Do assistant conductors have to do the job of a brakeman?

[homersimpson101]

Do assistant conductors have to do the job of a brakeman such as coupling the train cars and air hoses together? Or do assistant conductors just focus on helping passengers board on/off the trains and verifying tickets?

 

[Acela150]

All of the above applies to the Assistant Conductor jobs.

 

[zephyr17]

Do assistant conductors have to do the job of a brakeman such as coupling the train cars and air hoses together? Or do assistant conductors just focus on helping passengers board on/off the trains and verifying tickets?

If the air line or HEP connectors part for some reason, they'll reconnect them. Mostly that is done by people in the terminal yard that make up the consist, though. I think they do the work involved in coupling, separating the Empire Builder in Spokane, I do not think they have car men there but am unsure. I know there are car men at Albany on the Lake Shore separation/joining, I've watched them. I am unsure about Spokane because I don't get off the train to watch there, being the middle of the night.

Conductors and ACs will handle hand throw switches in places without CTC, like much of the Coast Line in California, or the Glorietta and Raton Subs in New Mexico. They'll get out and inspect the train if a dragger or hot box detector alerts. On one trip I was on they had to do it in a snowstorm in near zero degree weather in North Dakota. That had to have been miserable.

Their job is pretty much the same as brakemen. Their title was just modernized, considering brakemen haven't had to handle the brakes on passenger trains since the adoption of air brakes.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Conductors and ACs will handle hand throw switches in places without CTC, like much of the Coast Line in California, or the Glorietta and Raton Subs in New Mexico.

One place I remember seeing them throw switches is at Palmer, back when the Vermonter used the New England Central (Former Central Vermont) between there and White River Jct. There were hand thrown switches to go from the siding to the NECR tracks.

 

[PVD]

On my recent trip to the coast, a switch did not respond to the remote signal and dispatch had us stop, place it in manual, throw it so we could move to the station track, throw it back after we cleared, and then put it back in auto. That was done by the AC.

 

[John Bobinyec]

While onboard (Piedmonts), the Assistant Conductors refer to themselves as the "flag", as in flagman, a reference to the traditional crew names: engineer, fireman, conductor, head brakeman (head man) and flagman (rear brakeman, rear man).

jb

 

[railiner]

Their job is pretty much the same as brakemen. Their title was just modernized, considering brakemen haven't had to handle the brakes on passenger trains since the adoption of air brakes.

But I believe they still might do that function on freight trains, where Timetable Special Instructions dictate them to set “retainers” while descending long mountain grades…

 

[Steve4031]

I took a ride from Chicago to Galesburg on 5 a couple of weeks ago. The AC had to get off and do something with a switch or signals near the interlocking just west of the Monroe St. crossing in Hinsdale, IL. This interested me because I grew up in a house two blocks from that location and used to watch trains pass by there.

We had a 30-minute delay. During the delay, I went downstairs to the bathroom in the rear coach car. I discovered the AC's train orders sitting on the counter. I walked them to the lounge car and handed them to an Amtrak employee. I explained where I found them and who I thought had left them. I did not want them to be thrown out by someone who did not know their importance, nor did I want to sit with them and try to give them to the AC. I am not sure I handled this the correct way.

 

[railiner]

I took a ride from Chicago to Galesburg on 5 a couple of weeks ago. The AC had to get off and do something with a switch or signals near the interlocking just west of the Monroe St. crossing in Hinsdale, IL. This interested me because I grew up in a house two blocks from that location and used to watch trains pass by there.

We had a 30-minute delay. During the delay, I went downstairs to the bathroom in the rear coach car. I discovered the AC's train orders sitting on the counter. I walked them to the lounge car and handed them to an Amtrak employee. I explained where I found them and who I thought had left them. I did not want them to be thrown out by someone who did not know their importance, nor did I want to sit with them and try to give them to the AC. I am not sure I handled this the correct way.

I might have waited a little to see if the A/C returned for them, but it sounds like you handled it as best as can be expected, the way you described the situation…

 

[zephyr17]

But I believe they still might do that function on freight trains, where Timetable Special Instructions dictate them to set “retainers” while descending long mountain grades…

There are no more brakemen in these days of two person crews. There is an engineer and a conductor, both in the cab. Such duties fall to the conductor where they still exist. In these days of distributed power I imagine that use of dynamic brakes on the engine sets suffices along with a reduction in brake pipe pressure. I pity the conductor who has to set retainers on a three mile long monster of a PSR freight train.

 

[Siegmund]

Amtrak still called them brakemen at least into the 1990s, long after their role on a passenger train had become assisting the conductor with rather rare involvement with brakes and flags. Does anyone know offhand when they were renamed?

 

[zephyr17]

Amtrak still called them brakemen at least into the 1990s, long after their role on a passenger train had become assisting the conductor with rather rare involvement with brakes and flags. Does anyone know offhand when they were renamed?

I do not recall precisely, but I am pretty sure it was in the later 1990s.

I do recall thinking at the time that it made sense as "Assistant Conductor" was a better description of their actual duties.

 

[Acela150]

Amtrak still called them brakemen at least into the 1990s, long after their role on a passenger train had become assisting the conductor with rather rare involvement with brakes and flags. Does anyone know offhand when they were renamed?

Now that I'm at a computer I can go a little more into detail about the terms of "Brakemen" "Flag" etc.

The term Brakemen is still used frequently. A three man crew on a regional train will consist of Condcutor (who normally works the front of the train), "Middle Brake" who will work the middle of the train, and the "Flag" who will work the back of the train. The term "Flag" is what was done when a train was leaving the station and a conductor would be sticking their head out of the door to ensure no one was stuck in a door or chasing a train etc.

 

[railiner]

I think Amtrak renaming Fireman to Assistant Engineer, and Trainman to Assistant Conductor, had more to do with gender-neutral political correctness than anything else…

 

[zephyr17]

I think Amtrak renaming Fireman to Assistant Engineer,

It might also have had something to do with Amtrak never having steam engines to fire...

 

[railiner]

It might also have had something to do with Amtrak never having steam engines to fire...

But they did have steam generators to fire…

As in GG-1’s, SDP-40F’s, and E-60CP’s, and various boiler cars…

 

[zephyr17]

But they did have steam generators to fire…

As in GG-1’s, SDP-40F’s, and E-60CP’s, and various boiler cars…

They didn't require firing the same way, since they didn't have to respond to a throttle, which required a fireman's care even in oil fired steam engines. My understanding is steam generators did not require much enroute care, they just sat and drank diesel and boiled water. They were usually positioned at the aft end of units, away from where the fireman sat in the cab, and didn't require much tending.

I never heard of a fireman being stationed in a boiler car.