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

March 20, 2007
This time it’s a look at why they’re in charge, and we’re not.

I was planning on writing a completely different feature for this month, but was inspired to go here instead after several interesting conversations with my Conductor on this subject and also after participating on a thread on a discussion list regarding discipline. So here we go.

I wrote about this very topic a long time ago and haven’t done one since. So I guess it is about time to visit it again. Like other topics that involved railroaders and some of the unusual behavior involving them, there will be no mention of names, railroads, locations or time periods. Those being examined in today’s lesson are front line to mid-level managers, the folks we see on a regular basis. No VP’s, presidents, COO’s or CEO’s are taking part in today’s lesson.

Those that manage the railroads are supposed to exercise good judgment, not only in the performance of their duties, but also in their overall behavior. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In some instances it seems to rarely be the case at all. In my twenty-eight plus years of service, I have witnessed an amazing number of episodes involving managers; the very same folks that are supposed to be leading us (and disciplining us when we violate rules) unleash some outright stupid tactics in the course of their duties. And many of these folks do not hesitate to write us up and call for investigations when we engage in similar and often not even as severe actions as what they have done.

Let’s begin with company vehicles. When the help damages a company vehicle they tend to get disciplined for such. When you neglect a company vehicle to the point of damaging them, you should be disciplined for it. They cost lots of money and really shouldn’t be rammed into things, driven like off road vehicles or like you stole them. People do it far too frequently on the job and tend to pay for it with unpaid time off for their negligence. Unfortunately though, when managers operate company vehicles in the same exact manner, about the worst they get is a good lecture.

One evening at one major rail yard, there was an incident where a Trainmaster was upset with a particular Engineer. He was en route at a high rate of fuel consumption to speak with this very Engineer and “adjust” his attitude. The road on which the Trainmaster was driving was comprised of crushed rock as opposed to pavement. This road upon reaching the track on which this train was sitting curved and then paralleled it. The Trainmaster, driving far too fast, could not make the slowdown in time and as a result, wasn’t able to negotiate the curve. Instead of rolling around the bend, he rammed into the side of the train inflicting significant damage to the company truck rendering it undriveable after the collision. He received no discipline for his actions.

Another Trainmaster at another major yard was on a mission to catch some crew violating a rule so that he could set them up for an investigation and provide them with some unpaid time away from work. He stopped the truck, jumped out and started to run across a couple of sets of tracks to sneak up on this crew. Unfortunately in his quest for justice, or perhaps vengeance, he neglected to put the truck into park. The truck immediately rolled away. On it’s free run this truck plowed smack dab into a light pole. A direct hit! The truck hit so hard the front end of it enveloped the pole sustaining heavy damage; so much in fact, that it had to be totaled. For what it was worth, he didn’t catch the crew violating any rules either. Ain’t life great?

At another property, again a major rail yard, a Trainmaster was going to check on something. He parked the vehicle, putting it into park as required when one desires to have a vehicle remain where one leaves it unattended. He then walked over to where he needed to check what it was that he needed to check. In the meantime, a crew was shoving a track back. It was the track next to where the Trainmaster had parked his truck. The cut of cars being shoved did not require somebody on the point (leading end of the move) to protect it.

Did I mention the Trainmaster, thinking he was only going to be away from the truck for a few moments left the door open? And that he parked quite close to the tracks? The cut of cars being shoved caught the door of the truck and ripped it clean away from the body. The conversation over the radio immediately following the discovery of the resulting damage was, if nothing else, rather amusing, amusing to the point that somebody took the time to write some of it on one of the walls of the restroom where it would live on in infamy. Well, at least until the walls finally got repainted. Of course being the way railroads tend to take care of buildings, it will probably still be there twenty years after I retire. It was already up there for several years when I first read it and that was quite a few years ago.

Another Trainmaster was zooming through the yard at speeds that would make AJ Foyt jealous. As it would happen, a mechanic was repairing a trailer in this very yard. He stood up right about the time the race car driver wannabe was passing the trailer being repaired. The passenger side mirror caught this mechanic striking him hard enough to inflict very serious injury. The impact even broke the mirror off the truck. A lawsuit was filed against that railroad as a result of this episode. This manager not only received no discipline for his actions, he eventually was promoted to a higher position.

I guess he really was promoted into a position where he could inflict less damage.

Another driving episode involves a higher ranking officer. He too, was operating through an intermodal yard like the guy above. While he wasn’t driving like a NASCAR driver, he apparently wasn’t paying too close of attention to exactly where it was he was going. He plowed right into a chassis, an empty trailer frame and set of wheels used to transport containers. The vehicle this manager was driving stopped immediately upon impact but the manager didn’t. I suppose if he had been wearing his seatbelt as the rules required he might have, but he wasn’t. His head smacked the windshield cracking it and putting quite the knot on his forehead. It was quite visible and everybody at that yard had some sort of comment to make about it.

Our final episode involving managers and motor vehicles was a real gem. This guy allegedly visited a watering hole near the railroad, one that was frequented by some of the railroaders. It was also alleged that he had consumed more than just ice and water; apparently there was some sort of distilled spirits mixed in for relaxation purposes. And allegedly there were several glasses of these mixtures consumed. This manager then left the establishment and using his company vehicle, began to drive home.

In his travels this manager was involved in a collision with another motor vehicle. And owing to his alleged state of intoxication, he did what any good citizen would do; he departed the scene rather hastily. Only problem was he left something behind; the license plate from his company vehicle. This was about as good as leaving behind his business card or work ID. Through some quick detective work the police were able to track this guy down rather quickly. Rather than face the music from his employer, this manager took it upon himself to resign his position and exited, stage left. I’m curious as to who got stuck paying for the vehicles involved in the wreck, the manager or the company.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, whenever there is a work action or stoppage, more affectionately known as a strike, the managers take over and replace those engaged in the work action. And as I’ve also mentioned, they tend to immediately tear up the railroad far and near. Now there are some non-union railroads around, generally short lines and regionals that will use managers to operate trains whenever they are short on help. And when pressed into such service, they act as if there was a strike in effect on their property as they behave in exactly the same manner, tearing up the property.

On one such property a Trainmaster was running a train during a crew shortage. He apparently either overestimated his train’s braking effort or misjudged his distance, or perhaps even both. He got passed a stop signal. Not only did he get by this signal, he went far enough passed it to get into the dual controlled switch this signal protected. This switch was lined against him and for the train coming at him. He tore up the switch in the process. He received exactly no discipline for his efforts.

A couple of years later this very same Trainmaster was operating a train consisting entirely of 130 empty coal hoppers. These trains are a snap to operate if you know what you are doing. The phrase that pays is if you know what you are doing. He wasn’t paying too close attention to what he was doing and was up to 10 MPH over the speed limit. He took the required action to reduce the speed of his train. Unfortunately he didn’t do what he was supposed to do in the manner in which you are supposed to do it. He successfully managed to tear the train into not just two, but three, yes boys and girls count ‘em, three separate pieces in the process. His actions had the railroad blocked for several hours as a result of his abilities.

At this same road, a very high ranking officer decided to assist a crew in expediting a movement. He took it upon himself to bring some power out of the roundhouse to get it into position for an outbound train. Somehow, he managed to have no brakes cut in on either end of the consist he was moving and apparently there was very little in the way of brake cylinder pressure remaining on the brakes, so the locomotives moved rather easily with little rolling resistance. This is one reason that you are supposed to perform a running brake test on a locomotive consist as soon as you move them, to assure you have functioning brakes and control of them.

So here goes this guy moving locomotives not knowing he had no brakes and trying to make a quick move. As he was bringing this power out of the roundhouse, another crew was bringing a set in at the same time. While they were able to get stopped short of running into this guy, he couldn’t bring his power to a stop. It was at this point he discovered his power had no functioning brakes. All he had to do was place the automatic brake valve into emergency. Even when the automatic brake valve is cut out, the emergency portion of it still works. This is a safety feature built into the system. But, he apparently panicked instead and did absolutely nothing and plowed right into the other set of power. They hit hard enough to derail two of the locomotives and cause some damage. I’m also betting that he was operating at a speed faster than the federally mandated 5 MPH maximum required when working within the confines of the locomotive servicing facility.

This very same manager contacted me after his episode inquiring about the emergency portion of the automatic brake valve. When I explained to him that it works even when the brake valve is cut out he seemed genuinely amazed. I guess that was one of those “little” subjects they left out during manager strike training. Some training, eh?

One mid-level manager did get dismissed for his actions. He was already in hot water over several other episodes which had previously taken place that were still not resolved when his final act of stupidity transpired. It seems that he took it upon himself to use one of the company credit cards to purchase various items for his home. None of these items were authorized by the carrier for purchase. It was non-railroad merchandise that he wanted and felt the railroad should pay for. Guess he figured the bean counters would never notice. He was wrong. The result of his lack of good judgment was a trip directly to the unemployment line.

Another guy, this time a Trainmaster also misappropriated funds. He performed his tactics in another manner; those 1-900 talk dirty to me for $3.95 a minute phone services. At the terminal where this guy was assigned, business came in spurts so there were lulls at times, some of them extended. He was working overnights and was there alone with no clerk around. He would call these 1-900 numbers and “chat” with the girls on the other end. I don’t want to even begin to think what else was going on. Anyway, he would call these numbers several times per night each night he worked talking for extended periods of time and just charging it right to the phone number. Again, I guess he figured the bean counters wouldn’t notice the charges. And like the character above, he too, was wrong.

It wasn’t hard to spot as the phone bill for the phone he was calling from was over $2000 higher for the month than what was usual and customary. You just know that bill had to not only stand out, but also do a little song and dance routine to really call attention to it. It stood up and got noticed.

As a result of his getting some sexy talk on the phone, this guy was tossed from the property to never return.

Tying into the phone caller was yet another Trainmaster doing what he should do while on duty. He was using his company computer to visit pornographic web sites. These sites were charging the company and not his home computer internet provider with the costs for visiting them. He claimed he was not trying to pass off the costs to the company but thought he was forwarding it to his home computer. Ya, right. Going to such sites from most company computers in most industries is a huge violation in these days of high exposure and the potential for liability. I know of a guy that used his company computer to visit some kiddie porn sites several years ago and the FBI appeared at his employer to arrest him and confiscate the company computer as evidence. So you know businesses are very aware of the ramifications of logging onto certain sites from their computers and have rules in place prohibiting such activities.

Anyway, this Trainmaster’s company receives a rather hefty bill for the visits to various porn sites and the powers that be had a stroke. He was dismissed from his position, and even though he had a seniority date within the rank and file that he assumed he would fall back to, he was not allowed. His employer flat out dismissed him not even allowing him to exercise his seniority. Now that is really bad, not for the company but for him.

The last episode took place away from the railroad but is most worthy of mention. The guy involved in this event was a manager on the railroad at the time of the occurrence so it merits the appearance here. This guy was at home and had cooked something on his grill. When he was finished eating he cleared the contents of his charcoal grill dumping it into a garbage can in his garage. He then went out for the evening with some friends, some friends who did the driving that evening. He left his almost new vehicle parked at home in his garage, the same garage where the garbage can he dumped the contents of his grill was located.

When he returned home later that evening, he found the fire department at his residence. He also found his garage totally destroyed along with his new car. Apparently the charcoal briquettes and ash from his grill were not completely extinguished and ignited the contents within the plastic garbage can which, in turn, spread to the garage and engulfed it in flames destroying it and all of its contents. What a mess.

Word of his episode quickly made the rounds where he worked. I guess it is not a good idea to tell the people you work with that don’t know what caused the fire and then provide the very details of what you did prior to the fire. It is indeed, giving yourself up and doing so to all the wrong people. You know that old adage, “telephone, telegraph, telerail.” Word of his misfortune spread around the railroad like a fire in the hayloft.

And to think, they drug test us.

And so it goes.

Tuch

Hot Times on the High Iron and the HTOTHI initials, ©2005 by JD Santucci.