Working on the railroads (Part 3) The British Columbia North Country
Before we embark on a journey across northern B.C., I would first like to share a neat experience and describe for you how a yard crew would switch out a 100 car drag of grain empties in the day before the use of hand held radios became commonplace. Since the theme here is working in the B. C. north country, I will use Prince George Yard as the canvas to paint this picture.
As background, an inbound train from Prince Rupert consisting of empty grain hoppers would arrive in the yard, Track 3, for instance, and a crew of car inspectors (carmen/car inspectors/car knockers/toads) would then walk the consist on both sides checking for mechanical or safety defects on each car. If a defect is found, the car is placed in bad order status (B/O) and a shunt to the repair facility at that location is generally required (a car with defect may be allowed to continued through based on certain limited criteria). This train would have initially been created on the Canadian prairies and ultimately made its way to the west coast to be unloaded at the grain terminal there for Asian destinations.
Car inspectors needn’t be concerned about being called toads. Switchmen are snakes and locomotive engineers (engineman) are hoggers or hogheads. Oh, and yardmasters became yard mothers. Trainmasters and such are spooks. Traditions on the railroad run deep and there must be a million acronyms and slang expressions. More on that later.
I am the foreman on the 1600 Yard Assignment. We have a engineman and two helpers. The senior helper is called the field man or field mouse and the junior is the pin puller. The yard crew start at the yard office and the engineman goes to the diesel shops to get the yard engine, or goat, and runs it the short distance to the yard office. The yardmaster gives us our work at the beginning of the shift, it comes in the form of switch lists, two copies of each, one for the foreman and one for the field man. The yardmaster talks about the priorities of the work and order in which it is to be completed. This is important as the make up and marshalling and subsequent ordering of trains is contingent on this.
Our first move will be to switch/shunt that 100 car drag of grain empties that arrived a couple of hours prior from Rupert. The carmen are finished with their inspection and the results would have been communicated to the yard office clerical staff and yardmaster. The switch list would include any bad orders found. Here’s what this imaginary switch list looks like (the list would have normally included the individual car #’s but I have left this off to reduce a bit of unnecessary detail):
Track 3 (from west end):-
24 cars — okays — switch to Track 4 (make up of Train 860, planned order 1900 hours)
1 bad order (switch to bad order Track 17)
10 cars — okays — Track 4/860
1 bad order (Track 17)
2 cars — okays — Track 4/860
*1 bad order (Track 17)
30 cars — okays — Track 4/860
1 bad order — (Track 17)
30 cars — okays — Track 4/860
Total 100 cars
We would couple to the west end of Track 3 first. The pin puller basically stays with the engine throughout the shift and would relay hand signals to the hogger from the foreman and lines up the route by setting the switch points for the engine. It is critical that this helper maintain a visual point of reference between foreman and engineman. Remember, the scenario I am describing relates to an era on the railway before the advent and wide use of radio coms in the yard, which occurred in the late 70's.
Since the field man and I have lists we would already have discussed our planned moves. We would first take the 24 okays and switch them over to Track 4 and begin the make up of 860. The hogger gets a go-ahead, or proceed hand signal, a vertical up and down motion of the arm. As we have coupled to a 100 car drag and pulling it all westward the field man walks in the opposite direction of the movement and gives an ease up, a similar sort of signal to the go ahead but since we are already going ahead it tells the hogger to slow the movement by applying the engine brake, so called the Independent Brake Valve.
This also brings the slack in, the two inches of play between the knuckles or couplers and once the field man locates the 24th okay car he pulls the pin or operating lever on the leading end of the bad order car behind the 24th. The speed and momentum of the entire consist is slowed enough so that the cars remaining will stay in Track 3 without running out. This is critical and is the field man’s job to ensure that this happens and he or she may have to climb up on a car and apply a hand brake if necessary to prevent this.
Once our movement of the 24 cars is pulled out past and clear of the switch points we stop the engine with a sweeping and arcing hand signal. Once the movement is stationary, the pin puller steps across the track and opens the coupler on the leading car to be sent into Track 4. The foreman lines the switch which sets the points for Track 4. After the helper has stepped back across the track the foreman gives a reverse hand signal to the hogger, a broad circular motion, and the movement starts into Track 4.
As the 24 cars are being pushed into Track 4, the pin puller is walking toward the engine preparing to climb onto the leading steps as it approaches. The foreman begins to give the engineman an ease up signal, arms held horizontally to his side at shoulder height, almost as though gliding slightly on the wind. Once the desired reduced speed is attained the foreman signals the helper; by now located on the engine with left foot on the footboard, or footplate, and the other on the lowest step, to pull the pin on the loco thereby allowing the cars to roll nicely into clear in Track 4.
A pull the pin signal looks like lifting a cow bell exercise weight from waist to chest, a simple short vertical motion. The engine is slowed as it reaches Track 3, the switch is turned by the foreman after the cut of 24 goes by and the engine is headed into that track. The helper stays with the loco to ensure that the engine makes a good coupling to the cars.
We always tried to be as economical as possible and attempted to avoid unnecessary movement of the engine when switching. It would be considered sloppy work practice and poor form to have the engineman continually moving forward and backward over the same set of points when switching a cut of cars because the foreman either didn’t plan the work properly or failed to kick or free switch the cars with sufficient force and speed. An engineman could become ornery having to go back and forth unnecessarily.
When a kick is called for, a rapid wave of the hand is given to the hogger, who first releases the independent brake (strictly for braking the loco only — auto brake valve controls the brakes by pressurized air throughout the train consist), puts the throttle in pos. 1, then throws it across to pos. 8 (max) and this gives the movement the jolt required to propel or kick a car or cars after which a stop signal or wave-out is given.
As the light engine moved back into Track 3, I would give the engineman a hook and haul signal with a closed fist pulling horizontally across the body followed by a cut to be made, an open hand in a slicing movement also horizontally across the belly.
As previously arranged, the field man would signal the movement to ease up and when the 69th car on the list came up to him, he would signal stop and pull the operating lever, or pin, thereby making the cut and leaving behind the 4th bad order and last 30 ‘okay’ cars. He would give a ‘big’ go ahead indicating that we will be pulling out with the 45 cars.
Having pulled clear of Track 3, the movement would be stopped, knuckle on the leading car opened, the switch turned and the movement pushed back into Track 4 to couple to the first cut of 24 cars just put there. The field man would make the coupling, ensured either by allowing the slack to run out on contact or giving the engineman a ‘go ahead’ to confirm that the cars were all together. After stopping the field man would reach in and couple the air hoses (called hose bags in some places) and move clear. Coupling the hoses at this point wasn’t necessary but I liked to do it to help out the carmen later when they prepared the outgoing train for its air test.
The movement would then be pushed into Track 4 and slowed as the cut or group of 30 okay cars progressed or came closer to view. The hogger would receive an ease up signal and when the right speed was achieved the hogger would get a kick signal to bunch into the cars whereupon the pin puller would pull the operating lever or pin on the 54th car so this cut of cars would drift nice and easy into Track 4. A stop signal would be given. The field man would monitor the movement of these cars.
The field man would have earlier lined all the switch points along the lead or ladder track for Track 17 and the bad order shown with the “*” would be kicked toward that track, two okays would be thrown into Track 4 on top of the 54 already put there, 1 bad order toward 17 and if there was sufficient room in Track 4 without having to recouple to the cars currently there, the 10 okays would be switched on top of the 56 cars. The last remaining car coupled to the engine, a bad order, would be kicked to Track 17.
It’s important to note that the Arrival & Departure tracks in the yard are situated in a big dish, or soup bowl. This is good thing because a free rolling car shunted into such a track at a slow speed (4 to 6 Miles Per Hour) will come to rest in the lowest point in the track. A safe coupling speed of rolling stock is 4 mph. It is a critical infringement in railway operations to have a car or cars proceed beyond the fouling point at the other end. I will explain this further a bit later.
So, now we have all the cars from Track 3 inbound for our Train 860 outbound in Track 4. Perhaps the yardmaster had listed a few more cars for this train from another track in the yard or perhaps the 1430 Assignment had some okays earmarked for the train from the afternoon release of the repair tracks (Rips) which went onto the train from the other end. Either way, the cars were be positioned so that the yard air plant (pressurized air) could be attached to the train line and an air brake test conducted by the car inspectors. We ran cabooses (or vans) in those days so we tacked one one before giving the completed train over to the car dept.
Meanwhile, a physical check would be undertaken of the train and a journal/manifest completed for the outgoing road crew, ordered 1900, to take the train east. The car dept. would get two hours to prepare the train and protect themselves in-track by locking out the switch points and placing a blue flag between the rails, “Men At Work”. There are so many moving parts working in unison that synthesizes the entire operation. It was really quite impressive and gratifying to be a part of it.
There’s not too much that U.S. President Donald Trump says that impresses me but for one expression he uses — “It’s a beautiful thing.” That nicely sums up putting a good train together. It’s harmony in motion.
Prince Rupert, Bulkley Canyon, Smithers, Hudson Bay Mtn, Skeena, switching harmony, hand signals, Kitwanga, Sperry Car, PG characters, sw in AUS outlawed/banned/prohibited
Hand Signals…
The Northern Way to the Golden West
Leave Jasper, Alberta, heading west on the Albreda Subdivision and just over 43 rail miles later you will come to Red Pass Junction B.C., at that point take a right and eventually you will arrive on the Robson Subdivision then via the Tete Jaune Sub. to McBride. Eventually, we will get you to Prince George and Prince Rupert; 722 rail miles from the start of the trip.
Avalanche season is a yearly event. At one time in the 1990’s, CN hired a contractor, fellow named Rod Gee, who would monitor the snow pack through the winter months and arrange for controlled avalanches thus mitigating a more serious threat to the highway and railway. Train crews wear a beeper under there clothing so that it their train was ever buried they could be tracked. There is a 25 mile danger zone starting at 27.5 miles west of Terrace through to the 53 mile mark.
