Re: OPB article on train crew fatigue
Author: SP5103
Date: 07-28-2014 - 06:43
Would someone please have Scotty beam me back to the right century? I overshotthought that one.
I remember my grandfather (1909-1982) saying that he was probably born at the right time. When he was a kid, they moved from SW Missouri to Oklahoma by covered wagon, yet he saw a man land on the moon on TV (I was there too). The only "modern" thing electronic he owned was a calculator my aunt bought him as a gift, but he preferred to do math long hand instead of figure out which button to push.
It makes me wonder what I might still see and changes I have already seen in railroading. When I was born, steam was pretty much gone, but there were a few still holdouts. SP #9 would run one last time under steam and the narrow gauge would be abandoned by my first birthday in the Owens Valley, trains still ran mostly on jointed rail, most by train order authority and all freights had a caboose. Four and five man crews switched mostly box cars using hand signals. I can remember the Santa Fe clerk feeding tape through the teletype to forward payroll and train consists to the head office, and handing up a bundle of paper waybills to trains. I rode a Santa Fe passenger train before Amtrak took over. I can remember when GP35s on the main were common and seeing a DDA40X/DD35B/DD35 set wasn't that rare. And there were soooooooo many SD40-2 units and all GE U-boats looked the same. And my favorite Southern Pacific still existed ...
I'm not really sure what more I will see in the future - a train crew will be one person and a dog, with a big STOP button as the only control in the cab. Your primary job is to feed the dog, and the dog is there to bite you if you push the button. Some things I will never get used to, and I know my grandparents would never believe could happen - good and bad. Maybe I should have Scotty beam me back further?
And despite all this "progress", the railroad still can't tell you with any certainty when you are going to work!