Eastern Railroad Discussion > Will Somebody Please Turn Out the Lights!

This evening, my wife and I went for a drive to “check the signals” on the CSX LCL line in the Louisville KY suburbs of Lyndon (MP 9) and Anchorage (MP 12). We left home about 8:40PM.
We saw a southbound train with car carriers setting at Lyndon. The northbound signals at Lyndon on Track #1 were yellow/red/green. This indication indicated that the approaching train would be a crossover at Anchorage. This most likely would be the RJ Corman sand train but it could also be the indication for a CSX train. As we drove west on La Grange road toward the PO in Lyndon, we saw a headlight approaching on #1. I turned around in a development and waited then we saw it was RJ Corman. I paced it for a mile then got ahead so I could pull into an office parking lot by the crossing for their line out of Anchorage. They were operating with three units, a GP and two SDs.
Just across the road from where we were parked, was a CSX freight stopped at the the southbound HK interlocking signal on track #1. The train had two GEs and two EMDs but was not very long. It had pulled out of the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant about two miles away. As we drove out Hwy #146 paralleling the tracks, I noticed the lights had been left on in one of the trucks loaded onto the train. This is by no means the first time I have noticed a vehicle with the lights on. I would guess I average seeing one about once a month. Nobody can be happy to have a new vehicle arrive with a dead battery. I do not know if the railroad will turn off the lights if they notice the problem. As they are loaded onto the cars by a contractor, it is probably not the railroad’s responsibility. But at any rate it would still be nice if somebody would turn out the lights!
ALLEN

krm152 Wrote:
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>  I do not know if the
> railroad will turn off the lights if they notice
> the problem. As they are loaded onto the cars by
> a contractor, it is probably not the railroad’s
> responsibility. But at any rate it would still be
> nice if somebody would turn out the lights!

Nope .. the contractor who loads the cars, places a security seal on the car once it is loaded.  The railroad will not remove the seal, even if a car alarm is going off.  It is the responsibility of the contractor to make sure the vehicles are properly placed for transport.

Recall many times being trackside and auto racks going buy with all kinds of wild things happening to vehicles.....horns blowing, alarms going off, lights flashing......courtesy lights on.....always said to myself that whver the car in question was destined to wouldn't be a happy camper..........oh well....

When the car is unloaded at the rail distribution point, there's a check out process specifically to recharge the battery, reset the nav system, etc  if a problem happened.  They need power to start the car and drive it off the auto rack, anyway. So they jump start it, if necessary..