Week 2

Hello, everyone! It's hot down here in Atlanta.  My paleness has managed to get a little bit of sun over the past few days but I'm waiting on some cooler weather here.  I'd love to be out in a jacket right about now. Still trying to catch up with where I should be, I'm going to try to talk a little about week 2 and what we did down here. 

On Monday, we spent a ton of time learning railroad terms and began learning basic operating rules for the railroad.  With the terms, we had about 80 or 90 of them to go over and cover everything from what an engine and a train are to what the contents of a Dispatcher Message should be.  The operating rules were a little more intense.  The operating rules are our railroad bible while we are working,

governing everything we do out there.  I always have to have a copy while I'm working and can get into a lot of trouble if I don't.  I look forward to the time when I know it really well, and I don't need to worry about reading it so intensely.  Overall, it was really kind of boring, but a necessary step to working out in the yard and places the proper emphasis on the rules that will probably save my life in an emergency, as long as I follow them.  

On Tuesday, (and really every day that week), we had a quiz over all the terms from the day before. Then, we started our railroad communications unit. It was just a simple introduction to the different ways that we communicate at work, from signage to hand signals to using the radios.

On Wednesday, things got a little more interesting.  We started speeds and signals lesson, and this contains a lot of information that, if not followed, can get us in a lot of trouble.  Unlike highways that have speed limit signs out there with clearly marked speeds, we have books called timetables that keep track of authorized speeds along routes.  But, the routes have signals on them that also govern speeds, (and have priority over the authorized speeds contained in the timetable).  Ahhh, signals....one of the most complicated aspects of this job is just learning the signals.  Signals are the equivalent of traffic lights out on a line or going into a yard. They have an aspect (which is the color combination of lights that we would see from a train), and an indication (which is what the combination of lights means) Now,  I want you to imagine for a moment taking a drive, and you come upon a stop light in the middle of a town.  You've stopped at lights a thousand times before, and you know exactly what they mean.  You follow the rules for driving that the traffic light governs (stop, prepare to stop, and go), and proceed along your merry way.  Now imagine that you come to another town, and that traffic light is in a completely different arrangement, and the colors don't necessarily mean stop, prepare to stop, and go. Also, these traffic lights include speeds (based on what is lit up on the signal), and are configured in circles, three sets lights, etc.  It's getting a little more complicated, right? Now, imagine 3 different sets of rules governing how those lights work (with each set containing 20- 24 different rules for each with a variety of styles and color displays (aspects) for each individual signal... I think my head just exploded.    I believe a visual may be in order to explain just how complicated our signal system is.

This is the signal for "Clear" (which is a lot like go on a regular traffic light):

So is this:

and so is this:

Ok, so far so good, right? But "Clear" can be these three signals plus six more, just for my set of rules, the Seaboard Signal Aspects:

And then, of course, there are two other sets of rules.  Here are the other two sets of signal aspects for "Clear." First, the C&O "Clear" Signal Aspects:

 And Conrail "Clear" Signal Aspects:

See what I mean? This is just the "Clear" aspect under the 3 different Signal systems.  If you notice, there are more than 25 different ways to display a "Clear" aspect, 25!  As I said before, the set of signals I use are called the Seaboard Signal Aspects.  CSX also has Conrail Signal Aspects and C&O Signal Aspects. There are 21 different aspects in the Seaboard Signal System (there are actually more, but that was all we were required to learn).  There are 20 different aspects in C&O, and 24 in Conrail.  You have to be asking yourself why are there all these different sets? CSX is a conglomeration of several different railroads.  These are the three signal systems that came from the old Seaboard, Conrail, and C&O railroads that CSX purchased.  Because railroads are privately owned, the need to go through and create a unified signal system wasn't really pressing.  Hence the different signal systems.  Now,  this is just the signal network on the CSX system.  Going over to other railroads, and everything changes again.  It's crazy, but that's how it works.

We have 6 weeks to go through and test out of the signal systems, knowing both the aspects and indications. I was fortunate enough to get all of mine knocked out before the end of the second week, but I've known of people ahead of us who haven't passed it until the last day they are here. 

Thursday and Friday, we discussed train movement, switching, and train building.  In train movement, we learned about marking tracks to warn other trains, setting up protection against other trains if something happens to our train, how to use fusees (which are like flares)

and flags,  how our timetables (the publications that cover travel within each of our divisions and subdivisions) are set up, and the rules associated with moving trains using the instructions laid out by the train dispatchers. 

In the switching and train building unit, we learned some more terminology concerning how rail cars are classified, and labeled for identification. 

We also learned some of the operating rules concerning switches, and how to place trains. 

In all, it was a mentally exhausting week.  It was a ton of information to cover, but I'm managing to hang in there.  Grades are great so far, and I'm learning a lot.  My next post will be about the third week, and all the awesome initial field training experiences we had! Until then...