Railroad Retirement Board associates check out a locomotive.

The Belt hosted a demonstration for the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

RRB associates, some of whom aren’t extremely familiar with railroad equipment or operations, were able to learn more about what it takes for employees to keep the railroad moving every day.

Manager of Operating Practices Mark Labbe helped organize the event and led a demonstration. He said it was intended to give RRB field representatives a clear understanding of operations that will facilitate their work.

Safety Committee Chair John Lucio and Switchman Eddie Jimenez volunteered to conduct demonstrations. Representatives from Union Pacific, Canadian National and Norfolk Southern also attended.

Safety Committee Chairman John Lucio teaches attendees about a tank car.

Three different demonstration sites were set up for the event: a locomotive station, a railcar station and a switching station. The locomotive station provided demonstrations of locomotive basics, locomotive inspections and how multiple units are connected; it included a walk-through of a locomotive’s cab and explanation of a locomotive engineer’s work area.

Switchman Eddie Jimenez volunteers to perform a demonstration.

The railcar station included demonstrations of the use of railcar safety appliances; an air hose change; an air brake test; an end-of-train device application; the use of a break stick; and a railcar inspection.

The switching station included demonstrations about remote control operations; the movement of railcars; the operation of switches; coupling and uncoupling; and the application of air to a train.

Labbe called each station an accurate simulation in a controlled environment.