars tied down if the consist is going to be stationary for a long period of time.

It really depends on your employer, and location. I got luck and I make 65,000k per year. The job can be super long and boring thought but luckily I'm pretty good at passing the time even when there is nothing to do.

I just looked up freight trains and clicked the first image I saw

Hey op you never know me but I do enjoy the night horns I hear in the distance when I am drinking alone, makes me feel comfy especially when I picture trains at night with their lights on at night.

Attached: 35-103-099-08.jpg (125x94, 4K)

Yes I stop and get out. There's usually a huge puddle of blood and sometimes mangled parts. If that ever happens you immediately call dispatch and emergency services

Why not post a picture of one of the consists you were working on? I mean, FRA rules and cell phone usage aside. Could snap a pic when the dog catcher comes for ya.

Why do you assholes block intersections for 20 to 40 minutes at a time? Are there not regulations to prevent this? Those train commercials where they talk about how efficient trains piss me off, because sure the train might be efficient but it's not efficient when you consider all of the cars and trucks that are left idling waiting for the 10 mile long train to go by.

Only while watching my speed.

For both of us I guess. You're pretty fucked up or pretty in tune with the world if you're okay with that. I can't judge.

Yeah. You also have to call signals

The train can not be stationary in a crossing for more than 5 minutes. During a switching operation, there is no time limit since the train is making several movements, especially if the consist is being put in order after completing a customer pick up or a drop.

To be fair this is a really really nice picture.

I work for BNSF

Nice! What subdivision are you primarily in?

Thoughts on Seinfeld??

What state or states do you work in?

So you just go .0001 miles per hour to get around the rule?

>When you link multiple engines together do they all sync to one main set of controls?

Yes.

>How many can be linked at a time

Depends on your territory, length and weight of your train, and the type of engine you use. Then apply those factors to company policy and they'll tell you how to use multiple units.

Rail companies worry more about fuel consumption, so more often than not, it's not practical to have (ie) 10 running units.

>And how much can they pull?

Well, again....it all comes down to the situation and company guildlines....and the managers as well.....

If a trainmaster tells you to take a single unit that has 4,000 horsepower to pull an 12,000 ton train....you do it. If you stall,...well, they'll send out another unit, and/or rescue you with a high-rail truck.

Train engineer here. Since the conductor didn't answer your question user I will.

Yes when the are tied together there are cables and air hoses that allow the lead loco to control the rest. Also, we have what are distributed power. We can have engines in the middle or rear end of a train that are radio controlled from the lead loco.

Is there any limit to how long a train can be?

I usually use the terms interchangeably. Maybe I'm just bad at my job. Who knows

What a lovely larping thread. We have a freight conductor who doesn't actually seem to be able to answer most questions about the job, and gets the ones he does bother answering horribly wrong. This thread reeks of kid who recently discovered computer train sims and/or model railroading and has become a foamer who's imagination has gotten ahead of them. The sad attempts at "Google answers" will be coming shortly, no doubt.

When it touches both stations something's wrong

Possible, I'm still waiting for him to answer on the pay

what kind of training or certifications though? did you acquire them before or after you were hired

Mainly Texas

Consider that a train can go two directions. Forward, and reverse. To build a consist, there are multiple forward and reverse movements that have to be made, especially since switches have to be lined constantly as well. It is nothing being done to get around the rules. It's just the nature of the operation.

Yes, HOWEVER.......

It's not something any real railroader should be doing.

If you're blocking crossing (even doing .0001 mph) and there is an emergency vehicle waiting to cross. Like an ambulance, and the person they are trying to rescue dies....

...that railroader is fucked for life. Sued up the ass.

>I usually use the terms interchangeably
Wtf? Then you are not union. That some shit a scab would say.

Whereabouts in Texas? Dallas-Fort Worth area, Amarillo, or near the Gulf Coast?

>"Fastest I've gone was 80-100mph"
Yeah fucking right

Attached: 059.jpg (680x601, 66K)

>the pay

Depends on how strong the union is.
Depends on your territory (how many miles you get paid with).

I make $120,000 CDN as a conductor

Why don't you guys do proper precheck on you engines

Attached: 20180320_164836.jpg (2048x1152, 1.02M)

CN?

islam is a religion of peace

oh wow u just destroyed him

Yarp

what does that mean?

It didn't take much. He's literally making it up as he goes along.

I was gonna say...During ground school, they bashed it I to our heads that we had to be precise with our communications otherwise bad mistakes are made, especially if you are talking to your engineer on the radio and you accidentally give a command without intending to.

For instance, in a reversing movement, you would tell the Engineer to "bring it back" or "reverse" x amount of cars to a hook, and then count him down so he knows when to stop. But...if you were to say, "Go ahead and bring it back 5 cars to a hook," the engineer does not know whether you meant to begin the reversing movement, or to move forward instead.

Got my ass chewed out for that a couple of times.

lol

>Why don't you guys do proper precheck on you engines

1) Laziness

2) Shit management, not investing in infrastructure

just let him have his fun ig

Underrated post

Good to see some Cartoon Network Bros. I'm out of Homewood

Not OP, but I'm a conductor in Canada. On the mainline, you can make as much as $15 000 per month gross (remember, that's CAD). Usually due to congestion, poor management, and clauses in our collective agreements which pay us for work that would've been done with three, four, or five-man crews in the past but now are done with two-man crews.

I can tell. Either he is in training, or he wishes he was in training.

Can it be fun at times or are you miserable at work?

Attached: image.jpg (500x500, 68K)

BC South

>ignoring the hate

Attached: 1521292732436.jpg (750x412, 154K)

I never used ahead or back. I always gave a direction. East or West. Heard way too much confusion otherwise. Guys would tie on to a track short nose and be all fucked after that

How come when a engine shuts down you guys never drop the knife switch and all the breakers so when I finally get to it to fix it the batteries are fucking dead?

This thread

Attached: 100_anniversary_titanic_sinking_by_esai8mellows-d4xbme8.jpg (1000x622, 102K)

>inb4 hey bud, I just drive this thing

1) Laziness

2) Because no one wants to touch the switch the wrong way, and get shocked to death.

Especially on 1400 CN units, used as yard power, built in the 1950s, and are sketchy AF to handle.

Meh, whatever worked for all y'all. OmniTrax wanted it done with Ahead or reverse/back commands.

Dis nigga doesn't know how to get that tow in money

Because the train crews who know you happen to hate you. Lol

You out of Edmonton? Lotta 1400s there.

Speak of the devil, the BN is passing although Loveland on its way to the North Yard in Fort Collins before it continues up to Cheyenne!

Fuck no, I'd kill myself before going to Walker, lol.

Got forced around a lot (there's a clue), there's a few in Symington and Regina.

What omnitrax location do/did you work

>Fuck no, I'd kill myself before going to Walker, lol.

Checks out! Verified CN railroader.

HeY mAma WoOk At DeH cHoO cHoO

Let's say you're heading along in your train, and you see 5 black people tied to the track ahead of you. There's a junction in the track, but if you change course you'll hit a white person tied to the other track. What do you do?

Attached: trolley.png (1200x410, 18K)

Loveland, Colorado. GWRCO.