Nostalgia & History > SCL 2nd train 110 Sanford, FL 1974

SCL 2nd 110 powered by 330, 832 & 335 passing Amtrak making a station stop at Sanford, FL 04/13/1974.

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL

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Though it may not be passing the passenger train on the station side, I thought many railroads have rules that don't allow a freight to passed a stopped passenger train period or even get close to it?

I don't know about other railroads but CSX sure does not have a rule like this since I see trains passing stopped passenger trains in Ashland and other locations on the RF&P sub all the time.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

RNinRVR Wrote:
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> I don't know about other railroads but CSX sure
> does not have a rule like this since I see trains
> passing stopped passenger trains in Ashland and
> other locations on the RF&P sub all the time.
And CSX freight trains pass all the MARC Commuter trains as well.  Even in the good-ole-days, B&O Freights passed B&O passenger trains at stations.  

From days of the past.  T&P allowed a meeting train to pass at speed a passenger train in the siding.  But, If a freight was in a siding and the passenger train was in the station the freight could not leave until the passenger train had left.

that rule on Amtrak is for MW especially when passenger trains are loading from the inside track and they are protected on the outside track ...

Posted from Android

Well folks.I worked at Sanford for seven years.We watered all the Amtrak trains.Doing so required that
the hoses be placed over the next track.We would not allow a train to use that track until we were in
the clear.Looks like the Amtrak is going north and the freight is going into the yard after the hoses
have been removed.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.

There's NO such rule on the modern-era CSX; witness Ashland, Va.  This rural stop often has Amtrak making a stop there while a freight is bearing down on the track BETWEEN THE AMTRAK TRAIN AND THE STATION, at least 35mph.  About a year or so ago, an Amtrak conductor saved one man's life when the passenger began to step RIGHT in front of the lead locomotive on a long, heavy Q-series CSX freight which was coming by Amtrak on the line BETWEEN their stopped train and the Ashland, Va. station -- saved him from walking into the path of the engine by less than two seconds!  No, CSX won't stop freights at all, even for this reason.  Period.  ('Makes one wonder about scenarios like this when the bottom line IS more important than safety, unlike the RR industry's "Rule One" which is "Safety First."  Sometimes we hear our scanners and the Amtrak crew is alerting an on-coming CSX crew to watch out for this type of danger while they're stopped, but CSX as a RR won't stop the freights, either way, for anyone, for any reason. But let one person get killed or injured here, things will change -- which is a shame it would take that happening to make a rule-change in their operating plan such as this would require.  There may be legimate reasons not to "hold" a freight train, but there's NO PROTECTION OF ANY KIND for somone walking around the back of a stopped Amtrak train there to make any difference at this time.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/15 12:44 by rbx551985.

Ashland is one of the most screwed-up places.  The unstaffed station building is on the west side of the double-track.  There's a brick platform on the west side, along with a line that most people recognize tells you to stay back of.  There's a single narrow asphalt crosswalk to a narrow brick platform/sidewalk on the east side. 

I've seen Amtrak passengers wait on the west side for an Amtrak train that's operating on the east track.  It's a dangerous situation.  And it's true, CSX doesn't hold freights out on the west track. 

I've never understood how CSX and Amtrak allow the current conditions to exist at Ashland.

Thanks for the info.  In steam days it must have been different. I remember reading such a rule in a Wabash rule book. The freight was not alowed witin x hundred feet of a passenger station stopped at a station.

On former CR territory the CSX train dispatcher is required to provide protection if a passenger train makes a stop on a track where there is a main track intervening between the passenger train and station platform.  This happens most frequently at Amsterdam, NY when an eastbound Amtrak works off TK 2; however it could also happen at Rochester of Buffalo-Depew if the passenger train works off TK 1.
This could also happen to the PENNSYLVANIAN making its stop at Latrobe, PA (NS) if the train works off TK 1.
Andy