Locomotive Engineer

Dispatcher: RTC

2007-12-01T10:46:00.000-08:00

Here I am in Wichita dispatching the K&O railroad. The K&O has over 800 miles of track, all dark territory, operating under Track Warrant Control (TWC). I was working longer and longer hours in my job as a medical technologist. It got to the point that I figured I was making as much per hour as the french fry cooks at McDonalds. So, I decided to go back to work for the railroad. But not as engineer, mind you. I have still had enough of 100-hour work weeks. So, I decided to go back as a dispatcher. Dispatcher hours of service are quite different from engineer hours of service. I can only work 9 hours per 24-hour period. That boils down to a maximum of 63 hours per week. I was putting in about 80 per week at the hospital. So, goodbye hospital- hello Austin Western Railroad. My hours now work out to be 40 per week, although an extra day here and there does crop up. I haven't worked overtime in the last 2 pay periods, though, and I do value my off duty time more than the overtime pay. I got my dispatcher training at the Watco Dispatcher Center in Wichita. I dispatched every railroad they operate during my training. It was a blast. The Austin Western railroad is dispatched in Austin. The AWRR is different because it is the only railroad that will have daily passenger service, with 30 minute headways between trains. The dispatchers will be on site rather than in Wichita because of the commuter service- we will dispatch using TWC, but we will also have 32 miles of CTC (for the passenger trains).

Orders in the Hoop

2007-12-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Here I am scooping up the train orders at speed (throttle 8) as I run past the depot at Bertram on the Hill Country Flyer this summer (picture by my friend, Bradley Linda). I have picked up train orders in this fashion at 60 mph more times than I can count. The trick is to stick your arm through the hoop- not try to catch them with your hand. It is fairly easy to do (although you have to lean out quite a bit) when there is a standard hoop system like this one. It can get tricky if the operator is passing the orders up with a hand-held hoop, particularly if the operator is not quite experienced. I have had operators get cold feet at the last minute and step back, making it impossible to reach the orders, and then I have had operators misjudge the height and hold them up too low to reach. I had one operator think he had to loop my arm rather than the other way around, and we played arm tag, with me grabbing the entire hoop at the last second, raising a bruise on my palm that didn't go away for weeks.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR Trip

2006-10-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes! It was a 4 hour climb to the top of Cumbres Pass on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR. This was a trip of a lifetime. I have never seen such beautiful scenery. The steam engine was an added bonus.

2006-10-10T16:12:00.000-07:00

The 484 was our power for the trip from Antonito to Chama. the C&TSRR is narrow gauge (36"). The line is part of the old Denver & Rio Grande. The trip winds its way through and around several mountains, crossing Cumbres Pass at over 10,000 feet.

2006-10-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Steam ! ! ! I made a trip to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which runs between Chama, NM, and Antonito, CO in September. My wife and I, along with Bob and Roberta Ward and Gary Hammon, rode from Antonito to Chama, 64 miles through the high mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. From Cumbres Pass to Chama, it is 14 miles downhill at 4% grade. Set the brakes!

Law School Graduation

2006-06-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

July 30, 2005: Here I am graduating from law school with a Juris Doctor (JD) degree. I may or may not practice law- I haven't yet decided. But, first I am going to finish my railroad career. Anything I do with the law degree will be after I retire, although it does come in quite handy when dealing with the FRA. Not only do I know the FRA regulations; I also can intepret them thanks to my law degree.

2006-06-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

I know- it's not a railroad picture. But, my oldest son got married, and the wife and I dressed up in our best. This is the third and last son to get married, and I am through putting on tuxedoes (I hope).

2006-06-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas! This was a Christmas run to Burnet. I had a miniature Christmas tree sitting on the AAR radio. Even when it is way below freezing outside, I like to run with the window open. The hat is a Stetson I wear in cold weather. It is extremely comfortable, and I like wearing it.

2006-06-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Sun kink! ! ! I was on the way to Austin, and I whipped around the curve coming up to MP 78 when to my surprise the rail in front of me was not quite what it should be. Temperatures had been hovering in the mid 110s, and the rail finally said enough- I am stretching out. This caused the S-shaped sun kink. I was able to stop short by making a full service reduction. The conductor and I gauged the track, and it was tight in some places but never wide. So, I eased the train over the sun kink at about half a mile an hour. The wheels of the cars climbed up on the rail and then dropped back down into the gauge. We made it over without derailing, called the superintendent, and a track gang had the rail repaired by the time we returned 8 hours later. This picture is me trying to straighten out the track. I thought I could yank it back into alignment, but the track didn't budge at all ;-)

2006-06-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

Westbound at Bertram 6/12/06. I have one passenger to pick up. I made what I called a flying pickup. My passenger is Tex, the president of the Burnet Gunfighters Association. Tex likes to board while we are moving. I slowed to a stop, but never shut off on the throttle. I released the brakes just before I came to rest. As a result, the train made a split second stop and then began moving again. That way the gates didn't time out on the highway crossing. The rear of the train was moving 20 mph as it passed the platform. That's the way I like it.

2005-08-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

A friend, BNSF engineer R.J. McKay, snapped this shot of me pulling the Hill Country Flyer up a 2 percent grade headed back to Cedar Park. I stopped at Bertram to drop off some passengers, and he was on the platform. I waved him up to the engine, and as soon as he climbed aboard I took off. He rode with me to Cedar Park, and then I drove him back to his truck at Bertram. I thought he understood that I was offering him a cab ride, but he was really surprised when I left the platform with him aboard.

2005-08-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here my wife Ruth relaxes in a director's chair with an adult beverage on the rear platform of our Southern business car, the Boonesborough, after a catered meal on an evening employee's special run from Cedar Park to Burnet and return.

2005-08-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here I am ready to depart the civic center in downtown Austin after loading up passengers on a July 2005 Sunday. We will go a mile to another platform and pick up some more passengers, then give them a 2-hour ride through the city.

2005-03-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

Here I am helping fuel ECRX 9055. We left Cedar Park with only 250 gallons of fuel, and the run takes 300 gallons. This was on 3/19/05. I also added 55 gallons of oil to the sump, 4 gallons at a time. Lots of fun!

2005-03-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

My superintendent and I talked the local fuel jobber into fueling our engine on a Saturday by helping him mix and pour concrete for a sign foundation this past March 19 on the Hill Country Flyer. We left Cedar Park with 250 gallons. The round trip takes 300 gallons. Our option, if this kind man hadn't agreed to provide us with some fuel, was to fill up the diesel fuel tank on our hy-rail truck, 50 gallons at a time, and pump that over to the engine. We left Burnet on time because we were able to get 920 gallons from the local jobber. If we had to do it using the hy-rail, we might still be there ;-)

2005-03-28T05:20:00.000-08:00

Alco RSD15 442 is back in service. We used ECRX 9055 as emergency backup power in case the 442 was unwilling to perform after being rewheeled. I was conductor on the train today. We had 8 cars and 400 passengers on a cold rainy day, but everyone loved it. This picture was taken climbing up out of the San Gabriel River valley on March 26.

2005-03-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

Me at the throttle of AUAR engine 191, an EMD GP40 3,000 hp diesel, on March 4, 2005. I had 3 coaches and two lounge cars with about 125 passengers on a cool, rainy day. I am at the platform at Burnet, TX, having just brought the A&TC Hill Country Flyer into town. I tested the dynamic brakes out on our 2 percent grades, and they held as long as the rail was dry. I had wheel pickup coming down the Summit grade and had to back off the dynamics and set the train air brakes.

2005-02-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

This is the end of track at the spur leading into downtown Burnet, TX. The end of the rail is right below the snow plow on my engine. Our passenger depot and platform is on the other side of the train. I like to blow a crossing signal (two longs, a short, and a long) coming up to the end of track to see if I can get vehicular traffic to stop on the road just past the end of track. Even though there is no track in the roadway, people stop. I guess they figure I am going to keep going into the grocery store parking lot ;-)

2005-02-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is a shot I took from my train, the Austin & Texas Central RR Hill Country Flyer, on March 20, 2004, as we climbed up out of the San Gabriel River bottom. We go through several cuts through the side of various hills, and sometimes the rock cut is so close you can reach out and touch the walls of the cut.

2005-02-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

We stop to pick up passengers at Bertram, TX, on the Austin & Texas Central Hill Country Flyer. The train order signal, with its semaphore arms sticking straight out, indicates "Stop Train Order Signal." We must pick up train orders before proceeding from the station. If you will look just above Steve Barry, the guy in the red vest, you will see the train orders hanging in the train order hoops. Steve is working as the crew chief today. He also works as brakeman, conductor, and fireman. The conductor today, Clif Jones (black vest), is welcoming the passengers aboard. Clif is a certified steam engine fireman, and also works as crew chief, brakeman, and conductor. I worked as brakeman this trip so I could ride the caboose with my friends, the Hammonds and Wards.

2005-02-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my friends, the Hammons from San Antonio, and the Wards from St. Louis, on our caboose at Burnet, TX, on the back of the Austin & Texas Central Hill Country Flyer. Bob Ward (far right on the caboose) is a retired Frisco conductor. His wife, Roberta, is Gary Hammon's sister. Gary is standing just to the left in the picture from Bob, and his sister, Roberta, is behind him standing in the doorway of the caboose. The Hammons and Wards ride with me about twice a year.

2005-02-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well, we certainly don't want to go the way we are lined up- it would take us on top of the cars in #2 track at Robinson Yard, just west of Austin. I am down on the ground on the Austin & Texas Central's River City Flyer to line us up through #1 track. The main line, the track on the far left, is full of cars. This was April 11, 2004, and it was a little bit chilly that day.

2005-02-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

June 19, 2004 finds me as conductor on the River City Flyer, running from Cedar Park to Downtown Austin to pick up passengers to haul around Austin for a couple of hours. Here we are crossing the UP main at McNeil, TX. My brakeman, John Pedersen, stands the required 20 feet away from the switch that controls the derail. The silver-painted stand is the control mechanism for the interlocking. Whenever we get to the interlocking, we first have to look at the block indicator. If it indicates that the block on the UP is occupied, we have to wait 9 minutes before actuating the time release mechanism. If it indicates that the block is clear, then we open the door below the round indicator, and that turns the block signals on the conflicting route red. We then close the box, and that gives us a lunar (whitish colored) signal, indicating that we have the right of way and can proceed across the diamond track. Once we get across, we have to line the derail back to the derailing position so that a UP train approaching the diamond will get a clear (green-colored) signal, which allows them to cross the interlocking. I worked this train almost every Sunday during the summer of 2004. That was my break away from studying law.

2005-02-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

Valentines' Day, 2004, we had a nice snow. I worked as conductor. The engineer was going to take just our Alco RSD15, but I said no, grab another engine. I didn't want us falling down on iced-over track on our steep hills. The second unit is a 2,000 hp EMD SD38-2. So, we had 12 pulling axles and 4,400 hp. The passengers just loved running through snow-covered hills- almost as much as I did.

2005-02-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

Yes, we occasionally get snow on the Austin & Texas Central RR. This was Valentine's Day, 2004. It took me 3 hours to drive 56 miles to get to work, but I wasn't about to miss the photo opportunities. This is our yard at Cedar Park, looking at our Alco RSD15 #442, which is sitting on the east leg of the wye track.

2005-02-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

This shot, taken from the caboose, emphasizes the hills we run through on the Austin & Texas Central RR. I had rented the caboose for the Central Texas Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society. I worked the trip as conductor, and I rode the caboose with the group, of which I was the chapter president at the time. The grade here is about 1.5 percent, and is less steep than many of our hills. We are about to cross the San Gabriel River on the oldest trestle in the state of Texas.

2005-02-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is me, working as conductor on the Austin & Texas Central Bertram Turn, inside our restored depot at Bertram, TX on June 19, 2004. The depot was painstakingly restored by Austin Steam Train Association volunteers. ASTA runs trains through the Central Texas Hill Country as the Austin & Texas Central Railroad.

2005-02-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

This was a shot I took from the fireman's seat of the Hill Country Flyer during Railfair 2003. We are approaching our restored depot at Burtram, TX at track speed, train orders in the hoop. The folks at the depot are passengers on the Burtram turn for the most part. I have already passed their train in the siding to the right of the main line I am running on. The conductor of the Burnet Turn, Charlie Wymola, is flagging the road crossing for me. We were hauling about 300 passengers this trip. The track we run on is very hilly, with a ruling grade of 2 percent. This means that for every 50 feet of track, there is a 1-foot rise or fall in the elevation. On an average train, when we are descending a 2 percent grade, the wheels of the rear car are even with the top of the locomotive.

2005-02-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the wye at Burnet, TX, in April of 2003. I was the conductor that day, and I dropped off the train as we were backing around the wye to turn the train. So, the train is moving away from me in this picture. The engine is a very rare Alco RSD15 "Alligator"- the only engine of its type still running. It is a 2400 hp 6 axle unit last used in iron ore hauling. We painted it in the SP Black Widow scheme, although the engine was originally a Santa Fe engine. The track we run over once was owned by the Southern Pacific, and is now owned by Capital Metro of Austin.

2005-02-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

This is the west leg of the wye track at Burnet, TX. Note how the bluebonnets cover the track. This picture was taken from my train, the Hill Country Flyer, on April 3. I was the conductor on this day, and I had almost 500 passengers, most of whom had come just to see the bluebonnets.

2005-02-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

This shot was taken in 2001 from the Hill Country Flyer on April 15. April is bluebonnet month. The fields are covered with bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes, and other wild flowers. Whenever we run across a section of track in which the bluebonnets grow, we pick the seeds up on the pilot, the plate that covers the front and rear portion of the locomotive and prevents objects from derailing the engine by pushing them out of the way. The pilot extends to 3 inches above the top of the rail. We then spread the seeds along the track. The bluebonnets in this picture actually are covering the west leg of the wye track at Burnet, TX. We use the wye to turn our passenger train around for the return trip to Cedar Park. Since the speed on the track is 5 mph, that allows us to really spread those bluebonnet seeds. Then, the next year, they bloom and cover the track. I have titled this picture "Blue Wye."

2005-02-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

This was my view from the engineer's seat while performing switching at Mauriceville, TX. We are kicking cars into the four tracks seen in the picture in order to put the train into what was called "station order." We would then go from station to station setting out the cars along the way. The cars for station A would be next to the engine, then station B cars behind them, and so on. This yard was on our Orange Subdivision branch, and most of the cars we handled were either LDPE plastic or hazardous chemicals produced by Chemical Row, one of the largest chemical complexes in the world. We handled HCN (hydrocyanic acid) cars routinely. These cars were so dangerous, that they had to be handled a minimum of 25 cars from the engine or caboose. My next door neighbor, and SP engineer, proved that this distance (more than a quarter of a mile) was insufficient. He was handling some HCN 30 cars behind his engine when he hit a sun kink at 40 mph, derailing the HCN cars. The fireball destroyed his engines over a third of a mile away, and wiped a small East Texas town off the map. He and his crew escaped by running ahead of the train once it came to rest.

2005-02-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

Here is a closer look at my power on the HNS. These three units are EMD SD35 2500 hp locomotives. "SD" stands for "special duty" and that means "through freight" duty. A 6-axle locomotive with the same horsepower as a 4-axle locomotive could out-pull the 4-axle engine because the horsepower was distributed to 6 axles instead of 4, and there was less likelihood of having wheel slip when pulling hard. If a wheel slips on the rail and then grabs before the engineer has time to reduce the throttle, the result can be a break-in-two due to a failed coupler. Our couplers (called knuckles) had a 50,000 pound test pull capacity. If you are pulling a 15,000 ton (30 million pounds) train, you have to be careful. This is like catching a 3600 pound fish on 6-pound test fishing line. You can do it, I suppose, if you pull gently enough. I am running short nose forward with this power, which means the engineer's control stand is on the left side of the engine facing forward (right side of the picture). All of the block signals from Houston to Addis (Baton Rouge) are on the right, but they are still easier to see running short nose forward than if I were running long nose forward as the Southern engineers did. The theory was that running long nose forward would protect you more in the event of a collision. I have seen that theory debunked on several occasions when the crew was crushed between the first and second units. I would rather see where I am going and take my chances. I would say the odds are of being in a severe collision are about the same as one would have in flying with a commercial airline. Now, what pilot would want to fly a plane backwards just on the possibility that he might crash, and that his chances of survival might be higher if the plane hits tail first? Your honor, the defense rests.

2005-02-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

Fog was a big part of my life, since I ran essentially along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. I am stopped behind KCS #42 just outside of DeQuincy, La., while #42 picks up some cars out of the siding at Helme. I climbed atop the approach signal to Helme to take this picture. I figured since I had a red block, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to take a picture. I am on the HNS (Houston to New Orleans Southern connection). We ran their locomotives almost exclusively. We delivered the train to the east base of the Mississippi River Bridge (named the Huey P. Long). The Southern engineer would take the train over only if we spotted the train between two yellow marks at the base of the bridge. The Southern RR ran their engines long nose forward. Whenever we would pick up a cut of cars at Port Barre, I usually turned the engines so that I had a short nose forward. That meant I was running from the left side of the train, and that was good once I got past Addis (Baton Rouge), as our signals were on the left side from there on into Avondale. This always made the Southern engineers mad. My reply was always, you got your yellow marks (which were located on the left side of the train on the bridge walkway), I've got my wyes to turn the engines. You do away with the yellow marks, and I will bring the train in with the engines long nose forward.

2005-02-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

I am in the siding at Starks, La., meeting KCS #42, their hotshot Port Arthur to Kansas City train. The maximum speed for this track was officially 40 mph, so naturally this train is running about 60 mph as he passes me.

2005-02-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

This is a shot of me shoving the spray train into Dyersdale siding, just east of Houston back in the 1970s. This is how we used to control the weeds along the right of way. I would remain as engineer on this train for an entire week, shoving it all across my division, including branch lines, at about 10 mph. We would stop for the night at a town where the railroad had a lodging agreement with a local hotel. This was back in the days before credit cards were popular, and my crew and I ran out of money at Port Barre, La. We got the crew caller to call our wives, and they each sent us an envelope of cash via the conductor of train #94, the hotshot Houston to New Orleans through freight. My wife handed up my money at Beaumont. The next morning, we went down to the waybill box outside the depot at Port Barre, and retrieved our money. Such was the brotherhood of railroading.

2005-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

I am heading into the siding to meet train NHS (New Orleans to Houston, Southern connection). The name of the red over lunar signal aspect is "Low Signal". It tells me I am diverging onto another track, and that track is not governed by signals. I could well find a caboose or cut of cars just past the clearance point. The signal circuit is connected to a derail, which the brakeman on the left (Robert Hollins) has removed so that I can enter the siding at Elizabeth, just west of Beaumont, TX.

2005-02-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

This is the approach to the Neches River Drawbridge coming into Beaumont, TX back in the late 70s. The block signal, called a semaphore type, tells me that just on the other side of the bridge I either have a red block signal, which I have to stop before, or a low yellow, which tells me I am taking the south main.

2005-02-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a pair of brand new GP50 3500 hp diesels pulling a 100-car train. Here we are stopped at Huffman, TX to get some barbeque before heading towards Alexandria, La.

2005-02-19T23:01:00.000-08:00

This is another one of my favorite shots. This was the sharpest double-s curve on the Missouri Pacific. I am stopped at the SP main at New Iberia with the Jefferson Island salt train, waiting for an SP train to cross the interlocking.

2005-02-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

There used to be an old saying: "Another day at the salt mine." Well, that saying meant a lot to me, as I actually worked the salt train from New Iberia, La., to Jefferson Island, La., for several years. This is a picture of the back of the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine- the largest salt mine in the world, until Texaco punched a hole in the salt dome one day and drained the intercoastal canal into the mine.

2005-02-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

This is the west side of the Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge. I am running about 50 mph here, and I will be down to 35 mph by the curve, and I will be barely moving as my engine hits the span- about 1-2 mph if I am lucky. The bridge was a real challenge, as we had a tight curve at the bottom of the bridge on the east side, and we had to be able to stop so that we could see the block signal at the Illinois Central main line.

2005-02-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

I took this shot halfway through the span over the Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge.

2005-02-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite shots I took while crossing the Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge with a mile and a half of train. I carried as many as 175 cars at a time over the bridge.

2005-02-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

We meet a rock train at Elgin on Feb. 19, 2005. We are in the siding, and the rock train is crossing the UP diamond.

2005-02-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

Here I am working as conductor on the A&TC Hill Country Flyer, on Oct. 9, 2004. My wife, Ruth, came along for the ride.

2005-02-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

Here I am running the Austin & Texas Central Movie Train Special just outside of Elgin, TX on Feb. 18, 2005.

2005-02-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

Movie Train at Austin. We stopped for lunch before continuing to Elgin.