What is the life like of a train driver who transports coal?

Question

im doin a debate and im suppose to be a train driver

Answer 1

long hours! I work at a coal mine/railroad/powerplant. we have 34 miles of track. We have 44 coal cars and three (6000 hp) loco's that run on a 50,000 volt power line, no fuel. I spend part of my time in a building loading the train. We have a remote for the train so u have to run everything in the building to load and run the train. We transport the coal to a powerplant that has a open hopper that the tracks run over, we use the remote to unload and the rest of the time is spent going to and from. You have to be careful and know what you are doing we don't go over 40 mph. Takes a long time to stop and if the power goes down when you are on a hill you have to think fast before you come to a stop! hope I could help.

Answer 2

The process starts with the Engineer at home, or at the store, or fishing, or what ever. He gets a phone call from the railroad's Crew Caller. This guy tells him there's a coal bucket (coal train) arriving (at the city the Engineer is employed) at, say, midnight. At midnight, or shortly before, the Engineer arrives at  yard office A to meet his Conductor prior to the trip. He notices the Conductor must have about 17 sandwiches with him and thinks to himself, "Ah ha. I won't get hungry on this trip." lol. The Engineer has some paper work to do before the train arrives, and the Conductor has a mountain of paper work to do. Soon, the coal train comes down the mainline and stops in front of yard office A. The Engineer and Conductor from the train climb down and exchange some basic information with the Engineer and Conductor who are about to take the train on its next leg. This Engineer and Conductor are off to find a restaurant still open where the Conductor must buy a meal for the two of them since he had failed to bring 17 sandwiches. (Just kidding.) Now the new crew boards the train, communicates with the Dispatcher who gives them permission to proceed. The next leg of the trip could be anywhere from 100 to 350 miles. There are several variables which determine that. When they get to the next yard office, B, at the city that is the end of their district, maybe around 8:00 am, they get off and the next Engineer and Conductor take over. The crew from yard office A either walk or are driven to a hotel to sleep. After a minimum of 8 hours rest, those two crewmen will talk again with the Crew Caller to be assigned a train going the other way back to yard office A. Once they have done that, they will go home, back to fishing or what ever, until the Crew Caller calls again. There are many crews at yard office A. And they take turns working using the rotation system. So the crew may be at home from only 8 hours, to 4 days. It all depends on how many trains are running - which can coincide with the season of the year.

Answer 3

Very Very Boring!

Answer 4

Coal trains are boring and slow.They usually only climb hills at about 15 mph due to the fact they are so heavy.They do require skill to run though.Our coal trains here average 16,000 tons so you have to be careful when it comes time to stop them.It takes about 1 1/2 miles to bring them to a easy controlled stop.The top speed allowed is 50mph for loaded trains, but most are 45 mph because they exceed 130 tons per car.We runs ours in dpu mode which is usually 2 engines pulling and 2 on the rear pushing.The engineer controls both sets of power from the head end of the train. Hope this helps you.