[PRCo] Re: Scheduling

[Fred W. Schneider III]

What does this have to do with PTM?

John Swindler wrote:
> 
> Again, Fred, what does this have to do with PTM demonstration railway??
> 
> However, you do have a significant comment as it might pertain to public
> transportation.  "if you had a freight train breathing down your neck".
> 
> The example I gave was for late pm and night operation when headways were
> typically 30 minutes.  During peak hours, when there was a three min. or
> less headway, drivers would tend to have blinders on when the light turned
> green.  Then there was an emphasis on timekeeping.  Why?? Because I knew if
> I looked in the rear view mirror, there would be another bus 1-2 traffic
> lights behind.  So the need to cater to the customer was not as great.
> 
> Again, PTM is not in the transportation business.
> 
> John
> 
> >From: "Fred W. Schneider III" <fschnei at supernet.com>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >Subject: [PRCo] Scheduling
> >Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 11:59:26 -0500
> >
> >
> >I think we are placing too much emphasis on one aspect of running the
> >railroad over another aspect.  There needs to be some balance between
> >schedule keeping and making customers happy.
> >
> >1.  Passengers are important.  If we don't have passengers, we don't
> >need drivers or motorman or engineman or mechanics or office clerks.  If
> >we can wait for customer, because there is enough slack in the schedule,
> >by all means do so.
> >
> >2.  While it is important to wait for a passenger and show a little
> >extra courtesy ... all ways of making them want to come back ... we also
> >need to run on time.  We cannot be constantly waiting for people because
> >it encourages people to be late and it discourages those who are on time
> >at the stop.  If the schedule shows the bus will arrive at the stop at
> >3:17 and it repeatedly arrives anywhere from 3:12 to 3:25 and once in a
> >while as late as 3:40, I'm not going to wait for the bus.  I'll buy an
> >automobile.
> >
> >3.  If we have a single track railroad with passing sidings, schedule
> >keeping is absolutely essential.  If my car is off by 3 minutes, the
> >opposing car may be off by 7 minutes.  And the customer is off in his
> >car.  (Most schedules had enough cushion, however.)
> >
> >4.  While signals are great, if we get accustomed to meeting the same
> >car at siding A day after day and today it is early and meets us at
> >another siding, there is a damn good chance for a corn field meet,
> >signals or no signals. A man with 30 years service is apt not to even
> >look at a signal that he never before needed to observe.  (I have a
> >hunch that is what happened that caused 13 people to be killed and 30
> >some badly injured in the LVT 1003 / C14 accident in 1942 ... perhaps
> >the motorman never before had to wait at Brush Siding for a box motor
> >and never bothered to look at a signal.  But we'll never know, he
> >removed himself from the gene pool.  So running on time can be
> >tantamount to running safely.
> >
> >You might like an interesting example of breaking the rules to serve a
> >customer.  I was riding a Pennsy schedule from Harrisburg into
> >Philadelphia in 1969 and was surprised that we stopped at Irishtown road
> >crossing in eastern Lancaster County to drop an Amish lad.  Because all
> >the trainmen knew me as a Strasburg Rail Road employee (and a state
> >employee) at that time (I was actually riding on a Strasburg pass that
> >night), I could get away with a discrete inquiry about the stop.  Turns
> >out the last Lancaster to Intercourse bus left Lancaster at 5 PM ... and
> >this man left Harrisburg at 5:20 on the train.  He would have had to
> >walk home 8 miles from Lancaster.  The trainman dropped him at Irishtown
> >several nights each week.  What was the official policy of the
> >railroad?  DO NOT STOP ... NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  Was there an
> >unofficial policy?  YES.  IF YOU DON'T HAVE A FREIGHT TRAIN BREATHING
> >DOWN YOUR BUTT, MAKE THE STOP IN THE INTEREST OF KEEPING SOMEONE HAPPY.
> >CREWS WERE ACTUALLY TOLD THIS OFF THE RECORD. The total elapsed time for
> >the stop was less than 2 minutes, and there was enough padding in the
> >timetable to make it up. Those Silverliners had hellish acceleration.
> >
> >Another example of keeping the schedule in spite of passengers ... and
> >the engineman shall remain nameless.  (I've mentioned this on another
> >list, so, Harold or Edson, bear with me if you're listening).  I was up
> >in the cab the night it happened.  It was a Friday afternoon ... the
> >4:20 departure from Harrisburg ... 37 minutes were allowed to get out
> >out of Lancaster, 37 miles away.  There were three intermediate stops.
> >Most of the mileposts are not 5,280 feet apart ... I think there are
> >only two pairs between Philly and Harrisburg that are exact ... there
> >are 107 of them squeezed in 103 miles.  But as we came out of
> >Harrisburg, the engineman checked the speedometer against his watch on
> >two valid mileposts.  "How's it reading?"  "Four fast."  We stopped at
> >Middletown to drop two or three people.  Now this engineman knew which
> >days he would have a fair number of people at stations ... he knew the
> >pattern like the back of his hand ... and this was a Friday afternoon
> >with a lot of college kids from E-town and F&M that would be getting
> >on.  He stopped at Elizabethtown ... about a half dozen off, perhaps ten
> >college kids on.  Then a stop at Mount Joy to drop one or two people.
> >When we came up on the distant signal for CORK interlocking in
> >Lancaster, the clock was reading 107 miles per hour.  (Speed limit was
> >75 and he was actually plowing along at 103.) These were Jersey Arrows
> >... married pairs were designed to do 100.  He stopped at Lancaster,
> >having run off 37 miles in 33 minutes with three intermediate stops and
> >at an average speed of 67 miles per hour.  At 4:57, he was moving out of
> >Lancaster ... right on the money, after having dropped about 30 and
> >picking up roughly 40.  By the way, management had high regard for this
> >engineman because he knew when and where he could break the rules to
> >keep the railroad fluid, and trains on time.  Sometimes I think
> >management even told him when the road foreman of engines was out with a
> >radar gun ... he always knew.  (By the way, he came back home running
> >the Broadway Limited.) (One of these days I'll just have to go knock on
> >his door..)
> >
> 
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