Below is an article by Richard Senff of Prince George:
If you were to ask a conductor 50 years ago if he thought that trains would have one man and no caboose what do you think the average response would have been? I would be willing to bet that they would have said that you were nuts and did not know what you were talking about. Now, after that statement how about this one, "One man yard crews". I really mean one man crews in the yard. No hogger, no helper, just a Foreman with a remote control box strapped to his chest and a management yard coordinator driving around in a van getting cuts and making joints.
Lets examine the fine points of a one man operation. How would the coordinator get between the tracks in his van? The yard would have to be re-designed to give quick vehicle access to each track. - they would have to do this for remote control anyway.
With advances in metallurgy and lubrication, boxcars with a 200 ton capacity are not far off, meaning more tonnage in fewer cars.
The words "Loco Remote Control" strike fear into any self-respecting hogger's heart. This piece of equipment I'm talking about isn't that inefficient ineffective thing we all know and laugh about, I'm talking about the black boxes of the future. These boxes will be lighter and able to do more, a lot more. How much more? With rapid advances in radio technology I envision a box that would control switches remotely. Not only would you have locomotive controls, but a keypad to punch in switch numbers. If, say, you were at the North end of the Prince George yard and want to go to C15 all you would do is press "NC15" and the switches would line themselves up.
Now, with the means of having one man do the work of three do you think the Company would keep extra people around out of the goodness of their heart?
Unfortunately, some allow the management coordinator to run around getting cuts and making joints without the help of a foreman or helper. Also, the coordinator may take it upon himself to get a cut or make a joint even when informed "no, take me to the cut, joint etc. (This happened to me recently, hence this article).
I realize that to implement a one man yard operation would take a major capitol investment, but after such an investment the Company would be able to get rid of more of those troublesome employees who interfere with bottom line profits.
--Richard Senff
--Secretary Treasurer, Local 1923
Feb. 13, 1996
