Taking Control Of A Locomotive ©2004-8 deltareum - All Rights Reserved

Taking Control Of A Locomotive Checklist

Version 6/08 - ©2004-8 deltareum at yahoo dot com- All Rights Reserved

Our airbrake book, TRO-4, contains a checklist for things to check when taking control of a locomotive. I replicate the list here, with my own additions, in order of convenience and relevance, following the engineer from the ground to the cab:

For those of us who have trouble remembering things, they recommed creating a far-fetched image to represent the things we need to remember. The idea is that a far-fetched image is much easier to recall than a plain list of unrelated things. (For example, if you have to go to the store to buy eggs, milk and bread, picture in your head a few eggs shipwrecked, on a bread slice for a raft, drifting on a sea of milk.) In order to remember all the items on the official checklist, while in LETP, I created a similar outlandish picture which is now engraved in my brain:

OK, so I'm no Michaelangelo. The items in the image represent the items on the checklist:

The picture includes an interesting visual effect: If you stare at the windshield for a full 60 seconds, a tiny truckdriver will appear waving at you. Or maybe, it's the long hours of LETP studying that caused this. Anyway, at least, you will be able to remember the picture forever, which is more than I can say for the checklist itself.