O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Modern Accountability
The biggest part of model railroading is the train.
That seems pretty obvious to most of us, I believe. The
train is the reason we build benchwork, run wires, and
layer on scenery materials. The train is also the reason
many of us like to follow prototype operations and
schedules. As if there weren’t enough things to study
when modeling miniature worlds, we also have to add
our own stack of paperwork for car routing. There is a
joy in it all when you follow the rules and complete a
switchlist for a session of model operation. Following
a prototype operation schedule is a busy task in itself,
and adding more work for the crews and dispatcher
seems as though it would start to detract from the fun
of the hobby – the train.
The major railroads across this land have added new
safety and security procedures to train crew operations.
These new procedures must be followed when a train
crew requests blocks or gives up blocks of track on the
mainline. New operational authority numbers are given
by the dispatcher to train crews that operate within a
specific territory. It’s like a password for accessing a
given territory. When requesting blocks or giving up
blocks of mainline track, this authority number must
be read first for the action to be valid. Authority numbers
can be added to your dispatcher orders with ease,
and it doesn’t require a change to the overall operating
session. The authority number is simply a four, five,
or six-character number, assigned to each train crew,
that they hold until they clear a subdivision. By adding
a blank line to your switch list or track warrant, you
can duplicate this authority action. It would follow this
example, “CSX 232-22, authority number 5135, date
7/10/2006, has a clear track, South, in the Birmingham
Mineral Sub.” It will bring an aspect of modern prototype
railroading to your model operation that is currently
a big issue – security.
Tragically, humans do make errors. The absolute
worst place to make them is on a railroad. To combat
crew errors, railroads are adopting a new permission
based system of accountability for operating switch
machines. It is simple and very easy to understand. The
train crew just asks the dispatcher for permission to use
a given switch machine. The switch machine location
is given in the form of a milepost reading, or may have
a given designation like “XX”-100 where “XX” may be
the subdivision name like CSXMS-100. Simply, this
stands for the CSX Mineral Subdivision switch number
100. The train crew records the time of this “granting
of permission” on the train paperwork, as does
the dispatcher in his log. When the crew finishes the
operation, they notify the dispatcher of the final switch
machine position. If the train crew fails to call the dispatcher
after some allotted time, the dispatcher is going
to call the train crew for an update. The permission to
operate a switch machine must be read, along with any
given instructions a track warrant or block order may
carry. If no switch machines were to be operated, that
must also be noted in the final track warrant or block
order. Mimicking this practice in your operating sessions
will bring another aspect of modern railroading
practice – accountability.
In our world of fancy computer gadgets and gizmos,
human interaction is still needed for making critical
decisions. Computers can remotely operate switch
machines, code information from prying hackers, and
locate any train at any moment. The purpose of these
new procedures is safety, security, and accountability.
A computer device may be the back-up alarm,
if a switch is not returned to the normal position, by
alerting both the crew and dispatcher. It is prone to
failure, and expensive to implement in remote territory.
A human can be on the spot at any time and visually
confirm a switch position, but it’s the interaction of
this person with the switch machine that requires the
accountability. Attaining verbal permission for operating
any switch, when not under control by the dispatcher,
is just plain safe and makes a fine addition to a
model operating session.
In the next issue we’ll take a look at modern train
consists. Are the cars in a train in some random order
because of destination, safety, or just how they got
sorted at the yard?
Happy Railroading.
u
50 • O Scale Trains - July/Aug ’06