Know Your Rules
By Mickey Cowling
For suggestion or comments contact Mickey Cowling 
via E-Mail
I. We are hostling our power from our train into the service track area.
When we park the power on the designated track are we required to set
the hand brake on each unit in the consist?
A. Yes.
B. No.
C. Not necessarily, but never less than one.
II. We are on a line of road and are instructed to tie up in a side track
and kill the engines. The lead unit is already dead due to an earlier
problem. Do we kill the rest of the engines?
III. Refering to the previous question, all the trailing units have less than
500 gallons of fuel. What do we do?
A. Shut them down as instructed.
B. Notify the dispatcher or yardmaster before leaving them unattended.
IV. We are on a yard job, working with a double header, and we are tying up
for the day. Are we required to set the hand brake on both units?
A. Yes.
B. No less than one when so instructed.
V. Refering to the previous question. The yardmaster tells us these units
are not going to be used for several hours and we are to shut down both
units. Can we do this?
A. Yes, if instructed.
B. No, the lead unit must be left running.
VI. Are all the hand brakes on all locomotives set in the same manner?
A. Yes.
B. No. BE SURE YOU READ THE ANSWER.
When not teaching rules classes, Mickey works the 7:50 A.M. Hump Job in Fort Worth.
9-97