Page:NTSB - Railroad Accident Report - Derailment on May 25, 1989.djvu/67

 Personnel Information

Operatinq Crew of Extra 7551 East.--The head-end engineer had been off duty for about 20 hours before reporting for duty at Bakersfield at 9:00 p.m. on May 11. The engineer reported the following information: He spent his off-duty time sleeping, eating, watching television, and relaxing. He a been eating regular meals during the day preceding the accident, and had been receiving his usual amount of rest of 10 hours, an was fully rested when he reported for duty on the evening of May 11. There had been no recent changes in his lifestyle, he had not consumed any alcohol during the days preceding the accident, and he was not a user of illicit substances.

The engineer held an active State of California driver's permit. An inquiry to the State of California Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDV) revealed that the engineer had no history of having received any summons or convictions. The National Driver Register (NDR) contained no information on revocations or suspensions regarding the engineer's driving privileges.

The head-end engineer had-been employed by the SP for almost 15 year at the time of the accident. He had held the positions of fuel oil attendant, laborer, and fireman before being promoted to the position of engineer on November 28, 1986. (For additional information, see Engineer Training Program.)

The head-end engineer had been qualified on the physical characteristics of the territory by making one check ride from Tehachapi to Bakersfield (see figure 1) with a supervisor in September 1988. He stated that he was familiar with the descending grade in the accident area and had operated trains over this trackage Several times He stated further that he had previously operated trains with a trailing tonnage of 6,151 toss and with trailing tonnage of about 8,900 tons. His testimony also indicated that he had never operated a train that hr believed the tonnage of which was substantially more than the tonnage shown on his train documents. He did indicate, however, that this was the first unit (single commodity) freight train he had operated through the Cajon Pass; all of his prior experience through the Pass was operating mixed commodity freight trains. He added that he believed this was the first time he had transported trona. The head-end engineer stated that he had worked previously with the bother head-one crewmembers, but had no knowledge of, nor had previously worked with, the helper engineer.

The conductor of Extra 7551 East had been off duty the 4-days preceding the accident. The conductor's wife reported the following information about the conductor: On Thursday, May 11, the conductor awoke around 8:30 a.m. and remained at home during the day. He received his call for duty, as expected, and reported to the Bakersfield yard at 9:00 p.m. that evening. He had been eating regular meals and had been receiving his usual amount of rest-during the days preceding the accident. Her husband was rested as usual when he reported for duty the evening of May 11. She had noticed no changes in her husband's lifestyle. The conductor did not smoke cigarettes or drink