[PRCo] Re: Cleveland Subway Tours

[Herb Brannon]

On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 5:47 PM, Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
> Do crews on the Red Line work through from the Airport to
> Windermere?  Where do you report on and off?   At the shop perhaps?
> Or Cleveland Union Terminal?   Are all reliefs at the same point on
> the line?


All reliefs are made at East 55th Station, just a short walk from the
Rail District Headquarters Building front door. We usually run 2-car
trains and the "crew" consists of me. The route is from Windermere to
the Airport or the short route from Terminal Tower to Brookpark
Station. Last night I worked a run from 4:30pm to 12:30am. I made an
Eastbound relief  at E. 55th and went to Winderemere , then to Airport
, to Winderemere , to Airport, to Winderemere, to Airport,to
Windermere, to Airport, then only to Public Square then deadheaded to
E55th yard.


> Does not having any clearance issues (such as you would have running
> a car or driving a bus on a city street) make the job unchallenging
> to the point of boredom?

Nothing boring about it. You have to have your wits about you
operating nearly 200,000 lbs of equipment plus the passenger load at
50mph to 70mph between stations. There are signals, switches, cab
control, to watch and the constant calulating in your brain of when to
apply power and when and how much brake to apply. I'm glad I like this
sort of thing. Operating cab-controlled heavy and/or light rail is not
a joke, believe me, it's not. When I first went on my own I ran late a
lot and the Control Center was always calling me asking me why I was
running late. That lasted about two weeks. Now they don't call me any
longer. Last night, in fact, two or three times I noitced my Mobile
Date Terminal was indicating I was running just a little bit early.
The thing which I was overly cautious about in the beginning was
"facing point" switches. At PATransit the rule was 5mph over a facing
point switch. This had been drilled into me and it took a couple weeks
to get over it. Now I cross them at 70mph. Last night, on the stretch
between West 150th and Brookpark, I maxed the train out on 3 or 4
trips and the governor kicked in at 70mph. Interstate Hwy 71 is right
beside the tracks and I was passing the cars on the freeway which is 4
lanes each way at that point. No, its not boring.........its thrilling
 ;-)



> After running PCCs and driving buses for years where you interfaced
> with the public, what is it like to be sequestered into little box in
> the corner of a car with no one to talk to?

Passengers still ask plenty of questions and I'm busy with the
operation of the train. The cabs on the heavy rail are not
small........very spacious, in fact. There is a lot of glass between
the operator and the passenger area so its not a confined area.


  I guess you just have
> to bring a cell phone along so you can text your friends!
>
> For God's sakes, don't take that seriously.


This is taken very seriously at RTA. If you are caught the first time
is DML (Decision Making Leave) which is a punishment reserved after
one repeatedly does something wrong. The second time you are caught is
termination. This is in light of recent serious rail accidents across
the U.S. involving cell-phone use. I turn mine off.............I like
what I do and want to keep doing it for a little while longer.


The the rest will have to wait for another day.
>
>

Herb Brannon
On America's North Coast