John West Wrote:
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> And it is hard for me to imagine how they get the
> work done without doing all that stuff these days.
> I guess radio and RC make a huge difference. I
> wonder if they still do dutch drops.
>
> JBWX
Maybe not because of smaller crew size.
I have a story from probably the 1970s (maybe a bit later). At that time a friend was corresponding with a railfan brakeman working -- I believe -- the Coos Bay branch. Story that was related to me was that the Assistant Trainmasters were enforcing the rule book. In retaliation the crew decided they would exactly following the rule book. This then was slowing down the work of the train crew and service on the branch.
One thing prohibited was dutch drops. They had to relocate a flatcar from one siding to another; but the destination was a facing point switch. So they hauled the flatcar to a passing track (or maybe
all the way to Coos Bay) and then brought it back to the destination. Instead of the job being done in one day, this took a whole day (if not longer) to accomplish.
BN