THE NEW ENGINEER'S NIGHTMARE. (Chicago Tribune links in the following might require registration.) On Sunday, a Metra Rock Island commuter train derailed at the 47th Street crossover, with six people injured, a new diesel locomotive damaged and an older one possibly beyond economical repair. Repairs have been disrupting regular service.

The engineer had only recently marked up. Sometimes the press gets the details of a train derailment right. "At the third signal, at 47th Street, where the track switch had already been set, the signal was red over green. That indicates a 10 m.p.h. restriction traveling on the crossover, followed by an all-clear to resume speeds of up to 70 m.p.h. on the main track, sources said." More precisely, the signal at 47th Street is displaying a "medium clear" (possibly "diverging clear") aspect, requiring medium speed through the interlocking limits, with at least two clear signal blocks in advance of the train on the other track. The operating timetable and special instructions spell out what the maximum safe speed is on the diverging route. These vary from interlocking to interlocking. (A number of Burlington line commuter trains cross over at the west end of Lisle, although there are other crossovers closer to the train's next stop, because the maximum safe speed is higher at that set of switches.) The story suggests the dispatcher might have made a snap decision to cross the train over: "The first signal warned to slow down near Pershing Road, about a mile from the crossing where the accident occurred, National Transportation Safety Board investigators have said. Sources said the green signal turned to amber, meaning reduce speed, about the same time the train passed the signal." "First signal" refers to the signal that first gives advance warning of a line obstruction or an open switch. Depending on the railroad, that might be a yellow over green or a yellow over yellow, an approach aspect. The second signal would then be yellow over red, an approach medium, and the third signal would be the red over green. (Danish signal engineer Carsten Lundsten has a very useful guide to North American signalling practice.) Although it is possible to check a Metra train fairly severely (ask regular riders) less than a mile's notice of a 10 mph crossover would be dangerous, if what the dispatcher did was "drop a signal" in front of an approaching train. The usual westbound track was out of service for repairs (engineering possession, for those of you in the UK) but as the railroad operates as two main tracks, with signalling protecting movements in either direction at track speeds. I am not familiar enough with the Rock Island Line to surmise whether there was a preferred crossover further west that the engineer might have been expecting. The investigation proceeds.

Tuesday's coverage suggests some of the facts that have to be established. The print version included some diagrams that illustrate why rail enthusiasts distrust press coverage. These diagrams, not available online, showed a switch in the normal position, lined for the straight route, and a switch in the reversed position, lined for the diverging route. The captioning on these diagrams described the switch positions respectively as "off" and "on."

ACADEMIC RHUBARB. Flunked Student Sues NU Professor is the headline (may require registration.) The story strikes me as a test of power gone wrong. Student attempts to make a case for a better grade, professor stands his ground, student persists. The story does not provide sufficient information on how that conversation, which is common enough around the university, turned into a change of grade. The lawsuit alleges non-use of Northwestern's internal procedures for dealing with academic misconduct. Those procedures are there to protect the faculty as well as the students.

THE CURSE OF THE BILLY GOAT WILL BE LIFTED SLOWLY, IF AT ALL. (All links in this post might require registration.) Late in the game, Cubs leading, catchable foul fly, possible fan interference, a walk on a wild pitch, an error on a potential double-play ball, a seventh game tonight.

CARNIVAL OF THE VANITIES calls at Priorities and Frivolities. Thanks!

RULES WRITTEN IN BLOOD. In September of 2002, a Norfolk Southern (NS) train derailed near Knoxville, Tennessee. There was a hazardous material spill and an evacuation that didn't quite chase Insta Pundit. The November issue of CTC Board reports the main points of the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, which is available as a .pdf file here. (The mother lode of train wreck reports is here.) Why the derailment? Earlier in the day, an eastbound train crew discovered a problem with a track switch. As the switch was a spring switch, and the train was making a trailing point move, the dispatcher allowed the train to proceed. The train pushed the switch out of the way in such a way that it appeared normal to a cursory inspection. A maintainer made such a cursory inspection, oiled the switch points, then stuck around for the next westbound train, which pushed the switch points out of alignment. Result: derailment. NTSB finding: "The signal maintainer’s initial visual examination did not reveal a problem, but he did not operate the switch before train 15T passed over it. NS operating rules did not specify that an inspection of a possibly defective switch should be completed before trains are allowed to operate through the area. NS procedures also did not address the reduction of train speeds after receiving a trouble call about the condition of a switch."

NO DISAGREEMENT. Highered Intelligence correctly surmises "I admire excellence in philosophy and plumbing. If by 'such attitudes' Stephen was obliquely referring to the attitude that I was mocking in my post, then so be it. I have no quarrel." I was. In this post, the "such attitudes" might have more than one antecedent: I did intend to refer to the parents and students of Certification University.

The fun stuff is in an earlier paragraph. "He's got a point. In the long run, the cost might be nontrivial, although I seriously doubt that there's any substantial causative link between outsourcing and college certifications. That seems to be more a simple question of wages -- although the economic inefficiency of having to go to college could be exerting some sort of upward pressure on wages. I'm not an economist, so I'll leave that to the King if he wants to tackle it."

I know just enough about labor economics to be dangerous so here goes: if any of the economists among the sources of Company Mail call me out on it I'll advise the readers. There's one central idea in labor economics that will get you a long way: Low Wages = Low Productivity. (That's why you don't see a lot of outsourcing to Alabama or Mississippi or Bangladesh. Plenty of cheap labor, but not a whole lot by way of human capital investment or complementary infrastructure.) Now consider someplace like China or India where there has been a lot of recent investment in human capital and in complementary infrastructure. With satellite telephones and portable computers it's a whole lot easier for an employer to find a competent file clerk who does not expect the salary of a vice president. (There is a rather wicked Federal Express commercial that might be a harbinger of things to come. Upwardly mobile suit-type is in shipping department. Middle aged shipping supervisor wants him to help get the packages out. Suit type finally says, "I don't do shipping. I have an M.B.A." Supervisor thinks about it, says, "Ohhh, you have an M.B.A. I'll show you." If that's at all representative of employer views of recent college graduates expect a lot more outsourcing.)

If you've been following this conversation about the changing role of the university, do head over to Porphyrogenitus (who recommended Stanley Kurtz with some thinking on related lines) and to Disenchanted (via Insta Pundit) whose observations on the blurring of the university distinctions are worth a look.

ECLIPSE CONDITIONS? Andrew Sullivan has a few questions about National Command Authority's planning for the reconstruction of Iraq. Good questions, not easily dismissed. Sometimes, even the predictable contingencies don't work out exactly as anticipated. Case in point: Allied troops held as war prisoners by Nazi Germany. The Protecting Power had a pretty good idea how many were there, and where they were, until the Germans started marching them around just before the end. Then it got messy. Just how messy is spelled out in The Last Escape (details or compare prices.) That's the latest piece of recreational reading, although it's sometimes grim going. (The reader will learn how close the Oflag at Colditz came to being busted up, how effective the U.S. artillery was at busting up castles by 1945, and that there was a Stalag XIII near Hammelburg.)

POSSIBLE SOURCE OF COMPANY MAIL? Check out Academic Game. Just keep scrolling.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There are places on Earth where "police" can arbitrarily arrest and torture whom they like, and ask for bribes not to do so. And some people in the United States, sheltered from such things, will tell you that American soldiers are no different from such fighters.

"It is their right to think so. But the children know. The children of those tortured lands laugh and play with American soldiers, wave to them, speak a few American phrases, ask for candy and treats or simply give a shy smile. They crowd around us when we walk the streets, cluster around our bases and safe houses, run out into the streets to wave to passing convoys. They thank us.

"They do not do the same for the other soldiers. They vanish when they see them about their business, hide when they sense the trouble coming, run before they can get chased away. They understand the difference, even if our pacifists do not."

Reminds me of a passage toward the end of Citizen Soldiers (details or compare prices) contrasting the reaction of civilians to a squad of G.I.s with their reaction to a squad of soldiers wearing any other uniform. The quote is from a letter by Sgt. N. J. Todd, USAR and is worth reading in its entirety. (Hat tip: Photon Courier.)

MIND YOUR MANNERS. Going Underground finds a prohibited transit practice that the Chicago Transit Authority has not yet seen fit to ban.

REPRISING THE THIRTIES? Arnold Kling has some bad news and some good news. The good news: he retracted some dire prognostications.

DOMESTIC DIVIDES? "Added together, the differences suggest people who live in different worlds that are on a collision course." Dennis Prager spells out those differences. (Via Betsy's Page.)

THE NEXT FRONTIER FOR MULTI-CULTIS? Buzz Machine discovers a new category of offensive mascots.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL SHIRKING ACT? Apt. 11d passes along two tales, one of a colleague with no children who resents picking up the slack for colleagues who plead sporting events and the like as a way of leaving the office early, another with children who regularly takes work home. (The tales are incomplete, as the resentful colleague has not introduced evidence that the early-leavers aren't taking stuff home to work on after the kids are in bed, and the overstressed colleague has not explained why she doesn't mention her responsibilities at work.)

I have to wonder what my ancestors would have made of the pressures of the modern economy. There was no artificial lighting to prolong the working day. There wasn't much distinction between paid work and home work for many of them, particularly the dairy farmers. Equally clearly, I have to wonder how much longer the One Path to Promotion model is going to go without competing career paths. Too much stress, too much resentment, too much discontent. It has to contribute to turnover problems for employers as well.

UNDECIDABILITY THEOREMS? "One nation under God, indivisible." Bad mathematics, notes Scrapple Face.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF THE AVIATION POLL. The Shops did its own assessment of the ten most notable aviation innovations. Reader David Karlson discovers the official poll results, identifying the jet engine as the peoples' choice. The poll is part of the Centennial of Flight countdown.

NO WAY TO RUN A RAILROAD. The weather was favorable for a road trip, to the Civil War re-enactment at Princeton, Illinois. The battle ended (a Confederate retreat, described as a draw, did you know that very few battles ended with the winner holding onto the ground for some time after?) with time to get an early supper and check out the local railroads. Amtrak's westbound California Zephyr went through a little after 4 pm, close to schedule. The Southwest Chief was due at 5 pm. It had not yet appeared at 5.30 pm.

IS HUMAN LIFE THE REVENGE OF THE NERDS? An Extension 720 show last week builds from the centennial of anthropologist Louis Leakey's birth, which was being celebrated at a conference hosted by Chicago's Field Museum. One of the factoids that came out on the radio show was the emergence of a pre-human with smaller teeth. I did not listen to the call-ins and missed whether anyone asked the question that later occurred to me: did the use of stone tools in that species precede the emergence of smaller teeth? In the absence of tools, a primate species that has small teeth will be at a disadvantage in a fight. A primate that figures out how to augment his power with a stick or a stone might be able to overcome some of that disadvantage. Is the fossil record showing the selection for survival of tool-using pre-humans (sorry if that's not a proper term of art) with shorter teeth?

A FISKING. Number 2 Pencil is unimpressed with a proposal to race-norm scores on standard tests as the latest correction for cultural biases. A further note: the kind of golf handicapping being discussed in the proposal and the rebuttal is in use only in recreational play. It is not in use in professional tournaments. (At least nobody is seriously proposing a handicapping system of the form in use in keelboat racing. The system, which is supposed to enable similar boats to compete on something resembling an even basis, sometimes leads to boats withdrawing from races because for the wind speed and course configuration set, those boats will have their time adjusted in such a way that with best sailing they have no chance of winning.)

QUESTION OF THE DAY: "Most of the schools mentioned in the article are state universites, meaning that the construction is taxpayer-subsidised; is this good value for public money? Also, if these schools took their teaching mission seriously, is a student who weights his decision heavily on the standard of the saunas worth having?" India West weighs in on Jacuzzis rather than faculty as student-recruiting strategies.