Prototype Railroading: Roll By Inspections

At the originating terminal, all trains have to have a safety inspection and brake test before the train can go anywhere. Usually these two requirements are met at the same time, during a walking inspection. The engineer sets the brakes, and then the person conducting the test walks the length of the train, inspecting each car and making sure the brakes have set on each car. Once the person conducting the test is satisfied that the brakes all set up properly, the engineer releases the brakes and the person conducting the test walks the other side of the train, performing the safety inspection and ensuring that all the brakes released properly. When cars are added at a later point, they too must be inspected and brake tested. On unit trains such as coal trains, which are rarely broken apart, this inspection and brake test happens every 3,000 miles. Despite all these inspections and tests, defects can and do still occur en route. To help spot these before they become big problems, train crews perform rolling inspections of passing trains.

When trains meet, and one is in a siding, very often at least one of the trains is stopped for the meet. A crew member from the stopped train gets off and does a roll by inspection of the train they are meeting. Usually everything is operating normally, but occasionally the roll by inspections turn up something that the crew members of the passing train could not possibly have seen.

Recently I was on an empty coal train and we were headed into a siding. The train we were meeting was already there waiting for us, on the main track. The conductor of that train got off to do a roll by inspection of our train and found that there seemed to be some brakes applied and dragging within the first fifteen cars. Despit the closeness to the head end, it was dark out, so would have never seen the telltale smoke, and we certainly would not have smelled the brakes. When we came to a stop in the siding, I grabbed my lantern and walked back to investigate. Several cars back I began to smell the brakes, which is an exceptionally foul but easily recognized smell. As it turned out, the handbrake on the ninth car was applied for some reason. I released it and then inspected the car. We could only assume we had dragged it from Glendive with the handbrake applied, since this was our first stop. We had gone 50 miles with that hand brake applied. After dragging it that far, there is a realistic possibility that the wheels were locked and have huge flat spots. There is also the possibility that the wheels heated up beyond safe temperatures. After looking for any flat spots, and finding none, I checked the temperature of the wheels and bearings. You could feel heat radiating off them several feet away. They were warm, certainly warmer than any of the ones around them, but not dangerously so. After I finished inspecting that car, I checked the rest back to the fifteenth, since we had been told it was in the first fifteen, just to make sure there were not any other cars with sticking brakes. It turned out that that car was the only one. Why the hand brakes on that car were on in the first place remains a mystery.

At other times I have been the one doing the roll by inspection and I have spotted the defect. Several weeks ago I was sitting in a siding waiting for a westbound merchandise train to meet us. When they finally did come along, I climbed out to do a roll by. About eighty cars back in their train I saw sparks coming off the side of one of the cars. My engineer spotted it too, from the cab, and let them know over the radio before I had a chance. They stopped, and when the conductor got back to the effected car, there were no sparks. So the engineer on that train suggested that the conductor ride a nearby car while they move slowly, to see if he could see the source of the sparks. When they did that he was able to see exactly where the sparks were coming from, and once they stopped again he inspected that area closer. My engineer and I thought we may have found a broken wheel, which would have gotten us a nice little bonus from BNSF, but it turned out to only be a broken brake shoe. Part of the metal bracket was dragging on the rolling wheel, causing it to spark.

The first time I ever spotted a defect on a train was about three months after I got done with my conductor training. By that point I had never spotted a defect, nor had I heard anyone spot one, so I was beginning to think they were pretty useless inspections, but I continued to do them. It was dusk, and we were in a siding waiting on a merchandise train. When it arrived I got out and watched it go by as it passed us, I noticed what appeared to be a lot of dust or smoke surrounding an approaching car. As it got closer I could tell it was some sort of blue-grey smoke. As it went by, the smell of overheated brakes was overwhelming and was enough to make you gag. I climbed back on the locomotive, coughing and wheezing, and let them know they had a sticking brake. They checked it, and it turned out to be a handbrake on, about ninety cars back. I realized a few things that evening. First, roll by inspections did have a point and were not useless! Second, as hard as you try, you cannot tell which car is the problem car when the train goes by at 55 mph! The smoke surrounds several cars, and so you have to give an estimated area when you report it to the passing crew. I told them it was by the first of their trailer flat cars, because they had a large block of flat cars carrying truck trailers on the rear end of their train. Third, brakes smell just awful! They had dragged that one from Forsyth, which was more than fifty miles behind them at that point! They were able to stop and correct the problem relatively easily and quickly, and then continue on their way.

Roll by inspections are important to maintaining a safe railroad. They help find defects that trackside detectors cannot pick up and train crew members cannot see. Most of the time, you end up telling the passing train, “Good roll by,” but the defects that do get found make it worth it. In inclement weather, we do not get out of the cab to do a roll by, but we still watch from the cab to see if we can spot anything. I have wondered how often roll by inspection have prevented bigger problems down the road, but I am not sure there is any way to tell.