On Sept 22, 2004 I was in attendance at Short Line Yard at Des Moines, IA on the UPRR for a demonstration of a RCL camera system designed to view the track ahead of a RCL for observance of signals, switches, etc. The main purpose of this demonstration was to determine if the RCO's could use this technology to view an interlocking signal and it's aspect at the west end of the Short Line Yard.
Besides myself, in attendance were: Gary Johnson-UPRR MTO at Des Moines, John Conklin-FRA, Bill Holt-General Director RCL Operations UPRR, Larry Stubrud-FRA Signal and Train Control Inspector at Des Moines, two representatives from the vendor TCS I believe...they had no cards to offer, Pat Hendricks-UTU Political Director from Iowa, Bill Wiebe and Bob Laborde-UTU Local Chairmen from Des Moines.
As you can see by the pictures, the system is quite bulky and weighs approximately six pounds. The battery pack and computer is worn on a waist belt with the batteries themselves positioned at the wearers back and being approximately 2.5 inches thick. Add to this the OCU in front and you have made the RCO approximately 9 inches larger from front to back thru the waist area. one member, who is not exactly of slim build, tried the pack on and said he could not get thru the door of the locomotive. The trackball unit on the right side of the RCO's waist would be replaced with something more streamlined according to the vendor, but this was what they brought to demonstrate the equipment. The trackball is used to operate the computer which controls certain views available in the eyepiece such as zoom, and also controls zoom and pan of the locomotive mounted camera. According to the vendor, the battery pack is good for a maximum of 6 hours, but should be replaced with fresh batteries after 4 hours.
The eyepiece is a tiny video screen that mounts on the bow of the RCO's eyeglasses. It was interesting to note when I first arrived before the demonstration started, the vendor was walking up the switching lead to determine how far he could go before losing the signal. He was using one hand to operate the trackball, and the other hand needed to be cupped completely over his eye in order to clearly view the eyepiece in the bright sunlight. How many hands does that leave free to hold a switchlist, operate a radio, and operate the OCU? In some cases if standing at the right angle to the sun, both hands were needed to shade your eyes in order for a clear view of the eyepiece. The focus of the eyepiece is adjusted by sliding it back and forth on it's bracket, approximately one inch to the right of the eyepiece itself. It required two hands to adjust the focus and was difficult to get it exactly right.
Another interesting note is the varying opinions on whether or not ones view of the signal in question was or was not clear in the eyepiece. Some said, yes, they could clearly see the aspect of the signal. Upon my first chance to view it before the demo actually started, I could not clearly determine the aspect. The signal was red, but in order for me to determine that, I had to use both hands to shield my eyes from the sun and squint hard in order to see any semblance of color. The signal appeared dark to me at first, but upon studying it for several seconds, I could detect a very subtle hint of red. The locomotive was parked approximately 100 yards from the signal at a slight angle as the switching lead curves as you approach the signal. The camera was zoomed in on the signal.
The camera is mounted atop the locomotive horn. It has pan and zoom capabilities. In the cab of the locomotive was a computer with 60 Gb of memory, enough for two weeks according to the vendor. As new information came in past the 60 Gb, the oldest information is erased first.
The system was networked with Netgear brand hardware using the 802.11g configuration and AES (256 bit Advanced Encryption Service). According to the word of the vendor, it is "unhackable", but I have to ask if anything is truly "unhackable" in the eyes of a terrorist, or any teen-age geek in his bedroom with the Dell Computer he got for Christmas. I asked the vendor what would happen in the event of a computer "freeze", would the last view be still in the eyepiece? He said the system was designed to drop out completely and show a black eyepiece if that would occur. I know when my computer freezes in my office, the screen does not go black. I am stuck looking at the last thing I had on my desktop until I manually reboot the computer.
Regardless of the varying opinions on whether the signal was truly visible or not, there were other concerns raised and each of these concerns were valid and accepted by all that were there. All were concerned about the bulkiness and weight of the system, and Mr. Holt from the UPRR said he could not accept the system in it's present configuration. Suggestions from the vendor to reposition the battery pack to a vertical configuration in the middle of the RCO's back were immediately shot down by the UTU representatives. The weight was Mr. Holt's concern, so given it's present size, it appears the system will not be acceptable to him.
To my surprise, Mr. Holt also addressed the cognitive issues that you and I discussed Bob. No matter if any system is put into use in the future, he said the cognitive issues would be taken heavily into consideration. I expressed my opinion of the importance of those issues and he agreed with me. Mr. Conklin seems to think that the UPRR would have to put in place rules whereby if a person was trying to view the eyepiece, he could be performing absolutely no other duties whatsoever.
Other concerns addressed were weather related issues, such as battery life and eyepiece appearance during an Iowa blizzard at -20F., the fact that the equipment was all new now and how would it work after two months or a year, and the cleanliness of the camera lens or eyepiece (weather also comes into play here). Also of note was the fact that what we viewed today was from a locomotive that was stationary. Those that have seen the view while the locomotive was in motion on the rough track of a switching lead said it made the signal much harder to view.
The end result seems to be that the system as presented is not acceptable. Not a single person there embraced it as it was.
One final note...the vendors said that it might be possible to attempt this using a PDA configured to receive the digital data and transform it into MPEG, so that is something that we might be looking at in the future.
Hope this helps.
Fraternally,
Charles E. HintzChairman, Iowa State Legislative Board
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
