TE - Pilot??

[RobertF]

So, I'm listening to my scanner.... They are saying there is a UP "Pilot" here. I'm guessing that is someone familiar with alternative trackage/routes or something like that? Anyone have any insight into what a Pilot is?

 

[jackal]

So, I'm listening to my scanner.... They are saying there is a UP "Pilot" here. I'm guessing that is someone familiar with alternative trackage/routes or something like that? Anyone have any insight into what a Pilot is?

Exactly. If a train crew has never been over a certain section of track before (or within a certain amount of time--I forget the specific rules), a pilot (basically, any other engineer who is familiar with the route) must go with the train crew so the crew can get familiarized with the track and not be surprised by speed changes, switches, etc.

Edit: looks like in a response to printman2000's post about operating another road's locomotive is some info on a pilot:

Indeed an Amtrak engineer can run the BNSF locomotive.. or UP or IC or CSX, well you get the idea. Now if they were Detouring, there would be a home road pilot on the locomotive if the crew was not qualified on the territory. Sometimes those pilot crews will run the engine,but most of the time they just instruct the crew on the physical characteristics of the territory and may handle the switches as necessary.

Link to the post here:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.p...=552089#p551767

 

[RobertF]

So, I'm listening to my scanner.... They are saying there is a UP "Pilot" here. I'm guessing that is someone familiar with alternative trackage/routes or something like that? Anyone have any insight into what a Pilot is?

Exactly. If a train crew has never been over a certain section of track before (or within a certain amount of time--I forget the specific rules), a pilot (basically, any other engineer who is familiar with the route) must go with the train crew so the crew can get familiarized with the track and not be surprised by speed changes, switches, etc.

Edit: looks like in a response to printman2000's post about operating another road's locomotive is some info on a pilot:

Indeed an Amtrak engineer can run the BNSF locomotive.. or UP or IC or CSX, well you get the idea. Now if they were Detouring, there would be a home road pilot on the locomotive if the crew was not qualified on the territory. Sometimes those pilot crews will run the engine,but most of the time they just instruct the crew on the physical characteristics of the territory and may handle the switches as necessary.

Link to the post here:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.p...=552089#p551767

Excellent... Thanks for the reply!

TE is *7* hours late ... Just out of Little Rock.

 

[had8ley]

So, I'm listening to my scanner.... They are saying there is a UP "Pilot" here. I'm guessing that is someone familiar with alternative trackage/routes or something like that? Anyone have any insight into what a Pilot is?

Exactly. If a train crew has never been over a certain section of track before (or within a certain amount of time--I forget the specific rules), a pilot (basically, any other engineer who is familiar with the route) must go with the train crew so the crew can get familiarized with the track and not be surprised by speed changes, switches, etc.

Edit: looks like in a response to printman2000's post about operating another road's locomotive is some info on a pilot:

Indeed an Amtrak engineer can run the BNSF locomotive.. or UP or IC or CSX, well you get the idea. Now if they were Detouring, there would be a home road pilot on the locomotive if the crew was not qualified on the territory. Sometimes those pilot crews will run the engine,but most of the time they just instruct the crew on the physical characteristics of the territory and may handle the switches as necessary.

Link to the post here:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.p...=552089#p551767

It's not beyond the UP's imagination to send a conductor only; we (the BLE) fought this and won based on the pax safety. (Hint: how many conductors know how to run a pax train?)