Re: C&TS Ballast and cinders, ES&I

Hi Rick,
Which railroad are you speaking about? Should I qualify my statement to say most Eastern Mega-railroads and Amtrak owned lines? We had too much miss damage when relying on train crews to see the defects and for years it had been worth the 4.6 min. hours call to be safe. There were times the calls were not made, such as when the next movement was the scheduled inspection patrol.
So do you think it is not a good safe procedure for the C&TS to employ?
I was on a train in the heavy rain when the engineer dumped it account of cow crossing his pilot, pumped and released his brakes without any train crewmember leaving the cars. I spoke with the engineer later as he was a friend and he said it was not in his rules but thought it was a good idea. He felt he had his own authority to continue his trip without the conductor release for movement.
It is interesting that you seem to take a conflicting opinion, but the readers can decide what level of safety they see justified.