Today's lesson: short, fast, frequent trains.
Back in 1984 while working for the MoPac, a proposal was made to allow the
company to reduce crews on all through freights to an Engineer and Conductor
only. It was tied in with train length not to exceed 75 cars or around 4500
feet if I recall correctly. The reasoning behind the proposal was to allow
the company to operate short, fast efficient and frequent trains. They also
wanted to extend the division point in a quasi sort of way. They wanted
Villa Grove as the home terminal, but allow us on the trip south to run
through to either Salem or St Louis, layover another day and then come back
north to the Grove and be off either one or two days. I can't remember
exactly what it was. It has been a lot of years and remember, I survived the
"senseless 70's." It never went anywhere, far too much opposition from the
unions.
All through the 80's, the battle cry was "Reduced crews! Once we reduce
crews, we can make tremendous profits and make everybody happy! We'll
operate short, fast efficient trains on tight schedules with frequent
service! But only if we can operate with just an Engineer and Conductor, and
no caboose!" Rah Rah Rah; Shish boom Bah!
Let us now jump ahead to the future. That future being today, 26 November,
1999. I normally operate with a crew of two on through freight, myself and
the Conductor. This is pretty much all we all railroad across the US. Some
railroads even have this arrangement on locals and some yard assignments.
The CNIC still requires a brakeman on all locals and road switchers.
Otherwise, two men (or women, or combination thereof) is the norm for all
through freight assignments. So, we watch dozens of short, fast, frequent
freight trains being efficiently operated at track speed right? I guess it
depends on what one would define as short, fast and frequent. Sort of in
that "eye of the beholder" genre.
Well, lets start with yesterday's trip. We left Glenn on GLME with 35 cars.
Short and fast right? We set out a little and picked up a lot at Markham.
This was after waiting for well over an hour to shove back into the yard.
This in itself can be a lament, but not here this time. Anyway, after 3
hours and 35 minutes, we depart Markham with 92 loads, 77 empties, 12,742
tons and 8145 feet, according to the paperwork. (Ya. like that is ever
right; and it wasn't). We had the 6257 and 6118 (SD40-3/SD40-2). This train
was allowed 60 MPH operation. I did manage to get it up to 55 a couple of
times, going downhill. As for the fast and frequent part; the run from Glenn
to Champaign is 136 miles as the rail runs. We departed Glenn at 0840 (On
duty at 0800, so at least we were off to a good start). On the way to
Markham, we met I11 around 79th St and he had around 140 cars.The
aforementioned delays at Markham and then off to the races. Well, as fast as
this lead sled would allow us to go. We arrived in Champaign at 1745, some 9
hours and 5 minutes after we departed Glenn. That calculates to around 15
mph. Running like the wind here.
As for the frequency, this particular train operates once daily. I guess
that is far more frequent than tri-weekly.
Today, we came back on MEGL. Again, a once a day train. More frequent than
leap year or Halley's Comet though. We were on duty at 0900, departing at
1000 with 76X63, 11,700 or so tons, 8348 feet long. Again, the paperwork was
wrong and shorted us; we had 140 cars according to all the scanners. I
should also mention that this was a "Key Train" owing to the amount of
HazMat that is an inhalation hazard (or as I refer to it, annihilation
hazard) carried in today's train. Therefore, we were restricted to 50 mph.
We picked up 21 more cars at Kankakee and headed to the great fright north
of Chicago Terminal. We had almost 9500 feet of train now. Lean and mean.
Had the 1031 and 1019 (SD70's) for horses today, a little more pulling power
anyway. After departing K3, we had to take a leisurely ride to Peotone to
meet a southbound potash train who was just leaving Markham. With this
short, fast puppy, we didn't want to be there so long as to have to cut the
crossing right in the middle of Peotone siding. Again, a great plan on
paper. IC Chet calls Chicago South and tells him the rear unit, a WC critter
has consumed all of its fuel and is now empty and dead. We are waiting on
the main for him at Peotone now, stategically covering the middle crossing
with the middle of our train, and the Conductor with me on the engine. DOH!
In the meantime, it is decided somewhere within the depths of Network
Operations to take NS 18K on up behind us and meet the CN 5747 south
(Potash, didn't get a symbol) at Peotone too. IC Chet shows up with one of
the most unusual potash trains I've ever seen. Behind his three units, two
of CN and one of WC (ex MKM) lineage is 8500 feet of train; 75 potash and a
bunch of other stuff like boxcars and tank cars and stuff. Well, maybe the
tank cars are all full of "liquid" potash. Ya, that's it, liquid potash.
What'll they think of next? We leave and he stays to wait for 18K. This
means that short fast train of his will now be blocking the middle crossing
for a long time. I can't believe they haven't hauled some of us off to jail
for this yet. I'd go willingly. Maybe I'd catch up with some old friends
there, get a nice meal and some of those fancy clothes they like to give the
prisoners. I always wanted a a denim shirt with a big "DOC" on the back and
a neat little number on the front. I could use this as my formal work
attire.
We arrived at the great parking lot and railcar motel known as Markham.
Trains check in, but they never check out. We spent an hour sitting because
they have reduced the line to a single track through here. No no no, the
rail is all still there and in service, it has just become yet another spot
to store trains. A 61 car multilevel train was parked with no power (no
wonder it can't move) between the Homewood Amtrak platform and Hazel Crest.
Between Hazel Crest and Harvey was an empty potash train also sans power. 3
and 4 Thoroughfares were also all full. Well, 4 was clear between Hazel
Crest and Harvey and GT 398 was heading out on it up to Harvey to reach GTW
rails though the still yet to powered up connection. What year is this
again? At Highlawn were cuts of cars on both 3 and 4 that had to be 175 cars
each, At least one is from the IHB to us; most likely the other one is too.
The big plan called for us to set out our block of CN west cars on top of
the potash empties as they will be heading to western Canada too,
eventually. Being the hour was getting late and we are now single tracking
it through here, they decided we might harpoon Amtrak 391. And besides, why
do that to him here when they can easliy skin him alive further down the
road like at say, Tolono? So instead, we are to take them to Bridgeport and
set them out there. "The best laid plans of mice and men...." As we get
closer to the downtown area of Chi Town, a new directive is received; set
the CN's out at 31st St instead. Fortunately for the rail industry in North
America, there are 26 letters in the alphabet, so this allows at least that
many plans, until somebody tells them they can double up on letters. Mexico
has a distinct advantage over America here as they have more letters in
their alphabet than ours, so they have more options right off they bat;
those lucky devils. I'm not gonna be the one to management about this
incredible discovery though. I'm sure they haven't figured it out yet on
their own, it interferes with thinking about creative new ways to earn the
bonus. They'll probably hire some consulting firm for zillions and have the
consultants teach this revolutionary theory to them instead. This will be
bigger than Demming's Continuous Quality Improvement" method. But I digree.
Anyway, out go the cars at 31st and we're off to Clark St to watch all the
Rock Island District Metra trains go across as it is now rush time. There is
a curfew in effect for this, and they do not let us across here or 21st
during this period as so not to delay the commuters. Like we would really
delay the Scoots?
At 1820, we are on the move again. At 1830 we learn the reason we wouldn't
set out at Bridgeport; #2 main has an engineless train on it. The Storage
Track (old GM&O southbound) has a dead train in it. Bridgeport Yard is all
full of cars.
On the GM&O side, we learn that there too, it is single track railroad with
#2 track now used for the storage of GTW 462 trains. This has become SOP
here. Again, sneaking those short, fast trains up here off the BNSF when
nobody is looking. As a result, we wait at the Panhandle for awhile as they
decide what they will do with us. We must've snuck up on 'em when they
weren't looking. The undesired result of operating those short, fast trains
again. Finally, they figure we should move forward. We get as far as Lemoyne
and park. Amtrak 304 is threading his way around RGL-32 in a back-up move at
MP15.3 south of Argo, the crewless 462 sits at Glenn, a BRC transfer job is
on track 1 trying to get back to Clearing Yard and of course, us on track 2.
304 gets by us finally, and then we get our turn.
We pull in at Glenn, get down to the south end only to discover RGL-05
switching on the lead in front of us and we cannot double over. RGL-23 is
also in the picture with our good friend Redbone. I'm sure he'll have quite
the tail to tell about their adventure. Lots of strategic planning involved.
Job 5 finally clears, Job 23 leaves and we follow him out onto #2 for
headroom to make our double. By now, we have less than 30 minutes left
before the grim reaper, aka Hours Of Service takes our railroad life from
us. (I was already to starting to hum "Swing low, sweet chariot"). Also on
the scorecard here is RGL-8 sitting out at MP 16 with RGL-01's train, and a
Strugglin' Pacific MCHAS train to come off the IHB and onto the GM&O to head
to Joliet. Our arrival at Glenn was 2000, exactly 10 hours after departing
Champaign. Our average speed, 13.6 MPH.
In the October issue of Progressive Railroading, Hunter Harrison and Ed
Burkhardt discuss the point of short, fast and frequent train service. It is
mentioned that the way to achieve success with this is Engineer only crews.
So if we go Engineer only which obviously is the only way to achieve
success, we can run them even shorter and faster than we do now. I wonder
what ever happened to the success that two people on the train woudl bring?
So that would mean what, with an Engineer only we would have 250 car trains
averaging 8.7 MPH? Gee, if we can eliminate the crews completely, they can
probably achieve speeds that will enable them to break the sound barrier!
With no crews left to harrass and intimidate, the management will then, have
to feed off itself until there is nobody in charge left either. Maybe then,
the industry will work as intended. Or nothing would move at all. Sort of
like what is going on today.
We have nowhere to go with trains when they get to wherever it is they need
to be. Why speed them up even more? All this will achieve is having the
crews sit even longer waiting for a track to clear up.
The Milwaukee Road was "America's Resourceful Railroad"' and they went broke
and disappeared into the Soo Line, another great merger that should've never
happened. The New York Central was the "Road to the Future" and they got
merged, bankrupted, nationalized, privatized and then vandalized. The UP
went from "We can handle it it" to "We will deliver" to a China Syndrome
proportion meltdown. What once was "Santa Fe, all the way", today is Being
Nothing Short of Foolish.
Maybe the new CN catchy slogan should be "The road to nowhere." Or even
better, "We're the Penn Central with money".
On a holiday note, our arrival at Champaign was a litle too late for even
the Hometown Buffet as they closed at 7. We wound up at Meijer and I supped
on an elegant holiday fare of chili dogs and onion rings. At least the
liquor department was open and a six pack of cold ones followed us back to
the hotel where we watched the Blackhawks lose in overtime. I was surprised
at how busy Meijer was with people grocery shopping so late on Thanksgiving
night and also the diners there too. And I thought I didn't have much of a
life!
What do you call a moving train on the CNIC? Amazing!
Tuch
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