10-19-2011, 05:36 AM
Good Morning Larry:
Yep, you're right there are a lot of contemporary railroads using engines on each end of locals/switch runs as well as cabooses for making shoves. And yes there are quite a lot of moves made with just plain shoves although I don't envy the conductor riding the side of a car for those long moves, as it's a long time to hang on the side of cars and your arms get tired. If I had my way about it, I would have rescued a lot of the cabooses when they were retired in order to provide good safe "shoving platforms" with control of the air brakes for making shove movements.
I guess, what I was pointing out, is, that I like the use of a runaround track on an ISL so that the operator/crew gets the feeling of arriving someplace, doing the switching and then departing the opposite direction with the engine placed on the pulling end both ways. You know, like arriving at the end of a branch and then after servicing customers heading back home.
Just some thoughts from another old, but active "Rail".
Barry
Yep, you're right there are a lot of contemporary railroads using engines on each end of locals/switch runs as well as cabooses for making shoves. And yes there are quite a lot of moves made with just plain shoves although I don't envy the conductor riding the side of a car for those long moves, as it's a long time to hang on the side of cars and your arms get tired. If I had my way about it, I would have rescued a lot of the cabooses when they were retired in order to provide good safe "shoving platforms" with control of the air brakes for making shove movements.
I guess, what I was pointing out, is, that I like the use of a runaround track on an ISL so that the operator/crew gets the feeling of arriving someplace, doing the switching and then departing the opposite direction with the engine placed on the pulling end both ways. You know, like arriving at the end of a branch and then after servicing customers heading back home.
Just some thoughts from another old, but active "Rail".
Barry