>True Dat, Doctor! I still have my pocket-sized rulebook and a few old "back pocket" timetables from the "unenlightened" days. UP does have it right for their GOs, though. One is all you need. As for the "other guys" needing to know all the gory RSV term details, think STODEN/RRBDEN. We have to trade crews at the diesel shop most times. It does get a little scary when you pass Atkinson and we wish the trip ended there :-) But, no pilots for us 'cause we be qualified and the Town bus is there waitin' for us . . .

Where are the 219, 366, 211, and 245 herders when you need them? You should have been there when the speed limit on the Antelope receiving tracks was 5 mph. Once I timed it from leaving Antelope Rd (now gone, but it was just west of where the main lines turn to head for Elvas), to the hump, cut off the engines, tie 7 hbs, go back to Anelope Rd, then up the main line to the engine receiving yard, tie down the engines (5 of them, no power hand brakes), and then into the engine crew building (which is still there, but used for something else). It took about 2-3 hours, with no waiting for signals etc. because there wasn't any other traffic around. If there were other trains and yard engines, well that was a completely different story.

What I've never been able to figure out is why BNSF or Amtrak crews need to have all this information about the rock pile, the remote-controlled power switch on the running track, and so on. In Oak, the UP specifically doesn't want Amtrak to use the remote control switches via radio.

Theory X, which I've never heard of before, appears to be based on out-of-control statistical analysis, a business practice which arose with the Whiz Kids: Whiz Kids, WWII . Their business model has merit, but anything carried to excess begins to have negative repercussions, which MBA/accounting types call the "point of diminishing returns". Too bad the Whiz Kids and their ilk loose sight of this point when it comes to dealing with individuals.