[SetiRich]

While running my favorite switching activities this morning, I paused, as I normally do, for the time it would take my crewmembers to lock or unlock switches as they changed their direction. But as I was working in a yard, it occurred to me that they might not be as fastidious with the lock as they would be out on the line somewhere.

So my question is about normal practice. Yes, I understand that one railroads normal is another's error, but generally speaking, would I unlock, move the direction, then lock it in the new direction before continuing with the activity...If the switch in questions were located within a yard and certainly within RR property.

This is not a question for the old days of switchman employees, whose only purpose is to operate the switches as directed by trainmen or work orders. I'm guessing that they would NOT lock the switches under their protection, since they remained there and would chase off any 'kids' attempting mischief.

This is a question regarding those trainmen who are actively switching within a yard, or at an online site where the trainman would remain posted at a particular location, where they would continually operate 1 or more switches to facilitate their work orders. Off on the line, they would certainly lock the switch when they moved on to the next site, but in the yard?

Anyone out there with actual prototype experience in this situation? Or maybe even observations of crews at work.


Thanks,

Rich

[steved]

We would always unlock the switches we needed to use and they would remain unlocked until we were finished and ready to depart.
We didn't have any switch locks in the yards, just on the ones leading to the main line.
The only time we lined and locked for the main was when we were ordered to clear the main.This was mainly in rural Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas on BN.In the terminals, Denver, Lincoln etc. all of the switches used for passenger movements (Amtrak) and foreign roads UP, DRGW were always secured and locked.Any switches not protected by yard limits also had 10 minute timers to protect trains in signal blocks.
We had several smaller yards along the way where we didn't have to occupy the main to do our work and the main line switches were lined for the main and locked.

Steve

[jared2982]

Pretty much the same as above. All our mainline switches have locks and most have electric timer locks on then. In yards there are not usually any locks but many switches, not all, have hooks to put through the hasp in the place of the lock.