Coupling and Uncoupling Rail Cars

[Music] hey what's up everyone my name is dusty goman with terminal switching services today i'm here to talk to you about how to properly couple and uncouple rail cars now in this video i'm going to show you how to properly lace up air hoses how to open up an angle and also how to adjust the coupler in case it's out of alignment so pay attention and follow along with me as i show you the correct way to do these things so in the first section of this video we're going to talk about coupling equipment after counting the cars down to a coupling the very next step is to have the engineer change direction and stretch the coupling to ensure that the coupling has been made all right now that the coupling has been made my next step is to get red zone protection before i step in between the equipment to lace up the air hoses and open up the anal now once the red zone protection has been established i want to give it a second or so to make sure that there's going to be no movement in the cars before i step in between the equipment all right when lacing air hoses i always want to keep one foot inside the rail and one foot outside the rail and there's a couple reasons for that one is that it puts my body in a much more comfortable position to lace up the air hoses but the second reason and more importantly is that it gives me escapability out from in between the equipment in case these cars start to move because i'm able to escape a lot quicker with just stepping over with one foot as compared to two feet all right now that my feet are properly placed my next step is to lace up the air hoses now there are a few different ways you can lace up the air hoses the most important thing is to find the one that you're most comfortable with and sticking to it [Music] all right now that i've laced up my air hoses my next step is to open up the angle now before i open up the angle i'm going to put my body in the proper position i can either have my leg up against the air hose or have both my feet outside of the rail and the reason for this is you want to be clear of the air hose or have your leg up against the air hose in case it flies apart you're not putting your body in harm's way all right when opening up the anal you want to open it up extremely slow and the reason for this is if you open it up too quickly you're going to dump the air in the cars in front of you because they think they're going into emergency which in turn causes the engineer to have to reset the air brake system which can add quite a few crucial minutes to your move all right now there will be some situations where you'll have both angle closed after the coupling has been made at no point should you try to reach over the coupler to open up the angle on the other side what you'll have to do is cross over the equipment get on the ground and open from that side all right now that i'm done lacing up the air hoses and opening up the anal i can release my red zone and continue on with my switching operation now in the second section we're going to talk about uncoupling equipment all right now to uncouple the equipment i need to first ask for red zone protection to go in between the equipment once i've established red zone protection i'm going to reach in here and close the angle to the supply end of the rail cars after i've done that i'm going to lift up on this cut lever or pin lifter to make the uncoupling now i want to stress just how important it is that every time the cars are being uncoupled that you turn your face away from the air hoses that are being separated [Applause] and in this last section i'm going to talk to you about coupler adjustments all right now i'm going to talk about how to properly adjust the coupler now before i step in between the tracks to make the adjustments i'm going to first separate the equipment by at least 100 feet and then second i'm gonna get red zone protection before stepping in the tracks now once i have those two things done i can now begin the process of adjusting the coupler all right now the proper way to adjust the coupler is to put your hands underneath the coupler with your feet on the ground and your knees bent then you want to push up with your legs and then bump back on the coupler moving it into position [Music] now once i feel like i have the coupler properly aligned i can remove myself between the tracks release the red zone and then begin my coupling operations all right now there are a few improper ways to adjust the coupler and they are trying to push on the coupler trying to pull on the coupler and one of the worst ways to do it is to try to kick the coupler into place so make sure that you're using the proper method that i showed you not the improper ways that way it helps reduce the chances of getting yourself injured all right so as you can see coupling and uncoupling rail cars is something that you're pretty much gonna be doing each day on the job so make sure you build that habit of doing it the correct way each and every time and i always want you to remember that no job is so important that enough time cannot be taken to do in a safe manner i really hope you enjoyed this video i look forward to seeing you next time stay safe

Channel: Armando Rodriguez

Views: 201,767

Keywords:

Id: M5VK__nDP04

Length: 5min 7sec (307 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 02 2021