I arrived for work, in Forsyth, for an on duty time of 9:30am. I was to be on train C-SCMSUD0-60A, a loaded coal train, which supposedly had 120 cars. We later found out it had an extra one in there. I got to work, and got through the pile of paperwork, as usual, and the engineer went to check the fuel level and inspect the distributed power unit, at the rear of the train.
Most of the trains we run around here have one, remote controlled, locomotive at the rear end, called a distributed power unit, or DP. This helps to balance the horsepower on some of the heavier trains, and it helps to prevent pulling couplers apart. It also makes the ride a bit more comfortable up front, because having an engine on the rear helps to control slack action within the train. Most coal trains that we get through here have three locomotives. Two of them will be up front and one will be acting as distributed power, and will be controlled from the front, but will be pushing at the rear. When the distributed power works the way it should, life is happy, and it is great to have it. When it stops working the way it is supposed to, it can be quite frustrating, because that locomotive is usually well over a mile from the crew.
The crew who brought this coal train into Forsyth had warned us that they had been getting an alarm in the lead locomotive, indicating a problem with the distributed power locomotive. They had been so close to Forsyth when it first became a problem, that they just brought the train in anyway, so they were not really sure what the problem was. Well, when the engineer went back to inspect the locomotive and check the fuel level, he found part of the problem. The locomotive was not even running! It had mysteriously shut itself down. While he was back there, he started it back up. When he started it, an alarm went off indicating low fuel pressure, so he checked the fuel level. It was at 2,500 gallons, which is about half a tank. A minute after starting the engine back up, it decided to dump all of the air out of the brake system, and apply the emergency brakes on the entire train. Since he was still back there, he reset that, and the air pressure began to build back up in the train. Then the engineer got back in the van, and headed back to the depot.
Once the engineer was back at the depot, we all got on the lead locomotive and got ready to depart. As we did so, we got indications from the DP locomotive that the air pressure in that unit's main air reservoir was low, and was not increasing. It should have been increasing, because low pressure would trigger the air compressor, which would fill the reservoir. We did a few things from the lead locomotive to try to get the air pressure to build to the proper pressure, but we could not get it to change. We talked to one of the Road Foremen, who was in town, and he suggested making an emergency brake application to reset the system, so we tried that. Once the air pressure recovered in the brake system, the problem was back. So the engineer got back in the van and headed to the rear end to see if he could fix it from there.
As it turned out, the problem had nothing to do with the brake system or the air compressor. When the engineer got to the rear end of the train, he again found that the locomotive was not running. In the time it had taken him to get to the depot and for us to get on the engine, the DP had decided to shut itself down again. Once again, the engineer started the engine back up. That time, there were no alarms, and everything seemed to be acting normal. When he started it up, all the alarms we had been seeing on the lead locomotive disappeared. The engineer returned to the front, and then we had to decide what to do with the DP locomotive. If it was going to keep shutting itself down, we could not leave it back there. We could either set it out and just run with two engines, or we could try to move it to the front, so that if it did shut down, we could restart it. We consulted with the Trainmaster, and he suggested we simply set the locomotive out and leave it in Forsyth. It would eventually need to go to Glendive for repairs, but the easiest thing for us to do seemed to be to simply leave it behind.
We could not simply uncouple the DP locomotive and leave it sitting on the track the train was on, because that track would be needed by trains arriving in Forsyth later. Also, we could not go back and move the DP under its own power, because there was nowhere to set it. Our train was blocking the switch to the yard tracks, so our train would need to be moved. Also, it needed to be set out at the east end of the yard so that whoever picked it up to bring it to the shop, in Glendive, could put it on the front of their train. All of the yard tracks in Forsyth had something on them, which meant our coal train would need to move the length of the yard so we could put the DP locomotive in the east end of one of the yard tracks. Basically, it boiled down to the fact that we needed to switch with a 17,000 ton train, and we would block crossings for a very long time!
The Conductor and I jumped in the van and ran back the DP locomotive for the ride through the yard. Somebody had to be back there to release the brakes. That would put us in the right place for when it was time to back the entire train up to drop the DP locomotive off in one of the yard tracks. We would be able to watch where we were going from the cab of the DP, and give instructions to the engineer, who, being 6,500 feet away, had no idea what was going on behind him! There are two crossings in Forsyth, and as the train slowly moved through the yard, they were both blocked. We had the engineer move the train forward far enough to let the crossing gates go up and let traffic through, which was a good thing, because we had managed to create a traffic jam that literally stretched from one side of town to the other. And we were not even finished!
Once traffic had cleared up a little, we backed the entire train up, back through the crossing, and into one of the yard tracks. We coupled the DP locomotive to another car that was sitting there awaiting repairs. Since we would be running without a locomotive on the rear of the train, I went and grabbed an End of Train Device, while the Conductor got everything on the locomotive secured so we could leave it unattended. I attached the End of Train Device and got everything ready to uncouple the locomotive from the end of the train. By the time we were ready to move the train again, we had been sitting in the crossing nearly another 45 minutes, and the traffic was crazy. This was also the lunch hour, so there were about 20 pedestrians also waiting to cross the tracks to get some lunch. As soon as we were able, we uncoupled the locomotive, and pulled the train back through the crossing, far enough to make the gates go back up and allow traffic to move again.
Once the train was out of the way a bit, I finished up with the End of Train Device, which we call Fred. Fred had to be connected to the air brake hose, and then communication had to be established between Fred and the Head of Train Device, on the lead locomotive. We call the Head of Train Device Lucy. Lucy and Fred have to talk, because Fred monitors brake pipe air pressure, flashes a red marker light, and, if needed, makes an emergency brake application at the rear end of the train. Once Fred was armed as we say, we were ready to go. We jumped in the van and got a ride to the locomotive, and, much to the dispatcher's relief, we were finally underway. By then it was 12:30, and we had been at work for three hours!
Some days just are not normal I guess. I am just glad it happened in training!
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