had8ley
Engineer
George;You have got to be kidding! This is not an exercise in rocket science. I did not think you would be let loose on an engine without this bit of knowledge. (I am assuming that you mean the nomal Dual Control - power or hand - type machine that has a hand lever, not the power only machine that takes a signal maintainer's key to unlock and then you must crank it.)My point is this; The Sunset pulled up to a power switch in Houston, this week, and the Conductor, A/C and engineer could not figure out how to line a power switch by hand. Incidentally, this happened in Houston right outside Englewood (SP) yard. Someone smarted off to the dispatcher on the radio and said, "You know this IS a FIRST CLASS TRAIN." Not half a second went by when the dispatcher sternly told Mr. Smarty Pants that it was going to be a very dead (hours of service law) First Class train if three ALLEDGEDLY qualified train crew men could not figure out how to hand line a switch after receiving all the necessary permission.
Sad but true...just your ordinary dual control switch with an ordinary switch lock that all train personnel are supposed to have keys for. Now...how to use that key seems to be the stumbling block. It's a long way from Massachusetts Avenue to Settegast yard is all I can figure out on this one. I can verify this incident with multiple sources.
Jay