Help me understand...........

[blackjack1518]

Sounds just like any corporation, better get use too change...

[Big Frank]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TtGQnyPZ6g

[nssd70m-2]

Mind as well change all of the Michigan Line CP names to anything involving FAIL...

[ConrailDetr​oit]

It will be wierd hearing the dispatcher say "operate in a south direction on Sterling Secondary track between Andrew and Bonita" or "between Todd and Erin". And "we are north of Andrew, no hand switches thrown in the block".

[J T]

Mind as well...

Minus well...

[AARR]

Mind as well...

Minus well...

"Might as well"

[CharlieX90]

It will be wierd hearing the dispatcher say "operate in a south direction on Sterling Secondary track between Andrew and Bonita" or "between Todd and Erin". And "we are north of Andrew, no hand switches thrown in the block".

LOL

[J T]

Mind as well...

Minus well...

"Might as well"

(click link below)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... nus%20well

[AARR]

Look this up in urban dictionary

[gonzojoe]

"Like"

[Typhoon]

What I find funny is that people who have nothing to do with that railroad have a problem with it.

+1. Railroaders will adapt, railfans will cry.......

[hoborich]

I'll take "What Conrail official has a kid named Rodney", for $100, Alex.

Even though it makes no sense to us there has got to be a decent reason for a change that management must know will cause a great deal of confusion until the veterans learn the new names...at least i hope there is a good reason

You're too kind. You gotta toughen up.

[AARR]

What I find funny is that people who have nothing to do with that railroad have a problem with it.

+1. Railroaders will adapt, railfans will cry.......

MD works for the railroad... Although railroaders will adapt, they have too its their job, many will not like the changes because of the disruption it causes.

[AARR]

Even though it makes no sense to us there has got to be a decent reason for a change that management must know will cause a great deal of confusion until the veterans learn the new names...at least i hope there is a good reason

You're too kind. You gotta toughen up.

Since I don't know the whole story I am willing acknowledge management has a good reason to change names and not the frivilous ones that are being posted here.

[J T]

Look this up in urban dictionary

Well played, my friend.

[Typhoon]

What I find funny is that people who have nothing to do with that railroad have a problem with it.

+1. Railroaders will adapt, railfans will cry.......

MD works for the railroad... Although railroaders will adapt, they have too its their job, many will not like the changes because of the disruption it causes.

I am aware where MD works, however take a look at this thread. Most of the posts are from people that do not have to deal with it. As far a disruptions, it is a little overblown. I had a firsthand look when the IHB changed the names of their CP's about 9 months ago, a line that has far more traffic, and more foreign line crews that the SAC has. There were no issues from the change over.

[MP73point4]

Hi Fred, i'am trying More information. According to the rules and compliance officer at Conrail, after an NS crew got into trouble on the Sterling Secondary earlier this year. The crew went farther than they should have and got pulled out of service. The confusion came when they were to stop at " TM " and thought the dispatcher said " KM " thankfully no one got hurt. So, the local NS chairman wrote a letter and said the letters were to confusing and should be changed to prevent this from happening again. The R & C guy did not sound happy about the changes. Now if they had never put the " KM " up ( which by the way did nothing but bottleneck the Sterling secondary AND cause ALOT of overtime ( THANKYOUVERYMUCH ) this would have never happened.) Sometimes things are better left unchanged.............

I guess everyone missed this post since they continue to bash "management" for making the changes and confusing the employees. The above makes it sound like a request from the union.

[Standard Railfan]

Seems to me that using a work rather than letters will avoid a ton of trouble. Think about he aviation industry, the use of words to stand for letters is universal to avoid problems. I expect that this practice started as a result of serious mishaps.

Looking back in time, most control points were named by railroads, think of Diann, Ann Pere, Fuller. Most of the points had a two letter telegraph abbreviation to save time transmitting orders. Telegraphers would not mistake the letter E for D because in Morse code. Enter the radio. E and D sound alike.

MP73point4 poses that the request came from the union. I think that is a proper assumption. A crew was disciplined for an error. The union, as they should, would be protecting there members by elimination of a potential error from the same cause. Root cause analysis wins again.

[~Z~]

Excellent point Standard. The number of times that I need someone to say something phonetically instead of just the couple letters is often due to my hearing loss. I prefer when someone says the names Paw Paw or Van Buren instead of PP or VB. Sure, PP or VB are shorter to type, but it takes just about the same amount of time to say, and it's much more clear to hear the full word.
Takes less time to say Todd than TM even. The other ones are the same number of syllables at least.

[TrainWatcher]

Seems to me that using a work rather than letters will avoid a ton of trouble. Think about he aviation industry, the use of words to stand for letters is universal to avoid problems. I expect that this practice started as a result of serious mishaps.

To a point. Aviation radio chatter is still letters, and numbers as well as the use of the phonetic alphabet. And really the only reason why its used in aviation is originally it was meant to hide messages or code back in WWII, and was easily added to aviation practices. And take it from a guy who has taxied $30 million dollar airplanes, it can be good and bad at the same time, especially in an emergency.