[ihc] Re: To tell the truth....

[Howard R Pletcher <n9ads@xxxxxxxx>]

I don't know if the percentage of locos with recorders is high or not,
probably most of the new stuff has them and perhaps 50% overall. Our 1950
vintage switchers don't even have speedos--we have to time the mileposts
and try to hit 4:00 or 6:00 min for 15 and 10 mph.  My GPS has proven to
be a popular accessory since I started taking it along to use as a
speedo.

But the Casey Jones stories of engineers ignoring the speed limits are
pretty much a thing of the past on most railroads, especially the major
ones.  

One popular one from Trains magazine is of a passenger train making up
time between Lima, OH and Fort Wayne that was clocked at 120 mph during
the last days of steam.  When they reached Fort Wayne, the crew was
summoned to the superintendent's office where they received the mandatory
tongue lashing, followed by a "Good Job" comment as they left the office.
 Today they'd probably get about 6 months unpaid vacation, if not a
permanent removal from the payroll for that much speed.  

Locally, I heard of a maintenance worker who got 30 days off for doing 30
through a 15 mph zone in one of the high-railer pickups.  I've heard one
common task for new road foremen, who are the engineer's supervisors, is
to park themselves out in the weeds with a radar guh and I don't think
the railroads give you 10 or 15 mph leeway.  Times have changed.

Howard

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 09:45:12 -0600 "Dennis Bernth"
<scoutdude@domain.elided> writes:
> 
> The other point (which I'm sure Howard can confirm or deny) is that 
> my understanding is that most if not all trains have a data recorder 
> like a black box on board. The railroad is able to normally tell at 
> exactly what speed a train was traveling, whether or not the brakes 
> were locked, etc., when any 'event' occurs. It would be pretty 
> stupid of an engineer that is getting paid by the hour anyway, and 
> has to keep to a timetable, to crank it up over the speed limit to 
> gain time, when if something happened the bosses, Feds, and locals 
> would all have access to the data that shows he messed up.