kevinetics

I know you are on one year probation which includes school car time. How does it take to join the union?

Immediately, but with no protection until you complete the probation period.

Happy to say everyone passed the midterm. We got our yard posting papers. PM's for the rest of the week.

 

On the tomorrow.

Medic, my ex (she's a T/O) says the N timers annoy her to no end.

Saw TSS Welsh-El and Flynn at Parkchester this morning. Im guessing you guys were there today as well @Kevinetics. Congrats at passing the practical!

Thanks beneka!!! Yeah, we were there. I think I saw you give dap to Flynn. Did relays until 9:40 then switching and yard moves for the rest of the day.

Congratulations!!!

Thanks!!!

First Yard Practical... everyone passed!!!

One more question... For the 21 page packet; can I just make copies of the employment pages myself if necessary or are the blanks that you get from 180 Livingston different from the ones in the packet?

DO NOT copy ANYTHING in that booklet without express permission from 180. If all else fails, go get copies.

 

Congrats to everyone that made it into the 4/29 class!!!

 

Active Listening-Studying-Retention-Operation according to rule and you will have no issues.

That was you guys at E180th at like 13:45?? I was operating right behind ya

Yeah, if it was N/B that was us. We were on our way to Dyre for the lay-up.

 

Surprise trip down the road w/a 142. NT feels sooooo foreign after SMEE. Almost forgot how to do my brake test on it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?!

Smooth, go back to 180 and go to the left of where you gave in your docs the first time and get blanks. Make as many copies of those blanks as you need to to get your history right. That will suffice. I had to do 20 years of work history so don't feel bad.

Passed my signals exam as well as everyone else in my class.

Awwwww sookie sookie now!!!

I'm in the B Division. I'm thinking this may be the 1st Class where they had to force folks into the B.

BX, how many B Div induction classes are in your group?

Hey Kevin - We just found out Friday (but haven't met them yet). Jones & Moran. All of the TSS's we've met so far have been great and informative. No one sugar-coated anything. Pretty much told us what to expect and kept things interesting. Our last two were Hill & Shah - Shah had us laughing right up till we were released Friday.

I haven't met Moran but Jones is hella cool.

Yes..I started in the 3/25 class.

BX, who are your TSS's?

Car inspector changing fittings on truck. Trapped. Cry for help ??? Sorry, it was too tempting to leave alone. Carry on.

HA!!!

Last day of yard posting , then next week signals exam. Here goes nothing.

Best of luck Etrain...

SMEE train or NTT? It happens. Just means your friction brakes are worn and may slide more than you'd expect right at the end. Adjust your operation accordingly.

Copy that. SMEE. R-62. One side of the train moaned and came with a 1.5 sec delay in braking. The other side was so responsive we could come into the stations at close to 40 and still make smooth, accurate stops.

Anyone get a train with a moaning from around the brakes/trucks/axle/wheels area? I'm thinking it's worn bearings when that happens. Any takers?

Is first letter just a pre interview and DT.?

yessir

Any idea of what line you want after school car? i suggest you pick the or the or they're decent, & i'm glad that every thing went smooth after you overran you'll get better with practice it's all about your timing just trust yourself and you'' be fine!

Whenever I get to pick, I'll try to get something at Corona or Livonia. Otherwise it's an A to B transfer for me. Only because I want the experience.

Took a 62A from VC to Utica and back. I did better with the SMEE than the NTT. It feels like an extension of the hands. No dumps from anyone in class today. Overran a station by a door panel on my second stop. After that, everything was gravy. But, like you guys said, each of the operating ends react differently. Looking forward to more practice.

SMEE

 

The R62's give a lot of A Div. train operators fits, but they're really not bad. Use the first few stations to fiddle with the brakes and see how the train reacts. The standing brake test can give you some idea of this (look at the gauge while you do them), and so will the dynamics test:

-do they apply immediately, or is there a delay?

-How far do you have to move the brake handle to get a response?

-How much air is the gauge showing when you get that response?

-How quickly does the air release out of the system when you graduate down from a higher pressure? How are the notches? Can you feel them easily? (These are important, if the notches are hard to feel and the brake stand is easily manipulated and you grab a heavy brake, you can easily go too far and dump the train - this also gives you "feel" for the brakes).

 

Once you know this, you know everything you need to know.

 

Once you grab a brake, hold it. (Usually means you need to hold at least 20 lbs., sometimes slightly more or less depending on your train). If you need more, take more. If you need less, graduate down. If you need a lot less, and can't graduate down without losing dynamics, hold what you have until you're going slow enough that you won't risk running out of the station, release, and re-apply when you need it (anticipating a 1-2 second delay when you grab the brake back). If there's a delay in the application (often there is), anticipate it, and take the brake a little before you need it.

 

Also be aware that when you grab a lot of brake, it takes a while to build up that air pressure, so when you take 50, 60, or 70 pounds, you'll feel 20, and your urge will be to take more, but give it a second and the train will start to slow down a lot faster. If your instinct is to grab more when you feel the first application, you'll wind up grabbing too much and either stopping short, or having to give a lot back. Just keep practicing and remember no two trains are alike, so the best way to figure those brakes out is to hear and feel the train, and adjust your operation based on how that particular train is handling. And yes - some are better than others, but it's up to YOU to make the train work for you, not the other way around.

 

Last, before you stop, the very last thing you should be doing is releasing some brake (to smooth out the stop) right at the very end. How much to release depends on your feel of the train - the grade, how fast you're going, etc. but always hold air when you finish the stop. Never let the straight air needle go to 0 until you are about to leave the station.

Thanks SG. I'll be sure to keep this all in mind when we go down the road tomorrow with the 62.

Oh SMEE-thou hast forsaken me...hahahahahaha.

 

Those damned brakes gave me a headache today but I finally got the hang of it doing cuts and adds. More tomorrow.

Ok now this new class of A div T/O's got us TSS'S and Supts working overtime. We had 3 incidents and one of them had 2 of the 3 today.

No one hit a signal to when we went down the road today. 2 trips. Burnside to Bowling Green to Burnside to Bowling Green to Mosh Yd. There were, however, 3 dumps.

 

I did dump twice and put a bonnet out of one station our first time down the road a couple of weeks back. It was nerve racking enough to get control of my train.

Yeah...Had my feelings hurt today - got thrown in the B. Hopefully we'll get most of the weekends off during Schoolcar. :-/ Still happy I'm hired, but I'll always have it in the back of my mind that I'll live close to quite a few A Div reporting locations. BTW, the TSS who spoke with us today said there's no April class scheduled as of yet, but there's a lot of folks still retiring.

Damn BX...all those people picked A before they got to you? They had to force 5 of us in A. It'll all work out though. Those days @ 207 & Concourse you'll be lovin'. Plus, you'll get used to the wonky reporting times early on.

 

Yup, we met Q our first week...cool guy. Did he give you guys the guide he made? It lists point of no returns, what color aspects you'll need at key locations...etc for the A div. If not, next time u see him, ask him if he has any. It made no sensr what so ever when he gave it to us, but as we started going down the road it all started falling into place.

Nah. They said they give it to us when we road post.

 

Went to the Sim today. Felt like I was at 6 Flags. The snow condition w/ no wipers and no snowbrake killed me. I was like, WTF?!!! Hilarious.