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It's been a while since I last lamented, and with somewhat good reason. First, we were moved to Latta from Spring Hill and the growing pains from that move have finally subsided. Then, just to make things interesting, I was placed on another job and that took a little getting used to. Once we had everything here at Latta I was placed on the second dispatcher's desk which primarily takes care of the INRD, does ITM (Integrated Train Management, which is data entry), and various reports. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but so far it's OK. I just don't have a radio and that makes things interesting (the INRD uses cell phones). I have had crewmembers remark that they thought I just sort of fell off the edge of the world (this can happen when one believes the world is flat). So I have been keeping busy, albeit in a quiet way. Mix in taxes, spring fever, and all of the other challenges of this life and endeavors such as this are delayed and waylaid. So now I think the cauldrons of change have calmed and I can now continue on my lamenting way.
I guess the predominant news on the north end recently has been the mishap at Momence.
So I reported to work with a bright shiny face and a good attitude. I then stepped in the door and things changed. Well, actually, they really didn't change too much because my mission was to keep the INRD rolling so the pressures associated in dealing with the other railroads wasn't there. But I digress.
So I proceed into the Room of Doom to talk with the chief, and when I make my grand entrance I notice he is in a very good mood. Well, the reason for this about face is soon apparent: the north end was at a halt due to this derailment. So I begin my usual ramblings with the chief. It seems the mishap occurred when (according to first reports) a Conrail eastbound failed to stop at an absolute signal and slammed into a southbound UP stack train. The ensuing chaos that followed rendered the UP impassable to all trains, and to the chief that was just fine for the moment.
So the cleanup was in full gear and now the Super Duper Chiefs of the CP were on the phone every 10 minutes wondering what was going on and attempting, through the deployment of their own brand of delicate CP diplomacy, to find a slot for 240 and 241 in the post Momence world. Now I don't consider myself an expert on railroad diplomacy, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when the Momence Mishap is resolved the CSX and the UP might want to move a few trains. I don't think that moving CP trains would be a particularly high priority, which these managers in Calgary just cannot understand. So I prepare for the inevitable begging that will eventually come of this. I say I prepare because when the Canadians cannot get their way they dump it on the Super Chief, who in turn dumps it on us. I have been told this is what they call "delegating authority". I have other names for it but since this is a civil forum I will hold my tongue. And as predicted the UP and CSX (which a rather adept IHB man called the UP of the east in reference to their inability to deliver) pretty much closed the door and now the managers were all excited. So the call to action finally came to the Super Chief and in predictable fashion delegates. The only hang up here is the second trick dispatcher will not play that game, and then the Super Chief has to crawl which is sometimes quite entertaining to behold. So now the promises made earlier fall by the wayside as the traffic jam clears and the entire circus begins to move. When you start hearing traffic reports of 6 south bounds waiting for 5 north bounds and more on the way, why things just get a little interesting. But eventually the smoke clears, the mess is cleaned up, and the world becomes a happy place again.
Overall, the past month has been, well, I guess one could say "enjoyable". It seems that someone in the great northlands has awakened and stirred the ashes of dissent.
I guess I should explain a few things first. When trains move the nation's freight, they also move their pens across a piece of paper called a train delay report. This report details all of their unexpected delays from the time they go on duty to the time they go off duty. The good folks in timekeeping (payroll) use these sheets for monetary purposes, the CMC (crew management center) uses them for determining rest times, and we are required to log them onto the train sheet. We then also log these into the computer system in a program called ITM (integrated train management).
Supposedly, the system works something like this: average running times have been established from terminal to terminal, and each train operates against these averages. So when a 240 train makes its forlorn trek from Chicago to Louisville, their times are compared to the averages and "variances" or deviations from this norm must be accounted for. This is where the handy little delay report comes in. All of the delays are charged against the average and in theory if the train did run on an average schedule and the train delay report reflects that, the difference should be zero. Well, this never happens, so the delays are entered and special codes are used when it's all said and done supposedly someone looks at all of this and can plot train performance and look at the documentation via ITM to determine when and where things are awry so corrective action can be taken. And for the longest time we have been entering these times, and for the longest time we were sure not a living soul was even looking at them. That is, until now.
So one day just before the now infamous Momence Meltdown, a message comes across the wire from the Super Duper Chiefs to our Super Chief (and eventually to us) explaining that we should pay particularly close attention to this whole ITM business. Well, the reasons soon became a little clearer: the CP was going to take up the issues of what they call "poor train handling" to both the CSX and the UP. By turning loose their lawyers and other legalese they hoped to gain some measure of "satisfaction" in reference to train handling on these other railroads. Now when I heard this I had to chuckle to myself. Trackage rights, unless mandated as a condition of merger or other such action, leave the foreign road much to the mercy of the home road. The only leverage the foreign road has is the contract or breach thereof, for the rights. If the home road can at all justify the poor handling, then all bets are off. So I guess this is the strategy of the CP and their legal department. Well, after about a week of this, the chief noted to me one morning that our trains have experienced a small but nonetheless dramatic increase in running efficiency. Hot dog! Looks like maybe some of that high priced talent has finally earned their keep. And this turnaround has occurred not only on the north end, but on the south end as well. Makes a guy just kinda wonder sometimes...
I have received a number of e-mails from folks asking when the next installment of this here little ditty. And I have tried to be somewhat punctual, but sometimes I get a little constipated in the working sense. Not really too much fun, but that's life I guess.
Anyhow, the railroad decided to relocate us from the friendly confines of Spring Hill tower to the modern and sleek Latta Yard office addition. So they brought in all of the accouterments to make it all appear modern and "state of the art", whatever the particular state of that art might be.
Now one of the issues that I had a certain amount of fear over and which I was hoping would be addressed before we took the reins was the issue of the dispatcher's desk. About three years ago when the CP moved the dispatchers from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, they decided to modernize in the move as well. And among other things they adopted a certain penchant for these very nice looking but fundamentally non-functional dispatcher consoles. Metra designed the desks for their control center and the CP liked what they saw to the point of having something like 10 of these things built at a cost of approximately $5,000 per desk. I jokingly refer to our desk as the Queen Mary since these things are something like 14 feet from end to end. I guess what I really dislike about the desk is the fact that now we have to reach for everything. When we were in the tower we had a very simple 2-shelf desk so to speak, with the upper shelf holding the monitors and the bottom free for the train sheet and document review. The old desk would allow one to get very close to the monitors, which made viewing easier. It also had a nice big flat surface for the train sheet and other documents, which made working much easier. But of course this desk wasn't flashy or complex enough to make people gasp in amazement, so it was doomed. This new desk has a lot of angling surface area supposedly for phones and so on, but even at that is really isn't enough. And because this angling surface is so predominant, it means that the flat surface is relegated to something like 1 square foot for actual use. And the monitors that once stood right in front of us now reside about 30" away. Try reaching 30" all day long and it quickly becomes a big pain in the neck. The radio console too is about 30" away, which makes dealing with this desk something like a bad dream recurring over and over again all day long. But as long as the Super Duper Chiefs are happy then I am happy. So we endure this pitiful design and these poor ergonomics in the sake of peace.
So we have been plodding along. The next emergency issue that came up was the failure of the Spring Hill and Belt Junction CTC. While the cut over was being planned, prepared for, and eventually executed, the operation of this new CTC was really a botched mess at best. The C&S people had made these grandiose plans, no doubt dreamed up in the minds of managers who really shouldn't be managing, but when the issue of making it all come together and work the operation didn't exactly come off as a precision operation. So now here comes moving time and these two busy interlockings are still on the fritz. And to make matters worse, it seemed like the CSX decided to really move a lot of traffic through those locations. And then the radio system began intermittent failure so there was no communication with CP and CSX trains at Spring Hill and the Belt for their verbal authority through the non-functional interlockings. All of this was beginning to look like an accident waiting to happen, and this made all of us just a little nervous. Well, we did endure and we did move freight, and somewhere along the line the C&S folks finally got everything to function with some degree of efficiency so that we could begin to relax again. But all of this was done without any consideration for us and our need to have time to familiarize ourselves with this new equipment, the new interlockings, and their workings. Needless to say, a certain level of cynicism crept in and even to this day still exists.
The other day I was coming into work when I saw something I couldn't identify. There was a train sitting on the main at Latta and the power lash up looked just a wee bit peculiar. I looked at the power and noting it had that air of the strangeness I decided it was my duty to investigate. So creeping up to it my suspicions were conformed: the Soo 6062 was in the consist. Of course, I also noticed the lead unit: CP 8521. This was the first AC44CW to make down to these parts. I wished I could have gotten some pix but that wasn't happening because 1) the train (636) was getting ready to depart for Louisville and 2) my digital camera is in Wisconsin (which is not where it belongs).
It really looked quite nice, sitting in front of the Latta Yard office with two Soo SD60's trailing and about 9100 tons of potash trailing behind. You know, it's not every day a guy can come to work and see a big golden beaver right in front of his window. In fact, the engineer noted that it was a comfortable beaver, which of course makes me a little envious. From the outside it looked like any other beaver but of course these are new beavers and the real test is how nice they are inside. I guess I'll just have to wait my turn like everyone else, although I was hoping to get the scoop on this critter. Maybe in May when they let all of the crews here become familiarized with these northern beavers will I get my chance. For now, though, this is the beaver that got away. For those that have never seen a Canadian beaver, they are quite nice looking, and I am told they perform even better than they look. They are equipped with radial trucks and tinted windows, which is nice in the summer. It was rather quiet for a beaver, although I suppose once it is exercised on the hills of southern Indiana it will scream a little. The only thing I didn't really care for was the decal. From a distance it looks like a big golden dot. The image has such a low contrast ratio that is unreadable from a distance. But I guess this beaver really needs to be admired from up close anyway so it might not matter to most. So that's the first Canadian beaver report from Latta...
As noted above, the south end has really become - gasp! - tolerable, at least to some degree. The last time I looked the total number of trains was something like 15 and the total number of relief crews was something like 3. Now that has to be some kind of record. Normally the ratio is something like 1 to 1. Of course it may become a moot point anyway in the near future. We here at Latta have all been in a sort of limbo. When the year 2000 arrives, we will be looking very closely at the fate of this sub. Right now Indiana coal can be burned with little or no blending (but definitely some scrubbing) at power plants in the area. However, the EPA emission standards for sulfur become even more stringent at the millennium and the growing consensus is that this sub may not survive. Now I say this not based on my own beliefs but on those of the crews and management that I have talked with. To me it seems a little alarmist but then again I still believe the earth is flat. So when the time comes this may all become CSX and we might all be piloting blue and yellow around the sub. Rumor has it that the CSX is looking for a way to route non-essential traffic off the CE&D and by using the Latta Sub as a cut-off it may survive. So for those out there with cameras it might be a good idea to take a few pictures now. We all know something is up but of course the Super Duper Chiefs won't tell so we listen and wait...
Van Yard Engine- Soo 4443 (GP38-2)
Farmersburg Power- CP 5731-CP 5821- CP 6004 (all SD40-2)
Maysville Power- no longer in operation
Kindill Power- Soo 4515-Soo 4416-Soo 4603 (all GP38-2)
XL Power- CP 5490-CP 6045 (SD40M-2-SD40-20)
Hawthorn Power- CSXT 6076- CSXT 6055- CSXT 6028- CSXT 6037 (all GP40-2)
Fayette Repower Power- Soo 4648- Soo 4403- Soo 4411- Soo 2066 (GP40-GP38-2-GP38-2-GP40)
Miscellaneous Power- Soo 2036 (GP40) in house for testing
Road Power- 240-12 with CP 5836- CP 5720 (2 SD40-2)
636-011 with CP 8521-Soo 6062-Soo 6015 (AC4400CW-SD60M-SD60)
241-13 with CP 5726- Soo 6620 (2 SD40-2)
241-14 with CP 5790- CP 777 (2 SD40-2)
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Editorial content (C) 1999 Mike Dettmers
