SSRR Signal Department’s 2010 Annual Training Class

This was the second year the NCRy Signal Department was invited to participate in the Sacramento Southern Railroad (SSRR) Signal Department’s Annual Training Class. On September 18th, 2010 Signaleros Curt, Dave, Elbert, James, Paul, and Tom made the journey up to Sacramento for some fun and education. We arrived a bit before 9:00AM, just in time for coffee and donuts! Nothing like a little caffeine and sugar to start the morning. The training was held in the Stanford Gallery which is a very nice conference room setup with tables, chairs, a large flat screen TV, and lots of railroad pictures throughout.

After some introductions the classroom portion of our field trip began which included the following training modules:

– How to use the One Point Signal Procedures (Paul, SSRR)
– Correct Radio use during protection by Train Order (Al, SSRR)
– The modern LED – All you need to know and then some (Eric, SSRR)
– The “Electric Measurements” Wheel (Chuck, SSRR)
– Coded Track Circuits and Demo (Curt, NCRy)
– History, purpose, intent and overlap of CPUC and FRA (Dan, SSRR & Daren, CPUC) – Safetran wire number system or: Now where does that wire go? (Dale, SSRR)
– Wire Insulation through the Ages (Paul, SSRR)

These were all very informative and directly related to railroad signaling. At the end of our classroom time we were all handed laminated pocket sized certificates indicating we had attended the Annual Training. Very Nice! We ate our lunch which included some delicious cupcakes provided by our hosts then boarded one of the scheduled Excursion Trains for a trip out to the recently installed grade crossing signals. Our first stop was R Street. The SSRR Operations Crew did a great job taking us to this unscheduled stop. After we arrived SSRR’s Signal Trainer Paul opened up the signal cabinet and spent some time explaining how the Grade Crossing Signal Warning System operated and how it was tested. This was brand spanking new modern electronically controlled equipment that made all of us Signaleros drool! No clicking relays like you’ll find in an NCRY cabinet! We then walked over to the new Q Street crossing where we took a look inside and did more drooling. After taking lots of pictures we boarded the next passing train for our return trip back. What a Great way to spend a Saturday!!

A big THANK YOU to all our friends at the SSRR for making use feel so welcome!