Western Railroad Discussion > Putting a "blue flag" on a DPU?

I've noticed BNSF refuels the rear DPU on longer trains in Belen by the Harvey House museum. At night a blue blinking lamp is placed on the units while the fuel trucks (usually one for each locomotive) are hooked up.  An employee in a small Kubota / golf cart type vehicle supervises. 

My question is "how does the new engineer in the lead unit, maybe two miles away, know that there's a blue flag back there?"  Is there a switch or marker inside the unit which immobilizes the unit or fence set up, etc?  Or, does the dispatcher etc get a call from  the employee supervising the rear refueling process?

It looks like the fuel trucks are already away from the train when the blue light is removed, so I'm guessing the employee assures the fuel caps are on, reads out the fuel levels, etc and notifies the DS, yard master, fuel boss, etc his units are ready to go.

Thanks

There would be a blue flag and light on the lead locomotive and in most cases there are blue flag lights which look like pot signals installed at fuel pads that tell the train crew that they are blue flagged.

Crews can talk to mechanical personnel on the radio to make sure they are actually in the clear before departing, to be safe.

Posted from iPhone

Aren't the crew not allowed to touch anything until mechanical releases the train to them?
And since mechanical were the guys who placed the blue flag only they can remove it. So they would know if the blue flags had been removed from both ends of the train.

It's up to the maintenance people to remove their flags. To comply with code, they'd need to place a blue flag at the controls of the Controlling locomotive. If the crew placed a blue flag behind the train to cover that end and also on the leading end, the crew can move forward or ahead once they removed the flag on the controlling loco as they would not be operating equipment beyond a blue flag. For note, if on a mainline, they'd have to work with the DS to protect the track on both ends to keep any equipment from coming on the track/equipment that is blue flagged.

Joe

         You blue flag the locomotives irregardless of them being on the head end or therear end because it is a 'safety' issue. You always do it, always. It is part of your job to blue flag to protect yourself.

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>          You blue flag the locomotives
> irregardless of them being on the head end or
> therear end because it is a 'safety' issue. You
> always do it, always. It is part of your job to
> blue flag to protect yourself.


...................and its also required by the rules.

Chico43 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >          You blue flag the locomotives
> > irregardless of them being on the head end or
> > therear end because it is a 'safety' issue. You
> > always do it, always. It is part of your job to
> > blue flag to protect yourself.
>
>
> ...................and its also required by the
> rules.

Yeah, the rules that were written in blood.

So, the Belen guy in the golf cart supervising the DPU fueling is part of the fuel pad team? They remove the blue light on somebody else's direction? Or do it on their own authority and report clear on the back end?

I'm guessing the same person keeps track of the mid train DPU fueling, too.

Posted from Android

Placed by the “craft”.

Where I work we have a mainline refueling station.

When the headend of the train is being field, they place a blue light or flag on the track ahead of the locomotive and hang a sign in front of the engineers window.

When the DP’s are fueled, they ask for protection over the radio. No blue flags are placed, but a red zone (up) or three step (other railroads).

The process is the same (in terms of refueling) and no mech person is actually in the fouling limits.

Under GCOR, all that can be done in the cab is turning on cab lights.

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for all the info. It seems like there are several ways to protect people working to refuel the DPU.

Posted from Android