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Re: Kicking Cars @ SP’s Desert Yard 1990
Author: Chris Walker
Date: 04-27-2018 - 22:54
Interesting reply, Dr Zarkoff.
If you were a railroader then I'd say you must've been an instructor, tutor or rules writer based on your comments. >aticipating the crew's actions: if you anticipate incorrectly, two things can happen // You as engineer/driver follow their instructions (to the letter) because...
I guess you hadn't understood why I had written >..we learned to anticipate the Shunter's move and regulate the move accordingly, key word there mate: learned.
Rereading Margaret's comment above, I figure that's pretty astute for an observer of the job not on it, she has it understood pretty well.
You see there is a difference..... sitting in the LA's seat watching how the ED responded to handsignals, learners who wanted to learn got told how/what by the better Driver's and when you could, you watched over his shoulder. When it was your turn, you pulled on the glove, didn't just blindly bash the slack in on your ease-ups and kicks, got on the brake without whipping the slack when he waved you down, In my day, you did a lot of shunt work starting out on the assistants side and again once you got your Driver's ticket you did the same apprenticeship as a Driver on the shunt.
Me, I was lucky in starting out in a small country Locodepot, regular mainline trains, two mainline shunt jobs and 3 shifts of yardshunt work on an 8 week roster, going 'round the roster with the same Driver so I never had to endure the 3 years on the C roster like most others. Big yards, you just disappeared into there and never came out onto the mainline for 6 months, and then you only had one week on the same train. Never had a broken buffer, never came off or ploughed a rake off the end of a siding, ended up in the backshunt gravelheap or split any points, and most importantly, never hurt any man when I was behind the throttle either.
This had an effect that you could know the yard and be part of the team, when the time came, without having to learn it all over again, i.e. you knew what was expected of you when you got your hit'em up wave vs give us an easeup mate, and you worked with the man. If he gave you a stop then you stopped and stayed stopped, you didn't have to be reminded otherwise with some other signal to stay stopped. And you knew the differences between job's as well, You knew on the Shed shunt you'd be kicking hard every time you're waved, vs on the backshunt drifting in with constant easeups until you worked off the rake or ran out of leg.
And the job went well, you're not at loggerheads with the guy like them fellers in Emperor of the North.
On mainline trains you had a difference, you were following signals from the Station staff or Guard if it was an outlying siding, you knew that difference, and adjusted your driving accordingly.
Chris
on New Zealand
If you were a railroader then I'd say you must've been an instructor, tutor or rules writer based on your comments. >aticipating the crew's actions: if you anticipate incorrectly, two things can happen // You as engineer/driver follow their instructions (to the letter) because...
I guess you hadn't understood why I had written >..we learned to anticipate the Shunter's move and regulate the move accordingly, key word there mate: learned.
Rereading Margaret's comment above, I figure that's pretty astute for an observer of the job not on it, she has it understood pretty well.
You see there is a difference..... sitting in the LA's seat watching how the ED responded to handsignals, learners who wanted to learn got told how/what by the better Driver's and when you could, you watched over his shoulder. When it was your turn, you pulled on the glove, didn't just blindly bash the slack in on your ease-ups and kicks, got on the brake without whipping the slack when he waved you down, In my day, you did a lot of shunt work starting out on the assistants side and again once you got your Driver's ticket you did the same apprenticeship as a Driver on the shunt.
Me, I was lucky in starting out in a small country Locodepot, regular mainline trains, two mainline shunt jobs and 3 shifts of yardshunt work on an 8 week roster, going 'round the roster with the same Driver so I never had to endure the 3 years on the C roster like most others. Big yards, you just disappeared into there and never came out onto the mainline for 6 months, and then you only had one week on the same train. Never had a broken buffer, never came off or ploughed a rake off the end of a siding, ended up in the backshunt gravelheap or split any points, and most importantly, never hurt any man when I was behind the throttle either.
This had an effect that you could know the yard and be part of the team, when the time came, without having to learn it all over again, i.e. you knew what was expected of you when you got your hit'em up wave vs give us an easeup mate, and you worked with the man. If he gave you a stop then you stopped and stayed stopped, you didn't have to be reminded otherwise with some other signal to stay stopped. And you knew the differences between job's as well, You knew on the Shed shunt you'd be kicking hard every time you're waved, vs on the backshunt drifting in with constant easeups until you worked off the rake or ran out of leg.
And the job went well, you're not at loggerheads with the guy like them fellers in Emperor of the North.
On mainline trains you had a difference, you were following signals from the Station staff or Guard if it was an outlying siding, you knew that difference, and adjusted your driving accordingly.
Chris
on New Zealand
