Cab Ride On VIA Rail 6418

Very nice (you lucky bloke, lol).

Out of curiosity are they permitted to offer cabs rides? Not so in the US. I'm pretty certain cab rides have to be arranged through the railroad itself including permission by the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission). As you can guess they are few ands far between.

Ben
 
That's cool. Thanks for posting.

My uncle and his brother's used to work the grain elevators back in the 1950s.

John
 
Shows how out of touch I am.:hehe:

Seriously tho - how would you go about getting one in the US now days? With liability issues and so on its gotta be difficult.

Ben
 
I think it's the railroad's choice to decide what their stance on cab rides are. I'm sure some small shortlines would give cab rides, but it is against the rules on larger railroads. I may be wrong about if it's their choice, but it seems like it would make sense.
 
Without permission from the railway's management its not allowed (At least on Class 1 RRs). So pretty much its impossible to get a cab ride on a Class 1. Unless you know higher ups in management or train crews. I know CN banned civilians from having cab rides back in the late 90's. A trainman invited his neighbor to go on a cab ride from Edmonton to Edson Alberta and some cars got loose from the Edson yard and rolled onto the mainline. Subsequently crashing head on with their train killing all three men on board. Back then (at least in Canada) it wasn't too frowned upon to bring a civilian on a ride until this happened.

More on this for those interested....... http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/rail/1996/r96c0172/r96c0172.asp
 
The F40 must rank somewhere near the top of my "favorite cabs" list. Very nice video and fantastic sound. What was this shot on? :)
 
Thanks guys! The driver asked me to keep this ride quite so I can;t say much about it. VIA and CN no not alow cab rides anymore. I was invited by the crew to film the event for VIA.
 
Debatable then whether you should be "blabbing" about it or posting a clip on YouTube. What is to say there's not something in that video which gives away the date and time, which a manager could then use to start disciplinary proceedings against the driver concerned?

The link above to the Edson accident provided fascinating reading and, while the unauthorized person in the cab was not a factor, there could be other circumstances where you are. For example, a driver could have a SPAD (pass a red signal) and whereas that might result in a sanction short of dismissal normally (unless he makes a habit of it), if it came to light there was an unauthorized person in the cab it would likely lead to dismissal. I work in the UK rail industry (not as a driver) and even where we can have officially sanctioned cab rides some prefer not to simply on the grounds that if anything did happen, you could be held directly or indirectly culpable as a distracting influence.

In fact it's true to say the cab of a loco, at least in the western world, is almost as sacrosanct a location as an aircraft flight deck these days. So, glad the OP enjoyed the ride and seem to have got away with it - but you might want to reflect on the potential consequences and whether it is really wise to publicise your experience.
 
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