Proper way to uncoupler cars

There are rules for all of that. Managers on he UP check all the time, watch, to ensure that crews are setting out cars or securing trains properly. (And there are a lot of them!)

 

The rules are results of a over a century of railroad operations.
Dan

When setting off cars in an industry siding, interchange track, etc, the crew will set enough handbrakes to hold the cars (depending on grade), then cut away and dump the air.  This is done simply by leaving the angle cock open on the car(s) being set off and uncoupling.  In yards it varies according to location and rules.

Strasburg "bottles" the air- they close the angle cock on both the locomotive AND the cars and cut away, then reconnect everything once the runaround has been completed.  This avoids having to recharge the brake system, but it is a big no-no on most railroads as it can lead to a runaway cut of cars on a grade.

I think you will find that in most cases, the train line air is dumped FIRST, then the hand brakes are set, since it is much easier to set the hand brakes when the brake shoes are already tight up against the wheels. The the wheels are also usually chocked.

What is fun is retrieving those cars set off. When the brakeman or conductor has set the handbrake so tight that only Hercules can break it free! I ran into this some while volunteering (and later working) at a railroad museum and having to switch cars around.

 

We always set handbrakes, then shot the air, though. I learned from ex-Southern guys who taught me the "old" way of running a railroad, something you could never get away with today! I even think we did some pole switching here and there, depending on what had to be moved. 

The rules for that change all the time and are sometimes specific to a particular area.

 

Best way: dump the air then tie the handbrake, but at least for BNSF, we are NOT allowed to dump the air first by opening the rear angle cock

 

Most of the time we have to do this: tie hand brakes, do a release test, cut away which dumps the air, then go back and make sure the hand brake is tight, chock if needed, depending on where you're at, chocking wheels can be required

 

the UP has recently placed new, "short" brake sticks in the yard at the receiving tracks. They "PREFER" that you use them to tie brakes and knock off brakes. BNSF hasn't started "preferring" it yet, but once they find out the UP does, they will follow suit. Of course there is a whole new set of rules just for the brake sticks.

On the SLSF,we cut away-chocked wheel-set the hand brakes. I heard a story about an old head that was bending down to chock a wheelset AS the cut was being made.  When the hoses parted one swung around and cold cocked him.

Go here and scroll down to C-102 Equipment Left Unattended, pg. 46

NS-1

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Strasburg "bottles" the air- they close the angle cock on both the locomotive AND the cars and cut away, then reconnect everything once the runaround has been completed.

I really can't believe that anyone in their right mind would do that. It doesn't take that long to pump up the air on a train as short as what they run. What happened to"SAFETY FIRST"?

 

I know it's hard to believe, Jim, but they do it.  At least they did when I was there last.  Surprised me too.

 

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As for the Strasburg RR. I don't know what era of passenger cars they use nor what kind of brake valves they are using now.

Our equipment uses P1 and P2 triple valves, which became obsolete about forty years prior to the introduction of ABDW’s and their self releasing feature.  The engine is uncoupled from the train for about five minutes, during which time the train crew is in attendance.

 

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But being a passenger train that carries the public I certainly would not bottle the air in these litigious times.

We also carry the public in open platform wooden cars, heated with coal stoves,  riding on plain bearings, and pulled by steam locomotives , all things that make ambulance chasers salivate.  It’s all part of preserving an era of (as my boss puts it), “when railroaders weren’t afraid to railroad.”  If your procedures are time tested (fifty five years in our case) and your staff is well trained, and you are still afraid of your own shadow, what’s the point of getting up in the morning?

 

BTW, our FRA inspectors have observed our uncoupling, runaround, coupling, and brake test procedures many times with no complaints.