magickmaker
New member
As I have been plugging away working on a route from my own history, I decided to start sharing the stories from that time. These are stories I have NEVER told, perhaps outside a few people on the old Train-Sim forum. I will be replying to this thread myself. So when you look for the new stories just check the replies. I will start this with some background information:
During college, I ended up working what would probably be considered a dream job by many here. I was an RC unit operator for a local industrial park near where I went to college. All told we had about a good five miles of track counting all the sidings and what not, and a small interchange yard.
Motive power consisted of two aging Switchers, the newest being a MP15 that was a temperamental beast, and a new TRM (Trackmobile Rail Mover.) By the end of my second year the MP was replaced with a second tired rail mover, though I think the other was a Shuttlewagon.
In any case most of my days were spent puttering around with the RC units and a cobbled together "shoving" platform. This platform had started life as a flat car, but had a railing welded to it and a small cabin on it. It looked vaguely like a transfer caboose, but without the windows.
My mornings were pretty much always the same. I'd arrive at work around eight, and head in to pick up my orders from dispatch. While this was going on, my train was usually waiting for me on the second track into the interchange. It would have been put together the day before. Usually before I would arrive on the job, everything would have been prepared, with the switcher and platform stuck on the train. Rarely I'd have to do this myself. In any case I'd check in and find out which engine I was taking into the siding. Pick up my RC control, plunk on my hard hat, and head out to do my inspection. Walking the train I check for various things, look at how it was built up and sort out then how I may do my switching. I checked for dangling equipment, broken bits, and in the case of some cars even checked to make sure the seals were still in place.
Once my inspection of the train was done, I'd give the engine a once over. Didn't check everything there, mostly to see that she responded to the RC control, had plenty of fuel, and that (in the summer) the Air Conditioning was on in the cab for when my lunch time came... :hehe: Then, depending on which way she was facing, I'd either wander out onto the front steps and latch on (we had harnesses to keep us from falling off) or head down the train to the platform and mount there. Truth be known, I liked working from the platform end better, but that was just me.
Once in the industrial park (after a short trip of maybe a quarter mile) I locked the gate behind me and flipped a power relay. That relay caused a signal by the gate to show red, and meant that the RC would be working in the branch. It also meant that no other trains were supposed to come down that portion of the property without first contacting the RC and making sure he was in the clear, as well as dispatch and four or five other people. In short, once that was lit, I was the only one allowed in that area.
Switching was never boring. To be honest it was almost like a game. Playing with big trains
. The siding orientation was a pain mind you, but I only had to deal with it for a few months before the TRM was transferred to that park and things got MUCH easier. Once my lunch came around, I'd park on some siding, clambor into the cab and camp out there in the cool; munching my lunch and listening to the radio squak. Sometimes, just for fun, I'd run the RC down to the gate and sit there; watching trains pass by. Yes, I railfanned FROM a locomotive.
When lunch finished, I'd trundle back down to finish my switching and pick up the outbounds. Back to the yard I went, turned in my switch list, and left it up to the yard crew to sort out everything. All told, I'd put in about eight or nine hours before heading in. Sometimes longer if I had to work the grain co-op.
During college, I ended up working what would probably be considered a dream job by many here. I was an RC unit operator for a local industrial park near where I went to college. All told we had about a good five miles of track counting all the sidings and what not, and a small interchange yard.
Motive power consisted of two aging Switchers, the newest being a MP15 that was a temperamental beast, and a new TRM (Trackmobile Rail Mover.) By the end of my second year the MP was replaced with a second tired rail mover, though I think the other was a Shuttlewagon.
In any case most of my days were spent puttering around with the RC units and a cobbled together "shoving" platform. This platform had started life as a flat car, but had a railing welded to it and a small cabin on it. It looked vaguely like a transfer caboose, but without the windows.
My mornings were pretty much always the same. I'd arrive at work around eight, and head in to pick up my orders from dispatch. While this was going on, my train was usually waiting for me on the second track into the interchange. It would have been put together the day before. Usually before I would arrive on the job, everything would have been prepared, with the switcher and platform stuck on the train. Rarely I'd have to do this myself. In any case I'd check in and find out which engine I was taking into the siding. Pick up my RC control, plunk on my hard hat, and head out to do my inspection. Walking the train I check for various things, look at how it was built up and sort out then how I may do my switching. I checked for dangling equipment, broken bits, and in the case of some cars even checked to make sure the seals were still in place.
Once my inspection of the train was done, I'd give the engine a once over. Didn't check everything there, mostly to see that she responded to the RC control, had plenty of fuel, and that (in the summer) the Air Conditioning was on in the cab for when my lunch time came... :hehe: Then, depending on which way she was facing, I'd either wander out onto the front steps and latch on (we had harnesses to keep us from falling off) or head down the train to the platform and mount there. Truth be known, I liked working from the platform end better, but that was just me.
Once in the industrial park (after a short trip of maybe a quarter mile) I locked the gate behind me and flipped a power relay. That relay caused a signal by the gate to show red, and meant that the RC would be working in the branch. It also meant that no other trains were supposed to come down that portion of the property without first contacting the RC and making sure he was in the clear, as well as dispatch and four or five other people. In short, once that was lit, I was the only one allowed in that area.
Switching was never boring. To be honest it was almost like a game. Playing with big trains
. The siding orientation was a pain mind you, but I only had to deal with it for a few months before the TRM was transferred to that park and things got MUCH easier. Once my lunch came around, I'd park on some siding, clambor into the cab and camp out there in the cool; munching my lunch and listening to the radio squak. Sometimes, just for fun, I'd run the RC down to the gate and sit there; watching trains pass by. Yes, I railfanned FROM a locomotive. When lunch finished, I'd trundle back down to finish my switching and pick up the outbounds. Back to the yard I went, turned in my switch list, and left it up to the yard crew to sort out everything. All told, I'd put in about eight or nine hours before heading in. Sometimes longer if I had to work the grain co-op.