Western Railroad Discussion > Manned DPU's over Donner today?

I'm currently chasing what looks like the KOADU over donner pass. I noticed two people in 1 of the 2 mid-train DPU's. Is UP doing something different and adding a crew for the DPU's today? Or did I just catch two hitch hikers along for the ride? If so, I don't think its very safe for the train crew for transients to be in one of the locomotives. Is there a phone # I can call to alert the railroad?

Thanks

Posted from iPhone

It's probably a crew just catching a ride dead heading back to their terminal... nothing unsafe about it, crews do it all the time

Posted from Android

Never thought about that. Thanks!

Posted from iPhone

SlipperyWhenWet Wrote:
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> It's probably a crew just catching a ride dead
> heading back to their terminal... nothing unsafe
> about it, crews do it all the time
>
> Posted from Android

It's very unlikely that a crew would deadhead in mid-train DPU's. The smoke from the tunnels alone would be a major deterrent. Most likely trespassers.

I second that, having people back on the remotes, is not usual.  Deadheading crews would ride in the trailing units of the lead consist.   Even shop staff would meet a train and work on the remotes with the train stopped, if there was a problem.  Fred

The Feds are requiring locomotive cabs to be locked, reducing the number of transients you'll see in cabs. If you see something you want to report,
BNSF - 1-800-832-5452; UP - 1-888-UPRRCOP. I don't have the numbers for the eastern railroads but I'm sure someone does. You need to report the incident to the railroad that owns the track, regardless of who's train it is. They'll need an engine initials and number, and prefereably a milepost, and a City & State where you are calling from. There can be more than one town in different states with the same name and both UP and BNSF's dispatch offices cover 30+ states so they need to know which state you're in.

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 15:08 by mojaveflyer.

There's always the phone number on the crossing ID sign at grade crossings.  And the crossing number would enable the person answering the phone to get the location.

And if they are manned helpers, they are not Distributed Power:)

Posted from Android

mojaveflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  If you see something you want to
> report,
> BNSF - 1-800-832-5452; UP - 1-888-UPRRCOP. I don't
> have the numbers for the eastern railroads but I'm
> sure someone does. You need to report the incident
> to the railroad that owns the track, regardless of
> who's train it is. They'll need an engine initials
> and number, and prefereably a milepost, and a City
> & State where you are calling from. There can be
> more than one town in different states with the
> same name and both UP and BNSF's dispatch offices
> cover 30+ states so they need to know which state
> you're in.

Here's some numbers for the eastern railroads.
CSX  800-232-0144
NS  800-946-4744 
RJCorman  800-772-9091 works in Kentucky.  Not sure about operations in other states.
CP Rail  800-716-9132
CN 800-465-9239
KCS 877-572-9464

That should cover most of the country.  I keep all the numbers for all of the railroads in my area stored in my phone, including the regional lines.

Mojaveflyer mentioned that there can be several cities or towns in the served area with the same name.  In Kentucky there are 11 places with the name "Stringtown."  Most don't have a railroad near them or they don't even qualify as a wide spot in the road.  You would have to identify the county if you called the railroad.  That wouldn't help in one situation.  There is one county with two Stringtowns.  Why is the name Stringtown is so common, I have no idea.  Best bet is to find the Crossing Inventory sign, call the number on that, and give them the information from the sign.  There should be a sign on the signal standard, usually on the signal closest to you as you approach the crossing if it's a four quadrant crossing.   You can contact the railroad for just about anything... hobos, signal malfunctions, trespassers on the right of way, taggers, shifted loads, someone tampering with railroad equipment, etc...   They can figure out what train to contact if you don't have the locomotive number.

BTW, we also have four "Midways," A "Middletown," and a "North Middletown" that isn't north of Middletown.

John

---

They were transients for sure. We are not allowed to ride the DP's.

According to headsup NorCal, one of the members of the group saw the stacker stopped at truckee around 6:30 pm. Dispatcher said they were off the train and it was back on the move. I called around 3:30 while it was going through Magra. Guess it worked.

Glad they made it safely over the hill.

Posted from iPhone

I hope they were arrested ; it's bad enough we have to put up with defacing all the equipment with graffiti. There should be zero tolerance for this behavior.