All aboard! As the train starts rolling, a man approaches you with a funny flat-topped hat. The badge on the front of the hat says: “Conductor.” The man stops in front of you says, “Good morning and ticket please.” You hand him your ticket. He looks at it. He makes sure it is valid and that you are on the right train. Then he punches a hole in it. As he hands it back, he reminds you to listen for the announcement that tells you when it is your turn to get off the train.
A freight train conductor has a similar job. Instead of a funny flat-topped hat, he wears a hard hat. Instead of a tie, he sports a yellow vest. Instead of a hole puncher, he has a pair of gloves. Instead of keeping track of the passengers, his job is to keep track of the actual railroad cars. He has to know where they are going, where they will be dropped off and which cars will be attached to the train for when they return to the sorting yard.
It may sound fun, but this job is hard, and quite physically demanding. It’s also a lot of responsibility – you have to keep records to ensure the right cars are dropped off at the right place and that the empty cars are returned to be reloaded.
Modelers cannot really simulate the harsh reality of uncoupling 80-pound knuckles. Let’s face it – on a model train, you can easily uncouple two cars by just tapping a stick between the two cars; that’s all it takes to get them to release. But model train hobbyists can track car movement. A system of car cards has been devised for just this purpose. Each card contains the name of the railroad that owns the car. The car number and carrying capacity are also listed. On the bottom of the card is where the car should be returned when empty. On the back of the card is a photo of the car to help in the identification processes.
Along the track of the model railroad, each stop has a box. When a train arrives, the cards in the box are picked up. The identity of each car is verified and then the cars are coupled to the train. Next, the to-be-delivered cars are backed onto the spur. They are uncoupled from the train and their car cards are placed in the waiting box.
Loose cards could blow away, so modelers use plastic baseball card display pages. The pages can hold up to 20 cards. The front and back of the entire sheet can easily be seen. The page helps the conductor stay organized. Stop complete? The train moves down the track to the next scheduled stop and the process is repeated until all deliveries are made and all the empties are connected and ready to be brought to the staging yard. So goes a day on the model railroad.
Until next time, hope to see you around the tracks.
