Eastern Railroad Discussion > Angle Cocks and Air Hoses

I was listening on my scanner today, and I heard CSX S375 talking with the trainmaster and dispatcher. They were sitting at MP 64 on the Phil. Sub of CSX. Apparently they broke a knuckle, replaced it, and then couldn't get the air to come up. They said that there was no pressure at the rear of the train. They found two angle cocks that were turned, but this still didn't fix the problem. By the time I was out of radio range, they had the Q175 stopped right behind them and the conductor from a nearby local and the trainmaster had arrived by truck. The 175 had to break their train because they had been blocking a grade crossing for almost an hour.

My question is: Can the angle cocks be in the wrong position when the train leaves the yard, or were they turned by vandals while the train was stopped?

its unlikely they could leave the yard wrong, because there would be no air pressure changes on the EOT. Surely the crew would notice. It happens every now and then that while stopped in a siding, or out on line of road, some punk might turn the angle cock off on you. Not too common around here though.

I am an engineer for the South shore in NW Indiana. One evening I had a 105 car empty coal train for the CNW at Global I. I had just passed through Hammond, In. and was forced to stop my train to let an eastbound passenger train to perform his station work at Hegewisch(about 2.5 miles west of Hammond). I had been having comunication problems with the rear end all night long so sometimes it would show air reductions or moving/not moving other times not. I only stopped long enough to get my brakes released and was on the move again. About 5 minutes later the passenger train radioed us and asked, "Did you guys mean to leave 8 cars in downtown Hammond?" Both angle cocks had been turned and the pin pulled in only one minute of time. Someone knew what they were doing. I have been "pinned" before and always went into emergency because whoever did it was not familiar with angle cocks. We had to back the front half of the train over 5 miles to put the whole train back together. No more do I make stops in the Hammond area if I can avoid it. Creeping along at 2-3 MPH beats the ambarassment of asking your dispatcher for permission to make a 5 mile reverse move.
AF Niederer
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That has happened a few times.! When you don't get a good EOT reading when you leave the yards.! More often the case is punks "cocking" you on line of road. Cincinnati use to be a bad spot, Chicago being another.! Things have been better as of late, but one night a grain train had that happen to them. The engineer stopped the train with dynamic, then set the independant, in a matter of seconds he lost his EOT reading (not uncommon on NS) so he set the air. The EOT came back and showed a reduction. The train he was meeting passed, he got a clear and kicked the air off, the EOT went out, and so he just didn't think anything more of it.! He started to pull, and yanked the rear 15 cars off, getting the knuckle.! Somehow in the process he managed to pull the airhose clean out of the threading at the angle cock.!
So it happens. I just doubt they leave the yards with bad angle cocks.!

A train can't accidentally leave the yard with an angle cock turned, as they would not be able to perform the required Initial Terminal Brake Test unless all the angle cocks were open.

As several other posts have indicated, I have seen trains leave several cars behind at intermediate stops after vandals closed the angle cocks and pulled pins.

I saw it happen on the EJ&E many years ago. As EJ&E No. 5 was arriving at Rondout,IL about 11pm, the engineer asked the condr on the radio how he wanted to handle the work at Rondout. The condr replied they could discuss it when they arrived at Rondout. The engr said they were coming into Rondout. There was a brief pause, then the condr replied, "Well, YOU may be coming into Rondout, but this caboose and the rear end of this train is still standing at Leithton!

That was when they first realized that vandals had turned the angle cocks and pulled the pin while the head end was doing their station work. They went ahead and delivered their cars to the Milw RR at Rondout, then went back to Leithton and got the rest of their train. However, the Milw RR could not count the interchange as delivered until the waybills, carried on the caboose, were received. By the time the caboose went thru Rondout, it was after midnight, and the "J" lost the per diem on about 35 cars they had physically delivered before midnight.