Please forgive my ignorance. The info says this the train is going GA to CA, so is there a way for crew to rest while moving, or do they do relief crews, or do they stop somewhere for a while? Even though I am a railfan I really know very little about technical operational details, but trying to learn.
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They stop for a crew change.
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There are crew change points at numerous locations along the way.
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There will most likely be many crew changes throughout the journey. I'm also guessing that the train will be handed off to Union Pacific at some point, which is also when a crew change will take place most likely.
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The Train will get a relief crew after so many hours, max of 12 hours I think, or from a designated crew change point , station, town
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| Posted by SES on March 6, 2018 | |
The train itself will go all the way to California. There are crew change points along the route where the old crew gets off and a fresh crew board and take the train to the next crew change point. A train crew is only allowed to run 12 hours. If there is some delay and the train doesn't make it to the crew change point within 12 hours, the crew is termed "going dead". The train must stop and a fresh crew is brought by vehicle to the train and the "dead" crew is taken by the vehicle back to the crew change point. This procedure is called a "dog catch". Most crew change points are at sorting yards or some kind of interchange point. The crew rests for at least 8 hours and then they run a different train back from the way they came so they can get home again.
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lancasterguy,
This train will have a UP crew on board. For all intents and purposes, it acts just like any other train on the network; it runs 200 miles or so between crew change points, where a new crew comes on, and the old crew hops off. The old crew will rest up and take another train eastward another 12-14 hours after they stop.
The locos and train will go to California, where it will be turned around, and the locos will go back to the Norfolk Southern on another train.
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lancasterguy, crews are relieved. Usually, a brief crew change will take place at a convenient location along the mainline. Relieving crews are driven to the location in a railroad vehicle and then the relieved crew is picked up in that same vehicle. I believe crews are allowed to operate for a maximum of 12 hours before they are required to be relieved. Though usually with mainline intermodal freights like this one, and even with some other freight trains, the crew changes are planned out by location so as to be most efficient.
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Amazing catch and shot!
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Thanks for all the information.
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