Prototype Yards:
Adapting Prototype Operations to Model Railroading
by Richard Lake
originally presented as a clinic at the 1998
NMRA National Convention
Introduction
This is an opportunity to look at my memory of how
one particular prototype operated. The focus
of this clinic is first, on the operations of prototype
yard crews in the time period from 1957 through 1961 and
second, on how prototype operations can influence what
we do as model railroad operators. This discussion
will center on personal experience as a summer employee
of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P)
during those years. At that time nearly all
operating crews whether yard, local or through freight,
consisted of 5 men. The duties of each member of
the crew were clearly defined by operating rules, union
agreements, and, to some extent, custom or
tradition. This clinic is by no means the
definitive be-all end-all of prototype operations but I
hope it will provide some understanding of how the 1:1
scale operated and provide some ideas for scale model
operations. This handout will provide some basic
background on the prototype and a lot of questions for
discussion of model operations. The clinic will
give us an opportunity to explore, discuss and develop
ideas for applying prototype operations in a model
setting. I expect to learn as much from this
clinic as those who choose to attend.
Personal Background
I grew up on the Rock Island. My father began
his career with the CRI&P was clerk to the
superintendent in Kansas City. Over the years he
served as Trainmaster, Superintendent and ended his
career as Asst. Superintendent for Safety and Operating
Rules. His job meant that I lived in seven states
and eight cities over a period of nine years. I
grew up hearing about hot boxes, rip tracks, wrecks, and
Rule G. The summer of 1957, at age 16, I
went to work for the Rock Island section gang out of
Carrie Ave. yard in St. Louis. I also spent time
working on the freight dock and then as messenger out of
Carrie. After graduation from high school, 1959, I
worked two summers as a diesel locomotive fireman and
one additional summer as a yard switchman in Armourdale
Yard in Kansas City, Kansas. Most of the summer as
switchman was spend as foreman of the train yard crew
working the 3 to 11 p.m. turn.
Prototype Basics
Crew Size - During my time as a railroader crews
consisted of 5 men on nearly every job. Road turns
had three men: engineer, fireman, and head brakeman, in
the lead unit, and two men, conductor and flagman (rear
brakeman), in the caboose. Yard crews also
consisted of 5 men: engineer, fireman, foreman,
switchman, and pin puller. The job titles for road
and yard crews really did identify the duties and
responsibilities of each man.
Crew Duties - The engineer was the
"driver." The fireman checked locomotive
condition, passed signals, and got
"on-the-job" training for movement to the
engineer's side. The foreman was the
"boss." He got assignments from
the yardmaster , planned the simplest, most efficient
way to get the needed moves done. The switchman
walked the lead or ladder track and aligned
switches. The pin puller was low man on the totem
pole. He "pulled the pin", set
handbrakes when necessary and did most of the walking.
Crew Assignment - Whether the yards was small, a la
Carrie Ave., or huge, a la Armourdale, there were
specific jobs assigned to specific crews. For
example, there was a crew assigned to the "train
yard" job in Armourdale on each shift. They
worked a straight 8 hour turn with no hope of
overtime. Other crews were assigned to transfer
pulls, the freight house, the hump yard, and to
"hobo" or "sweeper" jobs. Some
of these had a new crew coming on every 8 hours.
Others worked 8,10, 12 or more hours until the job was
done or they "hogged out." Depending on
the season, car movements, and the overall condition of
the yard, "extra crews were called as needed.
The yardmaster was responsible for seeing that each crew
got assignments and each crew got the assignment done.
Special Jobs - In addition to the standard 5 man crew
jobs there were also some assignments that did not
require a full crew. Hostlers were drawn from the
fireman's seniority roster. The moved motive power
in and out of engine servicing, to and from Union
Stations, and handle power moves for incoming and
outbound freights. In Kansas City the Rock Island
had a produce yard job. Motive power for that
location was a 44 tonner, referred to as a "one
armed bandit." The job used a full
switch crew (3 men) but the "engineer" was
actually drawn from the fireman's roster.
Crew Communication - In my time all communication
among the 5 man crew was done by hand, lantern, or fusee
signaling. Communication between the yardmaster
and the foreman was done using talkback speakers located
throughout the yard. Locomotives had radios
but they were used primarily for communication with the
roundhouse in case of mechanical problems, hog law
limits, doubling over, or other special
circumstances. Reception on these cab radio units
was often pretty poor anyway.
Safety and Operating Rules - The rule book spelled
out how the job was to done "safely."
The reality of the rule book and actual operating
practices were very different. If the game had
been played strictly by the rules yards would have been
constantly plugged and every day would have been
something like the recent UP "meltdown."
Some rules, like Rule G, were strictly enforced.
Other rule, like those relating to getting on and off
moving equipment and switching on the fly were quietly
ignored.
Model Operations
I have some purely personal ideas about how various
aspects of prototype operations can be adapted to model
operations. The questions which follow are
intended to serve as a starting point to discuss what we
can do, might do and probably cannot do.
There are potential advantages and some potential
disadvantages in adapting from prototype operations to
model railroading which we will discuss in relation to
these questions.
Crew Size and Duties - How many operators do we
need/want for each train and each yard job. Given
that the most precious commodity many model railroads
seems to be aisle space it is pretty obvious that we can
operated with five man crews. (Nor do we need 5 man
crews.) However, in my opinion, operating session
will be smoother and be more fun if we use two man crews
on nearly every job. What are the
advantages? What are the disadvantages.
Crew Assignments - The prototype used seniority and
bid sheets to determine who got the job. Until you
had been on the list for a while you worked only part of
the year. Firemen had to work their way up
to get off the extra board while switchmen could be
bumped off the extra board onto a regular turn. Do
we want seniority and bid sheets? How will we
determine seniority? Do we want an extra board,
and if so, firemen's model or switchman's?
Crew Jobs - What jobs are essential? What jobs
can't possibly be implemented. On the day
turn in Armourdale (7 to 3 and 8-4) there must have been
at least a dozen crews working. For most of us,
our yards aren't big enough to accommodate that kind of
crew load. How do we decide what is essential and
what is not? Do we need a yardmaster? Is he
in control of all yard operations? What does this
job add to operations and what might it take away?
Special and Extra Board Assignments - What about
hostlers and sweeper crews? Do you have a produce
yard or industrial district that needs a full time
crew? Who handles transfer pulls and moves
in and out of staging?
Crew Communication - Can we/should we replicate the
talkback speaker system for communication between
yardmaster and foreman? What would it add?
What about requiring that the proposed two man crews
only communicate by handsignals?
The Book of Rules - Is it important for model
railroad crews to have a book of rules? What
rules are absolutely essential and strictly
enforced? Should we have rules, like the
prototype, which are tacitly ignored? If there is a rule
book then there needs to be a trainmaster to conduct
periodic rules classes, examinations, safety tests,
investigations, demerits (known as brownie points on the
Rock Island), suspensions and so on and so forth?
Conclusion
I don't believe there are definitive answers to any
of these questions but I believe a discussion of these
issues will help each railroader to move his/her
operating sessions closer to prototype operation and can
add some enjoyment as well.
Glossary
It was brought to my attention by my best friend and
severest critic, my wife, Venita, that when I talk about
my years on the railroad I tend to lapse into "railroadese".
In an effort to assist those who are unfamiliar with
some of the terms I unconsciously use or who has
experience on another railroad (or in a different time
frame) I offer the following glossary.
lcl - less than carload. Used in
reference to railroad operated freight loading
facilities where small shipments were accumulated into a
full car load.
pinpuller - person responsible for
lifting the uncoupling lever so that cars could be
"kicked" or uncoupled. The reference to
pin comes from the fact that when the lever was lifted
the pin in the center of the knuckle coupler was lifted
and thus allowed the couple knuckle face to open and
cars to separate
kicking or kicking a cut -
switching cars "on the fly" without going into
the track, stopping, uncoupling, and then reversing the
locomotive back onto the lead for the next move.
The purpose of kicking was to allow a string of cars
being sorted or classified to be sent in ones, twos,
threes down a series of classifications tracks on the
same lead without the need to stop, back up, and then go
forward again.
on the fly - switching cars without
having the locomotive come to a complete stop after each
move. This was done to speed the process. A
good crew could switch a "cut" of 10 to 12
cars along a multi-track lead without the locomotive
ever coming to a complete stop.
cut - a number of cars pulled from a
whole train or simply a longer block of cars
drag - similar to a
"cut". This term is very similar to
"cut" but was generally used to mean a
completed, sorted block of cars to go into a
train. It was also used in reference to one or
more cars and a caboose being transferred from RI,
Armourdale to another railroad in the Kansas City area.
hobo crew, sweeper crew -
locomotive and crew assigned to do the odd jobs, find
lost cars, spot the house track or rip track.
Every shift had at least one crew that had no specific
job assignment and were assigned odds and ends by the
yardmaster.
house track - the track (and sometimes
more than one) associated with the railroad operated
freight house. Trucks brought freight for rail
shipment and/or picked up goods arriving by rail.
Some of this freight was "lcl".
rip track - repair in place. Cars
needing minor repairs were "spotted on the
"rip track" for those repairs.
doubling over - working an 8 hour shift
or "turn" and being assigned another turn
immediately. For example, on many occasions I
worked an 8 am to 4 pm turn and would be notified by
radio before the turn ended that I was going to work a 4
pm to midnight turn.
hog law - nickname for federal
regulation limiting operation crews to a maximum of 16
consecutive hours of work. This law was done to
prevent crew members from working so many hours that
their fatigue contributed to accidents and
injuries. After 16 hours you stopped working
regardless of where you might be.
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