Genesis P42 question

[had8ley]

My point is this; The Sunset pulled up to a power switch in Houston, this week, and the Conductor, A/C and engineer could not figure out how to line a power switch by hand. Incidentally, this happened in Houston right outside Englewood (SP) yard. Someone smarted off to the dispatcher on the radio and said, "You know this IS a FIRST CLASS TRAIN." Not half a second went by when the dispatcher sternly told Mr. Smarty Pants that it was going to be a very dead (hours of service law) First Class train if three ALLEDGEDLY qualified train crew men could not figure out how to hand line a switch after receiving all the necessary permission.

You have got to be kidding! This is not an exercise in rocket science. I did not think you would be let loose on an engine without this bit of knowledge. (I am assuming that you mean the nomal Dual Control - power or hand - type machine that has a hand lever, not the power only machine that takes a signal maintainer's key to unlock and then you must crank it.)

George;

Sad but true...just your ordinary dual control switch with an ordinary switch lock that all train personnel are supposed to have keys for. Now...how to use that key seems to be the stumbling block. It's a long way from Massachusetts Avenue to Settegast yard is all I can figure out on this one. I can verify this incident with multiple sources.

Jay

 

[Grandma B]

Does anyone know whether the 97/98 (NYP-WPB and WPB-NYP) consists run with one or two P-42's during November's Thanksgiving holiday travel? :huh:

 

[battalion51]

Several things. Grandma B, Silver Service is almost always running with two diesels these days. It's very rare that it runs with one, but Amtrak got burned by it this time around. <_< North of WAS they run with one electric on these trains. The electrics don't fail nearly as often as the diesels do (fewer things to go wrong), and it's a lot easier to rescue a train on the NEC than it is south of WAS.

As for not knowing how to line these switches, unfortunately it's fairly common. Many of the Conductors are getting bumped up so fast that they never ran into these situations when they were AC's. What should have happened in my opinion is the Engineer should've got off the engine and done it himself. Even though it's "not his job" if you know how to do it you do it. That's teamwork right there. Most of the Engineers have been on the railroad a lot longer than the Conductors (not always), and usually have Conductor experience.

 

[engine999]

As for not knowing how to line these switches, unfortunately it's fairly common. Many of the Conductors are getting bumped up so fast that they never ran into these situations when they were AC's. What should have happened in my opinion is the Engineer should've got off the engine and done it himself. Even though it's "not his job" if you know how to do it you do it. That's teamwork right there. Most of the Engineers have been on the railroad a lot longer than the Conductors (not always), and usually have Conductor experience.

I can't believe that the Amtrak engineer and conductors would not know how to operate a dual control switch (in the situation that had8ley describes). If they were not sure, they could have looked in the operating rules.

 

[battalion51]

CSX Operating Rules do not detail how to operate the switches, as that is something the Conductor should know how to do. GCOR however gives some details on how to do it, but there's more to it than GCOR lists out. Operating Rules are just that, operating rules, not a "how to" book.

 

[Grandma B]

"the Meteor must have been running with a single engine, which died, in Auburndale (north of Winter Haven, south of Kissimmee)."

Thank you battalion51 for answering my question about the two engines. When I read in a previous thread about the Meteor running with a single engine and it died, my husband was saying "I knew we should have booked a flight" instead of Amtrak. But, now I can reassure him that we'll (hopefully) be running with two engines.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

"the Meteor must have been running with a single engine, which died, in Auburndale (north of Winter Haven, south of Kissimmee)."

Thank you battalion51 for answering my question about the two engines. When I read in a previous thread about the Meteor running with a single engine and it died, my husband was saying "I knew we should have booked a flight" instead of Amtrak. But, now I can reassure him that we'll (hopefully) be running with two engines.

Sometimes even two engines die, and that really sucks on a plane ;-)

Even on a train, having two engines does NOT make train more reliable, there are plenty of other things that can bring a train to a stop.

 

[sechs]

To be honest, I don't think that I'd want to have even a single engine go out on a plane.... at least on a train, you simply come to stop.

 

[battalion51]

"the Meteor must have been running with a single engine, which died, in Auburndale (north of Winter Haven, south of Kissimmee)."

Thank you battalion51 for answering my question about the two engines. When I read in a previous thread about the Meteor running with a single engine and it died, my husband was saying "I knew we should have booked a flight" instead of Amtrak. But, now I can reassure him that we'll (hopefully) be running with two engines.

Sometimes even two engines die, and that really sucks on a plane ;-)

Even on a train, having two engines does NOT make train more reliable, there are plenty of other things that can bring a train to a stop.

Well in terms of failures related to engine trouble it certainly does. It also means better acceleration out of stops. The odds of hitting something don't change if you have one pony or ten, but you are definitely mechanically more reliable with two.

 

[had8ley]

What should have happened in my opinion is the Engineer should've got off the engine and done it himself. Even though it's "not his job" if you know how to do it you do it. That's teamwork right there. Most of the Engineers have been on the railroad a lot longer than the Conductors (not always), and usually have Conductor experience.

The engineer was on the ground staring at the dual control switch along with the Conductor and A/C...they still had to back up to where they could be cross overed without hand lining a switch.

 

[BobWeaver]

"the Meteor must have been running with a single engine, which died, in Auburndale (north of Winter Haven, south of Kissimmee)."

Thank you battalion51 for answering my question about the two engines. When I read in a previous thread about the Meteor running with a single engine and it died, my husband was saying "I knew we should have booked a flight" instead of Amtrak. But, now I can reassure him that we'll (hopefully) be running with two engines.

Sometimes even two engines die, and that really sucks on a plane ;-)

:lol:

 

[George Harris]

What should have happened in my opinion is the Engineer should've got off the engine and done it himself. Even though it's "not his job" if you know how to do it you do it. That's teamwork right there. Most of the Engineers have been on the railroad a lot longer than the Conductors (not always), and usually have Conductor experience.

The engineer was on the ground staring at the dual control switch along with the Conductor and A/C...they still had to back up to where they could be cross overed without hand lining a switch.

Ordinarily I would have said anyone who is allowed to be let loose to run a locomotive could figure out how to operate a dual control switch machine after a few minutes of staring at it.

 

[had8ley]

What should have happened in my opinion is the Engineer should've got off the engine and done it himself. Even though it's "not his job" if you know how to do it you do it. That's teamwork right there. Most of the Engineers have been on the railroad a lot longer than the Conductors (not always), and usually have Conductor experience.

The engineer was on the ground staring at the dual control switch along with the Conductor and A/C...they still had to back up to where they could be cross overed without hand lining a switch.

Ordinarily I would have said anyone who is allowed to be let loose to run a locomotive could figure out how to operate a dual control switch machine after a few minutes of staring at it.

George,

Ordinarily I would agree with you but I have personally witnessed so called "tests" that Amtrak officials have pulled. The officials that were stationed in Meridian (MS) for the Texas Star (that never came to pass) were video taping the crews trying to fire anyone to make their useless, go no where, jobs look important. They would spend hours trying to trip an employee into making a blunder so just maybe this Sunset incident can be partially blamed on management for either terrifying the troops or not training them properly. I suspect it is some of both. I promise you I wouldn't make a day as an Amtrak official from what I have witnessed especially in the last two years. Besides, I have more positive things to do like riding trains that you would think some Amtrak officials would want to do on a regular basis.

 

[VentureForth]

Very interesting thread and one that I'm particularly interested in. Some random thoughts:

There have been several accidents in the Savannah area recently. Loco #202 is sitting in the Savannah station with a bashed up front end. Wonder where they'll get the replacements.

Many lines operate with two or three locos, yet the Texas Eagle runs with one. Only long distance train that I'm aware of that does. Maybe I haven't been paying much attention. I'll watch more this week and see.

 

[George Harris]

To be honest, I don't think that I'd want to have even a single engine go out on a plane.... at least on a train, you simply come to stop.

On a flight a few weeks ago that got cancelled because they could not get one engine to start after being pushed back from the gate.

Another exercise in third-world style public transport in the USA.

(OK, I am insulting most third-world countries by saying that.)

 

[AmtrakCrescent20]

Many lines operate with two or three locos, yet the Texas Eagle runs with one. Only long distance train that I'm aware of that does. Maybe I haven't been paying much attention. I'll watch more this week and see.

AFAIK the City of New Orleans and Cardinal also run with only one engine.

 

[MJ]

What sucks about the 42 is that it uses a single generator and the brush assys are assigned different functions(HEP, AUX).

Older loco's had 2, a Main and Aux Generator.

So much for cost savings!!!!!!!!

MJ B)

 

[BobWeaver]

Many lines operate with two or three locos, yet the Texas Eagle runs with one. Only long distance train that I'm aware of that does. Maybe I haven't been paying much attention. I'll watch more this week and see.

AFAIK the City of New Orleans and Cardinal also run with only one engine.

If you want to classify them as LD trains, 79/80 and 89/90 also both run with one P42

 

[battalion51]

There have been several accidents in the Savannah area recently. Loco #202 is sitting in the Savannah station with a bashed up front end. Wonder where they'll get the replacements.

It's possible there are other things going on there. It's possible that the engine was involved in a minor derailment (nothing huge), but whenever that happens they have to change the traction motors out. Or it's possible there is a crack in the fuel tank or main reservoir preventing it from being moved. Any of these situations would require Amtrak mechanical to get the parts to SAV to fix before the unit can be moved for further repair.