What 'comforts of home' does a locomotive have?

Question

I'm in Canada, which is a big country. There are some trains, mainly freights I guess but passenger too, that spend long hours crossing without stopping much. So, what do you do for food, sleeping and sanitary arrangements in a locomotive? Are there good facilities? How large is the crew, are there always at lest two people? I'd think there'd have to be. We don't use the caboose here any more.

Also, if you happen to know about passenger trains, is it possible to get from the engine through to the passenger cars while the train is moving? Or are locomotives self-contained and well equipped so that you would never have to?

Answer 1

In canada the CN locomotives a hotplate and microwave( oven in the BC rail Loco's) and they have a bathroom with a chemical toilet. They also have a fridge that is stocked with water ( It tastes like plastic). The newer Loco's have air conditioning but they all have heaters. Any of the passenger trains I have seen you could walk back although there is not much need to. You are correct there are not any more cabooses in use any more and that leaves 2 people on freight trains and 3 on a switcher.

Answer 2

Well, in the USA there's a law that says crews can't be on-duty more than 12 hours. That means they generally set trips up so you'll be relieved or laying over somewhere there's a hotel and restaurant. Worst-case they go "dead on the law" (12 hours) while out on the mainline, then it could be a few more hours waiting for a relief crew. There's a chemical toilet plus four male urinals (on each corner of the engine). BYO food & drink. (well, not that kind of drink.)



On passenger train access, it depends. Generally passenger locomotives have the nice cabs on one end and a blank wall on the back end. The blank wall has a pass-thru door, but the nice cab does not. So if there are 2+ locomotives they cannot walk through. However it's not really a big deal because it's pretty simple to just stop the train (they do it at every station anyway). Besides it's not particularly safe to try to unlock the #1 coach door from the back platform of a locomotive bouncing along at speed.

Answer 3

I'll agree with Andy, there are the bare minimums and that had to be mandated by law or we would be sitting on the front holding a piece of plexiglass and an umbrella.

The new units are definitely better, they are still quite noisy but a huge improvement. Most have AC but that is an option and not all RRs choose to spend the additional $$



On Passenger trains it is possible to go through the locomotive to the cars but it is not done very often.



Unless you are creative with the heaters or manifolds there is not even a way to warm up a meal on a locomotive.

I can promise you, eating sandwiches out or a paper bag for 30 years is no picnic.

Answer 4

Here in the USA they have no comforts of home.They are made to haul freight and our comfort is an afterthought.Until a few years ago many didn't even have air conditioning.They all have nasty chemical toilets.I have been on a number of units from Canada that had hotplates and microwaves for the crew to cook on.One even had carpet on the floor!We don't have rail companies here that care about our comfort.If they could get away with it we'd probably have to sit on a bucket instead of a chair.

Answer 5

A bathroom, a restaurant (Although you probably don't have one of these in your home), and chairs. O and a lot of noise.