The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Walter45Auto on February 04, 2010, 03:19:15 AM
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And That someone is ME...... I've gotten into the habit of staying up till 4 AM, then waking up at noon. ;D Wonder how long till it drives me nuts. So what kind of NO GOOD are the rest of you night owls up to?
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I'm busy monitor security cameras and alarms for the state historical society, watching tv, playing Facebook games and whatever it takes to keep me awake until relief comes in
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Shift worker. I asked this same question a year ago. I rarely sleep 8 hours at any one time. I hate day shift, I am not a morning person so it is usually easier for me to come home and dink around awhile get my bulk of sleep and just get up and struggle through the day. Afternoon and night shifts I am on facebook and DRTV most of the evening mostly lurking because I try not to get caught up in the FQ TB TAB Daytime (or anytime for that matter) Soap Opera on whatever topic it may be. Once in a while I start feelin froggy and jump into something. This haiti thing has my feathers ruffed. >:(
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Second shift gets out at 2 am, I've always hated getting up early so it works out good for me ;D
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Second shift gets out at 2 am, I've always hated getting up early so it works out good for me ;D
Are you back in the grove? ;D
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Getting there, I still get aches and pains but NOTHING like the first week ;D
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Getting there, I still get aches and pains but NOTHING like the first week ;D
Good to hear your Good news!
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Thank's ;D
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I can't exactly say I am a night-owl. I may be considered worse as I am on call 24/7. I sleep in spurts of 3 to 4 hours always waiting for the phone to ring to go to work. On some types of jobs I do have a bit of advance warning as to when I may get called and can adjust my sleep accordingly. The rest of the time it's a shot in the dark! So I guess you can say I am one of the few that envies the shift workers who usually know when their going to work or when they are going home. See ya'll in the wee hours.
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I can't exactly say I am a night-owl. I may be considered worse as I am on call 24/7. I sleep in spurts of 3 to 4 hours always waiting for the phone to ring to go to work. On some types of jobs I do have a bit of advance warning as to when I may get called and can adjust my sleep accordingly. The rest of the time it's a shot in the dark! So I guess you can say I am one of the few that envies the shift workers who usually know when their going to work or when they are going home. See ya'll in the wee hours.
I thought the FRA frowned on that sort of stuff? Unless you work for a small local line or regional or something. ;D
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Class 1 Railroad...Union Pacific...We have a mandatory rest cycle of 10 to 12 hrs. after we work. But once we are (rested) their is nothing to protect us...
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Do you keep log books like Truck drivers ?
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Shift worker. ....
Yeah I prefer 2nd shift myself.... I hate getting up early...... Did I mention that Wednesday night at the range doesn't help me get to bed any earlier? Nit that I'm complaining...... ;D
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I'm always up until at least 2..generally 3-4.
Marshal sometimes at least 2 nights a week will work all night long ( after working all day) and go to bed at around 8ish.. and I get him up around 1 pm on those times.
We go to bed in the wee hrs...and are up at between 8-9.. unless I have massages ..then I'm up at 7ish.. and go strong..
Never needed a whole lot of sleep.. I am a night person..( love it) but I do ok in the day..
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Do you keep log books like Truck drivers ?
The conductors has to keep a log of most everything that happens on the trip. Everthing from our speed and signals to what trains we meet and if the train has any work to do. There are a series of sensors along the track placed about every 20 miles that alert us to various things like overheated bearings and journals to anything dragging from the train. All these things are logged and the conductor has to keep his past 10 trips before he can throw them away. Our hours of service are logged in each time we tie-up from a job. FRA gets a copy of each one. FRA placed a new directive in reguards to how many days in a row we can work before we must have a 48 to 72 rest cycle. But they really didn't think it through before implamenting it. If I go to work at say 11:30pm tonight and get off around 10:00am tomarrow. Then go back to work at 11:45 pm the next night. that counts as 2 consecutive starts. But if instead of going to work at 11:45 but at 00:01, that counts as the next day and would only be 1 start even though there is only 16 minutes differance.
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Are you scheduled for a whole run or just one section ?
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Are you scheduled for a whole run or just one section ?
For the most part we are completing a section and then another crew relieves us to go on to the next section. Just depends on the starting and ending point of the train. A train starting in Houston to Ft. worth will have 2 crews or more. One will travel from Houston to around Bryan/College Station and the be recrewed from there to Ft. Worth. A train starting in Ft. Worth to Long Beach Cal. may have as many as 8 crews on it. FRA only allows us to run for 12 hrs. Where-ever we are at that point we must stop and wait for a relief crew to replace us...
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For the most part we are completing a section and then another crew relieves us to go on to the next section. Just depends on the starting and ending point of the train. A train starting in Houston to Ft. worth will have 2 crews or more. One will travel from Houston to around Bryan/College Station and the be recrewed from there to Ft. Worth. A train starting in Ft. Worth to Long Beach Cal. may have as many as 8 crews on it. FRA only allows us to run for 12 hrs. Where-ever we are at that point we must stop and wait for a relief crew to replace us...
To my uniformed eyes, 12 hours seems like WAAAY too long a time be behind the wheel. I mean truckers can drive that long, but they can also pull over, take a leak, stretch their legs and get a burger. 12 hours strapped to the cab seems a bit much. Whats your view?
FQ13
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To my uniformed eyes, 12 hours seems like WAAAY too long a time be behind the wheel. I mean truckers can drive that long, but they can also pull over, take a leak, stretch their legs and get a burger. 12 hours strapped to the cab seems a bit much. Whats your view?
FQ13
I think, OTR drivers are only aloud 10 hours driving time a day.
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Looks like there are more than a few train buffs here . . . .
When I had the cattle ranch, I looked out my window one night only to see my entrance gate light up like daytime. A BNSF train had "died under the law" (run out of their 12 hour stint) at my front gate, and were sitting there for their replacement crew. That's one of the times I got to go in the cab. Those headlights are HOT too - I walked in front of it and felt my skin start to curl. Very hot.
Do you run the heavy, slower stuff like coal or mixed freight, or do you get lucky and get to roll fast with the pig trains? And do you have any Amtrak on your lines?
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I'm usually in bed by 9. And that's when Mrs. T wakes me from my in-front-of-the-tv slumber and tells me to go to bed. I'm up at 4:30 in the morning to do the radio show, then to the store to work 9-6, then home.....supper and snoring in front of the tv. The cycle never ends. ;D
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Pathfinder and FQ13, I run the heavy stuff, coal, grain, rock and etc. And yeh the 12 hours can be rough on the system. Like you've experienced with that BNSF crew, they HOG-OUT short of their destination and had to wait for the relief crew. So by the time they actually got to a tie-up point or in the hotel, they were on duty for well over 12 hours. I have had a few cases where we were hog-out and they had no availible crews or vans and had to stay on the train for another 8 to 10 hours until they had someone to come get us...The pay is great, but you run out of food,can't get comfortable in the cabs, alot of things that can make it miserable. And yes the headlights will burn the Sh*t out of you!!!