The rail flaw detection crew says theirs is the only job where being on track is a requirement.
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The snacks, sadly, are optional.
Track Season
Track time windows, rail flaw detection and the train schedule. For Rail. 14 jokes.
Rail flaw detection is a job that takes you places.
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Mostly the same two hundred miles, back and forth, slowly.
Why did the rail inspector refuse to take a shortcut?
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The only thing shorter than the shortcut was the track time window.
What do hi-rail trucks and rail inspectors have in common?
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Two sets of wheels, and a close watch on the clock.
A track time window is a promise from the railroad that expires the moment a train shows up.
A rail inspector's day ends when the last train has passed, and the train decides when that is.
You might be a rail inspector if...
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...you know the train schedule better than your own calendar.
The inspector got a four-hour track window and rode the hi-rail truck out to mile marker 112. Setup took an hour. The first mile took another. By the third hour the dispatcher said a freight train was due. 'How much did you cover?' he asked. 'Eleven miles,' she said, 'and one rail that needs a second look.' She cleared the track with ten minutes to spare. The train was an hour late anyway.
Mile marker one-ten.
Flaw marked, window closing fast.
Train horn: time to clear.
Track Window (n.): A block of time on the railroad that the schedule gives, the dispatcher shortens, and the inspector spends racing.
Track Time (n.): The window between trains when the inspection happens. It is always fifteen minutes shorter than the work.
Ever notice that the train running late is always the one that shows up early when your window is closing?
Nobody warns you that the longest part of a rail inspection day is the drive just to reach the track.
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Rail.
Rail who?
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Rail-ly wish this window would last longer.