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My criticism was not really of them as much as it was of the company's indifference. I am sure that if it was up to these gentlemen, they'd probably side with the employees and tell them to leave the windows open when it was extremely hot. If not, I have underestimated their intelligence.
The folks at 1416 Dodge Street have a pretty full plate in front of them, but they need to be reminded occasionally of the conditions down here where the wheel meets the rail and the safety shoes meet the ballast.
A few nights later, it was 98 degrees at 2:00 a.m. in Centennial Yard. The daytime official temperature at DFW airport was 107 degrees. It was 111 degrees at my house and my conductor said it was 113 degrees at his place in Granbury. I am sure it was a lot hotter west of here.
Today, September 4, the Dallas Morning News said our area had broken the record for the number of days with temperature above 100 degrees.
Shortly after midnight, my crew and I went "dog-catching" to bring a train into Centennial Yard that had come in from Sweetwater, Texas,during the day. Its crew had "run out of time" under the Hours-of-Service Law.
The lead unit was SP 8278. The air conditioner of this unit had been removed and a steel plate had been welded over the approximate 3-1/2 by 4-1/2 foot hole in the roof. No insulation was even in place to protect the crew from the heat.
How would you like to be working under a steel plate for 12 hours or longer, in the West Texas Sun at this temperature? I'll bet it felt like the inside of a microwave oven.
I felt sorry for what that crew had to endure. Union Pacific should too. I am sure the managers I mentioned would feel sorry for them if they had known about the situation.
Not long ago, a rumor was floating around that Union Pacific was removing air conditioners from the SP units. I had checked and was told that this was not the case. Apparently the person who told me this was misinformed.
Our TV stations down here have been showing dairy barns equipped with "misters" to spray water on dairy cows to keep them from dying in this terrible heat. Farmers evidently care about their investment in their livestock more than Union Pacific cares about its Trainmen and Engineers.
Upon hearing the news, my wife, who has donated about 16 hours per month to this endeavor, clicked her heels together and said, "Hooray! Now you can finish the re-modeling job on our kitchen and livingroom that you started years ago...."
This is news we have been halfway expecting since our beginning, more than 75 issues ago. We have always held the CROSSROADS to be independent, while realizing the Union Pacific was the only advertiser. Our philosophy has always been, "Say what you think. This issue may be the last one."
It has been fun, folks. Most good thing do come to an end, and we feel the CROSSROADS has been a good thing. We've achieved some level of success in helping make the railroad a less hostile place down here where the customers' freight ultimately gets moved, where the wheel meets the rail.
We have tried our best to get Omaha think about how their actions affect transportation employees, even though they don't always want to hear it. We have mailed approximately 70 copies of CROSSROADS each month to Union Pacific Headquarters at 1416 Dodge Street in Omaha.
Dick Davidson and Jerry Davis were always sent their personal copies.
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God grant me the Senility
to forget the people
I never liked anyway,
the good fortune
to run into the ones I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference.
At 11:30 p.m., on Thursday, August 20, 1998, Union Pacific Railroad workers and family members and friends met at the sight of the fiery crash and held a short memorial service for Roy Adams, a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and Ray Jagers, a member of the United Transportation Union. Both men were killed when two unattended locomotives rolled out of a siding west of Fort Worth and crashed into their departing train.
For suggestion or comments contact Mickey Cowling via E-Mail
Mickey is a Fort Worth Locomotive Engineer and Rules Instructor for the Fort Worth Service Unit. When not teaching rules classes he works the 23:00 Hump Job.
Do you have a rules question you would like discussed in this column? If so, please call 8/817-878-4528 and leave it on the Fort Worth Safety Center's Voice Mail or E-mail it to Mickey at
I. We are in CTC territory and the main track speed at this location is 40 MPH. Can we clear the main track at a switch not equiped with an electric lock or a signal protecting movement back into CTC?
II. We have passed a clear signal that is governing the approach to an
auto matic interlocker. Our speed is 10MPH due to a speed restriction. How do we approach the automatic interlocker?
III. Refering to the previous question, we are now in a position to increase our speed and we can see the interlocking signal is indicating proceed. When are we relieved from moving prepared to stop at the signal?
IV. We have passed a signal requiring restricted speed, we can see the
next signal is green. When are we relieved of moving at restricted
speed?
V. When "delayed in a block" in CTC, are we required to move at
restricted speed?
I. C, Rule 10.2
As you know, Bea is a retired switchman. I believe he started service in 1946. We were both in the Armed Service during World War II. Lillian's father was Ben Ruggs, who retired as car foreman. Her Brother Ray was a switchman.
Mr. Alcoze's son is a retired switchman
Mr. Brown is a retired Carman.
William Marshall Peavy, 92, a retired diversion clerk, died Wednesday, July 29, 1998, in Fort Worth.
William Marshall Peavy was born Sept. 21, 1905, in Texarkana, Texas. He was a Fort Worth resident most of his life. He retired from T&P Railroad in 1970 after 49 years. He was a member of Bridgewood Church of Christ.
GUSTINE -- Ernest Wayne Couch, 67, a retired round house foreman for Southern Pacific Railroad, died Monday, July 27, 1998, at a Waco hospital.
Ernest Wayne Couch was born Feb.8, 1931, in Gustine.
CLEBURNE -- W.W. Deen, 87, who retired after 47 years as Missouri Pacific railroad clerk, died Thursday, July 30, 1998, in Cleburne.
Mr. Deen was born Jan. 16, 1911, in Milam County.
FORT WORTH -- O.F. Cauthen Jr., 78, a retired railroad carman, died Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1998, in Fort Worth.
Graveside service: 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Greenwood Memorial Park.
O.F. Cauthen Jr. was born Jan. 22, 1920, in Terrell. He was a graduate of Paschal High School. He was a World War II Army veteran and served in the Pacific and Europe. He was a carman for the Union Pacific Railroad for 45years. He was a member of Richland Hills Masonic Lodge and was a member of Travis Avenue Baptist Church for 70 years.
He was born on December 28, 1934 in Fort Worth and is a graduate of North Side High School. His grandfather, Dick Miskell was a Carman for the Rock Island.
He hired out on the old Rock Island Railroad on July 5, 1957 and was with it until it folded in 1980. He continued with the Oklahoma-Kansas-Texas RR until it was absorbed into the Union Pacific in 1989.
Dick says, "I've been a Brakeman, a Conductor and Local Chairman for the UTU. I've always enjoyed railroading. It has been my life and has provided a good income and a roof over my family's head. I'll miss it."
Dick and his wife are planning to do a lot of fishing. They have purchased a place in Port Aransas. Their new address is:
The circus' advance man travelled 6 - 8 weeks ahead of the show and made plans with local railroad officials with regard to how the train would be handled and serviced while in town.
On this morning, the advance man had an appointment with my boss. They had met previously, as I recall, having handled the circus together into and out of Dallas for several years. My presence was "requested" at the meeting.
I was even less politically astute than I am now (which is hard to imagine!), and my boss introduced the circus man to me: "This is Joe Blow with Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey", he said.
"Hi", I shot back, "I'm Tom Greco, and I work for a circus, too!"
The silence was as deafening as the looks of the other two men were lethal!
In an instant, it became clear to me that the RBBB man didn't much appreciate the use of the word "circus" in a sarcastic or derogatory fashion, nor did my boss take kindly to having the MoPac referred to in the same fashion, even if it appeared to be jest!
My clever repartee was never mentioned again, thank goodness. But some weeks later I found myself in a lonely spot somewhere in East Dallas "overseeing" the spotting of the inbound train.
At 3 or 4 in the morning, the silence in that part of town was almost eerie, only to be broken suddenly by the viscious roar of a nearby caged tiger.
It all seemed a bit too bizarre to comprehend: my family still 700 miles away, me out here in the middle of the night when the rest of the world was asleep, all mixed with the roar of a tiger.
All I could do was shake my head and wonder "What in the hell am I DOING here???!!!!"
Tom is a former MP Trainmaster.
Tom Greco, Trainmaster, Colorado Midland Ry.
The summer's heat wave seems to be broken. Let's hope it stays broke.
We took a little more time off and went on a cruise from New Orleans, LA to Cozmel Mexico, the island of Roatan. Honduras, and the prot of Cortez, Honduras.
Our cruise booking said we would be traveling to: Cozmel, Mexico, Grand Cayman Island, Montego Bay, and Jamaica.
We were ON BOARD the vessel and in our cabin when we discovered the itinerary change -- one unusual turn of events. Our booking with Commodore Cruise Lines did not mention the changes.
Learning to be adaptable over the years, we had a good restful enjoyable cruise in the deep blue waters of the Caribbean.
The waters off Roatan and Cozmel are very clear -- not so for Port of Cortez.
Back to reality ... Reports on projects
Mesquite: Number One Track is released for service all the way through August 15, Number two track on August 17. Some loose ends still need to be completed in the next few days. The demolition on Tracks Three and Four will began on August 18.
Ney Yard: Track changes made at Allen Street Bridge. South End Crossovers still to do and ribbon rail to be laid in New tracks One and Two.
Arlington: At Big Mackie, Washington Jones' gang has constructed two tracks and installed the west end switch in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, we will receive ballast for Big Mackie in the next two weeks and can complete this one.
On August 18, we started a paving repair project at the GM Storage area entrance off Abrams Street. We should be finished by September 1.
Speaking of September, Have a Happy and Safe Labor Day Holiday.
--Eddie
He bought the fan at Ellison's Furature Store in Downtown Fort Worth. It cost Two Dollars down with payments of Two Dollars per week until paid in full. Dad still had the receipts in a box of papers I have.
I can remember in the late 1930s when my parents would get a dish pan, set two milk bottles with a stick across the top. They would place a towel over over the stick, and add water and ice to the pan. Then they'd turn on the fan in back of the cold wet towel. This would make the air a little bit cooler when the temperature got to 100-degrees plus.
The smaller fan belonged to my Gramma. It is a Polar Bear Fan from the early 1020s.
These old fans are really well built. All you have to do is oil them and they will last forever.
Robert is a car inspector at the Crest Yard in Fort Worth. He and his wife Gloria operate "The Colony", a bed and breakfast located in the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards.
8-98
For those of you who haven't heard yet...since the last time you and I got together on this forum, I went through a big change in my life. My wife Stephanie and I welcomed to the family a new member; her name is Ebony Shauntelle Derrick. She was born on July 24th in Arlington, Texas. All of us (including daddy) are doing fine, and I think I've gotten used to expecting two types of wake up calls in the house at all hours.
Today, I'll be taking more of your questions about train handling and equipment troubleshooting. As before, the inquirers comprise both the agreement and non-agreement folks; most of the questions will focus on Distributed Power systems, but there will also be others topics of general interest.
DPU LINKING AND SETUP SITUATIONS
So to avoid furthur embarrassment: unless you are planning to utilize an RTD, you must input 00001 for the EOT IDENT portion so that the ICE system will not be looking for a specific device number, thereby allowing you to bypass the blocking out of the Brake Pipe Test soft key offering.
The other was an inquiry about swapping out a DPU train's lead consist; the question was: Can the linking and setup process be done first, then cut the air in on the train?
Answer: No. The brake pipe continuity test procedure links up the brake pipe to the DPU control system. So unless you have the air cut in, to try would be the same as you attempting to start your vehicle without the key in the ignition.
OTHER DPU Q & A
2. Q. It it permissible to perform the Train Check test manually on a DPU train?
AN E-BRAKE SYSTEM QUESTION
GE AC TRACTION UNITS
WRAP-UP QUESTIONS
2. If you get the computer srceen message of ENGINE SPEED INCREASE-LOW AIR PRESSURE, does this mean you have a major problem with the locomotive?
As always, I hope the answers you were seeking have been brought out by you friiendly columnist.
For suggestion or comments contact Cy Martin
The following well chosen words are those of Brother Steve Bruns
"... Unions exist because politicians allow them. Unions have only the power that is given to them by the political system (through either legislative or judicial means). We, as a member, have certain rights that are guaranteed by law, again provided for by politics.
"It is in the interest of every member of any union to educate themselves as to the true nature of the American economy and their relative place in it and not be swayed by those demogoguing ancillary issues like gun control, gays in the military, or the unresolvable abortion debate.
"These issues, while important to some people, do not put food on the table. They do not provide for job protection from unethical employers, and do not keep a roof over you and your family's head.
"Want to know why your tax burden is so high? The leaders of our political system (both Democrats and Republicans) made a conscious decision to shift the focus of governmental funding from income taxes (a slightly progressive system) to payroll taxes (the regressive system of taxation of Social Security and Railroad Retirement where only the first $68,400 is taxed).
"Corporations share of the total tax burden went from approximately 38% of total government revenues to about 9% today. Guess who picked up the slack? Working Americans and those Republican loving small business people, that's who.
"Our entire political system is increasingly dependent on working Americans voting against their own self interest, citing welfare, capital gains cuts or some other marginal issue as reasons to support those that despise them and seek to hamstring their only voice through BS like the Paycheck Protection Act.
"Please get informed, folks. Just because you make a wad of money by allowing your employer to work you to near death doesn't mean that you are on the leading edge of this "boom" economy. I figure you're all like me, about one legislative penstroke away from working for minimum wage."
For what it is worth, the following letter was in the Sept 1 Dallas Morning News, in rebuttal to a letter written by the wife of a Union Pacific Locomotive Engineer complaining about working conditions:
This is a prime example of biting the hand that feeds you. I'm a retired employee of the Union Pacific Railroad and have ridden in the cabs of diesel locomotive engines for long periods of time during hot weather and was never as uncomfortable as described by the letter writer.
My real concern goes out for people working in extreme heat such as garbage collectors, roofers, construction workers, and so on, making very low salaries - and not particularly for high-salaried locomotive engineers who knew what conditions were when they hired out.
At no time during the 44 years I spent with the Texas & Pacific, Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific railroads did I ever experience any gross negligence or inhuman treatment. In fact, I began working during the era of the old steam locomotives long before air-conditioned cars were heard of.
I called Mr. Harman and he immediately got on the defensive. He told me how he used to have to work when the employees were on strike, and that the employees didn't make $100K per year, either. etc.. I reminded him that when the strikes were over, he got a raise too, one that he'd have never gotten otherwise, and that some of us, today, do indeed make $100K a year, but we work every eight hours to do it, etc., that the railroads had air conditioned passenger cars in 1931.
I saw the conversation was getting nowhere and told him good bye.
A few minutes later, he called me back and apologized for his attitude. The ensuing conversation took a nicer tone. He agreed that we'd all be working for slave wages if it weren't for unions. It turns out we knew many of the same people, but all of them worked in air conditioned offices.
This man was not a Locomotive Engineer or fireman as his letter would lead you to believe. He was a Superintendent of Safety and worked in the sales and marketing department.
To send comments or suggestions,
A. Yes.
B. Yes, with dispatcher permission.
C. No.
A. Prepared to stop at the signal.
B. We run according to the last signal passed.
C. We comply with "delayed in a block" rule.
A. When the lead trucks pass the interlocking signal.
B. As soon as we see the signal indicates proceed.
C. When our train reaches a point aproxamately 1000 ft from the signal and it still indicates proceed.
A. As soon as the next signal can been seen to display a more favorable indication.
B. When our lead trucks pass the more favorable signal.
C. When the rear of our train passes the signal.
A. No.
C. Yes.
II. A, Rule 9.9.1
III. C, Rule 9.9.1
IV. B, Rule 9.11
V. A, Rule 9.9 and U.P. revised Special Instructions
Item 10, Rule 9.9.Bea and Lillian Alcoze to celebrate 60th Anniversary
By Jack O. Brown
Obituary
William Marshall Peavy, 92
Ernest Wayne Couch, 97
W.W. Deen, 87
O.F. Cauthen Jr., 78
Conductor Dick Wasser Retires
Conductor Dick Wasser, 63, retired effective July 31, 1998.
700 Highland Retreat Ct #169
Port Aransas, TX 78373
512-748-6222 The Circus Train
By Tom Greco
1555 Cedar Hill Place, Duncanville, TX 75137-3826
ph.972-298-6168
For suggestion or comments contact Tom Greco via E-MailRules of the Way
By Eddie Exum
It is now August. The kids are back in school and the year is two-thirds gone.
Sample This
By Robert Sample
The Cooling System of the 1920s
Air and Dynamic Brakes
and Train HandlingBy Marcel Derrick
via E-Mail
There were two cases I was involved with in which engineers incurred a snag while attempting to link an SD90/43MAC unit in DP Lead Enabled status to the remote unit; specifically, they were unable to pull up the Brake Pipe Test soft key for running the brake pipe continuity test. The cause I suspected turned out to be the case both times: In the EOT IDENT portion of the ICE system, there was an input of other than 00001.
1. Q. When necessary to comply with TTSI Item 2E for DPU trains, is it okay to do this via use of the IDLE function in the Remote screen to the remote DPU unit?
A. No, it's not. This would lead to non-adherence to ABTH Rule 32.3. The proper technique to use is to isolate the trailing units in the lead consist. The remote DPU unit must never be isolated for fuel conservation.
A. In ABTH Rule 31.3.2, paragraph 3, it clearly outlines that this may be done only if the DPU control system is not already outfitted with the automated program for this purpose (At the time, some of the SP DPU units did not have this feature).
Sidenote: The actual basis for this question is the false perception that the SD90/43MAC IDP system is not Train Check equipped. Now available through Data Documents is PB-24004, which describes how to do this, along with the linking and setup procedure mentioned earlier.
Q. Whenever, the forced leading feature is enabled, does it cut in the automatic brake valve?
A. No. Forced leading will cut in only the independent brake control. The automatic brake would still need to be cut in manually.
Q. After coming to a full stop, what does the clicking sound behind the cab indicate?
A. Anytime that the locomotive is stopped, and the throttle is placed into Idle, it will engage a program whereby the DC Link is connected to the dynamic braking grids. This is to allow for discharge of the high levels of AC current, which is not necessary since train operations are not taking place.
Sidenote: GM AC Traction locomotives will do this also.
1. What is the ABTH Rule which directs the locomotive engineer to look for the "drop dead" date on ble card?
A. It is paragraph 2 of ABTH Rule No. 30.8.2..
A. No, it doesn't. This message indicates that air pressure is low in the main reservoir. The diesel engine will not run slower than Run 2 rpm's until proper pressures are restored. No action is required by the engineer.
Thanks, everyone.
Marcel Derrick Try this on for Cy's
By Cy Martin
via E-Mail 
Labor Day is a Celebration of Union Benefits
Re: "Hot trains," Letters, Aug. 5.
TRAVIS R. HARMAN, Dallas
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Index of Back Issues8-98