I can’t remember exactly when we stopped the practice, but we were running
manned cabooses on Eastward Trains only between Alyth and Swift Current, then
unmanned Swift to Moose Jaw, until late 1991 for sure, maybe 1992? ( maybe even
later?)
This was due to the Brooks and Maple Creek Subdivisions being almost entirely
all single track ABS/OCS with 30 – 35 trains per day some days of the week on
“The Creek”, and it being very difficult for the RTC’s to keep up issuing voice
clearances, TOP’s and tracking reversed switches, dispatching switch tenders
and crew taxis, EVEN with the computerized OCS system.
The idea for keeping cabooses on the Eastbounds only was that they would always
take the siding WITHOUT a “leave” on the West Switch and the conductor could
“restore” the switch once his train was in clear as had been the practice for a
hundred plus years. This would have two benefits, the typically slow heavy
west bounds theoretically wouldn’t have to stop to restore each switch, and it
reduced having to short clear other trains due to the OCS Clearance limits
being pruned due to exceeding the maximum number of reversed switches (3) being
tracked in the “proceed to / from” limits.
In reality this practice didn’t work out at intended due to the fact, that as a
survival mechanism, the Brooks and Maple Creek Sub RTC’s tended to fleet the
eastbounds and have the westbounds take the siding. Why?, basically because
almost all the eastward trains traveled at the same speed, track speed being
55MPH ( or 60! 😉 ). The westward trains on the other hand all traveled at
different speeds due to tonnage restrictions, ( >12000 tons were 35 MPH due to
signal spacing), wind, or a simple lack of HP. The crews on the westbounds
usually didn’t mind this as it minimized their stopping and starting, head in
once and get it over with... “you’re there for six!”, to which the standard
response was “were is the last guy?”
Basically the 3rd trick Laggan Sub RTC would start collecting the Eastbound
fleet of hot shots and grain empties at Lake Louise, by the time they got to
Alyth there would be 4 maybe 5 ordered east within an hours time, a West End
yard job would temporarily remove the SBU’s and start kicking Vans on to these
previously cabooseless trains, then magically they all would be ready to go
East out of Ogden at the same time... somehow the Medicine Hat Train crews
would help make this happen.... going home, early morning day trip, in a
fleet.... hmmm
By the time the fleet got to The Hat/Dunmore, we could add a couple more to
the parade.... 6 or 7 trains “on block” wasn’t unusual. AND by “on block” I
mean the Maple Creek Sub hoggers liked to “ride the yellow” and some guys even
liked to “ride the red!”. Just imaging sitting in the brakeman’s seat on an
SD40-2, with your face crammed up to the window in the front door... and
approaching RED signals at 55/60 only to have them consistently turn yellow as
you approached within 10 cars of said signal... after a few mini strokes I
kinda got used to it! I’m not sure if being able to see the markers of the
caboose ahead of you was reassuring or not? At least you knew where he was!
When I think back, it was kinda cool to hear track releases 5, 6 or 7 minutes
apart... so much for the old 20 minute rule! The Moose Jaw division did not
particularly enjoy having to “eat” the fleet of trains, they usually yarded the
non hot-shot manifest or grain empty trains at Swift Current to give themselves
some breathing room.
Back to the RTC’s, some in the business say “fleeting” is a poor method of
dispatching, which is basically true, “the weave” is better at keeping that
whole big ball of S#%t moving, but really, fleeting was the only way you could
keep your head above water... there simply wasn’t enough seconds in a minute to
do all the tasks required,
To illustrate, Imagine listening to the RTC issuing by voice a fully “loaded”
OCS clearance with almost every item and multiple restrictions in each item,
then checking the repeat for correctness and STILL having the same complete
time as the previous clearance! (and trains with a caboose you checked TWO
repeats, head end and tail end!) For those familiar with listening to Train
Orders being verbally issued by a BUSY Dispatcher, it was similar in that this
sounded like all involved were talking in “tongues”! A benchmark used by
management was if you weren’t issuing a MINIMUM of 100 “completed” voice
authorities in your shift you weren’t busy enough.... some guys were in the
130 + range!
Adding to the complexities on the Maple Creek Sub,
- even though it had a lot of sidings (18 in 145 miles), every fourth siding
was 8500 feet, all the rest were about 6000 feet, and most trains were 7000
feet... what’s wrong with that picture?
- Quite often there simply was too many trains, foremen, and or reversed
switches on the subdivision at the same time, which compounded the RTCs
workload due to authority limits being pruned due to exceeding the maximum
number of protects on each item of a clearance, this artificially increased the
work load as they sometimes had to issue two or three clearances to get from
point A to point F!
- we actually had roving switch tenders in vehicles, 2 on each sub on day
shift, 1 on each sub on evenings, mentally picture “hearding cats”....
- there were more than a few “old school” hoggers... which wasn’t so bad one
you figured out the ones that wanted to “GO”.... “ what time to you want me
over there...?”
Oh yeah, back to those cabooses... Moose Jaw would reverse the process, move up
the SBU, pick off all the vans, and return them usually in a block of 10 or
more on some manifest train back to Alyth to repeat the process again...
Then CP started putting in CTC on the Brooks / Creek in 1994 ( I think!?) ....
in the words of a gruff old conductor.... “its nice not having to get on the
ground to line switches... BUT you can’t get away with anything ANYMORE!”
TFC
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