Re: O/T Post: Questions on Becoming an Engineer

Yes, Ken I see exactly what you are saying. It would be a serious problem when "qualified" people can't concentrate on the job at hand.
On the positvie side, over labor day weekend at SVRy we did a night train where we picked up passengers at Sumpter brought them to the McEwen yard for dinner and entertainment, then returned them in the dark to Sumpter. This involves a good deal of switching in the dark and working around blind curves in the yard. I had not worked as a conductor for sometime, but had a great crew in the cab along with an experienced head end brakeman and rear brakeman. Much more to their credit than mine as conductor, all of the moves, run arounds at Sumpter and McEwen, backing into the dinner site twice around a blind curve went like clockwork. Each person was where they needed to be all evening. All signals were done by amber kero lantern, to avoid confusion with people carrying flashlight or clear globe lanterns. My point beyond bragging on my fellow crew members is to illustrate what can be achieved with a polished crew.