Re: Safety on Narrow Gauge railroads

Historic steam operations operate in a totally different environment than major class one railroads do. The amount of switching is vastly different at class one railroads, you would be hard pressed to find a time that Durango last switched cars in the yard for a total 8 hour shift, or spotted industries in and around town. RCO (remote control operations) also do not exist at these historic sites, nor do large class yards and large flat yards. There are infinite number more employees, and a lot of those employees work on call with very bad lineup information. Being called to work at 2 am with little or no rest also changes the game.

After 13 years on a major class 1 they are rules pounded into my head that yes you do see broken at the historic sites (this is to say that these are rules we have and maybe not these sites), but at one time were allowed on the class 1's. I have no idea what the injury ratio or frequency is at the C&TS or the D&SNG, but I would hazard to guess that it is much lower than the class one' s, and rules would change, especially if that went up.

Getting on and off moving equipment is a big no no on most railroads but it still exists and I believe it still exists on the Union Pacific. I also personally see no reason for the ability to get on and off moving equipment today, the amount of injuries suffered from this is simply mind blowing.

Dale Grant, BNSF engineer, rubber gauger!