Re: C&TSRR 15

Stephen G Wrote:
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> In the U.S you are required by law to signal with
> the horn/whistle before all movements and when
> completing a stop before a brakeman can step
> between cars. you also have to signal at all grade
> crossings with 2 longs a short & a Long, unless
> the are exempted by a quiet zone.


Stephen,

are you RR employed, past or present or railfan quoting a rulebook definition?
We had our Rule No.12, 1 Short for Moving Forward, 2 Short Setting Back, 3 Short Apply Brakes, 1 Long Crossings etc etc. and other specific sequences.

Those applied to Locomotives on Trains, not shunting around the yard, my last Depot had 3 Shuntcrews working around the clock. Alongside there were the Diesels and Electrics being prepared and put away so if everybody got to tooting all and sundry as they eased up, stopped, pulled out, and setback what a chorus that would have been. Could one get confused as to which signal applied to whoever, then make a fatal mistake being under the impression his signal was understood? As I said above, the Whistle is a warning device not a toy, overused to such an extent it becomes of little use.

As to kicking cars, well just how many hands does the Driver have, you had to use your foot to operate the sanders on the southend in the wet when kicking out.I guess that that old #15 GE wouldn't pull anymore than 100 amps on a good day so try to blow the whistle and kick wagons off with a Dsg, those thing are 940HP, 29000 lbs TE and pull a 1000 amps under full load starts.

As to wearing hearing protection in a yard, kicked off drifting wagons are going to get someone sooner or later, you really need to keep you complacency well and truly tethered. They had a tendancy to just be on you if you didn't keep an ear out, even drifting motive power is the same, you'll hear the rail creak and groan often before the unit(unless it's a noisy GE haha).