Passenger Trains > Do Amtrak Engineers split up their journey?

Hello.

In the case of two person/engineers in the Amtrak cab and when the shift lasts more than 6 hours without a rest: Do they change seats during the trip?
Klamath Falls, OR to Portland,OR, on the Coast Starlight, for example. Does the same person/engineer operate the whole journey or do they split it and change seats/position after a while? Perhaps in Eugene, OR?

I wonder myself all the time.

Thank you.

ontherail55

Yes they do, this from personal knowledge.  For example, on the Auto Train, they switch seats on the fly about every two hours, therefore get roughly equal throttle time for each trip. Very easy to observe this by scanner, especially if there's a man and a woman in the cab, and/or if the dispatcher or conductor calls them by name.

I used to work with different engineers between Sacramento and Klamath Falls.  Some would like to quarter the trip, SAC to CIC, CIC to Delta (West end of Sacramento River Canyon), Delta to Mount Shasta, Mount Shasta to KFS. Others would half the trip, changing at Delta each way.  Other engineers would work out other change points, whatever worked out best for the team.
 

Quarters is a common practice, sometimes thirds if there's a qualifying engineer. Really depends on the crew and their personal preference.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/20 15:48 by thetuck.

When I worked #5 & #6, we ran Oakland Yard to Colfax and Colfax to Reno.  On #3 & #4, we did quarters, LAX to San Bernardino, San Bernardino to Barstow, Barstow to Fenner, Fenner to Kingman.  On #1 & #2 we did LAX to Palm Springs, Palm Springs to Acolita, Acolita to Mohawk and Mohawk to Maricopa.

SCAXEngr

It's interesting that Amtrak crews have designated changeout spots.  It would make the trip go by so much faster to break up the trips like this and share the workload.  At UP, it seems that engineers just flat out don't share any throttle time.  It's all or nothing.  Even as a qualified engineer cutback to conductor, there seems to be a craft separation still in effect.  If a cutback conductor does run the train, they usually run the entire trip start to finish.  Crews don't seem to believe in splitting the trip and this has always seemed backwards to me.  It's actually one of my biggest gripes at the railroad these days.  I have 14 years at UP and now I'm cut back to the ground again.  I hate it and I want to split the trip, but it's just not part of the culture here.  Some guys let me run, and when I do, its the whole trip.  All or nothing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/20 19:06 by HogheadMike.

when i rode the head end on #35/36 a few times, the engineers swapped seats around barstow...........

66

Don't have designated points, crew preference.