Passenger Trains > NCDOT F59 visited Richmond

On Dec. 9 when CAROLONIAN limped into Staples Mill Road at 4:09 pm, it had been powered by NCDOT #1859 due to Amtrak #77 having suffered a HEP failure. Not sure how the #1859 got back to Raleigh.
Also, for reasons unknown, #80 was in RVR station 3'24", presumably to set off the #1859 and pick up a cab signal leader to take the train on to WAS.

Andy

NCDOT 1859 went back south on train 79 yesterday and ended up in Charlotte NC last night to be returned.

Why are cab signals required to operate on the former RF&P? Do they have lineside signals? I know its been a requirement for decades, but with the line's 70mph speed limit it's clearly not because of the Federal requirement for ATS/cab signals for 80mph+ operation.

Dave

DavidP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why are cab signals required to operate on the
> former RF&P? Do they have lineside signals? I
> know its been a requirement for decades, but with
> the line's 70mph speed limit it's clearly not
> because of the Federal requirement for ATS/cab
> signals for 80mph+ operation.
>
> Dave

Until the day they delete the special instruction in the timetable, a cab signal leader is required.

Posted from iPhone

Others can correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I believe that FRA regulations require that if a line is equipped with cab signals, then an engine that's dispatched to operate on that territory much be equipped with cab signals. It's the old "if it's equipped, you have to use it" theory.

A cab-signal-equipped engine, one that was satisfactorily tested, must be dispatched into cab-signal territory. If it fails once it enters that territory, there are rules and Special Instructions that govern its continuation, usually pretty generous rules (lineside signals, etc.) but the engine must be equipped to enter the territory.

So, yes, I think that Amtrak dispatches a cab-signal-tested engine on Train 20, the northbound Crescent, out of New Orleans so that it can operate across the RF&P for approximately 7 miles between AF, just south of Alexandria, and CP-Virginia, in Washington, DC, where the train enters Amtrak territory. Similarly, Train 50, the eastbound Cardinal, has a cab-signal-equipped engine departing Chicago for the same reason.