How Deep Does One Need to Go into Hard Core Data

How Deep Does One Need to Go into Hard Core DataDan Monaghan

VP-Mechanical, Great Lakes Railcar

RRIX18PENN STATE ALTOONA RAILROAD INDUSTRY EXCHANGE

All railroad operators at one time or another ask to what depth they need, should, could maintain data

on the equipment and personnel.

A narrative version of this presentation with much more detail is on the Great Lakes Railcar web site:

www.greatlakesrailcar.com/RRIX


The correct answer is: it varies with each business involved.

And one never wants to be in the situation of saying to one’s self: self, I coulda, woulda, shoulda…


Simple Answer:• Minimum required by federal regulations• Minimum required to register equipment in Umler• Anything FRA might request


From Our 4 Decades Experience:Minimums are Inadequate• Minimum requirements keep growing and changing• Requirements buried in federal regulations change


Small operators that own no rolling stock• Locos leased and lessor responsible for maintenance• All cars are other owned in interchange• If your operation has:

q Track inspectorsq Engineersq Conductors

q Air brake technicians

• You still have certification data, including re-certs, that need to be maintained!


Corollary question then:• What system to use?• Depends on:

q Who you areq Where you areq How much data (bytes) need to preserveq How quickly/easily and by whom data input q How quickly/easily and by whom need to retrieve


Large Companies• Have IT departments full of computer geeks• But….

q Many data bases have very steep learning curvesq Not intuitive to non-geek usersq Infrequent users need retrainingq High cost procurement and sustainment for small

operationsq Small operations don’t have those IT departments

Is there a data base that can


Data Base and computer needs:• Maintain volume of data needed• Import and export as needed

q Excelq CSVq Container fields

• Generate summaries• Defined and ‘wild card’ searches


Data Base and computer needs (continued):• Platform neutral• Flexible for applications• Less probability of hacking• Simple and easy back up• High capacity• Reliable and durable in possibly dirty and vibration

environment

How much and what kind of data needs to be maintained?


Data capacity examples from GLR:• Umler• Current equipment data base contains 4,578 ‘entries’• Each entry has 524 ‘fields’, 142 common for all cars• Includes all rail rolling stock categories PLUS highway

trailers, chassis and containers• Includes FREDs (EOTD) and ‘Steel Wheels’ (Roadrailer

axles and trucks)

What does Great Lakes Railcar use and what are the data sets?


Data Base: Filemaker Pro by Filemaker Corp.• Inexpensive• Truly cross platform (Wintel & Mac native)• Intuitive, easy to use• Allows defined field and ‘wild card’ searches


‘Summary’ layout


Layout pull down menu


Detailed datalayout, part 1


Detailed data layout, part 2






Detailed data layout, part 5


Also used for:• highway vehicle (containers, trailers and chasses that are also part of the Umler

system) data,

• office functions of when data was received/invoiced/paid


AAR Car Repair Billing (CRB) summary:


Air Brake Test upload to Umler inspection portal:


Air Brake Test summary layout:


SPLIC – city cheat sheet (needed for inspections portal)


Also used for:• Contact list • 20 searchable fields• > 2000 entries

Where to find rail systems help


Railroad Passenger Car Alliance. (www.rpca.com)• FRA and Umler seminars • safety training • air brake technician (passenger and freight) certifications • many other seminars on all subjects associated with short line and excursion train operations • many vendors including hardware and shops • CMO is a member of the AAR RSAC (Rail Safety Advisory Committee) in conjunction with the FRA • Annual conference each January in varying locations • RPCA has a group insurance program for car and loco property and liability insurance needs • RPCA owns the Railroad Passenger Car Numbering Bureau, providing Umler services to RPCA

members, that provides members a cost effective way to register cars in Umler without the need of obtaining a reporting mark. This is an AAR assigned “aggregation” mark, meaning the organization owns no equipment, but provides the mark and services for members.

• Currently 124 cars and locos under the mark. • RPCNB also has a shop code, used by member technicians and shops to economically upload air

brake test dates to the Umler inspection portal. • The 400 plus members include class ones, regional and short line railroad personnel and

companies, several shops, museums and historical societies, excursion operators and individuals.• Only $45 per year!


FRA{{these ARE good people, they will help you when you ask for it; BUT don’t wait to get caught doing wrong}}

Gary Fairbanks, Staff Director MP&E Div; [email protected]; 202.493.6322Harold Weisinger, Engineer MP&E Div; [email protected]; 202.493.0336Steve Zuidereen, Engineer MP&E Div; [email protected]; 202.493.6337

mailto:[email protected]




Great Lakes Railcar (GLR) (www.greatlakesrailcar.com)• Umler services • special move set up • mechanical engineering • coupler/air brake system conversions • program/project management • clearing house for certified air brake technicians contractors and shops in North

America, and • Umler training • Currently provides Umler services for 60 reporting marks and shop codes • Ala carte pricing • WOSB CAGE 1C0K7


Simple Data Base ProviderFilemaker Corporation (www.filemaker.com)

Filemaker Pro is a platform neutral, both Wintel and Apple native, 32 or 64 bit enabled, relational data base that is easy to learn and to use, and is inexpensive.

http://www.filemaker.com/

Thank you

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Date post:	15-Jan-2022
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How Deep Does One Need to Go into Hard Core Data

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