About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

July 10, 2002
Today it's yet another long day's journey into night.

Once again the column I had intended to send out this time has been pre-empted. The railroad gods were in another one of their wicked moods and today they bombarded us with lightning bolts and poison darts.

This day (8 July) started a little earlier than normal as we had a special union meeting to discuss the proposed new contract. Both our General Chairman and International Vice President were present to discuss and explain the proposal. I had to arise earlier than normal to attend before heading off to work. We kicked for twelve hours rest Sunday evening when we tied up so that I would have more time to attend this meeting. This meant of course, another night of sleeping fast.

I left the meeting at the last possible second so as to make it to work on time. Upon my arrival at Glenn Yard I ran into the Brakeman on Job 16 which is the daylight lead job at Glenn. He commented that I should've stayed home for awhile. It seems the FRA was here today and was just starting to inspect part of our train. I talked with the Assistant Super before I headed out to look at my power. He told me the third unit of our locomotive consist, IC 1025, was going out dead in tow. I had trouble with it yesterday and reported it to the Locomotive Hot Line when tying up. Some of the Mechanical boys from Woodcrest were dispatched to check it out after we had tied up. They discovered some serious problems with the turbocharger and it was shutdown and now it will just go along for the ride.

While the FRA took to inspecting the train, I took to the power giving it a quick look over. The power had already received a daily inspection, so I didn't have to perform that chore but instead, just give them my normal pre-launch look over. When that chore was finished I quickly headed back to the office and the air conditioning. Being that it was already in the low 90's with very high humidity, there was no reason to sit in the cab of the locomotive. We had a Dash 9 with a super cab as our lead unit today. The CN super cab units do not have air conditioning and when you turn on the central fan in these units, they quickly become like convection ovens as all this system does is re-circulate the hot air in the cab. It was brutally hot in there today prompting me to pull out my trusty thermometer for a temperature check. The reading quickly rose to 103 degrees. Oh, it's going to be a long day.

When the FRA and car inspectors finished with our cars in track one, we learned of eight bad ordered cars. The original plan figured on them not inspecting the cars on number two main which was going to be the tail end of our train. This portion of our train had come in on train 348 from Winnipeg a little earlier. The chore to kick out the bad orders was undertaken. Somehow during all these proceedings, a mind was changed and it was decided to inspect the cars off 348 as well. Another seven bad orders were found there meaning we would have to kick them out as well making for a total of fifteen cars to throw out of today's train. We finally got this task completed after a couple of hours, which included a delay for some yard congestion.

The Feds had discovered a problem with my second unit, the IC 6059. Before we could double our train up, the Electrician had to make the necessary repairs. Again we had a chance to get into the air-conditioned yard office while the repairs were effected. When they were completed, we were told the Dispatcher was now holding us and we could not double our train up.

BNSF train M-GALCNI (Manifest, Galesburg, IL to CNIC) which becomes CN train 394 (Glenn Yard, Chicago to Toronto) was brought up on main two. We had just cleared main two and shoved the cars from here towards the yard while we kicked the bad orders out of it. A train from the Belt Railway of Chicago had been brought out onto main two at Lemoyne where the BRC crosses and connects to the Joliet Sub, just over a mile north of Glenn Yard. There was still a southbound Metra commuter train that had to move first on main one so we could not use this track. Now logic would dictate letting us get doubled up and air tested using main two between 45 Crossover at the north end of Glenn Yard and Lemoyne. We would fit. They could cross the BRC job over to main one at Lemoyne after the Metra went south which would clear main two for us all the way. For some reason, this was not considered. I thought of it but who am I? I figured there was no need for me to suggest this move as I was not running the show.

The guard had changed and a fresh new crop of managers was now in charge. The Assistant Super now on duty questioned the logic of this Dispatcher and decided to override it. And it was very logical that he did. I actually agreed with this decision. He called the Desk One Dispatcher and explained this idea with him telling him to make it work. And so we headed back out into the steam bath to double up our train and get an air test.

While starting to perform the air test my lead unit, CN 2532 began to act up. A look at the computer screen indicated an overheating problem. I attempted to reset the problem as instructed by the computer but the system would not cooperate. I reported the problem to the Yardmaster. The Assistant Super heard the conversation and suggested I call the "Diesel Doctor" for some assistance. The Diesel Doctor is Mechanical Services in Edmonton. They have Mechanical Department employees stationed at Network Operations in Edmonton to talk with Engineers via a toll free telephone number or over the radio to assist us with trying to remedy locomotive problems. No they are not doctors of locomotion, just qualified personnel that oftentimes can help you solve problems. In some cases these guys can be of great help. Other times though, they simply cannot fix the locomotive over the phone or ether. Today was one of those days.

The railroad gods were obviously in a particularly foul mood today. Heat, humidity, an insanely hot locomotive cab, the FRA, bad orders and locomotive troubles. I guess this would be the double hat trick of railroading.

I tried all the fixes suggested by the good doctor including rebooting the on board computer but to no avail. The doc said I should get some use of it as this locomotive should give me about two-thirds of its normal output under the circumstances. Key here on the word should. About all we could hope is this engine would hold together long enough to get us to Markham where would could swap it out for another unit.

We finally departed Glenn at 1835 with 89 loads, 45 empties, 12,273 tons and 8259 feet of train behind us. For power I had the CN 2532, now in very poor health, the IC 6059 and the aforementioned IC 1025 which was dead. The gods are having the time of their life today.

The computer on the 2532 was telling me the unit was operating at reduced power but still operating. As I got the train rolling it dropped out and quit loading in order to protect itself from burning up. The computer stated "hot manifold temperature sensor" and also "hot diesel exhaust." I'm thinking that maybe it got word about the infamous MoPac 1741 I burned up in 1981. I tried to reset the system again, but to no avail. It would run for about a quarter mile or so and drop out back to idle and quit loading again. I now had one working unit to pull this beast of a train around with. I reported this fact to the Assistant Super and Desk One.

As we proceeded north up the Joliet Sub, Conductor Rich Stevens and I discussed the situation and mulled over whether we would be able to make the pull from 21st Street through 16th Street (formerly known as Clark Street) and the McCormick Place tunnel. This is tricky railroading when things are going good as the profile here is what is referred to as undulating. There are short steep little dips and sags as well as several curves and signals strategically placed so that you cannot readily see them. I told him with a train of this length we should make it all right as we would have portions of the train going downhill and actually pushing us where we needed the push to overcome the fact we only had one unit to pull us up the short steep grades.

As we approached Halsted Street on the Freeport East Sub, the Operator at 16th Street called and asked if we could give him a good move across his place if 21st Street lined up right now. I told him we would do the best we could with only one working unit. His response was "WHOOOWEEE!" As it turned out, we made the grade with no problem. And I was able to give him a pretty good move across his plant. At least we dodged this lightning bolt anyway.

When we reached 39th Street on the Chicago Sub, I attempted to get the 2532 working again. It was successful although again at reduced output. We did manage to get the train up to about 34 MPH anyway, better than the 12 or 15 MPH I was expecting with one working unit.

As we approached Markham, Rich and I discussed the potential options. We were getting low on time and mulled over whether they might recrew us here and cab us to Champaign or let us run until we went dead on the hours. We soon learned that after swapping out all this sick power, we would head south with our train. So now we had a decision to make base on our personal options, should we order a pizza from Aurelio's, or have the cab we will take to Champaign stop for us to pick up something to eat en route to the hotel? We decided on the pizza and made the call to order a pie for pick up. We have an inherent advantage here in that we have to go directly along side of Aurelio's to get in and out of Markham.

After cutting off the train at Homewood we headed into the yard at Markham to swap out our power. With that task completed and the new power looked over, we headed back out 8 Lead to Homewood interlocking where we would be headed back out to our train. But first we had to make the quick stop to pick up dinner. Aurelio's is strategically located right next to 8 Lead and there just happens to be a signal there for the Homewood interlocking. Sometimes life is really good. I made the quick stop and Rich ran in to pick up our order. He was back out in a flash with dinner, which smelled really good.

We were back on the train in another five minutes or so and pumping air. I contacted the Lead Car Inspector for an air test. Being that we changed power, we needed to re-arm FRED with the new head end device, perform the required dump test and road brake test. While waiting for the Car Department, we dug into the pizza. For those of you that really need to know, it was a large one with spinach, mushrooms, and onions. And yes, it tasted every bit as good as it smelled.

We got the required air test and departed Markham with the IC 6128 and 6140, a pair of SD40-2’s to replace the dead and dying power we came in with. There was no pick up or set out to make at Markham, which saved us quite a bit of time here today.

After passing Steunkel Road near Milepost 32 in University Park, I contracted the Desk Two Dispatcher to see what they planned on doing with us. We only had about 85 minutes left to work at this point in time so the trip had become little more than a "Mission Impossible." We knew we were not going to accomplish today's journey. "Your mission Tuch, should you decide to accept it is to run this train until recrewed en route or lost to hours of service. Should you or any of your CNIC team be caught or killed, the Train Dispatcher will disavow any knowledge of your activities."

Desk Two informed us of the plan to recrew our train at Kankakee having us take the cab in which the recrew came out on. We met the relief crew at the Kankakee Yard office, swapped out and exchanged pleasantries and loaded up into the cab. We headed south on Interstate 57 to conclude today's journey on the rubber tires instead of the steel wheels. Our little sojourn which began at 1155 Monday morning concluded at 0110 hours early Tuesday morning at the La Quinta Inn at Champaign.

For those keeping score, we have begun to vote on our proposed new contract. The balloting is conducted by mail with all ballots having to be postmarked by midnight July 12th. I will post the results when they are known. And if it is ratified, perhaps I'll write up a piece on it.

And so it goes.