Brake-stick sign question

I have seen a sign at two CSX yards, so I will post here. The sign in question says "Brake stick use is mandatory" (or stick brake). I have seen this at entrance to Brunswick MD and Hagerstown MD yards. What do this mean?

And yes, I know the meaning of mandatory Its just the other part I don't know

mu26aeh wrote:I have seen a sign at two CSX yards, so I will post here. The sign in question says "Brake stick use is mandatory" (or stick brake). I have seen this at entrance to Brunswick MD and Hagerstown MD yards. What do this mean?

And yes, I know the meaning of mandatory Its just the other part I don't know

A Brake Stick is a Yellow (Usually) adjustable length pole with a metal somewhat of a hook on the end of it. It's used to apply and release handbrakes on cars with the goal of not having to climb on the car nor have to go inbetween cars. I never cared for them when i was a conductor, you could never get enough power to really tighten a handbrake (my opnion)

Yup. The new ones are unpainted aluminum; they have them in plastic-pipe cases all over yards.

It's a cracked idea, IMHO. You do not, repeat NOT get the leverage necessary to apply the brakes meaningfully...it's not contact but FORCE that holds the brakes. And you cannot get the leverage to apply this force with a collapsible stick twenty feet long.

It takes longer to apply individual brakes, and you need over twice as many cars applied to get any kind of meaningful hold.

Why do it? Liability limitation...dumbing down the job. They're hiring new guys (and girls) who don't have the right stuff for railroading; and they get hurt going up and applying brakes. So, instead of more careful screening...they came up with this concept to make the job "safer."

Except it's not so safe the day that brakes are needed and they just aren't on tight enough....

This sounds like a scheme that was dreamed up by lawyers and not
railroaders.
Noel Weaver

Useless, and a waste of money.

No, sounds more like the cause of the runaway cut in Indianapolis. Just wave the magic wand, and the magic will hold the cars down. LMFAO

If lawyers were involved for this idea, you'd have twice the paperwork, and no stinkin dummy stick. Oh yeah, I bet lawyers did some work on assisting the patent for this dumb idea.

Another perfect example of how the lazy and ignorant people are bringing our great nation down the tubes. Don't the smart people making these decisions have any experience in simple manual labor anymore ?

I've never really minded using a brakestick. When I use them, I'm setting cars into an empty track with 120 cars of room behind me, so tying them down so they are completely unmovable isn't really a concern for me. I want them to move some so they will roll in some as I kick on top of them. I don't mind using it if its somewhere I can easily and quickly get to it. However, what I do resent is the mandatory use of them under any and all circumstances.

This means that I am supposed to lug the thing around, even if I'm 20 or 30 cars deep in a track. If there is not a stick close by, take a walk and find one. This seems sort of counterproductive to me. I or a train crew might have to walk 15, 20, 30 cars over uneven "slip trip and fall" inducing terrain to find a stick for the sake of not climbing on 2 cars and walking just 100 or 150 feet. (only 2 handbrakes are required in my yard).

conrail_engineer wrote:It's a cracked idea, IMHO. You do not, repeat NOT get the leverage necessary to apply the brakes meaningfully...it's not contact but FORCE that holds the brakes. And you cannot get the leverage to apply this force with a collapsible stick twenty feet long.

And best of all, try releasing a brake with a brake stick that was applied without a brake stick by someone who knows how to tie a good handbrake. I have encountered handbrakes that required two hands and a good deal of effort to release and i am in great shape. I assure you a brake stick would be useless to release one of them.

Brake Stick or not....Crews had better secure cars in accordance with the rules. Efficiency testing and observations are being made by company officials and the FRA. When improperly secured or unsecured cars are found crews are being removed from service.

In Nashville, it is now mandatory to remove track skates using brake sticks, due to someone hurting their back when lifting a skate.
I generally like using brake sticks to apply/release hand brakes, but using them to pick up skates seems a bit silly to me.

I have developed a new brake stick / It's available in three sizes (small/medium/large). It has a push button mechanism for telescoping and is easy to use and light weight. Here's the website to check it out and purchase http://www.rktoolsandsupplies.com

rktoolsandsupplies wrote:I have developed a new brake stick / It's available in three sizes (small/medium/large). It has a push button mechanism for telescoping and is easy to use and light weight. Here's the website to check it out and purchase http://www.rktoolsandsupplies.com

If the railroad approves this, they should buy them but if they do not, then forget it.

From what I have read, this regulation does not seem to be consistant in all locations. I have a timetable for one big region
and looking it over, some locations have this instruction to use these items and in other places their use is not mentioned.
Again, as I said earlier, unfortunately, rules and timetables are written by lawyers and not railroaders in my opinion.
Noel Weaver

Like 99% of all safety rules, the brake stick and rules regarding it's use, came about in response to injuries suffered from falls, back and arm strains applying handbrakes by hand. Any reason for me not to have to climb on an ice covered coal hopper or any car for any reason all the better. I wish they had been available 10 years ago. Availability? Most yards I work at have dozens sprouting out of orange cones or telegraph pole mounted PVC holders within 200ft of most locations where handbrakes are normal/regularly applied. If none are readily available rule requires the conductor to advise on duty manager. Either one is brought or manager approves applying handbrakes the coventional manner, (manager is then at risk if an injury accures). New rules, requiring testing to see if the handbrakes applied are good enough to hold the cars before uncoupling were instituted several months ago. Using the brake stick to remove a wheel skate is just keeping ones hands and fingers away from pinchpoints. And I like my fingers and paws in one piece. While I have issue with a number of CSX policy's. This one works for me and most of my co-workers. Some people have difficulty adjusting to change, various terminals and supervisors interpretations of these rules vary from terminal to terminal even in the same division. Directly leading to varying levels of confussion and disdain. Bottom line is, it's their company and their rules, it's not hard to follow them. If it takes longer to complete my task, It's the price I pay for me and my Union brothers and sisters to go home in one piece.

mmi16 wrote:Brake Stick or not....Crews had better secure cars in accordance with the rules. Efficiency testing and observations are being made by company officials and the FRA. When improperly secured or unsecured cars are found crews are being removed from service.

This is the reason for the big push with the brake sticks. It really has nothing to do with new rails being dumb, or lazy. The fact is, before now in a lot of situations equipment wouldn't be tied down at all. For example, if I was setting out 30 cars on the road, which we do all the time on the road jobs I work, I'd leave the rest of my train on the main with no handbrakes on. Sometimes that would be 50 cars or more. I might put one or two on the 30 I set out. In the yards, we didn't tie down any cars at all. In fact, if you did tie your cars down, everyone would get pissed at you and star with the FNG stuff. We were all trained to do this by the same old head conductors who are now acting like they always climbed the cars and tied on some brakes. Nice try, but you can't BS me with that.

Now, you have to tie every thing down always, or be removed from service. With all the rules about crossing over and not applying/releasing most types of handbrakes from the ground, I'm more than happy to use a brakestick. And yes, you can put on a pretty good brake with it too.

The bottom line for me is that policy has changed, and this is the way they want things done. The brakestick is now a tool that helps me do my job.

I love using the brakestick, especially when doing 50+ handbrakes a day. I have slipped and bruised myself up more climbing up and down cars than anywhere else.

For those of you who say you can't get a good handbrake, I feel that you're wrong. I have broken the brake rigging on a car using a brake stick. My problem is that sometimes, I put them on too tight and have problems the next day getting the brake off.

The problem I have is that it's another thing to carry. I have stopped carrying my lantern on locals and using a high end head lamp instead. If I am ever questioned about it, it's about safety. The head lamp is brighter, light where I need it. They want you to talk on the radio, pull a cut lever, and hold a brake stick and lantern while spotting cars at doors.