For the last few weeks, I have been working as a Conductor, since traffic levels have dropped and they do not need me as an Engineer. On my first trip working as a Conductor again, we had a pretty normal trip up to Forsyth, but coming back things got a little more interesting. We got called on duty before the train had actually arrived in Forsyth. When it did finally arrive, the crew told us that the second locomotive had died on them about a half hour earlier, and they were unable to restart it. The temperature outside was about 14 degrees, so if we could not get it running again, we would have to drain the cooling water out of it. Locomotives on BNSF do not have any antifreeze in the water, so when it is cold out, and the engine is not running, the locomotive has to be drained to prevent it from freezing.
When we got on the train, we immediately went back to look at that second locomotive, and see if we could get it running. We also called BNSF Mechanical on the radio to alert them of the dead engine. In the cab, the computer said the engine had been shut down due to low cooling water, so that was the first thing we checked. The water appeared to be full. Actually, it was higher than the full mark, and the person at BNSF Mechanical told us that overfilled was as bad as being low, and we would need to drain some of the water out of it, until it got below the full mark. So, that is exactly what we did. I am not sure how much water a locomotive holds, but it is a lot. It took a while to get it below the full mark, and when it did finally get down to that level, the computer still said the water was low. We called mechanical back and reported that we had drained some water but the engine still would not start. He suggested we cycle the computer control breaker, to shut down and restart the computer, which is exactly what they tell you to do every time they cannot figure out what else to do. When the computer came back on, the low water warning was still there, and the engine still would not start. We tried cycling the breaker once more, at the instruction of BNSF Mechanical, with no luck. Since the engine would not start, and by this time the water had already cooled to a temperature below the lowest mark on the thermometer, we decided we had better drain the engine. We drained the engine, tagged the locomotive as being bad ordered, and then departed eastbound.
For the next couple hours, the trip went pretty smoothly, although the temperature continued to drop outside. We had a meet at Marsh, about 20 miles west of Glendive, and that would be the last westbound train for quite a while. The plan was to send us into Glendive after that meet. We stopped at the west switch, so I could push the button and line us into the siding. Normally it takes about 30 seconds after the button is pushed for the switch to line and the signal to change. By that time, I was back on the locomotive, but nothing had happened. We figured the switch must be frozen, because the last detector had said it was minus seven outside. The switches are equipped with propane heaters, but they only come on when moisture is detected. Since it had been dry most of the day, we figured the heater was probably off. I grabbed a bottle of water, to dump on the heater and turn it on, and went out to line the switch by hand. It had filled up with snow somehow, probably from the wind, and since the heater had been on earlier, but then shut off, causing all the snow that it had melted to refreeze and coat the entire switch in a layer of ice, beneath the snow that had blown in.
While I was chipping ice off the switch, something weird happened. The Engineer kept flashing the headlights at me. Normally, at night, that would be to let the Conductor know that we had gotten the signal into the siding, but since I had the switch on hand, and the points were floating while I swept it out, it was impossible to have the signal. I was a bit confused, but got the switch cleaned out and lined for the siding, and then gave the Engineer a hand signal to proceed. He stopped on the switch, and I put it back to power and locked it all up, and hopped back on. When I opened the door to the cab, it smelled like something was burning in there. He had the headlights off, but since our meet was sitting right there, that was not unusual. As it turned out, they were not off by choice, and that had to do with the flashing earlier. He had tried to turn the headlights on so that I would have more light while cleaning the switch. When he did that, the headlight switch shorted out, which resulted in the burning smell that filled the cab with enough strength to make anyone gag. He demonstrated this to me several times. Turning the headlights on made them come on for about a second, then go out, with an accompanying crackling sound from the control stand. We used a couple of flashlights to see ahead of us in the siding, and let the dispatcher know that we had no headlights, and until we could get some, we could not leave Marsh. Seeing as the second unit was dead and completely shut down, we could not move that up front and use it, because the headlights would not have worked on it either.
We decided the idea situation would be to move the distributed power locomotive, on the rear, up to the front, and just use that as the new leader, because it was the only locomotive we had with everything working. However, being as it was seven below zero outside, cooling off, and windy, neither one of us wanted to walk back to that locomotive, which was over a mile away. The dispatcher agreed that walking was not a good idea and told us he would see about getting someone out there to give us a ride. The only problem with that is that Marsh is 45 minutes from Glendive, by car, on dirt roads, and since it had snowed the night before, it was somewhat questionable whether Marsh was even accessible by road. Eventually the dispatcher told us that one of our Trainmasters was on his way out, from Miles City.
Nearly five hours later, we saw headlights on a vehicle, coming our way. For the last four hours, we had been wondering where the Trainmaster was, and if he could even get to us. Turned out he had a story of his own. He had originally tried to get to Marsh, by way of Fallon, and found snowdrifts as high as the truck he was driving. From there, he turned around, drove to Glendive, and then tried to backtrack to Marsh. He told us that he got a few miles out of town, to where the road turns to dirt, and the low tire pressure light came on. He got out to check on the tires and said he could hear air leaking, so he turned around and drove back to Glendive. When he got to town, he left the truck and borrowed the yard van and driver, and headed back out to us. When they arrived, we hopped in the van for the ride back to the DP locomotive, and briefed the Trainmaster on what had happened so far.
When we got to the DP, we found that there was no FRED on it. Technically, trains operating with distributed power on the rear, do not need a FRED, because the DP locomotive can monitor the brake pipe pressure and serve as a marker. However, when a DP can no longer run on the rear, such as in our situation, there is nothing to monitor the brake pipe or serve as a marker, unless there is a FRED on the train. At any rate, we needed headlights more than we needed a working engine on the rear, so we took the DP off the train anyway. I managed to find a red flag on the DP locomotive, so I stuck that in the coupler, to serve as a marker. We would be limited to 30mph without a FRED or device to monitor the brake pipe, but we only had 20 miles to go.
When we got the DP off the train, I had to clean out the west switch again, because the heater had turned back off and everything had frozen. I have no idea how cold it was by this point, but it felt a lot colder than the first time I had cleaned that switch out! Once we got out, we ran alongside the train on the main track, and then put the DP on the head end. Fortunately, before the Trainmaster had arrived, I had gone and checked out the east switch, so it was thawed out and working properly for us when we got down there with the DP. We put the DP on, did our air test, and headed east, finally! When we got to Colgate, which is the last siding before Glendive, we had only a few minutes before we hit out 12 hour limit. As we went over the west switch, we got a call from a dog catch crew, who was on their way out to meet us, there at Colgate, so we stopped at the crossing there and waited just a couple minutes for them. I guess BNSF decided they did not want to fines associated with making a crew work over 12 hours! Dog catch crews are significantly cheaper!
We hopped in the van and that ended an eventful day for us. Most crews were getting from Forsyth to Glendive in well under six hours, and it took us over 12, so we were quite happy to be home. And the thermometer on the bank in Glendive said -12 degrees out, so it certainly had cooled off more since the first time I cleaned out the west switch at Marsh!
1 comment:
Wow. What a story, James. Thanks for sharing it.
Post a Comment