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Weather and the Trains
Jan. 10th, 2023 10:05 amI've been pretty lucky here in Fernley, as the worst impact of the series of winter storms moving through here is that my push-broom I use for clearing the walks broke while I was clearing ice from it. It has been of course much worse for lots of people, particularly in California, where they've gone from not enough water to too much of it, as seems to be the usual case. And naturally, those people who have to be out working in this weather, like railroad crews, have a very tough time of it.
Yesterday, I heard some of the talk on the radio scanner about a westbound train heading for Sparks. Due to various delays (mostly weather related), they were not going to be able to get to Sparks before their federally-mandated maximum 12 hours of service would expire. This happens a lot, and what usually happens is that the dispatcher has the crew park their train in a siding, while Sparks Yard sends out a "dogcatcher" crew by road to deliver a fresh crew and to collect the "dead" crew and return them to the yard. "Dead" crews are not allowed to move their train at all, and they have to sit where they tied down their train and wait to be relieved. Sometimes (rarely) this can be done by rail; a few days ago, I heard the dispatcher instruct a passing Amtrak train to pick up a "dead" crew so they could "ride the cushions" to the next crew base.
There was no problem getting a fresh "dogcatcher" crew out of Sparks. But there was no way to get them to the train, which was parked at one of the sidings between Fernley and Sparks. The problem: Eastbound Interstate 80 was closed east of Spark for what NVRoads reported vaguely as a natural disaster, which I speculate was a mud or rock slide. That stretch of road has no alternative routes. Lisa and I have been on multiple occasions on the wrong side of such a block (usually a traffic accident) and have had to make lengthy detours (either to the south through Carson City or the north through Pyramid Lake) to get between Reno and Fernley.
In this case, the dispatcher apologized to the "dead" crew and said that they'd just have to wait. However, after an hour or two, he reported that I-80 was finally open and the relief crew could get to them, albeit I'm sure the traffic was terrible.
Personally, I'm surprised that they didn't try to use a high-rail truck to transport the crews back and forth; however, I would not be surprised to learn that in general the maintenance of way people who operate those trucks aren't allowed to shuttle crews around that way, for any number of reasons.
Yesterday, I heard some of the talk on the radio scanner about a westbound train heading for Sparks. Due to various delays (mostly weather related), they were not going to be able to get to Sparks before their federally-mandated maximum 12 hours of service would expire. This happens a lot, and what usually happens is that the dispatcher has the crew park their train in a siding, while Sparks Yard sends out a "dogcatcher" crew by road to deliver a fresh crew and to collect the "dead" crew and return them to the yard. "Dead" crews are not allowed to move their train at all, and they have to sit where they tied down their train and wait to be relieved. Sometimes (rarely) this can be done by rail; a few days ago, I heard the dispatcher instruct a passing Amtrak train to pick up a "dead" crew so they could "ride the cushions" to the next crew base.
There was no problem getting a fresh "dogcatcher" crew out of Sparks. But there was no way to get them to the train, which was parked at one of the sidings between Fernley and Sparks. The problem: Eastbound Interstate 80 was closed east of Spark for what NVRoads reported vaguely as a natural disaster, which I speculate was a mud or rock slide. That stretch of road has no alternative routes. Lisa and I have been on multiple occasions on the wrong side of such a block (usually a traffic accident) and have had to make lengthy detours (either to the south through Carson City or the north through Pyramid Lake) to get between Reno and Fernley.
In this case, the dispatcher apologized to the "dead" crew and said that they'd just have to wait. However, after an hour or two, he reported that I-80 was finally open and the relief crew could get to them, albeit I'm sure the traffic was terrible.
Personally, I'm surprised that they didn't try to use a high-rail truck to transport the crews back and forth; however, I would not be surprised to learn that in general the maintenance of way people who operate those trucks aren't allowed to shuttle crews around that way, for any number of reasons.
