WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE? - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 111

locomotive cabs) and keep it to show his superiors as proof that
the break was not his fault.
Once under way, the engineer's attention is almost always
directed toward the track ahead. She's on the lookout for obstruc-
tions but is also watching for signals, speed-limit signs, whistle
posts (warning her to blow the whistle for an approaching grade
crossing), and other trackside markings. The locomotive cab is
equipped with two large side mirrors, and the engineer uses them
to check the rest of the train on every curve and look for any
problems, such as smoke from an overheated bearing or shifting
loads in the case of freights. The assistant engineer does the same
on the other side of the cab. Traditionally, the engineer sits on
the right side of the locomotive cab because, in the days of steam
locomotives, that's the side of the tracks where all the signs and
signals were placed.
The visual inspection was also an important function per-
formed by railroad personnel riding in cabooses at the end of
freight trains, but both the cabooses and the people who rode
them have been replaced by an electronic device mounted at the
end of the rear car. Called FRED by railroad people—an acro-
nym for “flashing rear-end device”—it picks up reports from the
automatic detectors alongside the track and relays them by radio
to the engineer in the head end.
Unlike the smooth ride passengers are treated to, it's pretty
bouncy in the cab of a locomotive, and the rough ride can affect
the accuracy of the speedometer. Because trains must run at or
close to the prescribed speed for any given stretch of track, most
engineers carry a stopwatch, which they use regularly to determine
precisely how fast the train is moving. This is done by recording
the exact time it takes the train to pass between two mileposts and
computing the speed from that. (See the table on page 97.)
Many Amtrak engineers came to the job with freight experi-
ence, and all agree that being a freight engineer is the more diffi-