Crew “exchange” Burlington Northern train Nos. 103 and 13 trade crews at Burke, Illinois, on April 7, 1990. Train 103 with GP39M No. 2830 was in the siding at Burke after delays and picking up cars at Eola created some concern that the crew would not make it to the next crew change at La Crosse, Wisconsin. Instead of sending out a new crew to dog catch the train somewhere, a clever solution of exchanging crews was used where No. 103’s crew would trade places with the crew of a higher priority train. In this way, No. 103’s former crew, with fewer hours of service left to them, would step aboard the hotter train and make the crew change point before “going dead on the law.” The hot train’s crew, with more available hours, would slog along with their “new” train, but they too would make the crew change point before going dead. I’m not sure how the crews felt about the situation, but it was a great way to keep the railroad fluid. A pair of intermodal trains departed Chicago every early afternoon—Nos. 3 and 13—somedays with No. 13 shadowing 3 by a block or two. This day was no different as No. 3 pounded past the stopped freight without stopping. The exchange of crews was going to be with No. 13, which came into view only a few minutes later. After making the crew “exchange,” No. 13 took off like a bat out of hell with the hours-short crew. Burke siding’s signal blinked from red to yellow to green, and once again No. 103 headed west, albeit not as fast as the trains in front of it. The dispatcher got two hot trains around a slow freight in single-track territory and prevented a crew from dying on the law, all in one well orchestrated move.
