Bob: I'm guessing that the tank car was or had been loaded with a hazardous substance. That was always SOP on Santa Fe, and became doubly critical after the TP&W derailment at Crescent City, IL, in 1970( http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/93/Crescent%20City%20Train%20Derailment,%201970.pdf?sequence=2 )
In fact, after that incident, even locals and roadswitcher jobs on Santa Fe were required to bury hazardous materials cars in their trains to the extent possible. The conductor also had to have waybills in his possession while the cars were in transit, no matter how short the distance traveled. On the job I worked, the solution, since we knew what we would be handling, was a stack of waybill copies made out with everything but the car number, which the conductor would then enter when the crew added the cars to the train. This was one of the first uses of the then-emerging technology of office copy machines. My first use of this machine was to make the required five copies of a minor derailment report, rather than use carbon paper. The agent raised Cain with me because those copies "cost 2-cents apiece!!".I flipped him a dime and headed out the door. The next day, I caught him making a copy of restroom stall wall paper on it. The office copy machine's future was as secure as the earth spinning on its axis. Bob Nicholson _________________________________________ Bob Nicholson ________________________________________ --- In [email protected], Bob Werre <b...@...> wrote: > > I'm not certain in regards to steam era safety concerns but once on > assignment for the Houston Belt and Terminal RR, I was covering the > evening crews that worked the former MP yard. The train master spotted > a flat next to a tank car in the consist. So we went down to > investigate and if necessary break up those two cars. They were > concerned that the load on the flat could shift and pierce the tank. A > bulkhead flat would have been okay however. So now you know how to run > your trains in your operation sessions! > > Bob Werre > BobWphoto.com > > > > Hi all -- > > > > I added poling pockets to a couple of my cars, but later > > determined the vast majority of tank cars didn't have them, probably > > because > > the end sills were not supported by a full car length structure, and > > maybe > > because of the possibilty of puncturing the tank. Additionally, most of > > the similar UTLX cars only had dome walkway and ladder on the brake > > cylinder > > side... I will have to redo my cars! > > Have fun! > > Bill Winans > > Prescott Valley, AZ > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
