In case anyone is wondering, I am not dead. I have been put in charge of a locomotive facility in Oregon that takes up 6 days a week and 12-15 hour days. In fact I will attach a picture of the inside of my garage, numerous projects not enough time. I have relocated to Vancouver Washington and just recently unpacked my garage. With time I plan on getting out and working on the site and perhaps taking the boat out (It has been 2 years May since it has been on the water) Thanks for keeping the site going. Daniel
Hi Daniel, It is so good to see you back. I am sure you will get the facility organized soon and have more spare time. jim
I was wondering where you were?? No worries,, summer is right around the corner and we're all chomping at the bit! For most of us Dyne guys, winter is work time and summer is 'play' time!! No matter what happens, or where we work, or where we move, there's always us guys on Hydroyners.com. Kevin
one would think it would only take a short time to put a place together. I have been tasked with finding an expansion plan for a largly unused facility. You can see from the pictures below it is huge, it had 200 people at one time in the last 30 years. Now it only has 40 but with business picking up expansion is on the horizon. I came from a facility in California that had over 300 people so it is a major change. Not to mention that I am now the only one that makes decisions.
believe it or not everything is computerized. They know how long a locomotive sits, how much time is spent fixing them and even the exact location of a locomotive based on GPS signals sent from each unit and how much fuel is being burned based on mileage and use. It is a very computer intensive operation, almost too much since it occupies much of my time.
yes it is computer generated. The Locomotives automatically report engine and electrical defects via sat to central office, plus when an engineer is done with the ride he inputs other items like restroom or physical repairs that need to be done. When it hits the scanner upon arrival to a maintenance facility the unit is automatically put into the work cue with all the necessary repairs and maintenance brought up on what we call MCS (Maintenance Control System) They are all mileage based maintenance and a federal inspection once every 92 days. Sitting in them is much like a plane now, 3 computer screens. When you see an engine pushing from the rear it more then likely is remote controlled from the head unit. It has become even more computerized in the last 5 years. I can pull up exact locations fuel readings speeds etc.. from a computer.
That sounds really modern and well automated. Where does the computer labor intensive work come in? jim
