Reply to railroad "Emergency Channel" topic

[burner50]

The thread was locked without explanation for some reason, but I have a plausible explanation for what OP had heard when he was awoken by some sort of emergency traffic.

Part of the remote controlled locomotive set up or pack swap procedure is to test the "man down" feature by tilting the pack forward until the remote controlled locomotive performs the programmed actions for a "man down" event. This includes a radio broadcast indicating a "man down" emergency event has occurred.

Generally when a crew is performing this procedure, there is a designated channel established that is not monitored by dispatchers or yardmasters for the test to happen. Now, if a crew happened to forget to change the channel this test would happen on a channel that is monitored by someone other than the crew and it would alert a whole bunch of people needlessly... Or if the crew never went back to their assigned radio channel people wouldn't be able to reach them because they're still on the "emergency channel".

 

[wtp]

 

[d119]

This can be a real problem for co-channel railroads. We routinely receive emergency notifications from a distant co-channel railroad that has RCL operations. It includes some signaling that sets off emergency alarms on our consoles.

Out this way, emergency declarations are made on whatever yard or road channel is assigned to the area, there is no special "emergency" channel.

 

[RRR]

Again, there is no designated "The Emergency channel" within the AAR channels.

Maybe it was a remote control pack, that is a consideration. If so, he must be really close to a rail yard that is using it.
Regardless, Merry Christmas!

 

[burner50]

Again, there is no designated "The Emergency channel" within the AAR channels.

Maybe it was a remote control pack, that is a consideration. If so, he must be really close to a rail yard that is using it.
Regardless, Merry Christmas!

Thanks for not reading my response at all. I never tried to say any such thing.

Yard operations are sometimes repeated depending on the size of the yard.

 

[burner50]

This can be a real problem for co-channel railroads. We routinely receive emergency notifications from a distant co-channel railroad that has RCL operations. It includes some signaling that sets off emergency alarms on our consoles.

Out this way, emergency declarations are made on whatever yard or road channel is assigned to the area, there is no special "emergency" channel.

There is generally a designated channel to test this feature per local rules. One that is not monitored and does not interfere with normal operations as jobs testing their man down feature will activate a pre-determined man down response for a test that happens every time a pack is linked up, or swapped between crews.

yes, emergency declarations are made on a typical operating channel, including actual man down notifications… but testing this feature does not normally happen on the yard or mainline channels. And testing this feature is absolutely required without fail. In fact the link up procedure on a cattron system cannot even be completed without this test.

 

[d119]

There is generally a designated channel to test this feature per local rules. One that is not monitored and does not interfere with normal operations as jobs testing their man down feature will activate a pre-determined man down response for a test that happens every time a pack is linked up, or swapped between crews.

yes, emergency declarations are made on a typical operating channel, including actual man down notifications… but testing this feature does not normally happen on the yard or mainline channels. And testing this feature is absolutely required without fail. In fact the link up procedure on a cattron system cannot even be completed without this test.

Sometimes one mans yard channel is another mans mainline LOL

 

[NS9710]

Totally inaccurate. The Man-Down test IS done on a monitored yard channel!

The thread was locked without explanation for some reason, but I have a plausible explanation for what OP had heard when he was awoken by some sort of emergency traffic.

Part of the remote controlled locomotive set up or pack swap procedure is to test the "man down" feature by tilting the pack forward until the remote controlled locomotive performs the programmed actions for a "man down" event. This includes a radio broadcast indicating a "man down" emergency event has occurred.

Generally when a crew is performing this procedure, there is a designated channel established that is not monitored by dispatchers or yardmasters for the test to happen. Now, if a crew happened to forget to change the channel this test would happen on a channel that is monitored by someone other than the crew and it would alert a whole bunch of people needlessly... Or if the crew never went back to their assigned radio channel people wouldn't be able to reach them because they're still on the "emergency channel".

 

[wa8pyr]

Totally inaccurate. The Man-Down test IS done on a monitored yard channel!

The CSX yard near me tests them several times a day, and the YM answers the test.

 

[burner50]

Totally inaccurate. The Man-Down test IS done on a monitored yard channel!

In your anecdotal experience in your local area it is done on the monitored yard channel...

Not all yards have full time yardmasters, and NY isn't the entire nation. In these smaller yards with footboard yardmasters, dispatchers monitor for emergencies.

When I actually performed these procedures I was in a yard where the yard channels were available to dispatchers. A 911 tone would signal dispatchers to an emergency. This is not optimal to be doing dozens of times per day.

So when I, as a person who operated remote controlled consists, performed the link up procedure, I used a designated channel that was not monitored by anyone other than the crews to ensure the call went out appropriately.

I did this in many yards in several states from Des Moines, IA to Dallas, TX.

Do you think maybe that it is theoretically *POSSIBLE* that the railroad operations in Niagra Falls, NY are different thousands of miles away with larger railroads that have more operations across a larger area?

 

[RRR]

Is there really anything productive left with this? I finally got what he was saying. Not gonna keep dumping on it, going in circles 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[burner50]

Is there really anything productive left with this? I finally got what he was saying. Not gonna keep dumping on it, going in circles 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yes, there is.

I offered a plausible explanation for what the OOP had heard and now we are discussing local operations regarding emergency broadcasts from RCL operations.

If you do not wish to participate in the conversation, you are not required to do so. When everyone is done the tread will slowly drift toward the bottom as happens naturally.

 

[KevinC]

When everyone is done the tread will slowly drift toward the bottom as happens naturally.

I agree, but some people just have to keep replying. The thread was dead for 3 days until someone brought it to the top again.

 

[burner50]

I agree, but some people just have to keep replying. The thread was dead for 3 days until someone brought it to the top again.

Hmmm... not so subtle today I guess...

I was directly replying to a response... Is that not the purpose of a forum? To engage in conversation and discourse?

When I was a mod here we didn't just arbitrarily cut off conversation when the mod's opinion was that the conversation had run its course... But that's been years.

 

[KevinC]

Hmmm... not so subtle today I guess...

I was directly replying to a response... Is that not the purpose of a forum? To engage in conversation and discourse?

When I was a mod here we didn't just arbitrarily cut off conversation when the mod's opinion was that the conversation had run its course... But that's been years.

Ok.

 

[wa8pyr]

OK, this has gone off the rails (no pun intended). This can be debated until the cows come home and everyone will still have a different take on it.

Closing.