Stupid waybill question
Earl
Peter Bowers wrote:
>
> What did conductor's carry waybills in in the 1950-60 era and currently??
> If they had 60-70 waybills, they must have had something to keep them in.
> For all the years that I have been in and around trains/cabooses, I can
> never remember seeing how waybills were transported. Can anyone fill in
> this blank for me?
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Peter Bowers
> Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
> omw.b...@sos.on.ca
Peter,
I am an engineer, but Penn Central and Conrail used to use engineers as
conductor because an engineer is as qualified as a conductor PLUS a fair
amount more. When Penn Central and Conrail gave the waybills over to me
they were held together only by a few rubber bands or, if I was
receiving a relay train and the previous conductor had properly done his
job, often they would be wrapped inside of the (computer or hand)
printed wheel report. Also, there were three ways conductors would
USUALLY handle making the wheel report: 1) walk their train and copy the
car numbers off of the "wood" (tihs would give an accurate report of
what and where each car was in their train); 2) Make the wheel report
from the waybills in the order the waybills were given to you ( MUCH
less accurate but was A LOT EASIER ); and 3) Don't worry - let the next
guy do it ( Since this LAZY way was prevelant, it was a CONTRIBUTING
factor to the demise of the caboose. The conductor didn't need a car
with table to do the wheel report if the wheel reports were NOT being
done!). I ALWAYS took option 1 for two reasons - I wanted to do it right
and, since I didn't usually work as a conductor, I wasn't positive I
could get away with the easier ways.
Keepin' the shiney side up.....
Earl
Amtrak Engineer
Currently working Harrisburg to Pittsburgh
B. of L. E. Division 483
AAK
In the 70s all I ever saw then do was roll them up and put a rubber
band or two around them.
AK
Niagara Regional Rail Spur (Paul Duncan)
That is what i see them do at CN Port Robinson. They use the hoop for
passing through trains for purposes at the border in Black Rock.
Paul Duncan Niagara Regional Rail Spur
Welland, Ontario, Canada. Covering the Canadian Niagara Region Rail Lines
nr...@vaxxine.com http://www.vaxxine.com/nrrs/
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Gregory w Lund
Not sure about the yesteryears. but today most freight trains "bills"
are a computer printout,containing information on the cars
in train.Most importantly the "Hazmat" cars. This
information is a Federal Requirement(the hazmat cars info)
Having much to do with emergency response
information needed in case of a spill, leak...etc.
Prior to computer interchange,the manual exchange of
bills between RR's,divisions,yards etc.... may have been the
only information on the disposition of a car,in other words
the only way to know where to send the car.
Sometimes they were sent to the next terminal in a taxi,on a
subsequent train if they weren't ready for your train.
(amazing how many taxi's the RR use,then and today)
As a note ,the feds are quite strict as to the duties of the
train crew regarding" bills" and Hazmat info.....surprising
how the Conductors peruse them now.
On Thu, 3 Apr 1997 11:53:37 +0000 AAK <alk...@wave.sheridan.wy.us>
writes:
Brett Rekola
Peter Bowers wrote:
>
> What did conductor's carry waybills in in the 1950-60 era and currently??
> If they had 60-70 waybills, they must have had something to keep them in.
> For all the years that I have been in and around trains/cabooses, I can
> never remember seeing how waybills were transported. Can anyone fill in
> this blank for me?
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Peter Bowers
> Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
> omw.b...@sos.on.ca
Matt Conrad
Brett Rekola <rek...@ma.ultranet.com> wrote:
> Peter Bowers wrote:
> >
> > What did conductor's carry waybills in in the 1950-60 era and currently??
> > If they had 60-70 waybills, they must have had something to keep them in.
> > For all the years that I have been in and around trains/cabooses, I can
> > never remember seeing how waybills were transported. Can anyone fill in
> > this blank for me?
> They call it a pocket
That's fine for a relatively short local - but for a very long train
(over about 50 cars) a stack of waybills would be pretty big to be
stuffing in one's pocket. At least, they waybills I'm thinking of would
be, which are about 4.5" x 8.5".
This question isn't so dumb - it's got me wondering too!
--
-Matt Conrad, jmco...@InfoAve.net
Curator, SC RR Museum.
http://www.webtelpro.com/~scrm/
Museum volunteers: strong backs, weak minds.