>Another thought on shoving the yard track and not having control - as engineer you have to run the train, when it starts to run you is when you will get in trouble.

You bechyoure everluvin a**. When you have ahold of a string of loaded oil cans (or other heavy items), just because the speed limit is 10 mph doesn't mean you can (or should) go 10 mph in all locations and terrains.

On one lead (kicking those FCG cars) I used to go about 1 mph downhill (with no air in the cars). This allowed for a reasonably good stopping distance (about 1 car length) when it was time to go the other direction to switch 'em out (the refinery wanted iso-butane and n-butane cars at specific spots on the gas racks). One extraboard swtichman wanted to know why I was dogging it, but the regular guys told him just to shut up and asked him how much time and effort he would rather spend lacing them up and bleeding them off. An extra engineer who didn't use this method in this location wound up almost running through a main line switch (got off the engine, ran ahead, unlocked, lined the switch, and got back on as the engine went by -slowly- with it's brakes still applied). "If you don't know the territory, how did you get qualified?" (Credit is no good for a notions salesman).