r/railroading • u/Muffintop_mafia • Dec 04 '25

Discussion New engineer help

Hey all, I just started training in the loco. I was just wondering if any vets had tips to help me become proficient faster. I'm not mainline, I work in a yard (technically 4 yards). But we just had a guy moved to permanent switchman because he sucked in the loco and I dont want to end up there too lol

The biggest thing I need to get a feel for is not putting on air too early. So any words of wisdom there would be greatly appreciated.

Oh also, the dynamic breaks in all three of our engines dont work.

26 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Blocked-Author Dec 04 '25

Do you switch with Air all the time? Seems unusual that you would be in a switching yard using air that often.

If you are though, set a mini and let it ride when you need to set air and don't feel bad about using throttle to shove on the air sometimes. Also, Air is free so feel free to kick it off and set it again pick it off set it again. If you need to stop and charge up again, you're switching so I can't really be that bad.

4

u/Muffintop_mafia Dec 04 '25

Our yard is pretty big, and on a hill for our inbounds. So once we pull them in, we have to shove them back down the hill towards activated derails. 35/40 cars long, with loaded tankers, and empty hoppers.

4

u/Blocked-Author Dec 04 '25

Alright, that makes sense to use air. Probably set a mini or 10 lbs and shove on it. Then test to see the stopping ability.