Passengers Say the Darndest Things!

Lately I have been working on the extra board, and in the past two weeks, I have caught a lot of passenger trains that way. While I do enjoy working on the passenger trains, I have found that sometimes passengers say things to which I do not know how to respond. Many of our summertime passengers are not from Alaska and many of questions simply are the result of being in a place with which they are unfamiliar. That is to be expected. But it also seems that at least once or twice per trip, someone asks a memorable and ridiculous question. Here are a few examples from the past couple of weeks that stand out in my mind.

Last week I was on the Glacier Discovery train, which operates daily between Anchorage, Whittier, and Grandview. The train leaves Anchorage in the morning, goes to Whittier, and then goes into Chugach National Forest, making stops in Spencer and Grandview. There is a brief layover at Grandview, and then the train heads north, going back to Whittier and ultimately returning to Anchorage in the evening. Many passengers ride the train to Whittier for scenic boat tours, and then return on either the train or a motor coach. Others ride to Spencer for rafting or hiking and then return to Anchorage via motor coach. While there are a few people who go out to Spencer or Grandview for camping, the majority of the passengers on the train return to their point of origin on the same day as they departed. In any case, the train only operates during the day.

On one of the trips I made on the Glacier Discovery last week, a gentleman approached me and asked me, "Does this train have a sleeping car?"
I replied that it did not, to which he replied, "Do any of your trains have a sleeping car?"
I responded, "No, we run all of our passenger trains during the day, so there is no need for sleeping cars."
He asked, "What about the trains that run at night?"
I was a little bewildered by that question, but said, "We don't run any passenger trains at night, they only run during the day. Just freight trains run at night."
He said, "Oh, well where do people sleep then?"
I said, "If you want to take a nap, you can do it in your seat."
I guess that was the answer he was looking for, because it seemed to satisfy his questions about railroad sleeping accommodations.

Alaska Railroad allows passengers to ride in the vestibules at the ends of cars if they wish. If there gets to be a crowd, people are asked to limit their time there so everyone gets a chance. All the entry doors on our passenger cars are Dutch doors, and we usually leave the top portion open. Because of this, the vestibules are quite popular for people taking pictures of the scenery, because it allows them to do so without glass in the way. However, when riding in the vestibule people are not supposed to lean or reach beyond the body of the car for obvious safety reasons.

On another trip on the Glacier Discovery, the day after the sleeping car interrogation, I noticed that some people were leaning way out of the side of the car ahead of the one I was in. It appeared that they were trying to photograph the locomotive in a curve, but they were hanging precariously over the side of the car. I walked up to that vestibule and spoke to them about it. They appeared to have been drinking, but they were polite and promised not to do it again. Less than a mile later, I happened to be in a position where I could see that vestibule from another car again, and noticed the same people doing the same thing, this time on the other side of the train. I walked to that vestibule again and asked them to find their seats. They protested a little but sheepishly made their way to their seats. As they were filing out of the vestibule, one of the people in the group asked, "Are you afraid we're going to try to jump off the train or something?"
I said, "No, I am more worried about you hitting something close to the tracks or losing your balance."
He then asked, "What would you do if we did jump off?"
The way he asked the question made it obvious he was just trying to get a reaction out of me by asking something ridiculous, so I replied, as stoically as I could, "Once you're off the train, you're not my responsibility."
He looked a bit surprised but did not comment.

This week, on a train chartered by Holland America Tours, one of their passengers asked me what is perhaps the vaguest question I have ever heard. Holland America has their own service staff on the trains, which does include tour guides to narrate the trip. As I was walking through the car, a man stopped me and said, "Excuse me, I just wanted to ask you about something the guide said earlier."
I knew right then that this was going to be interesting, because I had not likely been around to hear what the guide had to say in the first place, but against my better judgement I said, "Alright, I'll try to help."
He then explained, "Well, a while ago we were going through the Alaska Range and I saw this one mountain with some snow on it and it looked like it also had a glacier on it. Our guide said she didn't know the name of it and I was just wondering if you knew the name."
I expected it to be something I could not answer, but this was even more hopeless than I had anticipated. Before I could respond, he continued trying to describe the mountain, "It must have had a glacier, I mean, the glacier was pretty big. The mountain was pretty big too, but I don't think it was Denali, and I was just wondering if you knew the name."
He paused, during which time I was still blown away by the ambiguity. Once again, before I could say anything, he continued, "I know not all the mountains in Alaska have a name, but if this one does, I was just wondering if you knew. I know this might be a little bit of a stretch, but if you can help, I'd really appreciate it."
By this point I was thinking this was a lot more than a little stretch! I finally had a minute to respond and said, "I would probably have to see it to tell you what it is called."
I guess he thought he hadn't described it well enough, so he continued, "Well, it was pretty big and it was in the Alaska Range. It also had a big glacier on it, and it looked like there might have been some snow too. We just went by it a little while ago, it was on the left."
I told him again, "I'd have to see it to be able to tell you."
He then asked, "Well, do you think it even has a name?"
I said, "It probably does, most of the bigger mountains do, but I just don't know which mountain it was without seeing it."
He replied, "Oh ok, well if it has a name, do you know what it was?"
Figuring there was no other way out of this one, I simply said, "Nope!"
I guess that's all he was looking for, although I cannot imagine I gave him any more information than the tour guide already had.

Earlier today I had a man approach me and explain that he worked for New Jersey Transit. We chatted for a bit and compared notes on the electric railroading there and mountain railroading here. He suggested that I try to get on the railroad there, and told me that my seniority and vacation time would transfer. I was a little surprised by that, since it is a different railroad, but he went on to tell me that my seniority and vacation would transfer to any railroad in the country, and I should do my research. Having gone from BNSF to Alaska Railroad, I am well aware that seniority and vacation do not usually transfer from one railroad to the next. He was quite shocked when I told him that Alaska Railroad does not participate in Railroad Retirement or the United Transportation Union's "National Agreement." We tend to do our own thing up here in those cases. After he headed back to his seat, I could not help but wonder why he thought I would be interested in working for a railroad in New Jersey. We had this conversation as the train was passing through the Alaska Range and over Hurrican Gulch, and I could not help but think that by comparison, New Jersey has extremely little that appeals to me!

Sometimes the hardest part of the job is maintaining a straight face when someone says or asks something ridiculous, but it completely serious and expects a serious reply.

Photo: Whittier Turn Crew

A couple of weeks ago, I was called to work on a Whittier freight train. We went to Whittier with some freight for the barge, did a little switching, and then returned to Anchorage with freight that had come off the barge. It was a pretty simple and straightforward trip, although we were surprised when we arrived in Whittier by the presence of a film crew from Windfall Films. Windfall Films is the producer for the reality television show Railroad Alaska. They stopped us on the way in to clip on wireless microphones and have a job brief, and then they filmed us switching. Anyway, on the way back we had to stop in Portage to wait for a Seward bound freight train to pass. Our train and theirs were too long to meet anywhere between Portage and Anchorage, so we had some time to kill while they got to Portage. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take some pictures.

Left to right are as follows:
John, Manager of Operating Rules and Training
Ryan, Student Engineer
Keith, Brakeman
And me, the Student Conductor.
Davy, the Conductor, was behind the camera, and the engineer opted to stay in the cab.

Appropriately, ARR #4004, the Spirit of Whittier, was the leader on the return trip from Whittier. Our other locomotive was the #4014. This train was known as a "turn," since it went to Whittier, dropped off cars, turned around, and came back with new cars.

Hand Brake Derailment

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had a story about a derailment that was caused by brakes that were stuck. Here it is, I hope the suspense has not been too big a problem!

Last summer, on the 29th of July, I was called off the extra board to work as a Brakeman on a gravel train. The plan was to go to Birchwood, where the train was parked overnight, take it to Palmer to load gravel, and then head south to Anchorage, where the gravel would be dumped at Anchorage Sand & Gravel's dump site, and then return the train to Birchwood to park it for the night. At that point, we would get a ride back to town, and go home. That was a typical day on the gravel train, and it took the full 12 hours usually. Palmer and Anchorage are not that far apart, but loading and unloading takes several hours.

We got to Birchwood just as the sun was rising (which is pretty early in Alaska!) and untied the train. There were nine cars tied down, and I made sure to check three cars behind the last one with a hand brake, as usual. Shortly afterwards, we began our trip north towards Palmer. On the Palmer Branch, there is a loop near milepost A1, where we normally turn the gravel train around, prior to loading. The loading tipple is north of the loop, but it is much easier to turn the empty train and then back it up to the tipple. We stopped at the switch leading to the loop, which happens to be the only spring switch on the entire railroad, and then started around the loop. Since the train had loaded the day before, the switch at the north end of the loop was against us, so we had to stop. The Conductor and I both got off there, since we would have to back up to the tipple after the train came out of the loop.

Once we were off the train and had lined the switch, the engineer started pulling out of the loop. For the first 35 cars, nothing extraordinary happened. After about 35 cars went by, we could smell something that was not quite right, and we could hear a car making a lot of noise. A couple cars later, we saw the culprit. The 43rd car was moving, but the wheels were not turning. We told the engineer to stop, and he did as quickly as he could. When the train stopped, we looked at the car and found that the hand brake was fully applied. This was puzzling, and we figured it must have been applied in Anchorage and never released, which would mean the previous crew would have dragged it from Anchorage to Birchwood, and we certainly had dragged it from Birchwood to Palmer. We released the hand brake and called the dispatcher, so they could have someone check the tracks before the morning express passenger train came through.

We inspected all the wheels on the car and determined pretty quickly that they were completely shot and would have to be replaced before that car could go anywhere. We are not supposed to let a car go on if it has flat spots or shell spots of a certain size. The wheels on this car were so badly damaged they were not even round anymore! Between Birchwood and Palmer, we had been up to 50 mph with this car dragging. There were some massive flat spots, but it looked like the wheels had turned a bit, because in other places, all the metal scraped off to create the flat spots was piled up on the wheel treads, creating large bulges and piles of what looked like molten metal chunks. It was a mess. We came up with a plan to pull the train out of the loop and set the car out in the loop for the Carmen. The loop was not ideal, because it would disrupt the gravel train the next day, but we really had no other choice.

We explained what was going on to the engineer and instructed him to move very slowly for set out process. It would take a while, but the goal was to get the car out of the train without causing more damage to the car or the track. I rode on the car ahead of the damaged one so that I could keep an eye on it and stop the engineer if anything happened. The Conductor stayed at the switch. As we started moving, the wheels turned, but all those piles of metal shavings and bulges caused the entire car to bounce, wobble, and hop violently as we moved, even at only about two miles per hour. After about fifty feet of this I asked the engineer to stop and I tried to knock some of the mess off the wheels, but I was unsuccessful. I did notice that as the wheels turned, these chunks and bulges had destroyed the brake shoes. This meant we would probably have to set out a second car since we would be unable to rely on the hand brake on the damaged car.

We continued moving south to get the train out of the loop, but we only made it a few hundred feet. The car hopped and hit a low rail joint at the same time, and the lead wheels landed on the ties. I told the engineer to "plug it," or place the brakes in Emergency, but the second axle followed before he stopped. Even at two miles per hour and with emergency braking, it took about 50 feet to stop the train. We called the dispatcher, who had just come on duty, and informed her of the situation. She told us to hang out and wait, and she would send someone out to look at it. It was only 6:30am though, so none of the management would be there for several hours. Palmer is an hour drive from Anchorage, and most of the managers do not come in before 7:30am or 8:00am.

As per the normal protocol, the managers came out and got written statements of the facts from us and downloaded the locomotive event recorder tapes. The dispatcher had already had a track inspector look at the track between Birchwood and Palmer, and evidence of a dragging car had been found. I guess they were able to find marks and some minor damage to the rail. We suggested they check everything between Anchorage and Birchwood as well, since it made no sense that one car 43 back would have the hand brake applied in Birchwood. In Anchorage, when the train gets dumped, it is split in two sections, so it would make sense to have cars that were in the middle tied down there. If someone forgot to release a hand brake when the train was put back together, it would explain why the hand brake was applied. The management agreed to do that. They decided that the damage to the wheels of the car was enough that it should be repaired right there. There was no sense in rerailing it out and then setting it out for later, since the Carmen would have to drive out there to rerail it anyway. Some calls were made to Anchorage to get wheels, jacks, and a boom truck out there to take care of the car.

Around noon, the Carmen arrived with wheels and went to work. We uncoupled the head of the train from the car, and then backed around the loop and pulled the rear portion of the train away from the car as well, to give the Carmen plenty of space to work. Then all we had was time to kill. They told us it would take a couple hours to replace all the wheels. During that down time, we learned that the track inspector had found similar rail damage south of Birchwood, indicating that the car had been dragged from Anchorage.

By the time the Carmen were done replacing the wheels and brakes, we were nearly out of time to work. Anchorage Sand & Gravel had decided to cancel the train several hours earlier, because of the delay. Even if it had been loaded then, it would have been around midnight before it got to Anchorage, at which point everyone at AS&G would be at home. We put the train back together and then pulled it down near Matanuska, the junction where Palmer Branch leaves the main line. There we tied it down and got in the van to go home. The next day they would be able to get on the train there and just back up to the tipple and load as normal.

As far as derailments go, we were pretty fortunate. The railroad lost a day's revenue from one of the most lucrative trains, but overall it was a pretty minor incident. Between Anchorage and Birchwood the previous day, that train had probably attained speeds near 60 mph, with that hand brake applied, and we had been up to 50 mph that morning. We all agreed that the railroad and us were all very lucky that the car had not derailed then. The result would have been a pretty significant mess that would have cost a lot more than one day's revenue. It would have no doubt shut the railroad down for several days. All things considered, it could have been much worse.

The railroad did a formal investigation into the derailment, during which myself and everyone on that crew were relieved of responsibility for the incident. The cause was determined to be the failure of the Brakeman the previous day to release the hand brake prior to departing the Anchorage Sand & Gravel dump site. That Brakeman was not fired, but did get suspended from work for a couple weeks. Shortly after he came back to work, he took a voluntary layoff. In January 2014, he was offered the Conductor training program and opted out, effectively resigning. His resignation resulted in me having the seniority to get the Conductor training program instead.

Passenger Service

Last weekend, I worked on my first passenger train. I learned a lot, and had a few misconceptions about passenger service dispelled.

The train I worked was Alaska Railroad's weekly winter passenger service between Anchorage and Fairbanks, known as the Aurora. This train runs north on Saturdays and south on Sundays. The 358 mile trip is scheduled to take 11:30, with the majority of the stations being flag stops, where the train only stops if there is someone boarding or disembarking at that particular station.

Unlike freight crews, passenger crews come on duty only 15 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of the train. The yard crew gets the train to the depot and several of the depot staff handle passenger ticketing and boarding before the road crew comes on duty. In that 15 minute window, the crew has a job brief, during which they talk about any conditions that will affect train operation, such as temporary speed restrictions. They also talk to the dispatcher to verify that the paperwork is all up to date and correct. After that, the Conductor goes into the depot and gets the passenger manifest from the ticket window, and then it is off to the train. Once everyone is on the train, just before departing, the crew must complete an air test. The 15 minutes get used up very quickly. It is a whirlwind of activity right at the start of the day, and lots of hurrying to make sure the train departs on time. Once the train is underway, the pace slows down a little. There is still paperwork to be done, but the Conductor has all the way to Fairbanks on the northbound trip to take care of it.

Once the Aurora gets underway, the Conductor has to look over the passenger manifest and figure out what stops will be made. Since the Aurora is a flag stop train, the station stops can change quite a bit from one trip to the next. The only stop that happens pretty much every time is Talkeetna. After figuring out the stops, there really is no paperwork that has to be completed right away, but I found it was easier to start on everything early, so that I would remember to do it later. It also meant I had less paperwork to do at the end of the day, so if I got sidetracked by something else, I was not in such a hurry to finish the paperwork. Once the paperwork is started, there is some down time.

I had expected there to be a bit of paperwork, although I had not expected the whirlwind to get going in the morning. Prior to working the passenger train, I had thought that passenger Conductors have it pretty easy. I mean, you never hear about a passenger train breaking a knuckle, and they certainly do not have to switch en route industries! I figured passenger service consisted of eating free dining car food, socializing with the passengers, and relaxing. What I learned is that there is some down time on the job, but it is hard earned! Between station stops, there can be quite a bit of down time, but at each stop, it is definitely go time.

Our first stop on the northbound trip was Wasilla. We had a just a few people boarding there. Since the Wasilla platform is only about the length of two coaches, the Engineer cannot see exactly where to stop to get the appropriate door at the platform. So the Conductor has to go back to the door to be used and count the Engineer down to the stop. Usually the countdown is done in coach lengths to a stop, starting about four coaches from the stop. Once stopped, we had one person get off, and then several who wanted to get on the train. Since Wasilla has no ticket office, we were given the tickets for the passengers boarding there with out manifest, prior to departing Anchorage. The easiest way I found to distribute tickets on the platform like that is to announce to everyone to have their ID out, and then call out the last names on each reservation. As each name is called, the person or group can approach the side of the train, show their ID's, at which point I would give them their tickets and allow them to board. In addition to boarding people, we had luggage to stow in the baggage car. We also had one person stop by with a package for a family that lives off the railroad in Sherman, which is only accessible by train. Once all the passengers and their luggage were on board, we continued heading north. Despite all the activity, the entire stop was only a couple of minutes.

When we left Wasilla, we had more down time before our next stop, which would be Talkeetna. Somewhere in there was time for breakfast too. Talkeetna is always a stop, but you never know what is going to happen there. Some days, it is just a quick one, and other days over a hundred people get on or off there. We only had a few people with reservations to there, but that still does not guarantee anything about that stop. Talkeetna serves as the jumping off point for people who have cabins or homes between there and Hurricane, some 60 miles to the north. In that area, along the Susitna River, the railroad is the only means of access. Because of that, the train will stop anywhere to pick up and drop off people. There are no passenger depots between Talkeetna and Hurricane, but there are a lot of trails that lead to cabins out in the woods. If people need to get on the train out there in the woods, they come out to the tracks and flag the train down. Train crews that have worked in passenger service a while generally have a pretty good idea of where the trails are, because those are where we usually stop, but the railroad will pick up someone flagging down the train at any location between Talkeetna and Hurricane. Because of the locals that live out there, Talkeetna can be quiet if no one is going out there, or it can be very busy if a lot of the locals are traveling at once. I had heard stories from other student Conductors that made it sound like thousands of people boarded every week at Talkeetna every week, so I was a bit anxious to get that stop over with.

As it turned out, Talkeetna was not the complete zoo that had been described to me. There were about a dozen people that boarded there, for whom we had the tickets, and three locals. The boarding and luggage handling was basically the same as it had been in Wasilla, it just took a few minutes longer. We also received more items, mail, and newspapers to deliver to some of the locals who were not riding the train. Once everyone and everything was on the train, we headed out. Because locals can flag down the train anywhere between Talkeetna and Hurricane, I stayed in the baggage car, where there is a makeshift office, since I would have to load items for anyone we picked up. I would also have to unload items for the locals on board when we got to their stop. It was just easier to ride in the baggage car and be in position instead of the dining car, which was four cars away.

My Conductor told me I got off pretty easy that day with the local traffic. We had a few people to drop off, but no one flagged down the northbound train. Once the three who boarded in Talkeetna were off the train, we were done with the local stops. All we had to do was deliver the newspapers, mail, and a couple of other items. Once we were north of Hurricane, I went back to the makeshift office in the dining car. There was still some paperwork to be completed from the locals' tickets.

Our next stop was another small one in Healy, and then we went to our final destination of Fairbanks. Healy only had four people disembarking, and would have been quick and uneventful except that just before pulling into the station, we learned that the checked luggage belonging to the four people getting off had been mislabeled as going to Fairbanks. Since most of the passengers were going to Fairbanks, we had quite a few suitcases to look through in the baggage car. We ended up having a fairly lengthy stop in Healy, but we did find the luggage in question!

In Fairbanks, everyone who was still on the train disembarked. There we did not have to handle luggage because there are people there full time who load and unload luggage. We just pulled in and got everyone off the train. By then, our 12 hours to work were up, so once everyone was off, we collected our stuff and got off the train ourselves. The train just sits at the depot all night anyway, and it is able to be serviced right there at the platform. As we were collecting out stuff and getting ready to get off, we ran into the CEO of the railroad, which surprised us a little. He had not been riding the train, but was apparently in Fairbanks for something and decided to check in with us. He was surprised at the crowd getting off in Fairbanks. Over 150 people had disembarked there, which is quite a lot for the middle of the winter. Usually few people go to Fairbanks in February!

Once we had collected our stuff and gotten off the train, it was off to the hotel for a good night's sleep before returning to Anchorage on Sunday.

Weather and the Railroad

A couple of years ago, during the first good snowstorm we had while I worked for the railroad, I was asked if the railroad took snow days the way some local businesses do occasionally. I think I laughed out loud. The question was an indirect way of asking if I would have some time off as a result of the snowstorm, which would not happen. More recently I was reading an article online about service disruptions to Chicago's commuter rail system during the "polar vortex" that a large part of the Midwest experienced last month. The article was informative but gave only very basic information, but the commentary by other readers is what intrigued me. One particularly upset reader commented that Metra needed to learn how to provide adequate service and stop using the weather as an excuse every time something goes wrong. Now, I do not use Metra, nor am I involved with their public relations department, but the weather can and often does play a significant role in railroading, although the consequences of the weather may be a little less obvious than other forms of transportation.

Since it is February, and still the middle of winter for half the world, we will talk about winter weather. For most forms of transportation, snow and ice can wreak havoc on roads, runways, and basically any surface over which a vehicle operates, by making that surface quite slippery. The same is true for trains, but since trains are on rails, which serve as a fixed guide way, the results are quite different. While cars might slide off the road, trains will generally stay on the rails, although stopping and starting distances will be longer. When snow gets above the rails, it also can decrease the effectiveness of the brake systems. As the wheels travel over snow covered rails, they warm up, and snow sticks to them. Most trains rely on a brake shoe contacting the wheel tread to slow the train. When released, the brake show is very close to the wheel, though not touching it. The snow that the wheels pick up gets stuck to the brakes as the wheels rotate, and it can build up and create a thick layer of snow and ice between the brake show and the wheel. When the brakes are applied in these conditions, the snow and ice must melt off before the brakes become effective. Typically in these conditions, and engineer will set the brakes periodically while running to help curb the build up of snow and ice on the brakes, but some buildup still occurs.

Snow and ice can also affect the brake system in a very different way if any is allowed to enter the air hoses. A large enough amount can create a blockage in the brake pipe itself, interrupting the normal flow of compressed air through the brake system. This situation prevents the normal application and release of the brakes throughout the train. The portion of the train behind the blockage would not respond to any of the engineer's brake operations. If this is a small portion of the train, it may go unnoticed, but if a significant tonnage is behind the blockage, the results could be catastrophic. The chances of such a blockage occurring can be reduced dramatically by blowing snow out of air hoses before coupling them when the train is first assembled. Doing proper brake tests and inspections also helps to catch this condition before it becomes a major problem.

Brake pipe blockages are one problem caused by snow and ice entering the brake system, but even a much smaller amount of snow and ice can cause problems. It is possible that an amount of snow and ice would enter the brake pipe but would be insufficient to block the brake pipe. However, it could get into the control valves on a car and compromise the brakes there. Each car on the train has a control valve, which is basically the brain for that car's brake system. It responds to changes in brake pipe pressure and applies or releases the brakes on that car accordingly. See our air brake page for a more detailed description of air brake system functionality. Inside the control valve is a pair of slide valves, which each work to apply or release the brakes. The slide valves have holes to allow air to flow from one part of the system to another, as necessary for the application and release of the brakes. These slide valves are fairly small, only a couple inches in diameter and a few inches long. The holes are much smaller, some only the size of the head of a pin. It takes very little snow to plug one of those holes and prevent proper air flow. Depending which hole or holes get plugged, the result could be anything from a brake that responds slowly to one that does not apply, or one that does not release. In a long train, a single car not applying is actually not much of a problem usually, however a brake that refuses to release can become serious. If a car is dragged with the brakes applied, the wheels heat up. If the problem goes unchecked for long enough, the wheels can heat up enough to weaken or even destroy them, which can lead to a derailment. If the brakes remain applied hard enough, the wheels may not even turn when the car is moved. As they slide, the rails will wear flat spots in the wheels. Again, if this problem goes unchecked for long enough, it can also result in derailment. One of these days I'll write about the derailment I had that was caused by brakes stuck applied.

Snow and ice are not the only challenges to the railroad during the winter. Actually, the temperature can be a pretty significant challenge as well, particularly extreme temperatures. Before we get to that, let me explain a characteristic of the air brake system though.

On a train, compressed air is pumped into the brake pipe to charge the air brake system on each car and release the brakes. The brake pipe runs the entire length of the train. On the way, the air passes through steel pipe that is attached to the frame of each car and through flexible rubber air hoses that connect the brake pipes on each car. There are countless couplings, fittings, gaskets, and valves that make up the brake pipe. Each valve, fitting, gasket, and coupling is an opportunity for air to leak out of the system. Leakage is normal, up to a point. Since significant leakage can affect the ability of the brakes to function properly, it is measured before a train leaves its initial terminal. There are limits to how much leakage is acceptable. On long trains, the effect of the leakage can be more noticeable. On a train that exceeds a mile in length, it is fairly common to have a pound of two less air on the rear compared to the head end. A couple of pounds makes no noticeable difference in brake system functionality, and it is nearly impossible to avoid. In the summer, when the weather is warm, leakage is minimal, because everything seals up properly. However, as the temperature drops, all those fittings, couplings, hoses, and gaskets tend to shrink up, and as they do so, more leakage occurs. Rubber gaskets become very hard and do not seal couplings nearly as well as in warm weather. The more extreme the cold, the more extreme the leakage.

In addition to brake pipe leakage, when air leaves the compressor on the locomotive, it is fairly warm. As it is pumped into the main reservoirs and into the brake pipe, it cools off and becomes more dense. Essentially, a volume of air at room temperature takes up much less space when cooled zero degrees. However, if it must fill the same volume, such as a brake pipe, it still fills it, just at a lower pressure. The combination of colder air and increased brake system leakage means that train length gets limited. In the cold it takes longer for the air brake system to charge, and longer for the brakes to release. It is simply impossible to build the same long trains and expect the brakes to work properly when it is extremely cold outside. Just as a comparison, in the summer in Alaska, Alaska Railroad often runs trains that exceed 8,000 feet in length. Temperatures are warm and it takes less than a minute to apply or release the brakes on a train of that size. In the winter, when temperatures in Fairbanks can dip to -60 or lower, it becomes difficult to operate a train that is 2,500 feet long. The brakes respond much slower, and charging the system, or filling it with air, can take hours instead of minutes.

While trains might not be at much risk of sliding off their intended route of travel during snowy or cold conditions, they face other challenges. The nature of an air brake system is such that it operates better in warmer weather. Many of the measures the railroad takes during the winter are preventive. Whether newspaper readers in major cities want to believe it or not, winter weather has a very real and significant effect on railroading, and is a perfectly legitimate reason for making certain service changes.

Second First Trip

At 11:00pm on Friday night, I went on duty for my first trip as a student conductor. Well, it was my second first trip, but the first in Alaska. I would be working the overnight express freight train from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Usually the crew for that train goes on duty at 7:30pm, but the engineer had not been rested, so the trip began behind schedule. We did our paperwork, had a brief about some of the slide zones out there, and then got out the door and on the train.

It was a surprisingly long train for this time of year, at 8,300 feet, but we have also had surprisingly warm weather for this time of year. Usually January is the coldest month of the year, and that cold usually restricts train length to about 3,000 feet. With daytime temperatures well above freezing, and mild nights, the railroad has been able to run much longer trains than usual.

Our trip started off uneventfully enough. We had no speed restricted cars or any cars that required special handling. There were no temporary speed restrictions to think about over the 358 miles, so all we had to remember were several slide zones, but those were five hours away from Anchorage. We all chatted and tried to keep each other awake, and the conductor quizzed me on different rules and operating practices. There was no southbound freight train that night, and we met the coal train within the first 90 minutes, so we had the railroad to ourselves.

As we traveled north, recent rain had made some bluffs near the tracks unstable. This caused the railroad to place some slide zones in service. Those slowed us town a bit once we were north of Talkeetna, but we found everything to be fine in all of the slide zones. Once we started getting into the mountains north of Talkeetna, the snow started to get a bit deeper. There were a few spots where a little of it had slid down onto the tracks, but it was nothing to cause alarm. We crossed the Hurricane Gulch bridge just after 5:00am, and then started down the other side of Chulitna Hill. Just a couple miles later, the trip started to get more eventful.

As we came up on milepost 287, my conductor turned to the engineer and asked if he, in his opinion, thought that using the emergency braking capability of the FRED, on the rear end of the train, would stop a train faster in an emergency than just using the emergency brake valve on the locomotive. As soon as he got the question out, the train went into emergency without any warning. Talk about timing! We came to a stop and the engineer attempted to recover the train from the emergency application.

After a couple attempts, it became clear that the brake pipe pressure was not being restored through the train, and my conductor and I would be going for a walk. We got suited up to go walking through the snow, and grabbed some tools, fusees, air hose gaskets, and air hose retention wires. Then we got off the engine and began walking back to find the problem.

The snow in this area was pretty deep, although the track area had been cleared down to the height of the rail head. On one side of the tracks, the hill dropped off into a river, and on the other side of the tracks, a hill came up from the tracks. We decided to start out on the river side, just so we would be out of the way on the off chance something slid down the hill towards the train. The snow on the river side was above the knees, with a layer of ice on the top. This made walking difficult, because the ice was thick enough that it could not be easily pushed away by walking, but it was not thick enough to walk on top of it. We decided to take out chances on the hill side of the tracks, but that idea was short lived. When we crossed over, we found the snow there to be between waist and chest deep, and it had the same layer of ice on top. So after walking one car length through that, we crossed back to the river side.

After trudging through the snow for an hour, we found the cause of the emergency brake application. A pair of air hoses had separated between two cars. We coupled them back together and the engineer was able to recover the brake pipe pressure. It looked like the air hoses were hanging pretty close to the snow between the rails, so we tightened up the retention wires to get them up off the ground a little more. Once the engineer notified us that he had brake pipe pressure back, we walked back to the locomotive. Despite it taking an hour to get back to the problem, it was only about 20 cars back. The snow and ice had really slowed us down! We were happy it was only 20 cars back, and not 110!

Once we got back to the engine, we got underway again. As we approached the Honolulu siding, the train went into emergency again. This time, the train stopped on a bridge, which had no walkways on it. In January that would not normally be much of a problem, because you could walk across the river below. This January however, it has been so warm that the river was flowing, so walking across it would not be an option. Before we started walking however, the engineer attempted to recover from the emergency application. As we were trying to figure out how we would get across the bridge, he announced he was getting air pressure back, and no one would have to go for a walk. That was a relief! Once he had the brake pipe recharged we got underway again.

For the next few hours, the trip went back to being uneventful. As we got into Denali National Park, it began to get light out. This time of year, the park is pretty quiet, but there were some moose and caribou out and about. We left the park and came along the Nenana River, and headed into Healy Canyon. Just as we started into the canyon, the train went into emergency once again. Again, the engineer attempted to recover the air, but this time he was not successful. Once again, we suited up, geared up, and started walking. This time it only took us about seven minutes to find the problem, and it was the same two air hoses. There was very little snow on the tracks in Healy Canyon, and that made walking much easier!

Since the problem was the same two air hoses, we decided to fix them in such a way that this would not happen a third time! We got some wire off the locomotive, and I had a roll of duct tape. We wired the glad hands together and then tested them to make sure they would not move. Once we were satisfied they were secure, we wrapped the whole mess with duct tape to make sure it would not go anywhere! We let the dispatcher know about the modifications we had made, so that the yard crew in Fairbanks would be aware that they would have to manually uncouple those hoses. By the time we were finished, it was daylight out and the sun was lighting up the canyon. We continued north, although by this time we only had about 90 minutes left to work. The dispatcher told us to go as far as Healy, where another crew would take over, since Fairbanks was still four hours away.

We arrived in Healy just about the same time as our relief crew, and from there we were driven the rest of the way to Fairbanks. We went straight to the hotel to get rested for the return trip. By the time we got to the hotel, it was 1:15pm. Our return trip southbound would normally have gone on duty at 7:30pm, but we were obviously not going to be rested by then!

At 1:30am Sunday, we went on duty for the southbound trip. Once again, the train was going to be late from the start. Just as with the previous trip, the beginning was pretty uneventful. We started with a brief on some of the slide zones we had, although there were fewer than the previous trip. Just like before, we had no temporary speed restrictions and no cars requiring special handling. The train was quite a bit smaller too, only about 5,600 feet long. We got underway and had a pretty unremarkable trip until we got to Healy Canyon.

Healy Canyon is a tight, winding canyon, through which the Nenana River flows. The railroad sits on a ledge several hundred feet above the west side of the river. On one side of the tracks, there is a steep drop to the river, and on the other side is a steep, rock wall that reaches up to the mountains. Because of numerous tight curves, the speed limit through the canyon is 15 mph. It takes almost an hour to cover the distance between Healy and Denali Park, despite being only 12 miles apart. As we were coming through the canyon, we came around a curve and found a boulder sitting squarely between the rails. It was still about a quarter of a mile away when we found it, so the engineer stopped the train short of it. All three of us got out to see if we could move it. It was not huge, about two feet long and a foot across, but it was deceptively heavy! Using a couple bars in the tool closet in the engine, we were able to use some leverage to get it out of the track area and out of our way. Once we cleared the boulder, we were on our way again.

The rest of the trip went pretty smoothly. We had an unremarkable trip the rest of the way to Anchorage, and we made it all the way to Anchorage before we ran out of time to work, although barely. We pulled the train into the yard at 1:25pm, and from there a yard crew took over to break it up.

Where the Rails Meet the Sea

Whittier, Alaska, is a unique town for a variety of reasons. It is only accessible through a railroad tunnel, which has had the tracks embedded in concrete, making it possible to drive a highway vehicle through. Whittier has about 180 residents, nearly all of whom live in the same building. Whittier is also the only interchange point on the Alaska Railroad.

The Alaska Railroad has no direct rail connection to any other railroad in North America, making the interchange of railroad cars more challenging. Whittier is a port town, and the railroad maintains a barge slip there which is utilized for interchange operations. Alaska Marine Lines owns three barges, Whittier Provider, Anchorage Provider, and Fairbanks Provider. Each barge has eight tracks on the deck. They also have stantions to support shipping containers above the deck, high enough to clear most rail cars. Each track on the barge is over 400 feet long, making it possible to ship more than 40 freight cars on each barge. Approximately 5,000 tons of cargo can be hauled in the rail cars. The barges which carry rail cars also carry shipping containers above the rail cars. Approximately 10,000 tons of cargo can be moved in containers on each barge.

In Seattle, Washington, the Alaska Railroad maintains another barge slip, which is the other terminal for railroad barge operations. In Seattle, cars are loaded and unloaded from the barges by the Union Pacific Railroad. From there, they can go anywhere in North America.

Besides the barges operated by Alaska Marine Lines, the Canadian National Railway built another similar barge, called AquaTrain. They operated that barge for a long time, but more recently it was sold to Foss Marine, and they currently operate it.  It also has eight tracks, although only six tracks go to the end of the barge. There are two switches on the barge to access the two shortest track. The AquaTrain also has no container loading capacity. It operates between Whittier and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. In Prince Rupert, rail cars are loaded and unloaded by Canadian National.

The barges which connect the Alaska Railroad to the rest of North America are all large, ocean going barges. The tugboats that tow them are less specialized than the barges, but are also large, ocean going vessels. The three Alaska Marine Lines barges operate on a rotating schedule, with weekly departures from both Whittier and Seattle. The AquaTrain simply ferries cars back and forth between Whittier and Prince Rupert. A trip between Whittier and Seattle typically takes about a week in good weather. In the winter, when the weather is less cooperative, it is not uncommon for those trips to stretch out to ten days, and occasionally to two weeks. The trip to Prince Rupert is typically about two days shorter.

The railroad and the barges operate 24 hours a day, and in all weather. Usually the weather in Whittier is rainy and windy, but whenever the barge arrives, it gets unloaded. The quicker it can get unloaded, loaded, and out of port, the more money it can make. The sooner foreign rail cars get off the Alaska Railroad, the sooner the railroad can stop paying the per diem for them.

When a barge is expected in Whittier, a train leaves Anchorage to meet it. It is about a two hour train trip to Whittier usually. Often the trip is planned so that the train gets to Whittier ahead of the barge enough to get things switched out and organized before the barge gets there, so that everything is ready to go when the barge arrives. Typically, about half of the train consists of cars that are going on the barge, and the other half is mostly intermodal flat cars that haul shipping containers. When the train arrives in Whittier, it must be split up to fit in the yard. The flat cars all get put in places where the longshoremen can unload the containers that were brought in.  The containers usually get stacked up around the yard, where they will be out of the way. Many of them are empty, since Alaska does not export many containerized products. During some parts of the year, there can be refrigerated containers full of fish, destined for cities all over North America. The remaining cars on the train typically get placed on one or two tracks on Whittier yard, wherever they will fit. Once all the cars are out of the way, it is time to unload the barge.

Before unloading the barge, the train crew, barge crew, and several managers meet together in a little shack near the dock. Besides getting out of the rain for a few minutes, there is a lengthy discussion about the logistics of unloading the barge. Concerns such as heavy cars, long cars, or wide cars are brought up. Tide information is referenced to make plans, since unloading can only occur during certain tidal conditions. Once all the questions are answered, a plan is made, and the meeting adjourns. Everyone working on the barge and slip area gets a hard hat and a self inflating life preserver. The goal is to stay out of the water, but better safe than sorry.

When unloading begins, the conductor usually goes on the barge. The stevedores unlash all the cars, and once unlashed, the engine is coupled to the car at the stern. The conductor releases all the hand brakes, except the one at the stern. At the bow, the cars are typically coupled to a large steel block, called the headblock, which is welded to both the deck and the bulkhead at the bow. The conductor uncouples the cars from the headblock, and then instructs the brakeman to release the handbrake at the stern and pull the cars. The cars are pulled off the barge at walking speed or less, and up the slip. The process is repeated for each track.

The barge has eight tracks, but the slip only has three. Because of this, the barge must be moved several times during the unloading process. When in port, the barge is tied to several hydraulic winches, which allow the crew to reposition the barge to access other tracks. The tug stays lashed to the port side of the barge, though it is rarely called upon to provide assistance in moving the barge. Unloading is planned to coordinate with the tide, weight of the cars, and balancing the barge. The barge has large ballast tanks, which can be filled with seawater to offset uneven loading and unloading, but balance must still be taken into consideration. At times when the tide may get too high or too low to use the slip, the order of unloading can be used to cause the barge to lean to one side or the other, which can be used to help offset tidal changes.

After the rail cars are off the barge, forklifts are brought onto the barge and the load of containers are unloaded. These containers are loaded onto the now empty flat cars that were spotted all over the yard earlier. Usually there are far more containers than there empty flat cars though, so some of the containers get staged out of the way in the yard until more flat cars arrive. The containers that were brought to Whittier on the train are then loaded on the barge.

Usually by the time the barge has been unloaded, the train crew no longer has time left to work. Between the trip to Whittier from Anchorage, the switching before the barge operations, and then the barge operations, 12 hours can be used up easily. The crew goes to a hotel in Whittier to get some rest. While that crew is resting, another train arrives from Anchorage. It is similar to the first, and is about half flat cars and half interchange cars. The crew that brings that train into Whittier spends several hours switching in Whittier. They get all the newly loaded flat cars together again, as well as the cars that arrived on the barge. They spot more container flat cars, and usually a few more cars that need to go on the barge for the other crew to load later. Usually they cannot take all the cars that came off the barge, because a train of that length, plus all the flat cars, cannot be assembled between the yard and the tunnel to leave town. Some of the offloaded interchange cars remain behind, but all the flat cars are taken out of Whittier, back to Anchorage.

The longshoremen spend the time loading the barge with the containers that arrived from Anchorage on the two trains. They are less affected by the tide since their vehicles are on tires and are not coupled together, and so they work while the train crew rests. The goal is to have all the containers in place and secured by the time the train crew comes back on duty to load the barge.

When the first crew is rested, they go back on duty to load the barge. That shift usually starts with some switching, after the conductor and the barge crew chat for a few minutes about the placement of cars in the barge. The idea is to put the cars in an order that makes sense, so that each track on the barge only needs to be accessed one time during the whole operation. Once the interchange cars are put in an order that will work, everyone meets in the shack to go over the plans for the day. This meeting is very similar to the one held prior to unloading the barge, and many of the same topics are covered again, including the tide, the weather, car weights, and the order of loading. Once all the questions are answered and a plan is developed, everyone gets on their hard hats and life preservers again and goes to work.

Once again, the conductor works on the barge, and the brakeman on the slip. The brakeman gets the train to the barge, and then the conductor controls the movement on the barge. The train is brought to a stop one car length away from the headblock. At that point, the conductor places the last car in emergency and secures the hand brake. This gives the engineer something to push against, particularly when the tide is low and the slip is downhill towards the barge. Once the brakes are applied on the last car, the conductor gently couples the car to the headblock. Stopping one car length away from the headblock helps ensure that this happens gently. Coupling too hard to the headblock can potentially move the barge. Since the slip rests on the stern of the barge, too much movement could cause the slip to slide off the barge, opening up a space through which rail cars could fall into the ocean. Fortunately, this is extremely rare, because everyone is very careful when working on the barge! Once the cars are securely coupled to the headblock, the brakeman secures the hand brake on the car on the stern, and then uncouples the rest of the train. The stevedores lash the cars down, and when they are done, the same process happens again on another track.

Once the barge is loaded, the train crew puts together all the flat cars that remain, and any leftover interchange cars that were unloaded previously. Usually there are a few that the other crew was unable to take with them. The whole train gets an air test and then heads for Anchorage. In Anchorage, the crew will bring the train into the yard, where it will usually fill one of the longer tracks. They go home, and the yard crews break the train up, and prepares all the freight to head to different destinations all over Alaska.

Passenger Car Switching

Today I write from a Viewliner Roomette on Amtrak's southbound Silver Star. This may be the first time we have composed a blog post from a moving train. It probably does not come as a surprise that a trip report will be put together after this journey, but that will be at a later date. Today I thought I would talk about switching passenger cars and a few other things from work.

Earlier today, I boarded the Silver Star in New York, with my wife, Sarah. We elected to take the train to Florida to visit her parents rather than fly because we both enjoy train travel and the cost for us to travel First Class on Amtrak was slightly lower than the cost for both of us to fly. When the train departed New York, it was lead by an AEM-7 electric locomotive. The overhead catenary, which provides electricity to operate such a locomotive, ends in Washington, DC. Upon arriving at Union Station, the electric locomotive was removed and a pair of P42DC locomotives were placed at the head end. This was the first time Sarah had ever seen this operation, and explaining what was going on got me thinking a bit about work, particularly about passenger switching.

When I started working with Alaska Railroad, there were many similarities to what I had learned on BNSF. One big difference between Alaska Railroad and nearly every railroad in the Lower 48 is that Alaska Railroad operates both freight and passenger trains. This is not like a freight railroad hosting Amtrak, which is quite common in the continental United States, because the host railroad rarely does any passenger operations beyond allowing Amtrak to use the trackage. Amtrak provides the passenger train crew and equipment. In Alaska, the Alaska Railroad operates the freight trains, but also operates the passenger trains. The Alaska Railroad provides the crew and equipment for passenger operations.

Since Alaska Railroad operates both freight and passenger trains, this means that train crews could potentially go back and forth between passenger equipment and freight equipment during the course of a tour of duty. This would have been an extremely rare situation for road crews, but was more common in the yard. During the summer, Anchorage Yard had two crews each day that were specifically assigned to switch passenger equipment. Occasionally, when they were either busy or not on duty, another crew could be assigned to take care of a few moves in the coach yard.

Every day in the summer, at 4:30am, the morning passenger switch crew came on duty. The first passenger train scheduled to leave Anchorage was the southbound Coastal Classic, which went to Seward. The train was made up the night before, by the evening passenger crew, so there was rarely any switching to do in the morning. This was done to expedite the morning movements and ensure an on time departure, at 6:45am. Occasionally the locomotives had to be added, but even that was typically done by the roundhouse hostlers, in the middle of the night. Once we got on the train, the Brakeman would release the hand brakes and walk through the train, getting the doors and steps positioned for use at the depot. The Conductor and Engineer would compare paperwork with the train dispatcher and perform an air brake test. As the train departed the yard, a couple of carmen would perform a visual roll by inspection, for safety. We would head south out of the yard, on to the main track. Once the Brakeman had walked through the train, he would stay on the rear car. Once on the main track, the train had to be backed up to the depot. The Brakeman would serve as the eyes for the engineer during that movement. At the depot, the train would be secured. The road crew would take over and bring it to Seward from there.

For the yard crew, there were still more trains. The Denali Star, which operates to Fairbanks, was next. This was usually the most complex. The evening crew usually had things in order, to minimize the work for the morning crew, but because this train operates with private tour company cars, it is impossible to have it put together the night before. The morning crew would first get on the locomotives and pull the Alaska Railroad portion of the train out of the yard. Next, the Wilderness Express cars, if there were any that day, would be added to the rear. They could only be added after they had finished servicing them and lowered the derail protecting the entrance to their track. Sometimes they were ready when the crew got there, other times the crew had to wait a few minutes for hem to finish up their work. Behind the Wilderness Express cars, Holland America Line's McKinley Explorer cars were added, followed by Princess Cruise Line's private cars. Since Holland America and Princess are sister companies, their tour operations in Alaska are combined and operate under the name HAP Alaska-Yukon. Both companies' private cars are serviced together, on the same track, and the evening crew usually had them put together, in the right order, the night before. Once they were added to the train, an End of Train Device was added and tested, and then an air brake test was conducted. Once again, the carmen did a visual inspection as the train departed the coach yard. This train went around the wye on the way out of the yard, and then backed out to the main track. The engineer spotted the train at the depot, where it was secured to await the road crew and an 8:15am departure northbound.

The last train of the morning was the Glacier Discovery, which went to Whittier and Chugach National Forest. This was usually the easiest train, since all the switching was almost always done the night before. After an air brake test and a visual inspection from the carmen, the train headed out to the main track and was then backed in to the depot. Just like the others, it was secured to await the road crew and the trip southward.

When the morning passenger crew was done the morning switching, there were still several hours left to work. Usually a short lunch break was on the agenda, followed by some freight switching. This was, of course, all determined by the yard master.

At 6:30pm, the evening passenger crew came on duty. Their switching was typically more complex, since they were responsible for setting up trains, as much as possible, for the morning crew. The first train scheduled to arrive was the southbound Denali Star, which was so long it had to be split in two when it arrived at the depot. That train was due at 8:00pm every day, and the evening crew would meet it at the depot. The cars belonging to Princess and Holland America would be cut off east (railroad north) of the C Street crossing, just outside the depot. Motor coaches were provided by Holland America and Princess for their passengers, and there is a large paved area there for easy transfer from the train to the waiting coaches. The remainder of the train would pull up behind the railroad depot. When the train arrived at the depot, some of the servicing was done immediately. The crew would have to wait until everyone servicing the train was finished. Once the toilets were all pumped, baggage unloaded, and money counted and removed, the train could head to the yard. Once in the yard, the switching began. The switching could be simple, or it could seem to go on all night. The current position of cars and the arrangement needed the next day determined the complexity of the switching. Other variables that contributed to complexity included the need for car to visit the shop or have wheels trued. Wheel truing is a process that removes flat spots and other imperfections from wheels, resulting in a smoother, safer ride.

When all the Denali Star switching was complete, it was time to do a different train. Usually. Y the time it was complete, both the Coastal Classic and the Glacier Discovery had arrived and were parked at the depot. It was up to the Conductor which one got done next. Both needed to go around the wye, so they would be facing south, since all the switching happens at the south end of the coach yard. Usually the Glacier Discovery was the easier one, since it usually just had to be put away for the night, with little or no switching. The Coastal Classic usually had a little switching, and sometimes a Wilderness Express car or two to put away. Both trains however were far easier to put away than the Denali Star usually was.

Switching passenger equipment could be frustrating at times, for a variety of reasons. One of the most frustrating aspects of passenger switching was the speed. All the coach tracks were limited to walking speed, and the train must be stopped prior to coupling to other equipment. This sounds and is simple enough, but it adds considerable time to even a simple switching move.

Perhaps the most frequent frustration of passenger equipment switching is the overwhelming amount of connections and the limited amount of space between cars. When cars are coupled together, the air hoses must be coupled and the angle cock opened. On freight cars, this is a quick task. On passenger cars, there are electrical jumpers, communication cables, and a walkway in close proximity to one another. Additionally, the air hoses and angle cocks are not located beside the coupler, but rather directly below it. In some situations, it is so crowded between cars that the only way to couple hoses and open angle cocks is to crawl under the car and lie down between the rails, facing up at the bottom of the car. Needless to say, almost anyone who switches passenger cars finishes the day covered in grease, oil, and dirt.

At this point however, I do not have to worry about crawling in the dirt under passenger cars. The Alaska Railroad experiences a pretty significant drop in traffic around the end of September, and consequently they lay off about a third of the workforce. This is a temporary, seasonal layoff, and everyone laid off is guaranteed their job and seniority in the spring, if they still want it. I was notified on September 18th that I no longer had enough seniority to hold a job, and I would be laid off. I will go back to work in the spring, in April or May, depending on manpower needs. It will be sooner if they decided to train ten or more Conductors this winter, but I will not find out definitely about that for at least another month yet. Most people would be disappointed to be laid off, but I am enjoying it. While I enjoy my job, it is nice to have a break. I had taken a week off in the past three years when I got my layoff call, and I was ready for a vacation! Besides, it gives me the opportunity to visit distant family and take leisure train rides, such as this one, aboard Amtrak's Silver Star. I'll be enjoying dinner in the diner next!

Working Hard!

First of all, I must apologize once again that I am writing so infrequently. This is not due to a shortage of activity, but actually quite the opposite. Between work, volunteering to work on engine #557, and some projects at a local model railroad club, I have been extraordinarily busy!

Progress on the 557 is going nicely. We have acquired some sandblasting equipment and will start cleaning up a lot of the parts. The equipment is not big enough to do the major components of the locomotive, such as the boiler or frame, but it will accommodate many of the more portable parts quite nicely. Additionally, the cab was sent out to a company that donated the labor to sandblast and paint it. We just got it back this week, in green primer. The biggest task remaining is to replace the firebox, which happens to be the next major task actually. Hopefully that will be complete before the weather gets cold. The engine house is not heated.

At the local model railroad club, we had been having some pretty serious and unpredictable electrical problems. The sustainability of the layout was questionable, and normal operations were severely compromised. I suggested we basically rewire the entire thing. It was built about 30 years ago, and designed to run on a direct current power system. Once DCC came into the picture, it was rewired for that, but using some existing wire and some new. Nothing was color coded and very little was labelled. Since it was built, all troubleshooting occurred with no color or labeling and no standardization. All of this made finding and solving the problems difficult and highly impractical. The way the club operates most of the time is when someone suggests a project, they are designated the leader by the rest of the membership. That made me the leader on replacing the electrical system. It was decided that we would only do a portion to start, so that the layout would still be functional, in some form, during the project. Also, any changes or modifications to the track work or scenery would be done simultaneously. This was because almost every layout system ultimately relies on the electrical system. A color code was developed and standards were adopted, and we went to work. As of yesterday afternoon, the section we started with is complete and operating. It has seen a few significant upgrades, including the addition of its own power district, circuit breakers, energized switch frogs, a line change, and the removal of one tunnel and replacement of one bridge. We removed an estimated 3,000 feet of wire and replaced it with less than 300 feet, yet increased reliability and performance. We accomplished all of this in three weeks less than planned.

Work is where I have been spending most of my time, it seems. In July, they started running three person crews on almost every train. This was good because it gave Brakemen, including myself, the opportunity to see some of the railroad outside the yard. I went to Fairbanks three times, Whittier once, and Seward once. Fairbanks is a pretty easy trip, but it is long. The passenger trains run during the day, so to help prevent congestion, and potential delays, the freight trains primarily run at night. There is a freight train that operates northbound and one that operates southbound, between Anchorage and Fairbanks, almost every day of the week. Usually they depart their origin at around 8:30pm, and arrive at their destination 11 to 12 hours later. The trip is 358 miles, and includes both mountain grades and much more gentle river grades. The scenery can be spectacular, when it is light out, which, in the summer, is most of the night.

Whittier was certainly interesting. It is much closer to Anchorage, and freight trains only go there a couple times a week. Whittier is where the Alaska Railroad interchanges with other railroads. There is no direct rail connection between Alaska and the Lower 48 or Canada, so the interchange traffic moves on barges. These barges are huge, about 450 feet long, with eight tracks side by side. There are stantions between the tracks that support containerized cargo above the rail cars. The containers can be stacked four or five high. The barges operate between Whittier and Seattle and between Whittier and Prince Rupert, BC. They carry about 15,000 tons of cargo on the week long voyage. Usually, we operate freight trains to Whittier only when a barge will be in town. When I went to Whittier, we spent the day switching out our train and unloading the barge. We spent that night in a hotel in Whittier, and the next morning, we loaded the barge, built a new train, and brought it back to Anchorage with all the freight we had taken off the barge.

When I went to Seward, we had been assigned to relieve the coal train crew. When we arrived, they were still dumping the coal out of the train. They finished that up, and then we put it together and left town northbound. We brought it back to Anchorage. The coal comes from the Usibelli Mine, in Healy. It gets stockpiled in Seward and periodically loaded onto a ship, which takes it to South Korea. Typically there is a coal ship in Seward about once a month. It takes 24 hours to fully load the ship.

I have also worked a few other trains. To me, the most interesting have been the passenger switching jobs, in the yard. In the evenings, as the passenger trains get in, the yard crew goes out and meets them at the depot. The road crew gets off as soon as they pull in, and the passengers disembark. While still parked behind the depot, the cleaning crew gets on, and the first thing that gets done is a truck comes along and pumps all the toilets. Once that is done, we take the train to the yard. The evening crew is responsible for making up the trains for the next day, so that the morning crew is not delayed and the trains run on time. All the switching happens with the cleaning and food staff still on board, as they get things cleaned and put away for the night. On a typical night, there were three trains to switch and put away. Usually that kept us busy for six to eight hours. Once they were put away, the cleaning crew would wash the exterior. Alaska Railroad takes great pride in its trains, particularly its passenger trains, and they get washed after every trip. Usually they are so clean you can see your reflection in them!

More recently, I have been working the morning passenger switching job. That one basically just moves the trains from the yard to the depot, since the night crew has already put them together. There are a lot of little things to do on that though. The movements are pretty simple, pull out of the yard, wye the train if needed, and park it in front of the depot for the road crew to take over. But we also have to make sure the doors on the platform side are open and the doors on the opposite side are closed. We have to make sure the trap doors, exposing the steps, are in the proper position for high level platform boarding or low level boarding. We also have to make sure the end doors on each car close properly and that the last car has a gate to keep people from stepping out the end door. In the morning, the food service staff are on the train, and the dining cars all smell like breakfast. The cooks get a head start on preparing breakfast, because that will be what the passengers want as soon as they get on the train. Once at the depot, we have to place jump plates between the high level platform and the train, to eliminate the gap between the platform and train. There are barriers on and around the platform that must be positioned to keep people from wandering off where they don't belong, and guide them to the train. Those all have to be repositioned for each train, because each train has a different spot at the depot. So the movements are simple in the morning, but there are a lot of other little things to be done. After all the passenger trains have departed for the day, we usually do a little freight switching and then head home. I like both passenger jobs, which makes me a little different than most. Passenger cars can be frustrating to work with, because they are big and delicate, and the space between cars is filled with wires, hoses, walkways, and other utilities. There are a lot of extra safety rules when switching passenger equipment, especially when it is occupied, but it is something new and different for me.

In the next six weeks, I expect work will be tapering off, as the summer season comes to a close. Most of our passengers will be gone, until May, and our freight will see a bit of a decline as the construction season winds down. Hopefully, this will mean my time to commit to this blog and website will increase, and you will hear from me more! I do have several things in the works, just very little time to work on them!

As always, do not hesitate to email or leave a comment if you have any questions or comments! I promise I will respond!

Training Again

For the last two weeks, I have been busy working for the Alaska Railroad. Currently, we are in training. Training started about two weeks ago, with some classroom time. We spent two weeks in the classroom, mostly going over operating practices from the General Code of Operating Rules (GCOR). Conveniently, this is the same rule book that BNSF uses. While it is the same rule book, the Alaska Railroad does do a few things differently. The biggest difference in operations is due to the fact that Alaska Railroad runs both freight trains and passenger trains. On the BNSF, we did not need to know anything about passenger trains, because we did not handle any. They have to be switched differently than freight trains and air tests have to be conducted differently for them.

Despite having railroad experience, I still have to go through all the training. That is just fine with me though, because I have been learning more, and I have had to learn what the differences are between the Alaska Railroad and how things are done on the BNSF.

This week we have been doing field training, which involves going out to a yard with our trainers and learning things hands on. We have been at a place called Birchwood, which is about 20 miles from Anchorage, where there is a four track classification yard. Since the Anchorage yard handles most of the switching, Birchwood is usually pretty quiet, which allows us to do our stuff without getting in the way of anyone else and without having anyone else get in our way.

Yesterday was our first day out at Birchwood, so we started by practicing hand signals. Most of them are exactly the same as they were on the BNSF. After we had all practiced a bit, they decided to have us move a locomotive, using the hand signals we had just practiced. That was quite entertaining. For a lot of people, it seems like it is easier to remember what each proper hand signal is when they do not have the pressure of actually controlling a moving locomotive with them! Everyone did very well when we were all standing in a circle practicing. When we got next to the engine though, some people did some goofy things. It was funny, and everyone did improve as we moved the engine several times. It is just part of the learning process.

We also got to practice applying and releasing hand brakes, and lacing and unlacing air hoses. Most of the equipment we are using is very old, some of it goes back to World War II, so most of the hand brakes are up high. That proved to be a bit of a workout, to tie and untie those brakes several times. Later in the afternoon, they showed us how to change knuckles and air hoses. We each had to do both of those tasks several times, to get some practice.  Before we knew it, the day was over. It went much quicker than the classroom time had!

Today, we started the day by practicing hand signals again. Everyone is getting better. They had us move the engine again, and then they had us ride the engine and move it around. There were far fewer goofy hand signals today, and I expect there will be almost none by tomorrow. After we had all had a few turns at riding the engine, they taught us how to get on and off moving equipment. This was something new to me. On Alaska Railroad, the do not use it much, it is mostly for when necessary because of an emergency, but they want us to know how to do it so that we do not get hurt if there ever is an emergency that requires it. It is not particularly difficult when the train is going slow, but there is still a proper technique to it.

In the afternoon, they got a little more ambitious with us, and decided to have us switch cars. We got a cut of four cars and went to the north end of the yard. We practiced switching a couple of cars out, using two different tracks, and using all the appropriate hand signals to make that happen. We also got to practice passing hand signals. I think everyone liked switching more than most of our other activities up to that point. It gave everyone a chance to see and experience what exactly they signed up for by taking a job as a Brakeman.

After switching, we looked at some freight cars and learned what all the different parts are called. I had to learn some new slang for parts I knew already. We looked at several different types of cars, from modern intermodal cars, to some very old gondolas that were built before World War II. The basic parts are all the same, even if the overall appearance and size has changed a bit. Once again, the day was over quickly, and we all headed home. It is nice to be outside and learning more hands on. Everyone seems to be enjoying it a lot more and understanding everything better.

Career Change

First of all, I must apologize for our recent silence. There has been a big change in my life, which has kept me off the network, so to speak, for the last several weeks. This should not affect operations on our blog, although the content may change slightly as a result, as I'll explain later.

Several weeks ago, we posted a photo of the Alaska Railroad depot, in Anchorage, as our "Photo of the Week." That photo was actually taken just a couple of days before it was posted. I had flown up to Anchorage for a job interview with the Alaska Railroad, and despite it being a very short trip, I did have a little time, after the interview process, to go downtown and see some of the sights.

The interview process at the Alaska Railroad was similar to the BNSF, but far more relaxed. For one thing, there were only nine people there, instead of well over 100. The first thing they had us do was take a reading comprehension test, which took four minutes. After that, there was some down time and the nine of us chatted a bit. The next step was a physical strength test. I was not quite sure what to expect for that, because on BNSF they had sent us to a physical therapy office for that, where they had connected us to machines and had us do different exercises. As it turned it, the Alaska Railroad application of that test was a little more local. They took us out behind the yard office and showed us how to line a switch, then had each of us take a turn at it. They did likewise for tying and untying hand brakes, lacing and unlacing air hoses, and climbing on and off cars. We each had to take turns doing that. They also had us lift and set down a knuckle, and we all had to climb on a car and hang on for ten minutes. Everyone passed the strength test as far as I know, and interviews were scheduled for after lunch. After the interviews, they told us they would be making calls to those who got the job early the following week. At that point, I decided to do a little sightseeing downtown. Early the next day, I flew back to Montana, and went back to work.

The following Monday, my two weeks of vacation started. That was scheduled about six months ago, and my wife and I had forgotten about it for a while, so we had actually not made any vacation plans. As it turned out, that ended up being a good thing. On Tuesday, the Alaska Railroad called back and offered me a job with them as a "Locomotive Engineer/Conductor Trainee." I'll actually be a Brakeman for the first year or so, and then they'll promote me to a Conductor. I accepted the offer, and we started making plans to move to Alaska. Since it is a four day drive from eastern Montana to Anchorage, we decided to leave the following Monday, which gave us less than a week to pack up all of our stuff and load it in a truck. Four days later, on Saturday, we loaded the truck and left our little apartment in Glendive for the last time. We stayed with some friends for the weekend, and early Monday morning, we headed out, bound for Alaska. Ironically, it was snowing when we left, although that did not last long.

On Monday, April 8th, we left Montana and drove to Edmonton, which is about 13 hours away. Starting out, it felt like the trip would never end, we knew that we had four long days of driving to do. It seemed as if we would be driving forever. On Tuesday, we drove to Fort Nelson, which is in the northeastern corner of British Columbia. It is also the northern end of the former BCRail system. Wednesday saw us get to Whitehorse, Yukon. We stayed only about two blocks from the White Pass and Yukon Route depot there, and by then, the end of the drive was in sight. Thursday we drove the final leg, to Anchorage. We were very happy to arrive, and be done with the driving.

We did some apartment shopping over the next couple of days, and actually found something very quickly. This week, I have been doing all my pre-employment exams, which included a physical and a drug test yesterday. Tomorrow I have to do a strength test where they hook my up to machines, like I did with the BNSF a couple of years ago. We have been using our downtime to unpack all the boxes and get settled. I begin training with the Alaska Railroad on Monday, the 22nd.

From what I understand, the Brakeman training program here is four weeks long. It includes two weeks of classroom training, and two weeks of field training. During the field training, the entire class goes out to an online training facility at Fort Richardson, just a few miles north of the Anchorage Yard. The instructors go too, and they teach us what we need to know using are hands-on methods. As far as I know, there is no on the job training portion, where we would go to work with other Brakemen. They did tell me they may send us to Fairbanks for a couple additional weeks of training, to familiarize us with operations there. It sounded like they had not yet determined whether we would do that or not though.

I expect that this change will have minimal impact on our blog, other than the silence of the last couple weeks, during the move. Obviously, there will be fewer BNSF stories now, but I suspect they will be replaced by Alaska Railroad stories. I will, in a sense, be starting at the bottom again, although that does not bother me at all. I am in a place I have wanted to come back to, and a place to which I have some ties. Eastern Montana was nice while it lasted, but when I moved there, it was only intended to be temporary. However, I learned a great deal from my trainers and coworkers in Glendive, and appreciate everything they taught me. I am certain that the experience I gained, and everything I learned, in Glendive helped me get this job in Alaska.

Fall Challenges

As the weather begins to change for the colder, some new challenges must be faced on the railroad.  The challenges vary from one part of the country to the next, but they all stem from the weather getting cooler.  In New England, leaves falling off the trees cause headaches for railroads, as described by Tyler, in his blog, "I Ride the T."  While there are comparatively few trees in Eastern Montana, and leaves are not a problem, there are still other challenges that come in the fall, including frost and snow.  I have found frost to be deceptively slippery, and it has a way of seeming more slippery when it is necessary to stop.  Of course, the physical characteristics of frost do not actually change based on the engineer's intentions!

Frost can be hard to see, especially if it starts to settle on everything at night, as it usually does, and after the train is underway.  If you begin a trip on dry rails, frost can slowly begin to settle on everything without being noticed at all.  Once it is there, the ties and ballast tent to sparkle more than usual in the headlights, but as it accumulates, this is can easily go unnoticed.  Of course, if it goes unseen, it will be noticed the first time an attempt is made to stop or start the train!  At first, when power or braking force is still relatively low, the wheels might just squeal a little, but as more power or braking force is applied, they will lose their grip on the rail completely and the entire locomotive will shudder and shake as the wheels slip and try to grab some rail again.  Usually when this happens, I do a quick evaluation of the distance yet to be covered and the amount by which I need to reduce speed.  If I only need to lose a couple of miles per hour, often I will use the terrain to do that.  Even along the river, the track is not perfectly flat.  There are lots of small undulations in the tracks, and knowing where the tracks turn uphill, even slightly, can be helpful.  These small uphill areas can be used to scrub a few miles per hour off of the speed of a train.  The situation is a little different if the train is headed downhill, or if a lot of speed must be lost.  Most uphill areas on the Forsyth Sub are not long or steep enough to bring a train to a stop from track speed, using just gravity.  If I have to slow down significantly or stop, and the wheels do not grab rail the way I want them to, I do not even hesitate to use the air brakes.  By using the air brakes, the braking force gets spread throughout the entire train, and I do not have to depend entirely on the dynamic brakes, on the locomotives, to control the speed.  Sometimes the air brakes work well, and sometimes the do not.  I always figure if they do not work well, I can set more air, and if they work better than usual, I can release them sooner and just go slow for a little longer.  I would much rather be going slow or stop short instead of running too fast into an area or sliding past a point where I was supposed to stop.  It is much easier to stop short and pull up than try to explain to the Road Foreman why the train slid 30 feet past a stop signal!

Fresh snow can be as slippery as frost, but it is much easier to see at night.  Of course, its accumulation on the tracks is quite obvious, and when snow is falling, it is usually piling up on the windshield and all over the locomotive too.  While frost can go somewhat unnoticed at times, snow does not.  Besides slippery rail, snow presents another problem - slippery brakes.  If the snow is higher than the top of the rail, the wheels can start to pick it up, and then it gets pushed up between brake shoes and wheels.  When a brake application is made, the snow has to be melted off the brake shoes before they have much effect on the speed of the train.  This increases the time from which a brake application is made to when that application can be felt and is effective.  This is another reason I usually set air right away if the dynamics begin to slip.  Once the snow flies, extra time will be needed before the air brakes are working as hard as they normally do.  Once again, it is better to be early with that than late!  Fortunately, we have not had any significant snowfall yet.

Starting a train on slippery rail can be tricky, but it is usually less stressful than stopping.  Modulating the amount of power going to the wheels, and using sand are the tricks to starting.  When slippery rail is anticipated, it helps to use the sanders to stop, so that the locomotive is sitting on sanded rail when it is time to move again.  The fine sand, which is carried on locomotives, can be directly applied to the rail through nozzles mounted just ahead of each set of wheels.  While sand does not substitute for dry rail, it can make starting and stopping much easier, because it does help to increase the traction between the wheels and the rail.  Essentially, it gives the wheels something to grab, when a lot of power or braking force is applied.

Besides slippery rail, fall is the season for broken rails.  As the temperatures cool, the steel begins to contract, which puts more stress on the rail.  If rail was laid during the summer, when the weather is hot, and the rail is in a more expanded state, it will all begin to contract and can break under the stress.  Several nights ago, we discovered a broken rail.  When the rail breaks, the signals governing movement into that signal block will display a red aspect.  In the case of the other night, this was a Stop and Proceed indication, which is exactly what we did.  Whenever we proceed at a Stop and Proceed indication, we have to be moving at restricted speed, which is a speed that allows stopping the train within half the range of vision, not exceeding 20 mph, on the BNSF.  Other railroads may limit the speed differently.  We are required to be able to stop short of obstructions in the tracks, other trains, or men working.  Broken rail is actually not something we are required to stop for, but we must be on the lookout for it whenever we are moving at restricted speed.  Most of the time, when a rail breaks, the ties hold everything in alignment.  If we were to put a large braking force on the rails to try to stop for a broken rail, it could push things out of alignment.  Also, it can be difficult to see broken rail from the locomotive, until it is about to go under the locomotive.  Usually it is not discovered until the wheels go over it, with a much louder clack than a normal joint.  Several nights ago, we passed the Stop and Proceed signal, and my Conductor and I both commented that it was probably a problem with a rock slide fence that is in that block.  We went by the slide fence and noticed nothing wrong with it, and then about 500 feet before the next signal, when we were just about on top of it, we noticed what looked like a possible broken rail.  We reported it to the dispatcher and continued over it slowly, until the entire train was clear of it. Sure enough, they sent maintenance out there, and it was indeed a broken rail.  They spliced in a new piece of rail and bolted it all together.  It will probably be welded later, when it gets colder, so it does not break again.  While broken rails do not occur that frequently, they do tend to happen more often in the fall, as the weather cools and the steel contracts and becomes more brittle.  They can happen any time of the year though.  Once the whole train was over the break, we were back on clear blocks, so we picked the speed up to normal track speed.