Amtrak Trainman retires with a Bang...Lots of them!

Thanks for posting that!!!!!

George is a great guy, and has been our Pilot Engineer on many, many 4449/Amtrak excursions up and down the Columbia River Gorge line on BNSF. We all wish him well on he and his wife's retirement to Arizona.

Thanks for the video - very nice!

regular 21 gun salute. Wonder if it scared the passengers or is this somethng only done in the yards

dumb question #562, what is a Pilot Engineer?

I'm pretty certain that would be the person who knows the route and is a qualified engineer for that division. They would accompany the actual locomotive engineer who would know how to handle the loco but was unfamiliar with the territory. The Pilot would coach the loco operator over those segments of which they are qualified. Ships often have local "pilots" to steer ships through river or canal routes of which the ships officers would be less familiar.

Hot Water might want to add or correct the comments...

Neil

I nice sendoff.