“There’s one local here which runs about 10 miles south of the
yard, and if they’re in a hurry, they’ll occasionally just shove
back to the yard after switching, rather than running around
the train and pulling back. In their case, shoving back makes it
easier to yard the train as well, since pulling in involves running
around a wye and then shoving the train into the yard.
“However, that job always takes a caboose along. They used
to keep two, and ran one on each end of the train so that they
wouldn’t have to switch the cab out when they ran around the
train during the day. There is a union agreement which penal-
izes the railroad for requiring a crew to ride a shove longer
than 2 miles without a caboose.
“Given the choice between a 7 mile shove and a 1½ mile light
engine movement, most crews would take the latter – provided
it doesn’t take too much time.”
– Ken Rickman
Questions, Answers & Tips -
2. Switching action at Palmer MA on the New England
Central RR.
MRH-Aug 2014
