Have you ever ridden on a tourist train that had a volunteer brakeman or even a volunteer engineer and wondered how they got to be so lucky? I have, and I used to just assume that they were ex-railroad employees who wanted to keep their hand in things. That is, I did until one Saturday last year when I walked into the Travel Town Museum and said; "i don't know much about railroads, but i sure do like trains, can i help?" "you bet you can, how about coming over here..."
The Travel Town Museum is a railroad museum and park inside Griffith Park in the city of Los Angeles, CA. The group that I had just become associated with is the Southern California Scenic Railway Association. As I found out, we are a totally volunteer association charged with the responsibility for restoring, maintaining, and operating the Travel Town locomotives, car, and track. The associates meet every Saturday morning for a day of work on the railroad with each person contributing what talents he or she might have. I was quickly overwhelmed with how much there was to learn, but at every turn, there was someone willing to take time and teach me something about railroading. I went home each Saturday evening feeling that I had worked hard and had been rewarded with increased knowledge of railroading.
The Association offers rides to the public in a pair of cabooses pulled by a 40 ton switch engine manufactured by the Electro-Motive Corporation (the forerunner of the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors) in 1942. The engine, Travel Town #1, is named after Charley Atkins, the founder of the Travel Town Museum. The cabooses are the Southern Pacific #4049, built in 1961, and the Santa Fe #999110, built in 1928. Since the association offers rides to the general public in these cabooses, we have a formal training and
certification program for the associates in the positions of brakeman,
conductor, and engineer. Did I want to enter the training program? YOU BET! I could operate the train. This is the stuff of dreams.
It all starts by purchasing your own copy of the Association of American Railroads Standard Code of Operating Rules. You see, the first step is to pass a written examination on the rules. Safety is of paramount concern and the rules are focused on requiring safe operations of trains. I studied and thought that I understood. Then entered the instructor, Randy Matus. Randy spent an afternoon with me going over each rule and asking very detailed questions. This is what we call a study session and each time I was puzzled, we would "take a walk" and look at a piece of track or equipment and he would explain how it related to the rule we were discussing. I learned a lot that afternoon. I spent a couple of weeks after that studying and finally asked for the exam. So, one Saturday afternoon, I surrendered my rule book to the instructor and took my closed book test. It was fair, covered important things, and I'm happy to say, I got 100% correct. It was time to move on to brakeman training.
The day wasn't as hot as it had been but it wasn't cold either. I had a cup of ice water in my hands all day. Spent the day working on various projects waiting for Randy to arrive. He works Saturdays and can't arrive until late in the day. His schedule doesn't impact on training as we have to wait until the park is closed and the public gone before we can get the train out and operate with students.
Randy had called last night to tell me that he wanted to do some safety training and start brakeman training today. We watched a pair of video tapes from the WW II era that were used by the railroads of the time and discussed the differences in our procedures. We operate equipment and use procedures from that era, but for safety reasons, we don't ride on top of moving cars, and there are some other differences. Randy signed off on my safety training, and I finished the day playing brakeman for a student engineer. I was mostly practicing my hand signals and getting on and off a moving train. That is an important skill and not as easy to master as you might think. There is only one way to do it safely, and it is not at all natural at first. At the end of two hours, I think I have it down. It is not a habit yet, but I have mental picture that won't let me forget the proper procedure.
When you know how, you can get on and off at a pretty good rate of speed without difficulty. Tonight, however, we were practicing very slowly, maybe at 2 or 3 MPH. It is about the only time I can think of where you get on and off moving equipment as a routine part of the job. I understand that most modern railroads teach this skill to their employees, but do not practice it on the job for safety reasons. We continue the practice, because frequently, our train crews are required to flag grade crossings, and otherwise improve the safety of our railroad.
I also added a couple of neat items to my collection of railroad stuff today. I got my set of association keys a while back and paid my deposit. But I didn't get a caboose key or a switch lock key. I asked our key person today and was told that they are antiques but that he found a company that will still make them. He had a bunch of new "old" keys made up, and said I could buy a copy. so I have a Southern Pacific caboose key, brass and about 4 inches long, and a Santa Fe switch lock key, also brass and of very unusual design.
Working in the heat today exhausted me, so I took a 30-minute break at the end of the day and then it was time for training. This was my second session of formal brakeman training and we covered a lot of ground. I did an hour of signaling, getting on and off the locomotive while moving, and we did some running on the main track so that I could practice signaling the engineer's stopping point. Then we did some coupling, hooking up the air brake hoses, and setting and releasing hand brakes. Finally we discussed the normal flow of air to the brakes. It went really well, and I hope to get my certification by October.
Had a good training session. We are getting serious now. We took a triple valve apart and looked at how it works. The triple valve controls the flow of air in the brake system of a railroad car. This one was an older type K and, while our cabooses use the more modern type AB, they both do the same three things. They charge the auxiliary and emergency reservoirs, direct air to the brake cylinder, and release the brake cylinder air pressure to the atmosphere. The one I was looking at had a patent dated Jan 24, 1888. A neat mechanical design.
From this point on, I would be working with Jim Vicars as my engineer. With Jim at the controls, I got to practice getting on and off the moving locomotive and he upped the speed on me pretty good, but I didn't have any difficulty. Then I threw a couple of switches, and we moved onto the siding with our two cabooses. For awhile we just coupled and uncoupled the engine to the consist without moving anything. Got to work with both top and bottom type coupler lifting pins. I got the speed of closure down and pretty soon it became no problem to make a nice gentle couple. Then Randy had me hooking up the air hoses after each coupling and charging the line with air before uncoupling. The only trick, once you know how to mate the glad-hands (the mechanical devices that joins two air hoses together), is the rate at which you open the angle cock to allow air into the air brake line. If you open the cock too fast, you will stress the system into an emergency brake application on the locomotive, as it will think it has a parted hose, or an open angle cock at the end of the train.
Having mastered that, I was going to get to play with a real train, not just an engine. I got the first caboose ready to move , charged the air brake system, checked that the brakes were working on the car, and got ready to cut it away from the other caboose. In railroading, some valves are closed when in line and others are closed when at 90 degrees. I call it railroad backwards. It is very confusing, but in good light you can always look for the line of flow marker. It was, however, getting dark.
I decided that the angle cock at the rear of the car I was getting ready to cut out was open and needed to be closed or we would lose all our air when they pulled apart. So I closed it (I thought) under the watchful eyes of my instructor, pulled the cut lever, and signaled the engineer to go forward. He did, we separated and immediately had a "big hole" as all the air in the system dumped. The triple valve sensed an emergency and applied full brakes to all cars as the system is designed to do. We stopped in 3 feet. I knew what I had done instantly. So I closed the valve, and we talked about it while the system recharged.
After that , things went pretty smooth. I got to couple and uncouple the train a bunch of times and even learned how to deal with a leaky gasket in a glad-hand. You wet the gasket with spit and most likely , it will stop leaking. At the end I learned how to deal with a stuck lifting pin on a stretched coupler and can now handle that situation. You learn by experience and by making mistakes. I'll remember today for quite awhile. The biggest problem I seem to be having is
remembering the proper names of things. There is one valve that is driving me nuts, I think it is the "retaining valve" but still am not sure. I need to take some notes when we aren't doing training. People say, "Who cares what you call it so long as you understand what it does?" That doesn't really work. Not knowing the proper terms makes it difficult to talk with people who do know the right terms. I'll learn.
It is turning cold here by our standards. In fact, we fired up the oil stove in the SP caboose we were working with this evening. I learned how to do that. It's for cooking and heating, and they work fine in both cabooses.
Got back into my formal brakeman training this evening after about two months of no training for a variety of reasons. We did complete operations tonight starting with getting the locomotive out of its stall after a brake check, and switching the track to the caboose siding. Next, I coupled onto the caboose consist and did the full brake check. After that, I was practicing coupling and uncoupling the engine with one caboose to the other caboose in order to learn how to gauge the speed at impact (1/2 to 1 mph is best). It is really a team effort. Only the brakeman knows for sure how close the couplers are and how fast you are closing. The brakeman has to know how his engineer will react to his "slow" and "stop" hand signals and take action accordingly. Jim and I were working well together.
Finally, we took the engine and one caboose for some running on our main track, so that I could practice being the engineer's eyes at the rear of the train while backing. Then we reversed the whole process and put everything away.
I felt like I did okay. I made some mistakes and I did some things really well. I tend to forget the stretch test after coupling sometimes, I got off the train with the wrong foot once (dumb), and I set the angle cocks wrong when putting the train away and big holed it again. I thought I had reasoned it out, but had wrong reasoning. Now I know, and that won't happen again.
So now I've practiced all of the duties required of a brakeman. Now I need to demonstrate that I won't forget and do some unsafe things, and I should get my certification. Can't be more than another week or two.
Training went great with only two small errors. One error was radio procedures. This was the first time that I'd used their radios. I called, "engineer, this is brakeman." they want, "brakeman to engineer." this is another example of "railroad backwards", and I don't know if I'll ever get used to this convention.
Tonight we did complete train operations, brought the locomotive out, switched to the siding, and coupled the two cabooses. I did the brake test without any hints or suggestions, and we switched the train over to the main line so that we could run for awhile. During normal operations we have the engineer and an observer in the locomotive and the brakeman and conductor on the platform of the end caboose. With this arrangement, there is always one person on the caboose visible to the engine crew during backing operations through a curve. However, Jim and I were working with a minimum crew and, as I backed the train with both cabooses down through the first curve, he lost sight of me and didn't know if it was safe to proceed, so he stopped the train and signaled, toot-toot-toot-toot (call for signals).
Now, I knew this signal when I passed my written exam, but we hadn't once used it before this incident and, of course, I had forgotten. However, my train wasn't moving and I knew that I needed to speak to my engineer. I called him on the radio and we made arrangements for me to talk him through the curves (on the radio) until he could again see my lantern. That , of course, was the right response to the signal. We operated in this manner for half an hour or so and I really enjoyed myself. While backing the train, I would ride on the caboose platform , clear the track for the engineer and stop the train before the end of our track. Then I would signal him forward and go inside the caboose to warm myself in front of the stove.
We put the cabooses to bed and then the locomotive. I felt pretty good about the whole thing and hoped to get my certification soon, maybe next weekend.
I thought that I would get my brakeman's certificate tonight and I am not very happy with my performance. I made far too many mistakes this evening. Normally, on check rides, you do the procedure that you have been practicing and there aren't any surprises. Well, tonight was totally different and a lot more complex. There were lots of opportunities to make mistakes. While many of the things that we did tonight had not been practiced, I knew what needed to be done and should have been able to handle the situation. Part of the problem was that I was cold and tired (it was another long day), part was just stupid, and part was not paying attention to what I was doing. In retrospect, perhaps I needed more training to learn these things, and not a check ride.
We brought the locomotive out of its stall, switched it to the caboose siding, and coupled up the train. I did the brake check without any problems and turned on the marker light (I remembered), only it didn't come on. Turns out a circuit breaker had been opened and after discovering that, I got the light on, finally.
Things were still going reasonably well. Dispatch orders were to take the train onto the main line, cut out the end caboose, return to the caboose siding, and drop off the remaining caboose. We would then have the SF caboose parked on the main line, and the SP caboose parked on the caboose siding. Then I was to go pick up the SF caboose, bring it back, and couple to the SP caboose on the siding. The intent of this maneuver was to reverse the order of the two cars.
This is normal switching duty that I need to be able to perform, but this is not what we had
practiced, and this is where things went downhill. I set the first caboose on a skate (a wheel chock used by railroads), set the hand brake, and cut the car out. As we pulled away, I was reminded that I had not turned on a marker light for the NEW end of the train and I realized that I had left one lit on a parked car. I spotted the SP on the siding and that went well.
Then I went to pick up the SF caboose. After coupling, I realized that I couldn't remember the procedure for a brake check when "picking up a car that has had its brakes charged and properly tested earlier in the day." I went into the caboose to read the rules. Good that I remembered to do that, bad that I didn't know. The marker light was still on, so couldn't do any more damage in that area. After doing the proper brake check, I switched the train over to the caboose siding and made up the train in reverse order. This went without any real problems.
At this point, my dispatch orders were to move the train over to a third siding and couple to a stationary engine. I did the brake check on the caboose we were picking up (without referring to the book this time), and gave a "move forward" signal to the engineer. However, I forgot to release the hand brake on the car we had just picked up. As soon as we started to move, Randy told me to stop the train, and explained what I had done wrong. That is a case of just plain not paying attention to what I was doing. I knew that I needed to release the hand brake.
We moved the train over to the engine siding and coupled to the Baldwin locomotive. This was easy and I didn't need a skate, as the engine was sitting on one. My orders were to leave the last caboose (SP) here, and put the remaining one (SF) back into the caboose siding. We were starting to put the train back in proper order. This involves changing two track switches. WHOOPS, one not two, but I realigned both of them and backed the train onto the wrong track (without authority). Halfway through the switch, I knew what I had done. I called for a stop and directed the train back onto authorized track. Then I realigned the switch that was set wrong, and finally spotted the caboose on the skate in the siding where it belonged. I hit the skate a little hard but not real bad. I found out later that I had forgotten to set the hand brake on this car. That was two errors with hand brakes, in one night.
We took the engine back to get the remaining SP caboose, and coupled it to the SF in their home on the caboose siding. This all went well, except that this is the point where I discovered the loose hand brake. As a result, I had to hook up the air brake system and charge the brake pipe for this caboose. It had come off the skate and needed to be reset. I had the engineer move the train forward a short distance and reset the skate. Then I set the hand brakes on both cabooses and was told to put the locomotive away for the night . At this point I'm getting tired. I called for the engineer to move forward without pulling the lifting pin so that we could uncouple. I got him stopped instantly, but the couplers had stretched and now the uncoupling lever wouldn't budge the lifting pin. I had Jim release air brakes as we were on a grade, and the engine rolled back relieving the tension. Then I was able to use the cut lever to lift the pin and off we went.
We put the engine away, aligned the switches, and locked up without further incident. I should have been able to accomplish this task in a better manner. I am unhappy with not being able to be a brakeman for our operations next weekend, but it is unlikely that I will do some of these things again.
Randy asked me this afternoon if I wanted to do a training session or a check ride. I opted for a check ride. We got started a bit before 5:00 p.m. helping Jim check the locomotive brakes, and when we were ready to move, Randy had some questions. He asked me what equipment I had in my possession. Okay, I had my lantern, my Rule Book, a portable radio, my set of keys, and a watch. He wanted to know if I had set my watch to standard time? No, but I knew where the standard time clock was located, so he was satisfied with that. Probably because we wouldn't be operating on a schedule. He wanted to know if I had checked the bulletins and yes, I do that every morning. It wasn't all that difficult and I got off to a good start.
We had the Baldwin locomotive in front of Charley (the locomotive we were going to use) and the first move was to spot the Baldwin on the crossover far enough along not to foul the track we needed to use. I remembered the hand brake, and Jim was ready to push so "here we go." only, we didn't go. With great effort, Jim got it moving a little bit with a lot of ugly noise. Something wrong, stop! I checked all brakes on the Baldwin, loose, no obstructions, and checked Charley's hand brake. Everything was okay. We sanded the track while backing down grade a little way and gave it another try. This time it worked. I guess Charley was having difficulty getting traction pushing that 120 ton locomotive up grade. We took it up to the grade crossing and put it on the skate. I set the hand brake and checked track clearance; we were fine.
We uncoupled from the Baldwin; lined switches; went over and coupled to the cabooses. Perfect couple; couldn't have been more gentle and still set the locking pins. Jim has a fine touch on the throttle and it makes it real easy for me to slow him down and stop without spilling any imaginary passenger's drinks while still making a solid coupling. In fact, all night long, we only had one coupling that was at 1/2 mph. All the others were less.
Standard hookup and brake test during which Randy had lots of questions. He was distressed that I couldn't remember that the reservoir is correctly called the auxiliary reservoir. But during the critique, he said that my knowledge of the air brake system was "exceptional". He does ask a lot of questions, and it seems that if you know more than just the expected answer, i.e., you can elaborate on the differences between a K valve and an AB valve when he asks about emergency application, it will help overcome not calling it an auxiliary reservoir. Bottom line is that if you know something cold, tell him.
Our track crew was working late on the main line and had set a red board between the rails just past the grade crossing. He asked what that meant. "Stop" is "stop", not much to talk about. He asked what it meant when it was beside the track? I don't have any idea. We have never studied that, and it is not in the book. He told me and didn't hold it against me. (Something like: stop, check with somebody, and then proceed... I don't remember what he told me. I had too many things on my mind.)
So we were track limited and did some running back and forth between the platform and the caboose siding. On the curves, Jim can't see my lantern and needs to talk to me on the radio, only my handy talkie had a weak battery and was getting ready to die.
Then Randy wanted the SF caboose spotted in the engine siding. Put it down there, on skate, hand brake set, marker off on SF, marker on SP, and uncoupled. Moved to the platform. Randy said, go back and pick it up. OK, no problem. This is where we hit at 1/2 mph, good but not perfect. The maximum allowable coupling speed is 4 mph, and we try to accomplish the feat as slowly as possible while still effecting a lock. Our equipment is old and tired, and we don't want to break it.
I hooked up the air hoses and did the mini brake check, and then discovered that the hand brake was still set. OOPS! I quickly released the brake, and since we still had 20 pounds of reduction on the brake pipe, I went back and rechecked that the brake shoes were still set. Randy accepted this without even a critique item at the end. I was surprised.
We moved the train to the platform and Randy called the engineer back to the caboose for critique and discussion. Then he signed off on my qualifications as a brakeman. He told us to take him for a train ride and put the equipment to bed when we were tired of playing.
Jim & I decided that it was early enough and we would run for a little while. But my radio battery died just then and since we were on curves, we decided to put the equipment away for the night. I got off the train , found a spot where Jim could see my light and I could see the rear of the train to be able to protect it. It worked and we put the cabooses up for the night. We didn't see Randy again (turns out he was just riding in the SF caboose). The only work remaining was to take Charley out on the crossover where we had spotted the Baldwin engine, couple the two engines, and put them back in their engine stall.
Then we shut down the engine, locked up everything, filled out time cards, said Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and called an end to the year. I was now a brakeman for the Southern California Scenic Railway Association.